The slate of contenders for the 2025 Oscars for Best Picture produced some unexpected front runners among the expected candidates. Musical “Emilia Pérez,” a Netflix original, led in total number of nominations over expected favorites “The Brutalist” and “Wicked,” while horror film “The Substance” was a surprise addition.

Experts at Virginia Tech shared their thoughts on why these movies should — or shouldn’t — stand out among their peers.

Ariana Wyatt, opera singer, director, and voice instructor, on two musicals competing for Best Picture

“It is no surprise that two of the most nominated films of 2024 are musicals. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Similarly, music carries emotional intent, conflict, and subtext better than any set of words. Musicals, and before that, opera, have been popular since their inception because they deeply explore emotion. They facilitate deeper connection and inspire empathy,” Wyatt said.  

“The appeal of ‘Wicked’ primarily lies in its interrogation of the identity of goodness and wickedness. Who decides who is good and who is wicked? What happens when we question those identities? The story is so effective because it uses a well-known and well-loved story of good vs. evil, ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ The fact that this hit musical is a prequel to another hit musical is also remarkable,” she said.  

“The stage musical ‘Wicked’ has been popular since its premiere in 2003, but the movie brings a more nuanced and therefore affecting version to the big screen. Acting on stage must be seen from a long distance, while a film camera can get up-close to a performer and allows for subtler acting choices. In this case, Cynthia Erivo’s portrayal of Elphaba is more affecting primarily because we can see the internal conflict of the character through a closer lens,” Wyatt said.

“‘Emilia Pérez’ is a unique film that is part drama, part action, and part musical,” she said. “The musical language is diverse and incorporates a variety of musical styles and idioms ­— rap, minimalism, extended tonalities, and traditional musical theatre. The use of song in this film allows for faster character development and engaging storytelling, as the numbers allow the characters to express their inner thoughts and emotional conflicts in an explicit way, bringing friction into the open.”

Bonnie Zare, sociologist, on the mixed messaging of ‘The Substance’

“This film will have its fierce critics and fierce champions — and both groups may identify as wanting women’s equality. At first it seems we have a pro-cosmetic surgery and pro-perfectionism movie that could seem to be encouraging a disordered eating mentality. And yet, the film eventually goes over the top with a main character who recognizes their need for external validation was the source of the monstrous,” Zare said.

“Through the first two-thirds of ‘The Substance,’ the rigid beauty standards, objectification of women through isolated shots of body parts twerking, and the ageism all combine to make one wonder if a woman could have possibly written the film — but no, it's written by a woman. The notions of self-hatred, that our bodies are never right as they are, take center stage. There is also so. Much. Blood,” she said.

“Then the film flips,” Zare said. “Thrillingly, the satirical nature of the film becomes even more self-evident, and we see a sharper critique of both ageism and beauty standards as ‘the monstrous’ becomes ‘the one you root for.’ The question is whether this flip arrives too late, accompanied by too much grotesquerie, to be effective at countering what came before. The point, I think, is to get us talking about how upside down our society is becoming, in worshipping a commercialized, commoditized form of beauty.”

Patrick Ridge, expert in Latin American film, on the flaws and strengths of ‘Emilia Pérez’

“In terms of language, the nominations for ‘Emilia Pérez’ are significant, but they should not surprise American moviegoers. After México, the United States represents the second-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. Unfortunately, despite the long history of Spanish being spoken in the United States, many often fail or choose not to recognize the historical and ongoing influence of Hispanic and Latinx culture—and associated languages—within the U.S. The casting in Spanish-speaking roles of Zoë Saldaña, born in New Jersey to Dominican parents, and Selena Gomez, born in Texas to a Mexican father and Italian mother, serves as a testament to this cultural and linguistic heritage,” Ridge said.

“Most blame for the film’s cultural and linguistic inauthenticity has been directed at filmmaker Jacques Audiard and his French-based production team, particularly since they cast only one Mexican-born actress, Adriana Paz, for a film set in México. Audiard and his crew have admitted to not thoroughly investigating the Mexican cultural context for the film. Despite the film’s commendable aesthetics and genre-bending qualities, the simplified portrayal of the so-called ‘drug war’ in México serves as one example of this,” he said.

“The first openly transgender artist to receive an Academy Award nomination, Karla Sofía Gascón deserves the Oscar nomination for her performance as Emilia Pérez, despite the problematic elements of her character,” Ridge said. “The beauty of cinema, as well as other forms of cultural production, is its ability to tell stories that assist in questioning the dominant ideologies and worldviews held within our societies. Unfortunately, ‘Emilia Pérez’ presents spectators with common​ trans tropes. Thus, instead of humanizing and/or challenging cisgender audiences’ notions of the transgender experience, Audiard and his screenwriters rather trivialize it.”

Joseph Bedford, architecture historian, on ‘The Brutalist’ and brutalism

“Though the acting is impressive, ‘The Brutalist’ does not accurately depict the history of architecture. It implies the very heavy and dark concrete architecture of brutalism is an expression of the very dark historical events of World War II, and that's just historically completely untrue,” Bedford said.

“Marcel Breuer, the Hungarian architect whose life loosely inspired ‘The Brutalist,’ and his colleagues were well known. In America, wealthy patrons and philanthropists used their networks to get these people visas to bring them to the U.S. before the Second World War began. They didn’t have any trouble coming to America,” he said.

“Yet in the film you see a lot of aspects of architecture portrayed. You see an architect making models on screen. You see him fretting at the construction site over how the structure’s going to be made. Events that get in the way and cause delays — all these things are characteristics of our profession. So maybe it'll inspire someone to take an interest in the activity of architecture,” Bedford said.

“A criticism architects have is that the movie presents this cliched idea that architectural designs come from these great artistic geniuses that work alone. Actually, architecture is a complex field that’s full of networks of clients and many different professionals. Architects are in constant negotiation with all kinds of consultants to help them realize their designs,” he said.

“Architecture shouldn’t complain too much,” Bedford said, “because maybe it'll inspire someone to take an interest in becoming an architect.”

Schedule an interview    
To schedule interviews with these experts, contact Mike Allen in the media relations office at mike.allen@vt.edu or 540-400-1700.   

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