The 97th presentation of the Academy Awards was, if little else, productive. Nobody slapped anybody, but jokes were made about wives regardless, and rules were broken for little to no reason — especially with regards to time and the wasting of it, despite host Conan O’Brien’s self-effacing, song-and-dance-style warning about this matter before the first award was even given. As usual when I go through pros and cons, I’ll start with what there’s more of. Let’s get to it:
Pros:
Conan O’Brien was a hit. He was about as funny as a master of ceremonies should ever actively attempt to be. Nobody likes when the host attempts to steal the show. Rarely is somebody interesting enough to outshine a room full of movie stars. After a very long entertainment career (especially in late-night TV), few understand this better than O’Brien himself. He stayed away from controversial topics, although he poked fun at the idea of controversy — often through unserious jabs at the country of Estonia. Apparently, the ball is in their court.
This was also a major year for independent filmmakers. By the way, in case anybody happens to be looking for an easy way to demonstrate the sheer hegemonic power of today’s major film studios, one should simply take a moment to wonder why multimillion dollar companies like A24 and Neon are still classed beneath the “indie” umbrella. But I digress; while indie studios often rake in awards in a couple of categories (think the Animation categories, for instance, or even Best Original Screenplay) rarely have we seen a year where they’ve raked in almost every award. “Anora” won five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing. The award for Best Actor in a Leading Role was nabbed by Adrien Brody, star of “The Brutalist,” a film which also won Best Cinematography. Best Supporting Actor went to Kieran Culkin in “A Real Pain,” and Best Makeup went, perhaps unsurprisingly, to “The Substance.”
While it may have been a surprise to see so many indie wins — there were some exceptional major studio films this year — it is always a pleasant sight to see a bit of democratization in Hollywood. One might hope that a failure to take home any of the biggest Oscars (outside of things that they should theoretically win every time, such as Best Production Design or Best Sound) will force these major studios to reconsider the finer allocations of their budgets. Man, I love the streaming economy. It’s great for everybody.
What else was pleasant? Kieran Culkin’s acceptance speech was a mite odd — I now know less about the sex lives of multiple close friends than I do about this one famous actor’s — but it may have been a bit charming at the end of the day. The piano-playing Sandworm’s surprise appearance was good for a couple of laughs, and I was shocked at myself for having actually enjoyed the overtly sexual James Bond-themed song-and-dance routine that began about halfway through the show. What fun, right? In any case, I watched all the way through.
Cons:
“Emilia Pérez.” Another staunch triumph for independent filmmakers. Hooray.
Filled with unimaginative songs that, were they made by Americans rather than French filmmakers, may well have been labeled racist, pseudo-progressive pastiche, this movie benefited heavily from the fact that songs in “A Complete Unknown,” “Wicked,” and “Better Man” were not actually original. Rarely does one see a movie get review-bombed by viewers on both sides of the spectrum of American social-liberalism, but here we are, and I personally am highly amused.
I was less amused when the songwriters started singing onstage, however, and judging by both the faces of the celebrities in the crowd and the lack of screentime afforded them, I was not alone. “El Mal” indeed.
Still, this was not the evening’s most awkward acceptance speech. It might not even make the top three. First place is taken almost assuredly by Adrien “Best Actor” Brody — this was his second win from only his second nomination, and boy, did he let people know it. Going far over his allotted timeslot, Brody made headlines by ordering the band to cease playing him offstage. He tried to do it twice, actually, as though it might work a second time. But in the end, the issue was less the time and more so how he spent it. Brody’s speech was a bizarre attempt at playing the hero, advocating for… stuff? In general? See as follows:
“I’m here once again, to represent the lingering traumas, and the repercussions of war and systematic oppression, and of anti-semitism, and racism, and of othering and I believe that I pray for a healthier and happier, and a more inclusive world, and I believe if the past can teach us anything it’s a reminder to not let hate go unchecked.”
Right. Cool, dude. Me too.
Oddities:
Finally, regarding the award for Best Actor especially, the bizarre and dangerous precedent of awarding Oscars to AI-aided performances has now been set. In his portrayal of the fictional Hungarian architect László Tóth, Brody’s voice was edited via artificial intelligence in the final product. The filmmakers have since commented on the matter post-Golden Globe awards, which “The Brutalist” largely swept, blaming the accent’s notorious difficulty. Timothée Chalamet might feel understandably snubbed for his performances in both “Dune: Part Two” and “A Complete Unknown,” the former of which went unnominated in the category entirely.
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