Every year, cinephiles tune in to their televisions to watch the Academy Awards, to see great works of art from last year receive their fair recognition and the chance to be canonized in film history. My thoughts on this year’s ceremony are down below, and I should start with the new host:
Conan O’Brien
Conan’s first time as an Oscars host went quite well. His monologue, while long, was quite funny. To be fair, most hosts would probably do a better job than Jimmy Kimmel, so Conan is a real step up. I sincerely hope that he returns to host again next year.
Now, on to the awards themselves, starting with:
“Anora”
Undoubtedly, the film that had the best night was Sean Baker’s “Anora,” winning five Oscars including Best Picture. Baker set an individual record for the most Oscars won in the same night for the same film at four, for producing (Best Picture), for Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and Best Film Editing. The film also becomes the third lowest grossing Best Picture winner ever, only beating 2020’s “Nomadland” and 2021’s “CODA” from the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mikey Madison also won Best Actress in an upset, which leads me to:
“The Substance”
Demi Moore was widely expected to prevail in Best Actress after her victories in the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG), and I was personally hoping that she would win. Ironically, a wizened star being overlooked in favor of a sexualized ‘hot’ new star is the exact plot of “The Substance,” so this loss is sadly quite fitting. At least the film was able to win for Best Makeup and Hairstyling over:
“Wicked”
The show started with a medley of songs from 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz” and 1978’s “The Wiz” performed by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, which went over quite well. I only predicted this film to win two awards, and I was proven correct. Paul Tazewell became the first Black man to win the Oscar for Best Costume Design, and Nathan Crowley finally won the Oscar for Best Production Design after his seventh nomination in the category. While some were hoping for Grande to surprisingly prevail in Best Supporting Actress, the award instead went to:
“Emilia Pérez”
Although some people doubted that Zoe Saldaña would win after the unmitigated PR disaster that was Karla Sofía Gascón’s racist tweets, her sweeping victory at every single major precursor enabled her to coast to an easy victory. Saldaña’s speech was surprisingly heartfelt and moving, pointing out how this makes her the first person of Dominican descent to win an Academy Award. This is something that could not be said for when the film also won Best Original Song for “El Mal.” The award went to three people: The film’s director Jacques Audiard, and the composers Clément Ducol and Camille (who previously worked as the vocalist for 2007’s “Ratatouille”). Camille’s long-winded remarks and vocalizations led to one of the few times that the orchestra began playing to move them off the stage. The only other Oscar the movie was still in contention to win was for Best International Feature Film, for the nation of France, but it instead went to:
“I’m Still Here”
After a shocking nomination for Best Picture, the race to win Best International Feature Film became competitive for the first time in almost a decade. Despite this film only receiving three nominations, it prevailed over the thirteen nomination juggernaut of “Emilia Pérez.” This has now become the first ever Brazilian movie to win an Academy Award, which I see as quite fitting. This film’s message of standing up to authoritarianism is deeply personal to Brazil, but there is at least one other Best Picture nominee that shares a similar theme:
“Dune: Part Two”
When the first “Dune” film premiered in 2021, it won six Oscars at the 94th Academy Awards. Now on the series’ second time around, it was only able to pick up a third of its original win total. Its victory in Best Visual Effects was all but assured, but its win for Best Sound came at the expense of another Best Picture nominee starring Timothée Chalamet:
“A Complete Unknown” (and “Nickel Boys”)
“A Complete Unknown” and “Nickel Boys” were the only two Best Picture nominees this year that failed to win a single Oscar in any category. Some did predict Timothée Chalamet to win Best Actor after his victory at the SAG awards, but he lost to Adrian Brody’s commanding performance in:
“The Brutalist”
After receiving rave reviews at the Venice Film Festival and winning the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama, “The Brutalist” was seen as an early Oscars front runner. In the end, it was only able to win three awards, Best Actor for Adrian Brody, Best Cinematography for Lol Crawley and Best Original Score for Daniel Blumberg. Interestingly, Brody actually broke the world record for the longest ever Oscars acceptance speech at five minutes and 40 seconds. He beat the previous record by ten seconds, held by Greer Garson who won Best Actress for her role in the 1942 Best Picture winner “Mrs. Miniver.” Brady Corbet did win the award for Best Director at the BAFTAs, but lost Best Film there to:
“Conclave”
With victories at BAFTA and the crucial win of the SAG Ensemble Award, many people predicted that “Conclave” was the runner-up for Best Picture this year. But “Anora’s” performance was so strong that “Conclave” was only able to win a single Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Peter Straughan. The only other film to win Best Screenplay at BAFTA this year was:
“A Real Pain”
Despite shockingly missing out on a Best Picture nomination, this co-production between America and Poland was able to win the Academy Award of the night for Best Supporting Actor for its star, Kieran Culkin. His long-winded and hilarious speech to his wife was certainly a tough act to follow. “A Real Pain” was one of my favorite movies from last year, and the next category to be presented also had another internationally produced film that won an above the line Oscar. That being:
“Flow”
In what could be the biggest upset of the night, the independently produced “Flow” won Best Animated Feature over DreamWorks’ “The Wild Robot.” I was not expecting the Academy to recognize the achievement of such a fine work of art, and this achievement bodes well for the future of animation as a medium. This also marks the first time that a film from the country of Latvia has ever won an Oscar! Another film that marks an Oscar first is:
“No Other Land”
The recipient for Best Documentary Feature Film goes to this Israeli and Palestinian documentary about settlements and internal displacements in the West Bank. What this win can hopefully achieve is encouraging both Israelis and Palestinians to find common ground to resolve their differences, much like the four directors of this film. It also marks the first time that a film from either Israel or Palestine has ever won an Oscar. Now, onto:
The Short Films
The most notable of the short films from this year would be the live action Dutch film “I’m Not a Robot,” about a woman who learns that she may not be human after repeatedly failing an online captcha test. Best Animated Short Film went to “In the Shadow of the Cypress” from Iran. It follows a father who is dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and his daughter, who cares for a whale that was beached on the shoreline. Finally, Best Documentary Short Film went to “The Only Girl in the Orchestra,” about the life of Orin O’Brien, the first female member of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Interestingly, O’Brien is the daughter of silent movie star George O’Brien. He is most famous for his leading role in 1927’s “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans,” which won the equivalent to Best Picture at the very first Oscars ceremony in 1929.
The Live Performances
One of the most baffling decisions made for the telecast was to include a prolonged tribute to “James Bond” for the second time in four years. Even as someone who appreciates Bond, watching performers who have nothing to do with cinema wasting seven minutes of my time was still infuriating. Why would I care about some singer named RAYE’s performance of the Academy Award winning 2012 song “Skyfall” when they could have just asked Adele? Margaret Qualley (co-star of “The Substance”) also inexplicably showed up as a dancing Bond girl, which thankfully didn’t make the show any worse.
My Final Thoughts
Overall, this was a good Oscar ceremony. I can’t say that I particularly disagreed with any of the Academy Award winners this year, and I hope that next year’s ceremony will be just as good.
