Oscars 2018: The 5 snubs we’re most surprised about

It might be over, but we’re still feeling the Oscars hype. A day after the awards, we can continue celebrate — yes, even if some of our beloved nominees didn’t win.

Those who didn’t win might not have taken the Oscar statuette home last night, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t deserve to. For every Shape of Water, there’s a Get Out or Lady Bird that missed out, despite being every bit as creative and well-made.

It’s just quick math really. Only one award per five nominees means that most people are going home empty-handed. Sometimes it’s just not your year. Look at how long Leonardo DiCaprio had to wait to get his!

So now that all is said and done, we want to highlight the best nominees of 2018 who didn’t win and give them an award of a different kind — our enduring praise that they missed out on.

Laurie Metcalf, Best Supporting Actress & Saoirse Ronan, Best Actress  (Lady Bird) 

Anyone who’s seen Lady Bird knows that it’s a crime that the film went home with nothing last night. It made us ugly cry for reasons we can’t fully articulate, and that is in no small part for the two actresses leading it.

Laurie Metcalf is nothing short of perfect as a mother who is rightfully described by characters in the film as both warm and scary. The love she has for her daughter Lady Bird shines through her every line, even as the pair of them constantly butt heads.

The same can be said for Saiorse Ronan, who plays Lady Bird and proves yet again that she is one of the best actresses in the world. Her gift lacks words to describe it.

Saoirse, at 23, sits alongside Amy Adams as a multi-nominated actress who is a sure bet for winning an Academy Award in the future.

Of course, Frances McDormand and Allison Janney are both forces to be reckoned with in their respective roles and deserve their Oscars. But the portrayal of the relationship between Lady Bird and her mother is not something you see every day.

Writer and director Greta Gerwig captures the unique bond between mother and daughter perceptively, but it’s Saoirse and Laurie that bring the heart.

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Best Original Song (The Greatest Showman)

The Greatest Showman may have got a lukewarm reception from critics, but there’s a whole audience out there who took the film to heart, regardless.

The film, which just passed its eleventh weekend at the box office, has even spawned singalong showings across the world to cater to fans who live and breathe the earnest cheese-fest that brought Zac Efron back to musicals (it surely deserves an award for this alone).

We accept that this slightly dodgy, feel-good circus movie might not be Oscar-worthy in many respects, but there’s one thing that stands out in the movie, and that’s the music.

Keala Settle, who plays bearded lady Lettie Lutz in the movie, brought the house down at the Oscars ceremony when she performed the film’s lead anthem This Is Me. As the audience got to their feet in the Dolby Theater, it seemed almost impossible that the Academy could snub it in the face of such passion and unabashed joy.

But snub it, they did. We shouldn’t be surprised. The Academy has been accused of being out of touch more times than we can count, not least the several times at this year’s ceremony, for the way it tends to dismiss big box office winners and genre films.

If ever there was a moment for the Oscars to acknowledge this unprecedentedly popular film and the audience that loves it, that was the time.

Daniel Kaluuya, Best Actor (Get Out)

If the Oscars race came down to how much a film contributed to pop culture, Get Out would surely win hands down. It’s been almost impossible for late film fans to avoid spoilers since the film came out in February, and its momentum won’t be slowed by any missed Oscars.

That being said, the film’s star Daniel Kaluuya had one of the best shots at Best Actor this year and probably should have won it. If we’re being real, Gary Oldman should have won Best Actor for 2011’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, not for Darkest Hour.

We’re not saying his performance as Winston Churchill wasn’t great, because it was, but it’s like Leo winning for The Revenant – it’s a good show but we know he’s had better roles, some of which weren’t even nominated (justice for Jack Dawson).

Daniel Kaluuya would have been a better choice for Best Actor. It’s hard to think of another actor who could pull off the scene where Daniel’s character Chris is forced to relive his mother’s death through hypnosis.

Daniel doesn’t hold back, even though Chris’ desire to evade facing his pain is palpable. Tears stream down his face uncontrollably. Show us anyone whose heart didn’t clench at that scene and we’ll show you someone who doesn’t know movies.

Fortunately, like Saoirse, we highly doubt this is last time we’ll see Daniel at the Oscars. But come on. That scene. Those tears. That mirthless laugh. Those three gentle forehead kisses he gives Allison Williams (who plays Chris’ girlfriend, Rose) before everything falls apart.

Give the man an Oscar immediately.

Richard Jenkins, Best Supporting Actor (The Shape of Water)

There’s a scene at the end of The Shape of Water where the camera’s focus is on Elisa, played by Sally Hawkins, where the Fish Creature takes her to the canal to save her. In the background, however, we can see her only two friends watching sadly as she goes. This alone, from Richard Jenkins and Octavia Spencer, is enough to move the audience.

But it’s Jenkins, who plays Elisa’s next door neighbor Giles, who pulls the most at our heartstrings, doing a lot while saying a little. Giles is a closeted gay man who craves connection and love, chasing it in places where it can’t be found. His loneliness scrapes at him, despite his friendship with Elisa, and Jenkins’ quiet sadness translates beautifully on screen.

The scene where Giles confesses his dissatisfaction with life to the Fish Creature is perfection. His need to speak, to tell someone and be heard, is never more evident than here, when he expresses his inner-most thoughts to a creature that can’t talk back or express judgment. It’s a heartbreaking performance and not enough people are talking about it.

The Florida Project, Everything

The Florida Project, directed by Sean Baker, should have been nominated for Best Picture. There are simply no doubts about it.

In fact, it should have been nominated for a lot more than just Best Supporting Actor for Willem Dafoe, though we can say hand-on-heart that his understated performance is sublime. The cinematography alone in this movie in beautiful — the Twitter account One Perfect Shot could have a field day.

But what is absolutely special about The Florida Project is its storytelling. Everything is seen through the eyes of a child called Moonee, played remarkably by 8-year-old Brooklynn Prince, as the adults around her struggle with money, jobs and keeping their lives on track. When she’s in shot, the camera is always at her level.

Moonee lives at a motel outside of Disney World with her young mother Halley, who struggles to make ends meet, makes self-destructive choices as a result of economic pressures and lives scheme to scheme to earn quick money.

We see Halley’s life spiral as poverty takes its toll, as she bristles and explodes with anger as a result, and we see it all uncritically through the eyes of her daughter, who isn’t quite old enough to truly understand what’s happening to them.

The Florida Project deals with childhood, innocence and poverty with a sensitive yet penetrating eye. There are at least three more nominations it should have got this year, and that includes Best Actress for Brooklynn Prince, whose tears at the end are some of the best Oscar tears this year.

Related Story: 5 best Oscar nominees that didn't win

I’d like to call 911 on Sean Baker’s behalf. He has been robbed.