The 97th Oscars recently aired and there were sweeps, surprises, and plenty of snubs. From Anora gaining a ton of traction, to Timothée Chalamet losing another Best Actor award, this year’s ceremony was full of memorable moments.
But what are the Oscars? The Oscars is an award show that happens every year to give out awards to the best movies, and documentaries that came out that year, highlighting the talent of actors, directors, sound producers, writers, and more on their accomplishments within the films. In total, there are 23 categories that filmmakers can win a gold statue in.
This year, a lot of the same films were nominated in many categories, with front runners being Anora, The Brutalist, Emilia Pérez, and Conclave. All of these films tackled many different subjects, all of which offered fresh perspectives from storytellers worldwide.
While there are many different categories within this award show, the big three are the Best Actor and Actress in a Leading Role and Best Picture winners. This year, the race to be the one to win was tough, with each of the movies in these categories winning many different awards at other ceremonies and receiving different attention from the public.
Best Actor
To start, the Best Actor in a Leading Role category. With five incredible performances by many talented actors, I hoped that Colman Domingo would have taken home the prize for his fantastic performance in Sing Sing, or Ralph Fiennes would have beaten him out in his role as Cardinal Lawerence in Conclave. Many people were also rooting for Timothée Chalamet to finally win an Oscar as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. However, in the end, Adrien Brody took home the winning slot, playing a Hungarian architect and holocaust survivor.
This is Brody’s second win in the Leading Actor category, which he celebrated by beating the record for the longest speech in Academy Award history, with his lasting over five and a half minutes.
BEST ACTRESS
Next was the race for Best Actress in a Leading Role. This race was also very close with insane performances in all different types of films.
I was rooting for either Mikey Madison to take home the statue for Anora, one of my favorite films of the year, or Demi Moore for her crazy and thought-provoking performance in The Substance. I was also secretly rooting for Cynthia Erivo or Fernanda Torres for their amazing performances in Wicked and I’m Still Here.
However, the award did end up going to Mikey Madison for Anora, which was amazing to see. Madison is only 25 years old, becoming the youngest woman to win in her category. I absolutely can’t wait to see what else she is going to do.
BEST PICTURE
Finally, the biggest award of the night. The race for this coveted title was extremely close, and I loved practically all of these movies. With 10 movies fighting it out for the first spot, I found it hard to pick my favorite one. I even saw almost all of them and still couldn’t make up my mind on who should win.
Before the award was announced, I had my favorite three: Anora, Conclave, and I’m Still Here. All three films have been on my mind since I watched them, and I haven’t been able to forget about them. I also had a sneaking suspicion that The Brutalist could have taken this prize, as the Academy Awards loves films like it.
But in the end, Anora won Best Picture. By the end of the night, Anora had won five Oscar trophies, sweeping many of the big categories of the night
Overall, this was a fantastic night, filled with music, funny skits, and new records being set.
I can’t wait to see what happens next year and what films will be fighting it out to win the highly sought-after Oscar.
Want to keep up with HCBU? Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, check out our Pinterest board, watch us on TikTok, and read our latest Tweets!