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The Unwritten Rule That Still Shapes Oscar Campaigns
Why co-leads like Ariana Grande get “Supporting” nominations.
She sings the furious opening number, “El Alegato,” after which she gets a hero’s journey in miniature: She’s called to adventure (helping a murderous drug lord transition), crosses the threshold into the unknown (a Thai gender-reassignment clinic), and returns home transformed by the experience (she’s rich). According to our critic Bilge Ebiri, one of the most significant changes Malcolm Washington’s film makes from August Wilson’s play is to beef up Deadwyler’s Berniece, who refuses to part with a family heirloom once owned by an enslaved ancestor. Not because The Substance cleaned up with this week’s Golden Globe and Critics Choice nominations — though it doesn’t hurt that both bodies treated the film like a serious contender — but because the French horror-satire is beginning to show up in our scant sampling of actual industry voters.
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