Opinion Today: The unusually anxious Oscars

Escapism is in short supply right now, even in Hollywood.

nytimes.com February 28, 2025 By Carl Swanson Deputy Editorial Director, Opinion The Oscars are this Sunday — the finale of what has been an unusually anxious awards-season campaign. Even after terrible wildfires laid waste to parts of Los Angeles (including some of its more star-studded districts), Oscar nominees have been competing for whatever portion of our national attention is not otherwise preoccupied by the blockbuster spectacle that has taken over Washington, D.C. The ubiquitous and ambitious Timothée Chalamet, as our Times colleague Steven Hyden argued, at least seemed to be enjoying his campaign. But it helps that his film, "A Complete Unknown," in which he plays Bob Dylan, is already well liked, and, on the whole, uncontroversial. For Opinion, Deborah Garrison wrote a poem about the pleasures of Chalamet-as-Dylan and Arianne Phillips, the movie's costume designer, explained the back story of the singer's boot-cut jeans. Also up for Best Picture, along with five other awards, is Sean Baker's "Anora." After onetime favorite "Emilia Pérez" became mired in a social media scandal, "Anora" had seemed to gain momentum, picking up honors from the Producer's Guild and the Director's Guild. But as Michael Idov argued in an essay, the film has been co-opted by some as Russian nationalist propaganda, putting a viewer like him "in the unsettling position of being in some truly terrible company in cheering for it." With all this in the air, it's safe to say it hasn't been an uncomplicatedly glamorous awards season. Watch for more Oscars essays from Opinion this weekend. Read More on the Academy Awards: Guest Essay What You Hear if You Listen to the Costumes in 'A Complete Unknown' Costumes aren't just for show. They can help develop the character, set a tone, create a feeling and underscore an emotion. By Arianne Phillips Illustration by The New York Times. Photograph via Searchlight Pictures. Guest Essay On Seeing Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan at the AMC Clifton Commons A poem from Deborah Garrison about watching the actor's transporting performance in "A Complete Unknown" and what may be lost in translation between the generations. By Deborah Garrison Illustration by The New York Times; source photograph by Neon Guest Essay I Loved 'Anora,' but I Still Hope It Loses at the Oscars "Anora" is neither pro-Russian nor anti-Russian. But its Oscar nominations have been portrayed as a national victory in Russia. By Michael Idov Here's what we're focusing on today: More From Opinion William Shoki Elon Musk Is South African. It Explains a Lot. His worldview is inseparable from his rearing in apartheid South Africa. By William Shoki Noah Shachtman Dead Athletes. Empty Stands. Why Are We Paying Billions to Keep This Sport Alive? Let the sport of kings stand on its own. 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