Sunday, March 2, ended an eventful, and at times controversial awards season with the 97th Academy Awards, or as host Conan O’Brien called it, “the 97th long-form content awards.” It was a landmark cultural event, with multiple historic wins and over a billion viewers.
“Wicked” stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande opened the ceremony with a medley of Ozian heights, including “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” sung by Grande, and “Home” from “The Wiz” sung by Erivo, concluding with the two joining together for “Defying Gravity” to a standing ovation from the audience.
The broadcast then cut to host O’Brien’s daring cold open, in which he “respected the balance” and paid homage to Best Picture Nominee “The Substance” by climbing out of Demi Moore’s spine not once but twice (naturally) after losing his shoe. Oscars announcer and actor Nick Offerman then welcomed “four-time Oscar viewer” O’Brien to the mainstage, where the former “Late Night” host’s monologue brimmed with his signature goofy, off-beat wit.
As is tradition for award show hosts, O’Brien rattled off the different films nominated for Best Picture, in which he remarked on how much he enjoyed Sean Baker’s “Anora.” This unintentionally foreshadowed future Academy envelopes revealing Baker’s film as the winner of five awards, including Best Picture and Best Actress, which went to Mikey Madison.
Along with those two wins, “Anora” made a surprising sweep and took home Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director. Baker championed independent filmmaking all three times he was onstage. In an emphatic speech after winning Best Picture, Baker said “this movie was made on the blood, sweat and tears of independent artists. Long live independent film!” Notably, “Anora” is the lowest-grossing film to win for Best Picture, an impressive feat and win for independent cinema.
Admittedly, I was rooting for the pope-off of the century, “Conclave,” to win more awards than it did, and was disappointed when it went home with only one, Best Adapted Screenplay. Regardless, I was happy it was critically acclaimed; Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci’s bromance is one for the ages.
Though O’Brien did his best to highlight the unsung hard-workers of Hollywood who operate behind the camera, such as production designers, make-up artists and cinematographers, ultimately the broadcast cut off multiple award-winners, like the sound design team from “Dune 2,” who were not obvious, A-list celebrities. It was disappointing to see behind-the-scenes people not get their chance to shine on the Oscars stage, despite being lauded earlier in the ceremony.
Luckily, this shout-out from O’Brien’s monologue did have its poignant moment when Paul Tazwell won Best Costume Design for his work on “Wicked.” Tazwell made history as the first Black man to ever win this award, by far a worthy win.
Another landmark moment came when “No Other Land, a collaboration between Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers, won Best Documentary Feature Film. Witnessing both Palestinian and Israeli artists standing on stage together as they made a statement at the Academy Awards against the ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza was powerful, particularly given that filming for this documentary ended shortly before Oct. 7, 2023.
More historic firsts came with “I’m Still Here,” starring Best Actress nominee Fernanda Torres, which became the first Brazilian film to win the award for Best International Feature Film. Another film, “Flow,” became the first Latvian film to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Some major awards of the night, including Best Supporting Actor and Actress in a Motion Picture, went to Kieran Culkin for his role in “A Real Pain” and Zoe Saldaña for “Emilia Pérez,” who is now the first American of Dominican descent to win an Oscar.
Saldaña was arguably the best actress in a poor excuse for a movie musical set in Mexico that featured no Mexican actors and was filmed in France. It’s truly one of the worst films I’ve ever had the displeasure of viewing.
Speaking of displeasures, another win for “Emilia Pérez” came in the Best Original Song category for “El Mal,” a song rife with terrible lyricism, bad choreography and an even worse acceptance speech. Songwriters Clément Ducol and Camille awkwardly sang as they accepted their award, fueling my, and the rest of the Oscars’ audience’s, second-hand embarrassment.
While it unfortunately did not take home Best Picture or Actress in a Motion Picture, Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance” won for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, which was much deserved, and “Dune 2” won accolades for Best Sound Design and Visual Effects. I wished “The Substance” received more love from the Academy, particularly for Demi Moore, who very much deserves her flowers after a successful career spanning decades.
By now, everyone and their mother has poked fun at Best Actor winner Adrien Brody for his own historic moment during the show: the longest-running acceptance speech in Oscars’ history, clocking in at five minutes and 40 seconds. Viewers could tell that 2024 Best Actor winner Cillian Murphy really wanted to go home, and Brody just kept on talking.
The ceremony concluded with Madison being awarded Best Actress in a Motion Picture, and Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal presenting Baker and his “Anora” team with the Best Picture award. My own opinion is this: “Anora” was a great movie that had more comedic elements and scenes than I expected, which was a pleasant surprise. It was not worthy of Best Picture, an accolade that should have gone to “The Brutalist,” “Conclave” or “I’m Still Here.”
“Hollywood’s biggest night that starts at four in the afternoon” is always a spectacle that some find frivolous, and there’s always contentious debates as to whether or not one movie or one actor deserves to be nominated over the other. Regardless, I thought Sunday night’s ceremony was full of elaborate fun, and it certainly subverted my expectations. The broadcast’s eventful nature re-emphasized a fact that will always ring true for me: the best and most anticipated season of the year will always be awards. Fall’s cool, too, though.
