Another year, another Academy Awards!
Leading up to this year’s Academy Awards, this was the first time where I wasn’t outwardly excited for the event. The nominations were released late due to the L.A. wildfires in January, so there was less time to watch the movies, along with an incredibly packed February schedule I had. Last year I was able to watch all of the Best Picture nominations, though this year I missed out on three: A Complete Unknown, I’m Still Here, and Nickel Boys (yes, I unfortunately watched Emilia Perez).
Along with my own commitments, the Academy Awards was facing more controversy than I had seen in years. First, there was the problems with Emilia Perez, then the AI accusations for The Brutalist, and finally the Oscar judges not giving a f— when they were voting. It felt like the award show was in a downward spiral: one that I was ready to watch crash and burn until the very end.
After watching the nearly four-hour show, I can say that I was pleasantly surprised — in fact, I was ecstatic. Almost all the movies I wanted to win for certain awards did, I got to skip all the commercials since I started late, got to play catchup, and I didn’t have to watch any Best Original Song performances.
Here are the big moments of this year’s Academy Awards.
Host: Conan O’Brien
After the years of Jimmy Kimmel, I was ready for a change. While the witty jokes and simple monologue had sufficed, you can only watch it so many times before dreading the beginning of the program.
Conan O’Brien did exactly what he needed to do: he made hosting interesting again. From original jokes to a music number about not wasting time, it felt like a breath of fresh air. The joke about Dune’s sandworm kept me laughing and the joke about Karla Sofia Gascon was the biggest roast of the night.
I saw somewhere a viewer admiring O’Brien’s hosting because he was more of a performer rather than just a comedian. While Jimmy Kimmel could spit out jokes all day, O’Brien had the ability to truly entertain the audience. I hope to see him host another Oscars, or at least for the Academy to see the need for a good and original host.
Songs: No Best Original Song Performances
I’ve always hated the musical performances in the Academy Awards, and I’ve been quite vocal about it in past articles. I think it adds extra time to an already too-long show, especially when I’d rather that more time be allocated instead to introducing awards or jokes from the host.
This year, I was glad to see that they opted out of performing the songs from the Best Original Song category, mostly because I wouldn’t be able to handle two Emilia Perez songs in one night. That being said, they didn’t scrap the music altogether. Instead, we saw an opening dedicated to Wicked, and a James Bond tribute.
While the Wicked beginning felt acceptable because of its relevance, I could not get on board for any of the James Bond music. The sequence was way too long, and I couldn’t understand why the performance was even in the show. My friend said the tribute was due to the James Bond series being acquired by Amazon, but that still didn’t solve the question on why it was featured on the Academy Awards when there was nothing James Bond related in the nominations.
Though I do believe that movies outside of Oscar nominations deserve recognition, especially when snubbed of a nomination, the ceremony is ultimately about the current movies from the previous year. James Bond had its time, let’s talk about Babygirl instead.
Speeches Were Good…Except One
This year was a particularly good year for concise and short speeches from the winners, despite a few music cut offs from the technical awards. Maybe I’d feel different had I been the one winning the Oscar myself, but I’d try to make my speech as short as possible then get off the stage. My moment was winning the award, not saying the speech.
However, not every winner thought the same way.
Adrien Brody, the winner for Best Actor in The Brutalist, went up and spoke for five minutes and 36 seconds — setting the world record for longest acceptance speech at the Oscars. The speech never really talked about anything specific, saying a lot about nothing after finishing his obligatory thank yous. While other winners were played off stage within the minute, Brody pulled a reverse card and stopped the music from playing him off, just so he could continue talking for another few minutes. The action felt somewhat disrespectful to all the other winners, where if he got nearly six minutes of speaking time, maybe the other winners deserved that too.
Brody also spit out his gum and threw it to his partner right before walking up to the stage, which was one of the oddest and most talked-about moments that night.
Not Political, But…
Similar to last year, there was little politics brought up in O’Brien’s opening monologue or in other’s acceptance speeches. But unlike last year, a lot more has happened in the realm of politics. I’d argue that Trump’s first month as president created enough material for five Oscar opening monologues, yet it was pretty dry.
Not all was lost, however. No Other Land, a film that was never taken up by an American distributor, won Best Documentary and gave an important speech about unity and hate within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I’m Still Here winning Best International Film shed a light on the various corruption around the world, and how film can inspire and educate about local issues. O’Brien also brought up the LA Fire Department for a special recognition, where they received the longest standing ovation of the night.
It’s debatable if the Academy Awards should be political in the first place; it’s an award show about movies, and there’s no obligation to mention anything but the movies being honored. Maybe I’m in the wrong for wanting a little more political action, but I always feel like more could’ve been said…about something.
Anora Sweeps Big Awards
The best part of the night, which is why I felt so positive about the show, was who actually won the awards. In previous years, two movies had typically swept everything. Last year it was Oppenheimer and Poor Things winning more than half the awards, the year before that was Everything, Everywhere, All At Once and All Quiet on the Western Front doing the same. This year, the awards were more spread out, with Anora winning five out of its six nominations.
When I first watched Anora, it immediately became a favorite of mine for the movie season. It was hilarious and heartbreaking and wildly entertaining from start to finish — the end had me more depressed than any other movie I watched for the awards. It didn’t seem like there was much hope in it winning after leaving empty handed from the Golden Globes, but the main frontrunners started to have their own issues while Anora remained strong. Anora winning best picture felt like my favorite team winning the Superbowl. I was glad to see that Sean Baker had finally gotten his moment, after his incredible The Florida Project was extremely overlooked in 2017.
Along with Anora, The Brutalist picked up three awards, while Dune: Part Two, Emilia Perez and Wicked came away with two. Even though I believe Conclave deserved more, I’m glad it still got a win in Adapted Screenplay.
In Final
Though I waited until the opening monologue to finish filling out my predictions, I ended up getting 15/23 of them correct, which ties with the best I’ve ever done (I got the same amount right last year).
Overall, I experienced a lot of emotions from this year’s show. I definitely think that things would have been very different had I been rooting for Conclave rather than Anora or if Emilia Perez started sweeping awards, but since everything went my way, I ended the show in happy tears.
Every movie season I’m reminded why I put in all the effort I put into spreadsheets and prediction sheets — film is such a beautiful art form that can tell powerful stories and incite action and imagination. Though the Academy Awards is just one award show highlighting a small handful of movies, having the program keeps the industry alive and pours in funding and recognition for both the large industry and independent films alike. I’m excited for next year’s awards!