With the announcement of this year’s Oscar winners, another long awards season has come to a close. After the weirdness of last year’s experimental changes and that 2021 train station ceremony we’d rather forget, the 95th Academy Awards felt like the Oscars of old.
As is tradition, let’s take a closer look at everything that went down with the good, the bad, and the ugly of the 95th Academy Awards.
THE GOOD
Everything Everywhere All at Once makes history. After debuting at SXSW almost one year to the day, The Daniels’ sci-fi opus broke all sorts of rules and precedents to collect seven Academy Awards including Best Picture. The film won the most Oscars of any film since the preferential ballot era began in 2009 and is equal-fifth in the overall ranks of the most Oscar wins. With its victories for Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, and three acting prizes, EEAAO won more above-the-line categories than any film in Oscars history. It’s also the first film in history to win Best Picture and three acting categories. It’s probably also the first true sci-fi Best Picture winner ever.
Kwan is the first Asian-American male to win Best Director and the first writer of Chinese descent to win Best Original Screenplay. Michelle Yeoh is the first Asian woman to win Best Actress and only the second woman of colour. Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan represent the first time two Asian actors have won Oscars in the same year. With Brendan Fraser’s Best Actor win for The Whale, A24 became the first studio in Oscars history to win all four acting categories.
Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh. Their speeches were magnificent. Their wins were historic. And their moment was everything we could have hoped for and then some. Quan’s return to the big screen after 30 years is capped off with an Oscar win, while Yeoh’s almost-40-year career finally lands her an Academy Award. Quite a night for Evelyn and Waymond Wang.
Brendan Fraser. His win was far from a certainty, especially with Austin Butler breathing down his neck, but Fraser’s fairy tale comeback story is now complete with a much-deserved Oscar for Best Actor. His speech was gorgeous, and, after everything Fraser has been through, the man deserves this moment. It was a quirky sight to see Encino Man co-stars Fraser and Quan both take one home. I doubt there’d be many predicting that back in 1992.
Sarah Polley’s win. After a shaky precursor season for Women Talking, it was anyone’s guess if Polley could still pull off the win for Best Adapted Screenplay most had predicted from the start. Things looked even shakier when All Quiet on the Western Front started sweeping the tech categories. But Polley could not be denied and now we get to call her an Academy Award winner.
“Naatu Naatu.” Film Twitter’s favourite original track of the year actually won the Oscar for Best Original Song. And, as expected, the energetic live performance brought the damn house down. It marks the first time a song from a South Asian production has won this award and it’s long overdue that the biggest film industry in the world saw this kind of recognition. No, Slumdog Millionaire does not count.
The ceremony. The stage looked gorgeous and classic, devoid of the usually gaudy, over-the-top flourishes that do nothing but distract from the awards themselves. They rightfully brought back airing all 23 categories live plus showing clips for each nominee. Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue was sharply written and genuinely humorous. And the entire show hummed along with a positive and spirited energy that reminded me of Oscars of the past. It really felt like a celebration of movies this year.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Can she please host next year?
“Still stunning, basically a scrotum.” Hugh Grant stole the entire show with this one line.
Ruth E. Carter becomes the first Black woman to win more than one Oscar. Enough said.
Lady Gaga and Rihanna’s stunning performances. Also, enough said.
THE BAD
Half the Best Picture nominees went home with nothing. Look, not every film can be a winner and sometimes the nomination is the true prize. But it does sting a little to see films like The Banshees of Inisherin, TÁR, The Fabelmans, and, yes, even Elvis walk away empty-handed. It’s the first time in the expanded Best Picture era that half the nominees scored zero and highlighted how little the Academy spread the wealth this year.
Angela Bassett didn’t do the thing. Between Bassett and Curtis, the Academy had their choice between who to give a “legacy” Oscar to. For a while, we thought it would be Bassett. But the determined campaigning skills of Curtis got her over the line. We can argue over who deserved it more, but the disappointment and displeasure on Bassett’s face were clear, and I have to agree with Queen Ramonda on this one.
All Quiet on the Western Front overperforms. I love this film. I gave it five stars. I consider it a masterpiece of the war genre. It’s brilliant. And it deserved all of its nine nominations and that Best International Feature win. But declaring it featured the best production design of the year and/or the best original score of the year over Babylon is insane. Sure, All Quiet is the “better” film, but we’re meant to be judging on technical merits alone. And Babylon had it licked by a mile in both categories.
That audience bit with Malala. Hasn’t that poor woman been through enough? Of all the people in that auditorium to “pick on” for a tiresome fake fan question gag, Kimmel chose her? And then unleashed cocaine bear on her?! Good lord, no.
The performance of “This Is A Life.” The less said the better, but it was certainly a choice.
THE UGLY
Maybe it’s a sign of a great ceremony or just that my heart is growing softer in my older age, but I couldn’t really say there was anything this year I would deem “ugly.” So, bravo, Academy. You did it. You delivered a terrific ceremony with several inspired winners and impeccable production values all around. See you next year.
