Once again, lovers of cinema tune in from all around the world to watch the Academy Awards, and see the best films and artisans from last year receive their chance to be canonized in film history. This year is no exception, so let’s start with:
The Overall Ceremony
Conan O’Brien once again served as the host, and he managed to run a tight ship and pull off another successful Oscars. I normally dislike how overly long the opening monologues are, but starting off the show with a pastiche of “Weapons” was rather amusing. The in memoriam segment was also more moving than usual, particularly due to the sheer number of stars and creatives that passed last year and their associated tributes. But before we begin talking about the feature film winners, I will take a second to note the most statistically interesting event that took place at the ceremony:
IT’S A TIE, for Best Live Action Short
For only the seventh time in Oscars history, there has been a tie. The last time this happened was 13 years ago, when the now retired category Best Sound Editing was split between “Skyfall” and “Zero Dark Thirty.” Best Live Action Short was split between “The Singers” and “Two People Exchanging Saliva.” The Steve Hartman led film on the aftermath of school shootings “All the Empty Rooms” won Best Documentary Short, and “The Girl who Cried Pearls” won for Best Animated Short. “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” also won Best Documentary Feature, and is worth your time to check out. Now, let’s start with the first new Oscars category in 25 years:
Best Casting and “One Battle After Another”
The inaugural winner for Best Casting went to Casandra Kulukundis. In addition to winning Casting, “One Battle After Another” picked up five additional wins, including Best Picture, the most of any film that night. Paul Thomas Anderson personally won three awards, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and for producing (Best Picture). This breaks his streak of 14 nominations without a win. Andy Jurgensen won for Best Editing, and Sean Penn won Best Supporting Actor (despite not being there to accept his award), becoming only the eighth person to have won three or more Acting Oscars. Some also thought that Teyana Taylor was in contention to win Best Supporting Actress, but the award instead went to:
“Weapons”
The only nomination and win that “Weapons” received was for Amy Madigan’s portrayal of the villainous “Aunt Gladys.” She delivered my favorite acceptance speech of the night, and her win will go down well in history. She also beat two different performances from:
“Sentimental Value”
This film only managed to win one award, Best International Feature for the country of Norway and its director, Joachim Trier. It is also the first time Norway has ever won this category. I did enjoy Renette Reinsve’s performance in the film, but she inevitably lost to:
“Hamnet”
The most predictable win of the night was when Jessie Buckley won Best Actress for her commanding performance as Agnes Shakespeare. No one else in the category even had a chance, and she was a deserving winner. However, there was at least one woman who also won that night who managed to make history:
Autumn Durald Arkapaw
With Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s victory for Best Cinematography, women have now won in all categories in which they can be nominated. Ironically, as Casandra Kulukindis is now the only winner for Best Casting and a woman, the same is not true for men. Arkapaw was my preferred winner in the category, and this is my favorite win of the night. The film she won for also picked up three other wins:
“Sinners”
Ryan Coogler may have lost Best Director, but he did win Best Original Screenplay as a consolation prize. The film’s star Michael B. Jordan managed to pull off a last second win for Best Actor over Timothée Chalamet, and Ludwig Göransson won his third Oscar for Original Score. Göransson was also nominated for Best Original Song, but he lost to:
“KPop Demon Hunters”
Although it was only nominated in two categories, Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song, it managed to win both of them. Unfortunately, both acceptance speeches for the film were cut off abruptly, leading to some criticism online. I am not advocating for everyone to become the next Adrian Brody, but everyone should at least get a chance to speak even if it causes the ceremony to be a few minutes longer. Netflix’s only other film that won several awards was:
“Frankenstein”
“Frankenstein” only picked up three wins in below the line categories, for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Production Design and Best Costume Design. They are all fine wins, and the only other Best Picture nominee to win anything was:
“F1”
“F1” only managed to pick up a single win for Best Sound, but as it is a co-production between Warner Bros. and Apple, Warner Bros. was now involved in producing films that won 12 Oscars this year, setting the all time record for most wins in a single year by a studio. The film that beat it in Best Visual Effects was:
“Avatar: Fire and Ash”
The final award on this list was also one of the most locked. Even though the film missed a Best Picture nomination like the previous two “Avatar” films, there was never any doubt as to who would win the VFX Oscar. The work that James Cameron’s team did is just years beyond anything else being done in Hollywood, even if the film itself could have been better.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this year’s Oscars ceremony and the winners were largely an improvement over last year, and here’s to the 99th Academy Awards being even better!
