We had one film release this past weekend with the potential for Oscar nominations.

On the Rocks

With wide release after wide release leaving the 2020 marketplace, smaller films like this film from Oscar winner Sofia Coppola have an increased chance of Oscar recognition. On the Rocks reunites Coppola with her Oscar good luck charm Bill Murray, her film stars Murray as a playboy father to a young mother played by Rashida Jones.

This is Coppola’s seventh feature film and while she’s had a few misses, her filmography reads like an indie version of her fathers, a string of well regarded cinematic accomplishments that began with 1999’s The Virgin Suicides. While she hasn’t had as big a hit as her second feature, Lost in Translation, she’s at least been seen at the Oscars since then with her third film, Marie Antoinette, which secured one Oscar nomination, which the film also won, for Best Costume Design.

On the Rocks marks a return to the present and has already been earning solid reviews. Comparisons to Lost in Translation will be numerous as that film also starred Murray. That film was also a huge hit with the Academy, scoring four Oscar nominations. One for Murray and three for Coppola as writer, director, and producer. She won the Original Screenplay Oscar. It was also on the cusp of a nomination for co-star Scarlett Johansson, but Johansson just barely missed the Best Actress category, where Johansson finally earned her first of two Oscar nominations last year for Marriage Story (she was also nominated for Jojo Rabbit, a rare feat for an actress in this day and age).

Could Coppola’s film succeed in the same way Lost in Translation did? The 74 rating at Metacritic suggests that she could, but that’s quite a bit under her Translation score from the same aggregator, 89. The weaker competition might just help this time around.