It’s the same thing every year now. Outsiders invite themselves to the Oscars ceremony to shake up the established order and sometimes grab statuettes from the nose and beard of the big names in Hollywood. Last year is the movie Coda, Franco-American remake of The Aries Family who had created the surprise by winning three Oscars including the prestigious one for best film. And at the same time allowed Apple TV + to become the first platform to win an Oscar in the queen category for best feature film.

The 95th ceremony which takes place on the night of Sunday March 12 to Monday March 13, broadcast live by Canal +, could once again deliver an unexpected prize list since it is two outsiders who are at the top of the nominations alongside the big productions of the year last as Avatar. The way of the water, Top Gun. maverick, The Fabelmans or Elvis. With, as announced big favourite, Everything Everywhere All at Once, by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan. This independent action film, with a modest budget compared to studio productions – 25 million dollars – was the surprise success of last spring in the United States and totaled 11 nominations.

An unexpected success at the box office

Produced by A24, a New York company that finances the cream of independent filmmakers (Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig, the Safdie brothers), the film features an overexcited Michelle Yeoh as a laundromat owner who is crumbling under debt and finds herself projected in parallel worlds – the multiverse – where she must face familiar enemies (her tax inspector, her daughter, etc.) to better save a hitherto slightly dysfunctional family.

Second degree assumed, minimal special effects, outrageous aesthetics: the two directors revisit with a certain humor the codes of blockbusters to produce a parody of a martial arts film which ends up getting caught up in the game and transforming itself into great entertainment. audience. And it works, since in addition to its success at the box office, the film has already collected numerous awards in the United States, including two Golden Globes for the performance of Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan.

Immersive dive in the trenches

Another outsider that we did not expect there, In the west, nothing is new, by Edward Berger. This new adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, produced by Netflix, comes in second with nine nominations tied with The Banshees of Inisherin, by Martin McDonagh. A feat for a work in a foreign language, shot entirely in German. In recent years, it is true, some foreign films like ParasiteSouth Korean Bong Joon-ho, Rome by Alfonso Cuarón or Drive my Car Japanese Ryusuke Hamaguchi managed to slip into the main nominations.

Immersive dive into the trenches alongside a German soldier, this spectacular film confronts us crudely with the butchery of 1914-1918 and shows all the absurdity of this war of position. This adaptation of the great post-war pacifist novel is however too literal to really convince. And, like 1917by Sam Mendes, sacrifices its subject to technical performance. Perhaps because of his remarks, which echo the war in Ukraine, he has however been able to find his supporters since he has already won seven Bafa trophies, the equivalent of the British Césars, including that of best film, Best Direction, Adaptation and Cinematography.

In any case, the games have never been so open, according to American specialist observers who have published their forecasts in recent days. Magazines variety And The Hollywood Reporter both place Everything Everywhere All at Once as the big favorite for the Best Picture category, while Cate Blanchett for her role in Tarby Todd Field and Michelle Yeoh could compete for the statuette of the best actress.

Austin Butler asElvis is given, him, winner in the category of the best actor and Steven Spielberg, in that of the best director.