With a close sweep by Everything Everywhere All at Once, the Academy Awards show was better this year than it has been in recent years. With no slaps or any other incident, Jimmy Kimmel also made a terrific comeback as host. Except for a few disappointments among the results, the 95th Oscars were overall very satisfying
Photos, courtesy: AMPAS
Seven Oscars! Everything Everywhere All at Once won a
whopping seven Oscars. The last time a movie won that many, it was Gravity, in 2014. And that was Gravity. Clearly, there’s something
about Everything that really spoke to
the Academy members. It pulled off an upset in winning the supporting actress,
which propelled it forward towards the big prize at the end of the show. There
was no way anything else could pull off an upset with best picture, not even All Quiet on the Western Front—the next
biggest winner this year, winning four Oscars. At the end of the day, it was
really disappointing that these films, in particular, went home with nothing: The Fabelmans, Elvis, The Banshees of
Inisherin, and Tár.
KIMMEL
MAKES AN EXCELLENT COMEBACK
The Banshees and The Fabelmans in particular became fodder for jokes through the evening, with light-hearted digs made about Steven Spielberg, references to Judd Hirsch, and also with the Banshees donkey on the stage with host Jimmy Kimmel. Kimmel himself was really good. There’s an effortless quality about his on-stage delivery, which is probably because he does it every day for his own show. He’s never been disappointing as Oscars host. The humor was clean, but effective. None of the jokes felt like they were too bizarre or trying too hard to be quirky, or simply trying too hard. Even the extended reference to ‘slapgate’—Will Smith’s famous assault on Chris Rock during last year’s live show—didn’t feel like too much. His jokes poked fun at the Academy’s and the organizers’ response, but also at the audience, who overwhelmingly supported Smith with a standing ovation and all when he won lead actor, after slapping Rock. Some bits were hilarious, like when Kimmel spoke about things going without a hitch or ‘without Hitch’—a reference to one of Smith’s popular characters.
ENGAGING
AND INTERESTING PRESENTATIONS
Kimmel’s joke about Jim Cameron and Tom Cruise not showing up after making people go back to theaters with their blockbuster films was also a hoot. And then the whole donkey bit was cute, and funny. Novelty props such as Jenny the donkey always add something interesting to the mix. I think Elizabeth Banks and her co-presenter, the bear, was a highlight among presentations. It drove home the importance of visual effects, which she was there to present, while also making some funny jokes about Hollywood and recreational drugs, in reference to Banks’s own film Cocaine Bear. Deepika Padukone commanded the stage too, when she introduced the ‘Naatu naatu’ performance, calling the song a banger, over and above its anti-colonialism significance, and keeping the audience engaged overall. The Telugu song was indeed a crowd-pleasing banger, with a very lively performance. Later, winning the Oscar, the composer M.M. Keeravani made an endearing little jingle based on ‘Top of the world’ by the Carpenters, whom he said he was a fan of.
ENDEARING
SPEECHES AND ACCEPTANCES
There were several endearing and emotional acceptance speeches, the most tearful were those from Ke Huy Quan and Brendan Fraser, which was expected, as they have been giving us weepers this whole awards season. It was a post-decades comeback win for Quan, who had all but given up on his acting dreams. And the remaining acting wins were clearly career wins—for Fraser, Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis. Curtis’s was the most surprising of the four, but her speech was probably the best of the lot. I was disappointed with Everything winning everything, but speeches from the ‘Daniels’, and particularly the one by editor Paul Rogers, were very heartwarming, and made me happy for them, even if I was not a fan of the film itself.
While the results themselves may have left a lot to be desired for me, the show was overall solid, and entertaining. And they didn’t waste time, finishing at just a little over three hours. Moreover, a lot of categories had the behind-the-scenes reels that have been missing in recent years. This year’s Oscars had a lot of the things that make it worth the wait from one year to the next. And I was happy with the 95th Oscars. I wonder how they’ll count down to the 100th in 2028! Let’s wait and watch.
ALL THE WINNERS
Best
Picture
All
Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar:
The Way of Water
The
Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All
at Once
The
Fabelmans
Tár
Top
Gun: Maverick
Triangle
of Sadness
Women
Talking
Directing
The
Banshees of Inisherin —
Martin McDonagh
Everything Everywhere All
at Once — Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
The
Fabelmans — Steven
Spielberg
Tár — Todd Field
Triangle
of Sadness — Ruben
Östlund
Actress
in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett in Tár
Ana de Armas in Blonde
Andrea Riseborough in To Leslie
Michelle Williams in The Fabelmans
Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once
Actor
in a Leading Role
Austin Butler in Elvis
Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan
Fraser in The Whale
Paul Mescal in Aftersun
Bill Nighy in Living
Actress
in a Supporting Role
Angela Bassett in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Hong Chau in The Whale
Kerry Condon in The Banshees of Inisherin
Jamie
Lee Curtis in Everything Everywhere All
at Once
Stephanie Hsu in Everything Everywhere All at Once
Actor
in a Supporting Role
Brendan Gleeson in The Banshees of Inisherin
Brian Tyree Henry in Causeway
Judd Hirsch in The Fabelmans
Barry Keoghan in The Banshees of Inisherin
Ke
Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All at
Once
Adapted
Screenplay
All
Quiet on the Western Front
— Screenplay by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell
Glass
Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
— Written by Rian Johnson
Living — Written by Kazuo Ishiguro
Top
Gun: Maverick —
Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie;
Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks
Women Talking
— Screenplay by Sarah Polley
Best
Original Screenplay
The
Banshees of Inisherin —
Written by Martin McDonagh
Everything Everywhere All
at Once — Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
The
Fabelmans — Written by
Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner
Tár — Written by Todd Field
Triangle
of Sadness — Written by
Ruben Östlund
Cinematography
All Quiet on the Western
Front — James Friend
Bardo,
False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
— Darius Khondji
Elvis — Mandy Walker
Empire
of Light — Roger
Deakins
Tár — Florian Hoffmeister
Best
Film Editing
The
Banshees of Inisherin —
Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
Elvis — Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond
Everything Everywhere All
at Once — Paul Rogers
Tár — Monika Willi
Top
Gun: Maverick — Eddie
Hamilton
Sound
All
Quiet on the Western Front
— Viktor Prásil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte
Avatar:
The Way of Water —
Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein,
Christopher Boyes, Gary
Summers and Michael Hedges
The
Batman — Stuart Wilson,
William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson
Elvis — David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson
and Michael Keller
Top Gun: Maverick
— Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor
Original
Score
All Quiet on the Western
Front — Volker Bertelmann
Babylon — Justin Hurwitz
The
Banshees of Inisherin —
Carter Burwell
Everything
Everywhere All at Once
— Son Lux
The
Fabelmans — John
Williams
Original
Song
“Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman; Music and Lyric by
Diane Warren
“Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick; Music and Lyric by
Lady Gaga and BloodPop
“Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Music by
Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan
Coogler
“Naatu
Naatu” from RRR; Music by M.M.
Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose
“This Is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once; Music
by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne
Production
Design
All Quiet on the Western
Front — Production Design: Christian M.
Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper
Avatar:
The Way of Water —
Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole
Babylon — Production Design: Florencia Martin;
Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino
Elvis — Production Design: Catherine Martin
and Karen Murphy; Set Decoration: Bev Dunn
The
Fabelmans — Production
Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara
Visual
Effects
All
Quiet on the Western Front
— Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar
Avatar: The Way of Water
— Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
The
Batman — Dan Lemmon,
Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy
Black
Panther: Wakanda Forever
— Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick
Top
Gun: Maverick — Ryan
Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher
Costume
Design
Babylon — Mary Zophres
Black Panther: Wakanda
Forever — Ruth Carter
Elvis — Catherine Martin
Everything
Everywhere All at Once
— Shirley Kurata
Mrs.
Harris Goes to Paris —
Jenny Beavan
Makeup
and Hairstyling
All
Quiet on the Western Front
— Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová
The
Batman — Naomi Donne,
Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine
Black
Panther: Wakanda Forever
— Camille Friend and Joel Harlow
Elvis — Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo
Signoretti
The Whale
— Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley
Best
International Feature Film
All Quiet on the Western
Front — Germany
Argentina,
1985 — Argentina
Close
— Belgium
EO
— Poland
The
Quiet Girl — Ireland
Animated
Film
Guillermo del Toro’s
Pinocchio
Marcel
the Shell With Shoes On
Puss
in Boots: The Last Wish
The
Sea Beast
Turning
Red
Best
Animated Short Film
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox
and the Horse
The
Flying Sailor
Ice
Merchants
My
Year of Dicks
An
Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It
Best
Live-Action Short Film
An Irish Goodbye
Ivalu
Le
Pupille
Night
Ride
The
Red Suitcase
Best
Documentary Feature
All
That Breathes
All
the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Fire
of Love
A
House Made of Splinters
Navalny
Best
Documentary Short Subject
The
Elephant Whisperers
Haulout
How Do You Measure a Year?
The Martha Mitchell Effect
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