The Academy Awards are unfair. They never were. A current example shows that truth.
Several times over the past few months, it has been suggested to me that a “new Oscar for Killian” may be on the horizon. no?
Back in the day, we used to get overly excited about Irish films’ chances of winning an Oscar, but the chances of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences winning in style were never high. On the radio, there were voices of disappointment that “The Field” and “Angela’s Ashes” received only one nomination each for Best Actor and Best Music.
Using a powerful tool called the Rotten Tomatoes review aggregator, we can now go back in time and see that neither movie received much attention. “What we accept on stage now looks unnatural and artificial,” wrote Roger Ebert in a one-star review of The Field. Although the critics may have been speaking in secret, these titles were able to receive the acclaim that contemporary commentators had predicted.
The current case is different. In many ways, Murphy’s performance in Small Things Like These, director Tim Mielanz’s screen adaptation of Claire Keegan’s story, is perfect for an Oscar nomination. The film premiered as the opening title of the Berlinale, one of Europe’s three major film festivals, and Emily Watson, who played the mean mother-boss, won the Best Supporting Actor Award. Although distribution in the United States took time, reviews were uniformly excellent around the world.
And no one can say Murphy isn’t on the Oscar radar. For Pete’s sake, he’s the current holder of the Best Actor award so to speak. He is usually in the race when the next turn of such a winner is acclaimed after the opening of a major festival. “Amazing performance,” Sheila O’Malley wrote on rogerebert.com. (The late critic still has a presence.) “Murphy’s quiet, almost small-scale, yet still magnificent performance (carries) the story every step of the way,” said Richard Roeper of Chicago. The Sun-Times (for which Ebert used to write) agreed.
Therefore, it is not strange for domestic fans to have doubts about “Another Oscar for Kylian”. And nominations are not due until January 17th. Therefore, there is still hope. right? Now, it’s hard to express how cold the ongoing awards season is for both Murphy and Small Things Like These. Victories from the critic community are few and far between. At opening awards such as the Golden Globe Awards, films and actors did not receive attention. Gold Derby, the busiest awards site, ranks him 20th on its list of Best Actor nominees. He’s second only to the likes of Keith Kupferer in the little-released Ghostlight and Dev Patel in the brutal all-action Monkeyman.
( Dev Patel: “I thought, “What would a young Dev want to see on screen?” I made a film for that person.”opens in new window )
What the heck is going on here? There’s a lot of media brouhaha going on during gong season, but Gold Derby’s excellent Awards Magnet podcast, hosted by Joyce Eng and Christopher Rosen, offers at least one good, funny self-deprecation. There is. “As we’ve seen over the years, when it comes to the Oscars, quality of acting is just one criterion,” Rosen told me. “And sometimes it’s not even a major thing. Murphy has that, and it’s probably a hangover from what affected him six months ago.”
That’s all good, isn’t it? people like movies they know who he is. OK?
“But ‘Small Things Like These’ is a perfect title for this film,” Rosen continues. “Unfortunately, I can barely see it.”
Award campaigns are important. Two years ago, the team of Colm Byreado and Anne Cailin Siuin shook hands across Southern California in preparation for a nomination for Best International Feature Film. The kneecap group, who are currently among the finalists in the same race in 2025, caught Hollywood’s attention early on by driving a grungy PSNI Land Rover to a Sundance premiere.
( 2025 Oscar Awards: ‘Kneecap’ shortlisted for Best International Feature Film and Best Original Songopens in new window )
However, international features are a tougher, less star category. Voting regulations are complex. In contrast, acting nominations are determined by the Academy’s biggest category, actors, so less famous titles require a little more politics and a little more ease. That’s not fair. That’s not correct.
As Rosen points out, performance itself is just one element in a matrix of influence. It helps if your movie makes money. And although it was a hit in its home country and the UK, Small Things Like These only made a modest amount of money in the United States. It helps if you can gather some flash and charm about you. Unfortunately, Small Things Like These is a quiet story set in a dark place.
But Keegan’s story makes pocket miracles possible. Just two years ago, Andrea Riseborough landed a Best Actress nomination out of nowhere after a celebrity-packed campaign. Stranger things have happened than Cillian Redux. But it doesn’t happen very often.
