Now that the 97th annual Oscars have come to a close, so has the awards season. While not everyone was happy with their outcome, the clear winner of the night was the ceremony’s host, Conan O’Brien. Though it’s easy to have a good time with no horse in the race, O’Brien brought a refreshing lightness and sincerity to the night without ignoring the complicated issues facing the U.S. and the future of Hollywood. As always, most winners delivered lengthy speeches without saying anything, but there were a few surprises that helped this year’s Academy Awards be a little more interesting.
Though the awards are why we tune into the ceremony, the performances this year were exceptionally strong. While no one thought Cynthia Erivo or Ariana Grande would win in their respective categories, their musical contributions to the telecast were the perfect note to start on and emblematic of the show’s tone. It was just the right amount of sweetness and nostalgia and a crowd-pleaser that no one could argue against. In the same vein, while the Bond tribute might have been a transparent marketing strategy for Amazon, everybody likes James Bond.
Adrien Brody Clinches His Expected Win While Mikey Madison Earns A Surprising Addition To Anora’s Sweep
Madison’s Upset & Brody’s Triumph Demonstrate Two Sides Of The Ceremony
As always, the races for Best Supporting Actor and Actress were more or less decided long before the Oscars aired, with Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaña easily cleaning up. Adrien Brody’s win for Best Actor arrived at the end of the race between him and Timothée Chalamet. This race was тιԍнт, but not quite as тιԍнт as Chalamet might have thought. Chalamet’s win at the SAG Awards was well-deserved, but the scale of Brody’s work in The Brutalist is what we, and the Academy, expect from Best Actor. But it was Mikey Madison’s win that shocked almost everyone.
Brody, long-winded as always, wasn’t entirely ungracious in his speech, and remembering how much of a turn his career took in the wake of his first win makes me inclined to give him a little grace. Culkin’s speech was intensely strange, making a good case for actors keeping their private lives a little more private. Though Madison’s speech wasn’t unforgettable, her win is exciting because she has an opportunity to do a lot with this momentum. After being part of an independent project like Anora, Madison can lend this newfound authority to more exciting and experimental work.
Though Anora flew under the radar at the Golden Globes and SAG awards, at both the WGA and DGA ceremonies, Anora was the big winner, easily paving the way for Baker’s auteur-level sweep.
Anora might not have reached every nook and cranny of the general public, but that didn’t stop Sean Baker’s controversial slapstick dramedy from being the night’s biggest winner. Baker was everything we like to see in a winner: gracious and succinct. Anora‘s sweeping victories certainly haven’t pleased everyone, but it’s hardly the least deserving Best Picture winner we’ve seen in recent years. Though Anora flew under the radar at the Golden Globes and SAG awards, at both the WGA and DGA ceremonies, Anora was the big winner, easily paving the way for Baker’s auteur-level sweep.
Though We Often Overlook Them, Craft & Documentary Received Some Of This Year’s Most Important Awards
The Oscars’ Buzziest Awards Are Fun To Speculate About, But The Others Are Just As Compelling
The filmmakers behind No Other Land, the winner of Best Documentary Feature, gave the most poignant speech of the night. This will hopefully pave the way for the documentary to receive a U.S. distributor. Within the craft fields, though Anora won big for the awards that received the most buzz, almost every notable film got a nod throughout the ceremony. Wicked came away with a significant win for Paul Tazewell for Costume Design. The Substance clinched makeup and The Brutalist won for its score, proving there was more to the movie than Brody’s performance.
Alongside O’Brien, many of the presenters were just as jovial and committed to the decently-written bits as the host. With few hiccups — save for Hulu ending its stream of the Oscars before the last two awards were handed out — and many emotional winners, this year’s Oscars had enough shock and awe to thrill us, but just as many expected wins to ensure we will feel comfortable placing our bets next year.
The Oscars will always be a symbol of traditional Hollywood and of the impossibility of judging art objectively. The nominees and movie lovers will keep taking it a little too seriously. However, watching the most heartful and deserved speeches makes these facts go down a little easier.
The Oscars are now available to stream on ABC.com and Hulu.
