OSCARS 95—A QUICK TAKE ON THE AWARDS, THE SHOW, AND ONE YEAR AFTER THE SLAP

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

Stranger at the Gate