The State of Disunion: Ireland and The Oscars

It’s the most wonderful time of year once again. No, I am not referring to Christmas. I am of course referring to the All-Ireland final for film nerds: the Oscars. With another year of movies over, it now comes down to members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to make their picks for the best of the best. There is lots to keep track of, but some things are crystal clear. One such thing is that it is already a massive year for Ireland and with a record 14 nominations, it begs the question of how many of them we will be able to win. In this article, we will look at the Irish nominations in some of the biggest categories and analyse their chances of actually taking home the gold.

Best International Feature

As the first Irish nominee in the category, Colm Bairead’s The Quiet Girl (2022) will have to settle for being a historic nominee as opposed to a historic winner. The film’s nomination came as a surprise to awards pundits and given that fellow nominee, Germany’s All Quiet on the Western Front (Edward

Berger, 2022) is also represented in Best Picture, we might not make much noise here come Oscars night.

Verdict: Unlikely

Best Original Screenplay

In this category, Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) faces off against Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). Though a win for the latter is not out of the question, given the leg up that EEAAO has in categories such as Supporting Actor, Director, and Picture, it’s plausible that the Academy will spread the love around. Therefore, there is a strong chance that McDonagh wins his first writing Oscar.

Verdict: Likely

Best Actor

While his co-stars are happy to be nominated (hence why they were not mentioned individually in this article as it would make me sound like a broken record), Colin Farrell has emerged as one of the frontrunners to take home Best Actor. However, it bears repeating: he is one of the frontrunners. He faces stiff competition from Austin Butler in Elvis and Brendan Fraser in The Whale. Despite this, it’s possible that the desire to give Farrell his due could push him over the finish line.

Verdict: Possible

Best Picture

And finally, the big one. Like Original Screenplay, the race is between Banshees and Everything Everywhere. And as mentioned before, EEAAO has been viewed as the likelier winner, given its more uplifting nature than the depressing Banshees. However, as we have seen in previous years, the early frontrunner isn’t always the eventual winner (*cough* La La Land). As such, there is a chance that, if EEAAO proves to be too bizarre for the more stuffy voters (it is a movie where hotdog fingers are not even the 10th weirdest thing to happen), The Banshees of Inisherin could become the 95th Best Picture winner.

Verdict: Possible

No matter what happens on March 12th, one thing is for certain: people will be mad about something.