Best Picture lineup by the time Oscar nominations were announced. Even after its critical acclaim and recognition at the Golden Globes, most - myself included - were still shy to predict I'm Still Here would be one of the ten nominees, and yet it was.

That recognition meant I'm Still Here had a shot to win Best Picture, technically, even if that outcome did not appear likely. I even put the movie in the "Just Happy To Be Nominated" category in my Best Picture Tier Ranking. The three Oscar nominations that the movie received helped bring more attention to an international drama than would have come otherwise. It's helped make Fernanda Torres a more recognizable actress and made waves for Brazilian cinema. While it's not considered a legitimate candidate to win Best Picture, one record suggests it should be.

I'm Still Here Has The Highest Rotten Tomatoes Score Among The Oscars 2025 Best Picture Nominees

The Movie Earned Wide Critical Praise

Most of the Best Picture nominees in 2025 are movies that achieved a certain level of critical acclaim. All are fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and have achieved Certified Fresh status with critics. However, I'm Still Here is in the best position of all the nominees. I'm Still Here's 97% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes is the highest among the Best Picture nominees. It's a full four percentage points higher than the next best film. If that wasn't impressive enough, I'm Still Here's audience score of 97% is also the highest from the ten nominated movies.

The critical praise for I'm Still Here is not a fluke or a matter of the film not having a big enough pool of reviews to pull from. However, it is worth noting that the movie has the fewest reviews among the ten films, with 166 reviews counted on the aggregator. It and Nickel Boys are the only films with less than 200 reviews, and all but them and Emilia Pérez have over 300 reviews. I'm Still Here's average review score of 8.3 is also lower than Anora (8.5), The Brutalist (8.7), Dune: Part Two (8.4), and Nickel Boys (8.4).

I'm Still Here Is Unlikely To Win Best Picture Despite Its Incredible Critical Acclaim

Critics Don't Vote On The Oscars

Academy share the love that critics have for I'm Still Here, otherwise it would not have earned a spot among the Best Picture nominees. That makes I'm Still Here's Best Picture nomination status as a not-realistic contender to win a bit perplexing at first. However, there is a big difference between getting good reviews and being a Best Picture nominee, let alone winning the award. Winning Best Picture requires having a good amount of funding for campaigning, a strong narrative push, and/or loads of from nominations and wins in other categories.

I'm Still Here may have the of the Brazilian movie scene, but Sony Pictures has not managed to turn it into a bigger contender. International films have a tough time winning Best Picture historically, and most winners in this category have a lot more than two other nominations. I'm Still Here may not win Best Picture at the Oscars 2025, but at least it can say it holds a record among its fellow nominees.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes