After last Sunday’s Critics’ Choice Awards officially kicked off the awards-season calendar, the road ahead is now clearly marked—Golden Globes next, Academy Awards after that. And every year around this time, the same question seems to surface among casual movie fans: What are these movies everyone keeps talking about, and how have I never heard of them?
You can almost hear the conversations unfolding around office lunch tables. Have you seen that one yet? What’s it about? Is it any good? Should I stream it, or do I actually need to go see it in a theater? For anyone who doesn’t follow film festivals or prestige releases year-round, awards season can feel like being dropped into the middle of a conversation already in progress.
So, for anyone looking to get their bearings, here are the films most likely to dominate awards chatter this season—particularly in acting, directing, screenplay, and Best Picture races.
Hamnet
Director: Chloé Zhao
Starring: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson
Adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s acclaimed novel, Hamnet imagines the life of William Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes, following the devastating loss of their young son. Rather than functioning as a literary biopic, the film focuses on grief, motherhood, marriage, and the way personal tragedy can quietly shape creativity.
The film is intimate and lyrical, but it’s Buckley’s performance that has emerged as the season’s defining turn. After winning the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actress, she enters the Golden Globes and Oscars as a clear frontrunner. Historically, this kind of early momentum often carries all the way through awards season, placing Hamnet firmly at the center of the Best Picture conversation.
Frankenstein
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz
Guillermo del Toro’s long-gestating adaptation of Frankenstein reframes Mary Shelley’s story not as horror, but as a deeply emotional meditation on creation, abandonment, and loneliness. Oscar Isaac stars as Victor Frankenstein, while Jacob Elordi’s portrayal of the Creature has become one of the most talked-about performances of the year.
Visually sumptuous and emotionally restrained, Frankenstein is a technical powerhouse—winning multiple Critics’ Choice Awards for production design, costume design, and makeup—while also positioning itself as a major acting contender. Elordi’s awards momentum after snagging a CCA, in particular, has turned the film into a late-season heavyweight.
One Battle After Another
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is a dense, politically charged ensemble drama that examines ideology, loyalty, and the cyclical nature of conflict. Inspired in part by Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland, the film resists easy explanation, prioritizing character psychology over narrative clarity.
That ambition has paid off with voters. The film dominated the awards circuit early, winning Best Picture at the Critics’ Choice Awards and earning a leading number of Golden Globe nominations. DiCaprio and Penn both deliver commanding performances, making this one of the season’s most formidable all-around contenders.
Train Dreams
Director: Clint Bentley
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones
Based on Denis Johnson’s novella, Train Dreams traces the life of a laborer in the early 20th-century American West, capturing decades through fleeting moments rather than dramatic milestones. It’s a quiet, meditative film about masculinity, memory, and impermanence.
Bentley directs with remarkable restraint, allowing Edgerton’s performance to carry the emotional weight. The film has earned recognition for its cinematography and score, and while it isn’t loud or flashy, this is exactly the kind of literary adaptation that often finds lasting appreciation among awards voters.
Bugonia
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons
Released under the title Bugonia, this surreal drama marks another collaboration between Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone. A loose remake of the Korean cult film Save the Green Planet!, the film explores paranoia, control, and power through a deliberately unsettling lens.
Stone and Plemons both earned Golden Globe nominations, and the film has sparked heated debate among critics. Polarizing by design, Bugonia is the kind of project that may not sweep awards but often sneaks into screenplay and acting categories.
Jay Kelly
Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: George Clooney, Adam Sandler
A character-driven drama about aging and unresolved regret, Jay Kelly centers on a fading movie star and his longtime manager as they confront who they were versus who they’ve become. Baumbach’s dialogue-heavy approach keeps the focus squarely on performance.
Clooney and Sandler both earned awards attention, with Sandler’s supporting turn continuing his quiet reinvention as a dramatic actor. These are the kinds of films that often surprise people on nomination morning.
Marty Supreme
Director: Josh Safdie
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tyler, The Creator
Inspired by real figures in competitive table tennis, Marty Supreme is loud, manic, and intentionally exhausting. Safdie brings his signature chaos to a story about obsession and ambition, while Chalamet delivers one of the most physically demanding performances of his career.
That intensity paid off with a Critics’ Choice win for Best Actor, cementing Chalamet as a major presence this awards season—even if the film itself divides opinion.
Song Sung Blue
Director: Craig Brewer
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson
Based on the documentary of the same name, Song Sung Blue follows a real-life Neil Diamond tribute duo whose shared love of music sustains them through life’s ups and downs. Part romance, part jukebox musical, it’s designed as an emotionally earnest crowd-pleaser.
While not a dominant awards force, Hudson earned a Golden Globe nomination, and the film stands out as one of the season’s most accessible offerings.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Director: Mary Bronstein
Starring: Rose Byrne, Conan O’Brien
Rounding out the list is one of the season’s most uncomfortable films. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is a darkly funny psychological dramedy about a woman unraveling under the weight of motherhood, work, and emotional collapse.
Rose Byrne’s performance has been widely praised, earning major festival awards and nominations. The film itself won’t be for everyone, but it’s exactly the kind of performance-driven project that awards bodies often recognize.
This article appears in Private: Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2026.