https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2026
The 2026 Oscars ceremony is coming up next weekend. I've finished watching all ten Best Picture nominees and logged my brief reviews of them here. The order follows my personal ranking, from favorite to least. Overall, this year’s nominees are not exaggerated or overly blockbuster-driven, unlike films like Wicked or Barbie. They feel calmer, more modest, and understated.
1. Train Dreams
I would say this is my Oscar Best Picture for 2026. Many of this year’s Oscar Best Picture nominees explore broken families, human connections, and the fragile nature of individual lives. Among them, this film touched me the most. The film is adapted from a novella first published in The Paris Review in 2011. It’s a historical drama set mainly in early 20th-century Idaho. The story follows a man who was orphaned at a young age and never found a clear meaning in his life. He lives quietly as a logger and helps construct railroad lines. It quietly inspires us to reflect on how — and for what — we live. In the end, perhaps we don’t need to live for a grand purpose at all. Living itself can be enough. We don’t have to accomplish something to justify our existence.
2. Sentimental Value
A nominee from the International Film category, set in Norway and mostly spoken in Norwegian. Two daughters meet their long-separated father after their mother passes away. Each of them carries personal trauma from their broken family, and they attempt to reconnect. When I saw the trailer beforehand, I thought it might be a light-hearted, warm movie, with beautiful scenery and the peaceful atmosphere of rural Norway. But in fact, it delves into raw emotions and unresolved trauma, leaving a painful and heartbreaking impression. Still, I admit it is a beautiful movie. I loved it.
3. Hamnet
Again, this is also a kind of broken-family story. The protagonist is Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare. They are happily married, but they lose their son to the bubonic plague. Agnes cannot forgive William, who was absent from home when Hamnet was fighting the disease. William later wrote the play Hamlet. It seems that Hamnet and Hamlet differ by only one letter, but at that time the two names were essentially the same. One of the strongest elements of this movie is Jessie Buckley’s performance as Agnes. Her acting is stunning. She has already won some other Best Actress awards, and she definitely deserves them. It would be reasonable if she won the Oscar as well.
4. Sinners
In contrast to the previous three films, this one is a big-budget, flashy production. Michael B. Jordan plays both twin protagonists, and watching his dual performance is fantastic. Set during the Jim Crow era, the twins return to a small Southern town after Capone is arrested. They are tough gangsters who open a bar — a juke joint — in the town. On the bar’s opening night, they welcome a large crowd to celebrate, but the party also attracts vampires. What follows is a violent clash between the twins, their guests, and the supernatural intruders. The movie isn’t a musical, but it features a great deal of music. The soundtrack clearly amplifies the film’s intensity and appeal.
5. Bugonia
Here comes the weird movie of the year, from the Poor Things team: Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone. It is just as weird as Poor Things. This is a Hollywood remake of a Korean movie. A man obsessed with conspiracy theories abducts the CEO of a pharmaceutical company because he believes she is an alien invading Earth. The entire film feels awkward and unsettling from beginning to end.
6. Marty Supreme
An underdog sports movie set in the world of table tennis, starring Timothée Chalamet. I didn’t expect Japan to play such an important role in this movie. The story begins when the ambitious American player loses to a Japanese opponent. The film is set in 1952, shortly after World War II. The main story follows Timothée’s journey to take revenge. In the final chapter, he finally travels to Japan and faces his Japanese archenemy. I liked the scenes in Japan. The characters definitely speak in a style reminiscent of old Japanese movies, which helps evoke that era.
7. F1®
This movie follows a classic “cowboy-style” template: a skilled outsider arrives in a troubled place and saves the people there. It was made by the same team that created Top Gun: Maverick. To be honest, I haven’t seen Top Gun: Maverick yet, but I can imagine the style. The film was shot during actual F1 races at real venues. I’m not a big F1 fan, but the visual dynamics are fantastic.
8. One Battle After Another
Here is Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar-nominated film this year. This is also a story about a broken family. Leo plays a former terrorist who is now a single father. He has spoiled his daughter and their relationship is a bit awkward. When his daughter is kidnapped, he struggles desperately to rescue her.
9. The Secret Agent
This is another nominee from the International Film category. It is interesting, but also very subtle and intricate. I couldn’t fully enjoy the movie because I lack knowledge about Brazil and its dictatorship era. For comparison, I’m Still Here, which was nominated for Best Picture in 2025 and also depicts life during Brazil’s dictatorship, moved me more because its story is clearer and more straightforward. The Secret Agent, however, is more complex and symbolic. I struggled to understand certain elements — for example, the meaning of the Janus cat, or the significance of the hairy legs shown in the film. I later searched online and learned that the hairy legs refer to an urban legend in that Brazilian city at the time. Because I didn’t know that background, those scenes simply felt confusing to me. This film probably requires more cultural understanding to fully appreciate it. I might return to it in a few years when I know more about that history.
10. Frankenstein
This film largely follows the classic Frankenstein story, but with the latest technology and the large budget of Netflix. It reminded me of Poor Things, since both stories explore themes of artificially created humans struggling with identity. Is this a popular theme these days? Anyway, I envy how quickly Frankenstein learns English. He becomes fluent much faster than I ever did.
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