Happy Monday!
Hope you all had a good weekend. I’m sure John Lithgow did. It’s 10 degrees here in Syracuse and days like these make me wonder why I’ve decided to stay here for nearly five years. Unsurprisingly, to stay away from the cold, I watched the Oscars last night.
In a wild and unpredictable awards season, where the favorite changed nearly every two weeks. We finally made it to the big night. Going into the night, I felt Anora would be the one to come out on top. But even I didn’t expect the true wave of success that was coming toward Sean Baker, Mikey Madison and the rest of the cast and crew for this modern Cinderella story.
Without further ado, let’s get to my reactions from the award winners and the evening in general.
My Ballot
Score: 17/23
I was going on an absolute heater, save for the short film categories. And then…the Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director awards all threw an absolute monkey wrench in my prognostication. There were some surprises and gambles I missed on. But I’ll say I was mostly satisfied with how I did. That said, I will be better.
The Conan O’Brien Opening Monologue
Conan O’Brien made O’Brien’s everywhere proud. He was already one of the greatest late night hosts ever. But he absolutely nailed it last night, especially with his remarkable joke about Karla Sofía Gascón. Killed it. Oh hell, I’ll just put the whole monologue in here. It rocks.
Sadly, O’Brien’s musical number about trying to keep this Oscars on time was sadly not going to pass. We once again went over three hours to make this ceremony as drawn out as possible. Sigh.
Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
No surprises here. Culkin had won all the precursor awards and was the undeniable favorite for most of the awards season. Plus, Culkin’s performance is a perfect distillation of what makes him such a compelling actor: an ability to portray a character who can wise crack but show an ability to feel way too goddamn much. Makes me very excited to see his rendition of Richard Roma in “Glengarry Glen Ross” in April.
That being said, I do think there’s a little bit of category fraud when it comes to Culkin’s performance in Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain. I’m not the first person to say this, but I do think A Real Pain features co-leads, David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin). While most of the film relies mainly on David’s perspective, the movie literally starts and stops with Benji’s journey. Thematically, both characters hold near equal weight and the film spends time on understanding the psychology of both of them.
Still, I’m very happy for Culkin, whose win serves as more of an honor for his great work on Succession. He’s a great actor and I’m excited about what projects he chooses next.
Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
Sigh. I mean, I’m happy for Saldaña, who has put together great performances in Guardians of the Galaxy and Avatar. Indeed, my hot take is that the original Avatar is semi-berable because of Saldaña.
But to be awarded for Emilia Pérez? Really? Look, I know Oscars season is now over and people have made these takes before. But for such an ugly, racist, transphobic and all-around dull movie, it’s such a bummer. And I get it, Emilia Pérez got 13 nominations and was a heavy favorite before some Internet sleuths found some tweets. So it makes sense that it was going to win SOMETHING.
This complaining doesn’t really matter because the Academy has had plenty of awards where they serve as more awards for an entire career. Take 1974 for example. Art Carney beat out Al Pacino’s performance in The Godfather Part II. Remember what Carney won for? Hell, do you even know who Art Carney is? Yeah. The Academy has a tendency to award lifers or great careers in Hollywood.
Like Culkin, there is a case to be made for some category fraud. Saldaña is in the movie more than anyone in Emilia Pérez. I can understand why Saldaña is seen as a supporting actress, but it’s a little annoying. And that’s another great way to describe Emilia Pérez.
Best Actor: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
When I first saw Timothée Chalamet at the Academy Awards last night, I immediately thought of the 2006 Open Championship, where Sergio Garcia, who had a chance to win the tournament heading into the final day. But Garcia wore a horrific banana outfit to the final round and he lost to Tiger Woods. Chalamet did the same last night. And like Garcia, the banana suit worked against Chalamet.
Oh right, Adrien Brody. He’s now a two-time Best Actor winner. He’s now in rarified area. I’m not kidding. Some of the two-time Best Actor winners are some of the greatest actors of the profession. Seriously.
Just look at the multiple-time Best Actor winners:Daniel Day-Lewis (with three, king shit)
Spencer Tracy
Jack Nicholson
Marlon Brando
Dustin Hoffman
Gary Cooper
Tom Hanks
Fredric March
Sean Penn
Anthony Hopkins
I mean this list is incredible. Some of these performers changed acting as we know it. And now, Brody is in this list. And I have to wonder if Brody is a part of this legendary group.
Both of his performances in The Pianist and The Brutalist will go down in history, not just because of the gold trophies (though that is the primary reason) but because he laid his heart and soul bare. His mixture of aggression and vulnerability is undoubtedly compelling.
But that’s just it. Those are his two GREAT performances. Since then he has been a charming and fun supporting actor in plenty of great films like Midnight in Paris, The Thin Red Line (although he was barely in that), a majority of Wes Anderson’s movies and the best movie of 2023, Ghosted. The Pianist and The Brutalist are his only two nominations and while going 2-for-2 is impressive, guys like Spencer Tracy, Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando and Dustin Hoffman all had at least seven or eight. Hell, even guys like Robert De Niro, who has won both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, have at least five.
I guess my whole spiel is that while Brody is no doubt impressive in the two films he won an Oscar for, I’m not sure if he has the career to be in the same pantheon or the same group of legendary actors like Nicholson or Hoffman. I really don’t mean to belittle Brody. I’m just trying to take a 30,000-foot view of Oscars history.
Best Director: Sean Baker, Anora
To be entirely honest, I still have to watch more of Baker’s films. I absolutely loved The Florida Project, while I remained a little more mixed on Anora. Still, Baker’s win serves as a culmination of a life in independent cinema. Baker’s speech pointed to being an indie lifer, and his speech about protecting that and the cinematic experience really did hit hard.
But Baker’s directing achievement highlights a feat that hasn’t been done since Walt Disney. I’m not kidding. Baker, who was the editor, producer, writer and director on Anora, is the first person since Disney to win four Oscars in one night. While directors may have films that win a ton of awards, their specific name doesn’t come up in awards like Visual Effects. It speaks to Baker’s life in independent cinema, taking control of plenty of the filmmaking elements.
Best Actress: Mikey Madison, Anora
Once again, Best Actress serves as the major surprise of the night. Like with Emma Stone last year, my jaw dropped when I heard Mikey Madison’s name get called. Going into the evening, the award seemed like Demi Moore’s to lose. She had won nearly all the major precursor awards like SAG and had a powerful speech at the Golden Globes. And yet, the Globes speech would be the high point for Moore’s award season.
Madison had won at the BAFTAs, but it still felt like a long and shot. And yet, much like Baker, Madison took home the gold. While she’s not the youngest to win Best Actress (that would be Marlee Matlin who at 21 won Best Actress for Children of a Lesser God in 1987), Madison winning at 25 years old feels like such a shock considering Timothee Chalamet probably won’t win until he’s like 50.
As for her performance, she was genuinely fantastic. From supporting roles in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Scream ‘22, Madison emerged with such an immersive and intense performance as Ani. The fact she was able to transform herself into this firecracker of a character speaks volumes of Madison’s commitment and talent. And again, she’s 25 so it’s going to be super fascinating where she goes from here.
Best Picture: Anora
When I wrote about Anora for my Top 50 Movies of 2024 post, I spoke to some of my hesitations and tepid feelings about the film: “Maybe I'm missing something, but this felt a little empty to me in terms of the writing. I can understand what Sean Baker is going for and I think it's interesting. I just don't think he develops the relationship between class and love well. Mikey Madison is quite good, but unfortunately, something held me back. My opinion more likely than not won’t matter as Anora will probably win some Oscars. Still mostly a fun time! I just wanted to like it more.”
That feeling still remains and I can’t shake the thought that Anora, now enshrined as a Best Picture winner, could’ve been so much more. For a movie that was praised for how incredibly undeniable Madison was, it reeked of a man writing and making a movie about crushing a woman’s dreams. I just didn’t feel the interiority, nuance or depth that I was hoping for in Anora. And that feeling may never go away for me.
Maybe that’s why the Madison win was also quite shocking to me. For a movie that won five Oscars and was almost entirely about a woman undergoing a Cinderella story in our modern day society, it would’ve been extremely ironic for Baker to sweep all of the awards. So maybe the Anora domination shows that the Academy has a little bit of self-awareness.
That all being said, it’s absolutely wild that an independent film about a Brooklyn-based, Russian-speaking sex worker took home five Academy Awards. It once again displays an evolution from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Independent films and foreign films, in a time when those two types of films are in a precarious position along with cinema at large, have a chance for true visibility. And that’s heartening to see. Even if movies like Anora may not exactly be my cup of tea (though, when it becomes a Coen Brothers movie, I’m all in), I’m happy with what a win like this can represent.
Other notes on the show:
I’m Still Here beating out Emilia Pérez brought me so much joy. I’m so glad we can finally stop talking about this stupid Jacques Audiard trash heap.
What a win for Flow! That was my semi-bold pick of the night in the Best Animated Feature Category. The win for Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis and his beautiful black cats highlights how animation is changing. Yes, Pixar had Inside Out 2 which grossed over $1 billion. But in terms of quality and celebrating work, it’s been three straight years since Pixar or Disney won the award, as filmmakers like Hayao Miyazaki and Guillermo del Toro take home the win. Maybe it’ll get Pixar to wake up from its slump.
At least among the nominees, if there was a smaller film to throw a bunch of Oscars, it would’ve undoubtedly been Nickel Boys. I don’t typically get too bothered by snubs. But the fact RaMell Ross’ masterwork didn’t even get a cinematography nomination is asinine. The first-person perspective is so groundbreaking! It’s infinitely better than fucking Maria.
The speech from the two leads and directors from the Best Documentary winner No Other Land was quite powerful and spoke to a beautiful message of peace in the face of such horrific atrocities. You could tell the star-studded crowd was quite uncomfortable and it speaks to the thorniness of the current Israel-Palestine conflict.
The James Bond tribute segment featuring Margaret Qualley, Lisa and Doja Cat was quite nice. It certainly felt like a tribute and even a eulogy, which was honoring Albert and Barbara Broccoli for their producing and stewardship of Bond following their Governor’s Trophy win. The reason I called it an eulogy is more so because Amazon just got the rights. So even though it’s moving into a new era, it certainly feels like it’s a memorial of a certain phase of James Bond. That being said, if Margaret Qualley or Doja Cat are involved in Bond in the future, I wouldn’t be mad.
This Blue Velvet dress from Isabella Rossellini, a frequent collaborator and romantic partner of the late great David Lynch, was really nice and certainly made me emotional.
The Conan O’Brien-Martin Scorsese collaboration broke my brain. Might have to get in on this CinemaStreams idea.
Playing “Lacrimosa” felt like a choice for the In Memoriam. I get it’s from Mozart’s Requiem and quite literally deals with death. But something felt off, especially since we lost so many legends like Teri Garr, Gena Rowlands, Robert Towne, Gene Hackman, Dame Maggie Smith, Donald Sutherland, Shelley Duvall, James Earl Jones and of course Lynch. There were plenty of other options for music. Why such an eerie music choice?
Final Tally for the Night
Anora: 5
The Brutalist: 3
Dune: Part Two: 2
Emilia Pérez: 2
Wicked: 2
Conclave: 1
Flow: 1
I’m Not a Robot: 1
I’m Still Here: 1
In the Shadow of the Cypress: 1
No Other Land: 1
The Only Girl in the Orchestra: 1
A Real Pain: 1
The Substance: 1
That’s all from me. I’ll be back with regularly scheduled programming soon enough!
Cheers!