We had four films release over the last few weeks that have the potential for Oscar nominations. Here we discuss the features that released during our Oscar season coverage. Films like Birds of Prey and Dolittle flamed out at the box office, so even though they would have been Oscar contenders in a general sense, they don’t appear to be contending for much of anything at present.

The Assistant

With an early festival debut, this look at sexual harassment in the workplace has garnered strong early attention from critics. 89% from Rotten Tomatoes and 77 rating from MetaCritic suggest the film is doing well enough that it could enter the conversation. The problem is, the film’s public scores have been terrible, one of those rare instances where audiences utterly disagree with critics and that could harm the film’s potential.

Julia Garner stars as a college graduate who goes to work in the powerful entertainment industry figure and suffers through a full day of harassment, the likes of which only deepen when she finally stands up for herself. It’s a piece that speaks to Hollywood’s recent struggles revealed through the #MeToo movement that highlights the depths to which misogyny and sexism permeates every industry, including the most liberal of all industries.

The film’s big problem is that it’s opening far too early for an Oscar contender. Most films that release prior to summer struggle to retain the attention of Oscar voters through the entire season. There’s always a more important film lurking on the horizon. This film will desperately need support form critics at the end of the year to make it to the Oscars, but right now, the film has the remotest chance of getting nominated. The other problem for the film is that its director hasn’t yet made a name for herself. This film will probably do that, but it will take another prominent effort (or many) to really bring her into the fold.

Ordinary Love

Speaking of films with Oscar potential that are entering the conversation too early, Ordinary Love stars Oscar nominees Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville has a 72 score on MetaCritic and a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. Those numbers are strong enough to keep the film in the conversation for a couple of months, but maybe not for an entire season.

The film revolves around the enduring love of this couple who face the tough diagnosis of breast cancer, which will test and ultimately reaffirm their passion for one another. We’ve seen this story countless times and the likelihood of its resonance paling in comparison to others is high.

Oscar loves stories of adversity, especially of couples facing deadly diagnoses and Neeson and Manville, being past Oscar nominees, certainly have the potential to ride a smaller wave to the end of the year for the year for the Oscars. The problem is that even the strongest performances (see Julianne Moore for Gloria Bell last year) have an uphill battle when trying to keep momentum going for most of the year. Without a prominent name behind the camera, the film will also have to rely on critical support to keep its fortunes going and I suspect it will ultimately be forgotten by year’s end.