On Sunday, the 97th Academy Awards honored the year’s best films. This ceremony caps off one of the most heated and controversial awards seasons in recent memory, where most of the major frontrunners had their dirty laundry aired in front of everyone. Despite this, the Oscars managed to end a tumultuous season on a high note with some shocking upsets and heartfelt moments in one of the most sincere ceremonies in years.
A lot of this success can be attributed to this year’s host, comedian Conan O’Brien. Although it was his first time hosting the ceremony, O’Brien slid perfectly into the role that talk show host Jimmy Kimmel had taken on the past two years. Right from his opening monologue, where he delivered a musical number about keeping the ceremony short accompanied by the sandworm from Dune: Part Two playing the piano, you could tell he was right at home. O’Brien also chose to step away from Kimmel’s more politically-charged comedy to fire shots at the movies themselves, a trend that was very apparent throughout the ceremony. Despite Hollywood being historically liberal, most of the winners chose to forgo specifically political stances in their acceptance speeches. Despite this being the biggest night in the industry, it does say something that Trump’s so-called “Special Ambassadors” to Hollywood were not in attendance.
This does not mean there are no politically charged moments. The four writer-directors of documentary No Other Land, which won Best Documentary Feature, took the opportunity to call for a permanent end to the Israel–Palestine conflict. Some major firsts were also witnessed, such as Paul Tazewell becoming the first African-American to win Best Costume Design for his work on Wicked. Despite the public opinion of Emilia Pérez going into the night, Zoe Saldaña’s win for Best Supporting Actress made her the first Dominican-American to win an Academy Award, and she wasted no breath delivering a tear-jerking, emotional acceptance speech.
There were also a few major emotional moments throughout the ceremony, most notably the response to the Los Angeles wildfires. Despite his many comedic bits and easygoing nature on stage, O’Brien momentarily stopped all the jokes to deliver a truly heartfelt thank-you to the firefighters who risked their lives fighting for the city of Los Angeles. At moments throughout the ceremony, a QR code appeared on screen for viewers to donate to help the city rebuild. A couple of firefighters even took the stage for a brief segment to deliver some jokes at the expense of Hollywood’s biggest stars — a deserving moment for the industry’s real-life superheroes. Finally, the annual “In Memoriam” segment ended by honoring industry titans including David Lynch, James Earl Jones, and Gene Hackman.
The night undoubtedly belonged to Best Picture winner Anora, which took home five of the six awards it was up for, including an upset Best Actress win for Mikey Madison. Director Sean Baker made Oscar history with four wins for directing, producing, writing, and editing Anora, the most personal wins for a single film ever. Despite a slow early night, the three-and-a-half-hour epic The Brutalist managed to snatch up trophies for Best Cinematography and Original Score, and for Best Actor, Adrien Brody, who then delivered the longest speech in Oscar history. Kieran Culkin, who took home a Best Supporting Actor trophy for A Real Pain, gave a hilarious and profanity-filled speech. In the animated feature category, the Latvian film Flow upset the industry titans of Disney and Dreamworks for the award, becoming the first Latvian Oscar winner ever and showcasing the growing power of independent animation.
Not everyone ended the night a winner. The biggest loser was undoubtedly was The Substance, the rare horror film to break into the awards circuit, with actress Demi Moore being a clear Best Actress frontrunner in the weeks ahead. However, the film only managed to walk away with a single trophy for Makeup and Hairstyling. Wicked and Dune: Part Two, this year’s two blockbuster Best Picture nominees, grabbed just two trophies each (Wicked for Production and Costume Design, Dune: Part Two for Sound and Visual Effects). Acclaimed animated film The Wild Robot, a rare case of an animated feature breaking out into other categories with 3 nominations, went home empty-handed. In a loss for everyone else, Oscars Emilia Pérez took home trophies for Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Song, leaving popular nominees such as Ariana Grande empty-handed.
Another disappointment for the night was the James Bond musical interlude. Although it was meant as a heartfelt tribute to one of film’s most iconic characters, it read as a bit hollow in the aftermath of the franchise falling completely into Amazon’s hands. For many Bond fans, this moment probably read less as a tribute to Bond and more as a goodbye before the franchise becomes another overstuffed cinematic universe filled with unnecessary spin-offs and TV series.
In the end, this year’s Academy Awards did exactly what it needed to do. It didn’t feature any internet-breaking moments like the infamous Oscars slap or Best Picture being awarded to the wrong movie. However, in an era where everything is unprecedented, maybe a normal Oscars is exactly what we needed.
