Overlooked Nominations: The Oscar 2020 Snubs

The full list of nominations for the 2020 Oscars were announced on Monday morning and the editorialized Snub Lists are starting to populate across the country. Many names and movies will appear on multiple snub lists, usually pulled from the same pool of mainstream movies that were widely seen by the critics, audiences, and Academy members. In many cases, some of the overlooked candidates that were not included in the final list of nominees were in contention for recognition earlier in the awards season, such as the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice Awards.

So, throwing an opinion into the overflowing pool of Oscar Snubs, here is The Buzz Track list of overlooked nominees for the 92nd annual Academy Awards:

Actor, Actress in a Leading Role

• Lupita Nyong’o, Us
  For the movie, Lupita had to manage double duty with creating and performing two separate characters who are polar opposite from each other, but in a minor way they are also the same person as well. Have you seen the movie? Then you would know the duality of the characters within the story.
• Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems
  The last time Adam had ever really pushed himself this far into a drama movie was back in 2002 for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love. He has demonstrated the potential for being a contender during the awards season, but tends to stick around in the comedy world more often than not.
• Robert De Niro, The Irishman
  Joe Pesci, Al Pacino, Martin Scorsese, Thelma Schoonmaker, and many others were individually nominated for their contribution for this movie. So, why was Robert De Niro overlooked?
• Awkwafina, The Farewell
  She made history by being the first Asian American woman to win a Golden Globe award for the leading actress category. Within just a couple of years time she skyrocketed to fame, but The Farewell is a movie that really helped her prove she can act.
• Song Kang-ho, Parasite
  Hailed as being a great contemporary character actor by Bong Joon Ho, the director of Parasite, it was rather surprising that Kango-ho Song was not considered for any of the acting awards this year. His performance in this movie was top notch! There are several moments in the movie where the audience is reeled right into his character’s emotional journey.

Actor, Actress in a Supporting Role

• Willem Dafoe, The Lighthouse
  One of the best character actors still working to this day, nominated for an Oscar in four separate years; this movie should have been his fifth nomination and hopefully the first win.
• Park So-dam, Parasite
  She is the one person in the entire movie who stole the attention in almost ever single scene she appears. The laughter from the audience was genuine when she was on screen. She held so much power and control of her character that it was very easy for the audience to fear and respect her at the same time.

Best Director

• Robert Eggers, The Lighthouse
  Only his second feature length movie in five years, the first movie being The VVitch (2015), he should not be overlooked. He’s a writer and director with a strong skill in brainy storytelling. In due time, he will be given a well deserved recognition by the Academy.
• Lulu Wang, The Farewell
  She arrive on scene with a splash for The Farewell by showing us a genuine and heartfelt story of what it’s like to be an Asian-American woman having to bridge the gap between two cultures within the same family.

Best Original Screenplay

• Robert Eggers & Max Eggers, The Lighthouse
  Writing a feature length screenplay with a prominent use of Old English syntax and grammar can be a daunting task. Trying to limit the movie to only two characters for the vast majority of the entire story is a very steep hill to climb. The only other character to appear in the movie is a mermaid who does not speak and would be an implied hallucination for one of the two main characters. Yep, the writing duo accepted the challenge and did a pretty good job at pulling it off.
• Lulu Wang, The Farewell
  The story is based upon her own real life experience, so Lulu was able to bring a lot of raw emotion to the movie that connected on an emotional level with the audience. It was genuine and heartfelt, which is a must-have selling point to pull the audience right in.