Jordan Firstman – Through the Shattered Lens

Don’t be alarmed but the first of the precursor award nominations were announced yesterday. The Gothams aren’t exactly the most reliable of the Oscar precursors and a lot of the potential Oscar nominees aren’t even eligible for a Gotham but, if you’re a low-budget indie film looking to score a Best Picture nomination, winning a Gotham is a nice way to start Awards Season.

(Winning seems to be the key here. As James Gray can attest, just getting a nomination doesn’t do much.)

Here are the 36th Annual Gotham Nominations.

Best Feature

Clarissa

Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri, directors; Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri, Theresa Park, Nicholas Weinstock, producers (NEON)

Club Kid

Jordan Firstman, director; Michael Bloom, Alex Coco, Galen Core, Ryan Heller, producers (A24)

The Debut

Jesse Eisenberg, director; Jesse Eisenberg, Ali Herting, Dave McCary, Emma Stone, producers (A24)

Dreams in Nightmares

Shatara Michelle Ford, director; Naima Abed, Shatara Michelle Ford, Pin-Chun Liu, producers (Lunette Films)

The Invite

Olivia Wilde, director; Ben Browning, Megan Ellison, David Permut, producers (A24)

Josephine

Beth de Araújo, director; Beth de Araújo, Josh Beirne-Golden, Gemma Chan, David Kaplan, Josh Peters, Jordan Rapaport, Mark H. Rapaport, Robina Riccitiello, Marina Stabile, Channing Tatum, Crystine Zhang, producers (Sumerian Pictures)

Mouse

Kelly O’Sullivan, Alex Thompson, directors; Bonnie Comley, Pierce Cravens, Steven A. Jones, Ian Keiser, Chelsea Krant, Stewart F. Lane, Abigail Rose Solomon, Alex Thompson, Alex Wilson, producers (Independent Film Company)

Paper Tiger

James Gray, director; Andrea Bucko, Leonardo Maria del Vecchio, Gary Farkas, James Gray, Anthony Katagas, Andrea Leone, Raffaella Leone, Marco Perego, Carlo Salem, Rodrigo Teixeira, producers (NEON)

Primetime

Lance Oppenheim, director; Ari Aster, Fred Berger, William Iannaccone, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Lars Knudsen, Brighton McCloskey, Robert Pattinson, producers (A24)

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

Jane Schoenbrun, director; Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, producers (MUBI)

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother

Bassam Tariq, director; Babak Anvari, Bassam Tariq, Lucan Toh, producers (Amazon MGM Studios)

Best International Feature

All of A Sudden

Ryusuke Hamaguchi, director; Julien Deris, David Gauquié, Kosuke Oshida, Yuji Sadai, producers (NEON)

Ben’Imana

Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, director; Samantha Biffot, Pierre-Adrien Ceccaldi, Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, Marie Epiphanie Uwayezu, producers (Alexander)

Blue Heron

Sophy Romvari, director; Ryan Bobkin, Sara Wylie, Sophy Romvari, Gábor Osváth, producers (Janus Films)

Everytime

Sandra Wollner, director; David Bohun, Lixi Frank, Viktoria Stolpe, producers (1-2 Special)

Fatherland

Pawel Pawlikowski, director; Edward Berger, Lorenzo Gangarossa, Mario Gianani, Lorenzo Mieli, Ewa Puszczynska, Dimitri Rassam, Jeanne Tremsal, producers (MUBI)

Filipiñana

Rafael Manuel, director; Bianca Balbuena, Jeremy Chua, Omar El Kadi, Bradley Liew, Rafael Manuel, Alex Polunin, Nadia Turincev, producers (Kino Lorber)

La Gradiva

Marine Atlan, director; Inès Daïen Dasi, producer (1-2 Special)

Minotaur

Andrey Zvyagintsev, director; Charles Gillibert, Nathanaël Karmitz, Marco Perego, Andrey Zvyagintsev, producers (MUBI)

Possible Love

Lee Chang-dong, director; Lee Joon-dong, Lee Chang-dong, David Levine, Chadwick Prichard, producers (Netflix)

Tender Loving Care

Mike Leigh, director; Georgina Lowe, producer (Bleecker Street)

Best Documentary Feature

Closure

Michal Marczak, director; Monika Braid, Rémi Grellety, Karolina Marczak, Michal Marczak, Katarzyna Szczerba, producers (1-2 Special)

A Fox Under a Pink Moon

Soraya Akhlaghi, Mehrdad Oskouei, directors; Siavash Jamali, Mehrdad Oskouei, producers (Kino Lorber)

NAZA

Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, directors; Harry Davies, Lindsay Poulton, James Wilson, producers (NEON)

Once Upon a Time in Harlem

David Greaves, director; Anne de Mare, Liani Greaves, producers (NEON)

You Can See Everything

Nathan Fielder, Lance Oppenheim, directors; Maggie Ambrose, Tatiana Bears, Jack Davis, Nathan Fielder, Lance Oppenheim, producers (A24)

Best Director

Ryusuke Hamaguchi, All of a Sudden (NEON)

Sandra Wollner, Everytime (1-2 Special)

Andrey Zvyagintsev, Minotaur (MUBI)

Jane Schoenbrun, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (MUBI)

Mike Leigh, Tender Loving Care (Bleecker Street)

Breakthrough Director

Sophy Romvari, Blue Heron (Janus Films)

Jordan Firstman, Club Kid (A24)

Aleshea Harris, Is God Is (Amazon MGM Studios)

Marine Atlan, La Gradiva (1-2 Special)

Joel Alfonso Vargas, Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo) (Oscilloscope Laboratories)

John Early, Maddie’s Secret (Magnolia Pictures)

Best Original Screenplay

Everytime, Sandra Wollner (1-2 Special)

La Gradiva, Marine Atlan, Anne Brouillet (1-2 Special)

Possible Love, Lee Chang-dong, Oh Jung-mi (Netflix)

Tender Loving Care, Mike Leigh (Bleecker Street)

Wild Horse Nine, Martin McDonagh (Searchlight Pictures)

Best Adapted Screenplay

All of a Sudden, Ryusuke Hamaguchi (NEON)

Clarissa, Chuko Esiri (NEON)

The Invite, Rashida Jones, Will McCormack (A24)

Minotaur, Simon Lyashenko, Andrey Zvyagintsev (MUBI)

Primetime, Ajon Singh (A24)

Outstanding Lead Performance

Mahershala Ali, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother (Amazon MGM Studios)

Gillian Anderson, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (MUBI)

Jeon Do-yeon, Possible Love (Netflix)

John Early, Maddie’s Secret (Magnolia Pictures)

John Malkovich, Wild Horse Nine (Searchlight Pictures)

Ian McKellen, The Christophers (NEON)

Julianne Moore, The Debut (A24)

Sophie Okonedo, Clarissa (NEON)

Andrew Scott, Elsinore (Focus Features)

John Turturro, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York (Sony Pictures Classics)

Outstanding Supporting Performance

Tom Courtenay, Queen at Sea (Greenwich Entertainment)

Esmé Creed-Miles, Sense and Sensibility (Focus Features)

Penélope Cruz, The Invite (A24)

Adam Driver, Paper Tiger (NEON)

Andrew Garfield, Artificial (NEON)

Skyler Gisondo, Primetime (A24)

Sandra Hüller, Fatherland (MUBI)

Kate O’Flynn, Tender Loving Care (Bleecker Street)

Tao Okamoto, All of a Sudden (NEON)

Channing Tatum, Josephine (Sumerian Pictures)

Breakthrough Performer

Adia, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother (Amazon MGM Studios)

India Amarteifio, Clarissa (NEON)

Guitarricadelafuente, La Bola Negra (Netflix)

Colas Quignard, La Gradiva (1-2 Special)

Mason Reeves, Josephine (Sumerian Pictures)

Gotham Audience Award

Backrooms

Kane Parsons, director; Kori Adelson, Michael Clear, Dan Cohen, Chris Ferguson, Dan Levine, Shawn Levy, Roberto Patino, Osgood Perkins, Jenno Topping, James Wan, producers (A24)

La Bola Negra

Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo, directors; Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo, producers (Netflix)

The Drama

Kristoffer Borgli, director; Ari Aster, Lars Knudsen, Tyler Campellone, producers (A24)

The Invite

Olivia Wilde, director; Ben Browning, Megan Ellison, David Permut, producers (A24)

Michael

Antoine Fuqua, director; John Branca, John McClain, Graham King, producers (Lionsgate)

Obsession

Curry Barker, director; James Harris, Haley Nicole Johnson, Christian Mercuri, Roman Viaris, producers (Focus Features)

Project Hail Mary

Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, directors; Ryan Gosling, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Rachel O’Connor, Amy Pascal, Aditya Sood, Andy Weir, producers (Amazon MGM Studios)
You Can See Everything

Nathan Fielder, Lance Oppenheim, directors; Maggie Ambrose, Tatiana Bears, Jack Davis, Nathan Fielder, Lance Oppenheim, producers (A24)

The winners will be revealed on November 30th, 2026.

Ezra Cohen (Jonah Hill) and Amirah Mohammed (Lauren London) have been dating for six months. Ezra is a Jewish atheist who works at a brokerage firm but who says his lifelong dream has been to be a podcaster. Lauren is Black and a devout Muslim. A graduate of Howard University, she is pursuing a career as a designer. Despite coming from very different backgrounds, Ezra and Amirah are deeply in love and want to get married. However, becoming engaged also means …. MEETING THE PARENTS!

Shelley and Arnold Cohen (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and David Duchovny) are self-styled progressives who immediately embarrass Ezra by going out of their way to trying to show how liberal and non-racist they are. Shelley, in particular, goes out of her way to bond with Amirah but it’s immediately obvious that Shelley views Amirah as being more someone to show off than as an actual human being. Meanwhile, Akbar Mohammed and Fatima Mohammed (played by Eddie Murphy and Nia Long) are members of the Nation of Islam who admire Louis Farrakhan and who claim that the Jews were behind the slave trade.

Just from that plot description, you can see a huge part of the problem with the new film, You People. Whereas Shelley’s problem is that she’s too quick to brag about how much she loves the idea of having a black daughter-in-law, Akbar’s problem is that he’s an anti-Semite. His main objections to Ezra are that 1) Ezra isn’t black and 2) Ezra’s Jewish. While Shelley takes Amirah shopping, Akbar tries to get Ezra killed by tricking him into wearing “the wrong colors” to a barbershop. While Shelley shows off Amirah to all of her liberal friends, Akbar shoves Ezra onto a basketball court. While Shelley is awkwardly trying to prove that she’s an ally, Akbar is inviting himself to Ezra’s wild Las Vegas bachelor party. (Akbar is disturbed to discover that Ezra has a “coke guy.” If this film had been made ten years ago, Ezra would have had a weed guy and it would have been easier to buy the film’s contention that Akbar is being unreasonable.) Shelley is certainly obnoxious and she fully deserves to get called out for her behavior. But Akbar is an anti-Semite who peddles the type of conspiracy theories that have been at the center of the alarming rise in recent hate crimes. Whereas Shelley is clueless, Akbar is actually malicious. And while that’s a story that one certainly could try to tell, it also makes it a bit difficult to buy the film’s fanciful ending. The movie ultimately can’t decide if it wants to be a fearless satire of race relations or a feel-good romcom. The tone of the film switches from scene to scene and Kenya Barris’s direction is so inconsistent that he makes Judd Apatow look like a disciplined filmmaker by comparison.

The cast is full of talent but the characters are largely one-dimensional. Jonah Hill is undoubtedly a good actor but he’s also nearly 40 years old and, with his full beard, he looks about ten years older, which makes it a bit hard to believe that he would be that concerned with getting the approval of his future in-laws. At first, a role of Akbar would seem ideal for Eddie Murphy but, with the exception of a scene where Akbar quizzes Ezra on his favorite Jay-Z song in an attempt to trick Ezra into saying the “n-word,” Murphy doesn’t really get to do much other than stand around with a pained expression on his face. Probably the most interesting performance in the film comes from Mike Epps, who plays Akbar’s brother and who is one of the few characters willing to call everyone out on their hypocrisy. But, unfortunately, Epps is only in a handful of scenes and the film uses him as more of a dramatic device than a fully rounded character.

As I watched You People, I couldn’t help but think about another film about an interracial wedding, Rachel Getting Married. That film provided a believable and multi-layered look at two different cultures coming together. You People, however, can’t quite make up its mind what it believes or what it wants to say and, unfortunately, what it does say is often said with a surprising lack of self-awareness. At times, it’s so proud of itself that it feels like it almost could have been written by Shelley Cohen.

You People is streaming on Netflix.