Echoing its success at the Cannes Film Festival, Critic’s Choice Awards and Independent Spirit Awards, Sean Baker’s “Anora” swept at the Oscars. The ceremony, which was held on March 2 at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, saw “Anora” win five awards: Best Picture, Best Actress (Mikey Madison), Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing and Best Director (all for Sean Baker). Close behind it was “The Brutalist” with three wins—Best Actor (Adrien Brody), Best Cinematography and Best Original Score—and “Emilia Pérez,” “Wicked” and “Dune: Part Two” with two each.
Hosted by Conan O’Brien and featuring several tributes, the longest acceptance speech in Oscars history and a “Wicked” opening performance by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, this year’s awards were quite the watch—as long as you weren’t watching the stream on Hulu, which ended before Best Actress and Best Picture were announced.
Besides (and including) the multiple wins of “Anora,” there were a number of noteworthy winners and speeches. Adrien Brody used his record-breaking 5 minute and 40 second speech (which he said would be brief—twice) to highlight the “precarious” nature of the acting profession; acknowledge the “lingering traumas” of antisemitism, racism, and othering; and call for people to “not let hate go unchecked” and “rebuild together.”
Mikey Madison, who beat out frontrunner Demi Moore for Best Actress—an outcome that some have compared to the plot of Moore’s “The Substance”—used her speech to give a shout-out to sex workers. Likewise, when receiving his award for Best Original Screenplay, Sean Baker thanked sex workers. He made history by being the first person to win four Academy Awards on the same night for the same movie, and used his numerous other speeches to thank the Oscars for honoring a “truly independent film,” highlight theaters and theatergoing as a “vital part of our culture,” encourage up-and-coming filmmakers to “keep making movies for the big screen” and wish his mother a happy birthday.
Following her win for Best Supporting Actress, Zoe Saldaña gave a very emotional acceptance speech, waving at her mom and claiming her Oscar as a “proud child of immigrant parents” and the first American recipient of Dominican origin. In the Oscars press room, she also apologized to Mexicans, some of whom found the movie’s portrayal of Mexico and its culture offensive, but said “the heart of this movie [“Emilia Pérez”] was not Mexico” and that the movie’s center of women and friendship could have taken place anywhere.
Saldaña’s win, and Kieran Culkin’s for Best Supporting Actor (“A Real Pain”), are slightly controversial as they could be considered examples of “category fraud”; their screen time and importance in their respective films means they are more akin to co-leads than supporting actors. Additionally, the ceremony has faced backlash about the exclusion of live performances of Best Original Song nominees—songwriter Diane Warren said the omission was “extremely disrespectful.” Perhaps it’s good that everyone was spared a live rendition of Oscar-winning “El Mal” from “Emilia Perez,” though.
This year’s ceremony included several tributes. Recognizing the impact of the recent Los Angeles wildfires, several firefighters were brought onstage to be honored and crack jokes about “Joker: Folie à Deux” and Timothée Chalamet. The ceremony also paid respect to people in the film industry who recently passed, including David Lynch, Dame Maggie Smith and Gene Hackman, whose death was discovered last week.
Though obviously heartfelt and appreciated, the In Memoriam tribute, presented by Morgan Freeman, has received criticism for leaving out the likes of Tony Todd, Mitzi Gaynor, Olivia Hussey, Shannen Doherty, Michelle Trachtenberg and Alain Delon, who also died recently. Additional comments have been directed at the accompanying music selection: Mozart's Requiem in D Minor, performed live by the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Eliana Dockterman, writing for Time Magazine, called it “unusually grim” and a commenter on YouTube said it “makes it feel like they’re gonna reveal the killer of these people at the end.”
There were musical tributes, as well. To honor Quincy Jones, who died last November, the ceremony featured Queen Latifah performing “Ease on Down the Road” from “The Wiz,” for which Jones was musical supervisor and music producer. Since nothing is immune to criticism this season, Oprah Winfrey, who introduced the segment, has faced some backlash over her exclusion of Michael Jackson from her list of Jones’ collaborators during her tribute. (Jones produced “Thriller,” if you were wondering why that’s a big deal.)
The James Bond franchise, creative control of which has recently been sold to Amazon, also received a tribute, maybe to commemorate the likely downfall of the IP now that it’s fully in Amazon’s greedy hands. Margaret Qualley danced to the "Dr. No" theme and Lisa (of Blackpink), Doja Cat and Raye performed a Bond theme song medley, singing “Live and Let Die,” “Diamonds are Forever,” and “Skyfall,” respectively. Though all were very fashionable, the performance has been called “bizarre,” and the singing was not everyone’s favorite—even Doja admitted she “hit some flats.”
Despite its minor controversies and more major slip-ups (see, for example, nominee Karla Sofía Gascón’s tweet debacle, which O’Brien poked fun at in his monologue), this year’s Oscars’ recognition of indie films like “Anora” and “Flow” (Best Animated Film) and its quite diverse award winners indicate a potential new direction for the industry and its critics. Hopefully, that new direction continues to produce films that have, as O’Brien said, “the power, at [their] very best, to unite us.”
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.