97th Oscars Recap

Well, another Oscar ceremony had come and gone, and as expected with any of them, it was filled with plenty of celebrations, surprises, and everything in between. I can’t say there were any major letdowns throughout the ceremony, either. Of course, considering that I have not seen enough of the nominated films in this ceremony to know who deserved what and who did not, it’s a little hard to tell.

To start, the Oscar ceremony started quite nicely. Because Los Angeles had been suffering from the wildfire attacks over the past couple of months, it began with a heartfelt tribute to Los Angeles as portrayed by many of the recognized film icons, including La La Land and Iron Man. It even started with Judy Garland as Dorothy saying, “There’s no place like home,” for good measure.

Soon, it transitioned into a very pleasant surprise: Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, each singing a classic song from the Oz franchise. Ariana Grande started perfectly with the song ‘Over the Rainbow’ from the original Wizard of Oz. In a cheekily fitting essence, Cynthia Erivo arrived next to sing ‘Home’ from The Wiz, which, to refresh your memory, is the African-American take on The Wizard of Oz, the film version of which starred a young Michael Jackson. And finally, it ended with them both singing their iconic song from Wicked, ‘Defying Gravity.‘ Considering the disastrous turn of events that Los Angeles had been suffering from because of the wildfires and the ongoing popularity of Wicked after the movie had come out, I could not think of a more fitting or more transcendent way to open the Oscar ceremony than with the two main stars of Wicked coming together to sing some of the most iconic songs from the Oz universe, and all in commemoration of those who’ve been affected by the ongoing fires. Talk about starting things off with a bang!

Later on in the ceremony, host Conan O’Brien – I’ll talk about him very shortly – also was nice enough to rope in a group of the first responders and firefighters who’ve been volunteering to stop the fires, which has been met with, appropriately enough, a standing ovation from the Oscar audience. And my favorite part about this, outside of the respect they deserve, is that Conan O’Brien was respectful enough not to crack any jokes while they were in his presence. So, instead, it’s the first responders who provided the wisecracks. One of my favorites is from Erik Scott, who said:

Our hearts go out to those who have lost their homes. And I’m talking about the producers of ‘Joker 2’.

That was just priceless. Who says even first responders don’t have a good sense of humor during trying times?

As for the host, Conan O’Brien, I’ve never seen enough of his news broadcasts to know his worth as a comedian or a news reporter. But he’d seen the Oscars through with decent dignity and comedic prowess to highlight the gossip concerning movies or local disasters. 

Besides the opening number, plenty of other musical numbers sizzled the ceremony. The first one by Conan O’Brien was just a flashy musical number entitled ‘I Won’t Waste Time,’ and comes with a surprise cameo from the sandworm from Dune and even Deadpool himself. I wonder if this is the Oscars’ way of apologizing for not recognizing Deadpool and Wolverine earlier this year.

In addition, there was also a medley of songs performed by Queen Latifah in tribute to Quincy Jones, who passed away this past November from pancreatic cancer. Considering Quincy Jones’s legendary background in music, I guess it seemed appropriate to pay tribute to him with this kind of tribute.

However, one tribute that aroused immediate controversy was one the Oscars had to James Bond. While it was nice to see this kind of tribute and some of James Bond’s songs, including Skyfall, performed for this occasion, I could not help but wonder whether it would’ve been more appropriate to do one to The Sound of Music instead. After all, the day the ceremony was broadcast was the same day 60 years back when The Sound of Music came out in theaters. Concerning that this won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1965, wouldn’t it have made more sense to pay tribute to this film the same way instead?

And in terms of which movies reigned supreme that night, there are plenty I want to highlight. To start things off, I was a little bummed that Wicked did not walk away as a big Oscar winner that night, but it wasn’t without a couple of wins under its name. It deservedly walked home with the Oscars for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design, which could not be more fitting Oscars to be granted to Wicked for what it accomplished. Wicked brought a distinct take on Oz, as well as introduced us to a stimulating, exotic place like Shiz University and its take on the Emerald City. And the costumes? That goes without saying. Every costume worn by the movie’s actors, especially Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, helped bring the characters and story to life. 

But another movie that I could not be more relieved to have seen walk away with two Oscars is Dune: Part Two. Because there were so many films that seemed just as worthy of the Oscars that Dune: Part Two was up for, I was a little worried about Dune: Part Two getting the short end of the stick, considering how it didn’t garner as many nominations as Part One did outside of having one for Best Picture, which it did deserve. But to my surprise, Dune: Part Two rightfully walked away with the Oscar for Best Sound and one for Best Visual Effects. Much like with Dune: Part One, Denis Villeneuve’s follow-up transported us to Arrakis with the most stimulating technology under his arsenal. And yes, the sound and visuals did play a massive part in making that happen, besides Dune: Part Two being such a worthy next cinematic chapter. So, Dune: Part Two deserved to walk away with at least one Oscar. But to see it walk away with two, just like what Wicked won, is honor enough for me. 

But now let’s talk about one of the other movies that won big: The Brutalist. Having seen the movie, I found it a marvelous picture highlighting the misadventures of Laszlo, a Hungarian architect who fled to America after World War II but found himself struggling to fit into American society, especially after he’s been taken in under the wing of Harrison Lee Van Buren and his family, who requested for him to construct a monument, one that functions both a gymnasium and a church, in his mother’s name. It was a technical breakthrough since it was filmed in VistaVision, which you may recognize as having filmed White Christmas and The Searcher and having been the pioneering large-screen film camera used in film throughout the 50s and 60s. Considering that The Brutalist ran over three hours, it was also nice enough to throw in an intermission, which, in this day and age, is becoming more and more needed for extra-long movies coming out in theaters. 

But that’s a story I’m saving for another write-up.

This movie ended up with the Oscars for Best Original Score and Best Cinematography, which were neatly earned for The Brutalist. But one Oscar that I’m glad to see win is Best Actor for Adrian Brody as László Tóth, for he excelled in bringing to life his schizophrenic tendencies and inconsistencies with his personality and behavior. At the end of his accepted speech, he capped it off perfectly with the phrase, “Let’s rebuild together,” about all the prejudices rampant in America and the world.

It would have never occurred to me that this was the case, but Adrian Brodie’s speech about the injustices I spoke of was just declared as having broken the Guinness World record for the longest Oscar speech. I knew Brody had plenty to say during this acceptance speech, but the idea that it went on for this long was not what I anticipated.

A part of me wished that Timothée Chalamet would’ve ended up with that Oscar for his work as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown since he felt equally as phenomenal, but the fact that he was nominated for the same Oscar that Adrian Brody would’ve won still seems like a respectable nod.

On another note, Kieran Culkin won his first-ever Oscar, and it was Best Supporting Actor for his work in A Real Pain. He’d already won plenty of Emmys before, a good chunk of them for his work in Succession. But here he was, at the Oscars, winning his first major award for film. And frankly, this is remarkable because, for those of you who don’t know, he’s former child star Macaulay Culkin’s younger brother, and he also starred alongside him in Home Alone as Kevin’s cousin, the bed-wetting Fuller. Watching this victorious turn of events left me wondering what the former child stars now think of their younger siblings getting all the glory and attention. And I don’t mean just Macaulay Culkin towards Kieran Culkin. You also have Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen with their younger sister, Elizabeth Olsen, and Dakota Fanning with her younger sister, Elle Fanning. Nepotism aside, I hope the former child stars aren’t left with too many sour grapes over their siblings’ rise and subsequent success as actors.

However, there are three big surprises regarding which films reigned supreme.

First off, I somewhat saw this coming, but the movie that walked away with the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film that night was not Inside Out 2, The Wild Robot, or even Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, but instead, an animated film from Latvia called Flow. From the looks of it, it is a very technically innovative film that focuses on animals from the point of view of a cat. However, considering how it has won so many hearts throughout award committees, especially at the Oscars, there may be more to this film than meets the eye. So I’m looking forward to seeing this film and checking out what it is about it that’s sweeping so many people off their feet, even compared to Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, and even Aardman, all of whom are considerably innovative animation studios on their own, this year. It was also a big deal because this was the first film from Latvia to win an Oscar, period. And I believe that is a tremendous honor for Flow to have achieved. The only other Oscar that Flow was nominated for was Best International Feature Film, which also speaks volumes concerning the quality of Flow as a film.

But this leads to one of the most intriguing parts of the foreign films nominated this year, which would be two of such nominated films, I’m Still Here from Brazil and Emilia Perez from France. I may not have seen either film, but I did pick up on some of the quote ‘controversy’ surrounding Emilia Perez in that it was not only marginally received as a film, as in it is a ‘good but not great’ movie, but it also sparked some backlash after Karla Sofía Gascón badmouthed the Oscars via tweets, among other comments that made her immediately come under fire. So it made me uncertain as to how the Oscars would’ve reacted to that, especially considering that Emilia Perez scored 13 nominations under its name, which was in and of itself the highest number of nominations for a foreign language film to have achieved after Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. However, while Emilia Perez did reign supreme with two Oscars under its name, just like with Dune: Part Two and Wicked – one for Best Original Song for El Mal and an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldaña – the winner of the Oscar for Best International Feature Film was not Emilia Perez like I expected it to be, but rather I’m Still Here. The only reason I can think of as to how that would’ve been is that Emilia Perez has a most unusual premise: it highlighted a man who committed a crime and was trying to escape being assassinated by the mafia. So he requested his lawyer to have him undergo a transgender process and become a woman so that he could remain inconspicuous and hide from the mafia. Think of this as the musical equivalent of Some Like It Hot, except the gender-transitioning is literal. On the other hand, I’m Still Here focuses on a woman and her family’s struggle to highlight the dangers prevalent in her country, which I think speaks much more to many others. It has also been receiving excellent reviews, even compared to Emilia Perez. So, while I find it a surprise, it is slowly turning into not being a surprise.

But let’s get to the most significant movie that came out on top during the ceremony, and of all films, that would be the indie film Anora. I did not even pick up on what the movie was about until Sean Baker claimed his Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and thanked the sex worker community for their input and valuable contributions to this film. That told me right away that Anora, in some way, dealt with prostitution. But Anora went even further. It also cleaned up the Oscars for Best Film Editing, Best Director, Best Actress for Mikey Madison, and above all, for Best Picture. That tells me that Anora must have done more than make the sex worker community proud, especially since I’ve noticed Anora get rave reviews ever since it came out last April. So whether Anora deserved it or not, I will find out when I can check out Anora for myself. 

But that’s not all there is to report about the Oscars, much like the opening sequence and the firefighting team. There were a few other scenarios throughout the Oscars that I found pretty fascinating. For example, I read that Harrison Ford was meant to host the Oscar category for Best Original Score but had to drop out due to being diagnosed with shingles. Here’s hoping for his recovery. In the meantime, Mark Hamill took his place as the host for this category, which is still a very fitting alternative. And I don’t think Mark Hamill felt too shabby in his introduction of the category, especially considering that it started with John Williams’ famous Star Wars theme. The way it turned out, he probably didn’t miss a beat.

But I think the funniest introduction to an Oscar category in this ceremony was Ben Stiller’s introduction to Best Production Design. While he went into great detail about the values of set designs and production artwork, the platform on which he was standing went haywire and went up and down until Ben Stiller could barely keep his balance until he was unseen by the audience, so he had to jump up and down to finish off the last bits of his introduction to the award category. Finally, he threw the envelope onto the stage and hopped himself up onto the stage to finally announce the winner properly. I don’t know if this was the Oscars’ idea or Ben Stiller’s idea, but that cracked me up.

And the presenters for Best Picture that night were none other than Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, reuniting in correspondence to their ‘When Harry Met Sally’ connections. Outside of a few witty remarks between them, I was impressed with how Meg Ryan looked. I haven’t seen her as an actress in years, yet she barely looked like she aged! And Billy Crystal? He’s still got it. And I think it sweetened the deal when we all saw Anora win the top Oscar by then.

But let’s get to the In Memoriam section. As you may recall from this list, we have lost one too many great stars and talents throughout 2024, including James Earl Jones, Maggie Smith, Gene Hackman – who, along with his wife and dog, died together just recently – Dabney Coleman, Bob Newhart, Richard M. Sherman, Louis Gossett Jr., and David Lynch. However, there’s just something about the music. The music playing throughout this section is Requiem in D Minor – Lacrimosa, and somehow, I don’t think it fits. It sounded more ominous than sorrowful, and considering that we lost way too many great stars and talents this year, you would think that they would’ve picked something a little more fittingly poignant to accompany this segment. 

However, it does not make this any less of a marvelous Oscar ceremony that lived up to its promise by surprising us with cinematic triumphs that only cement each winner’s legacies, If not the nominations of the films that were lucky enough to have made it this far.

Here’s to you and another year of marvelous cinema on the horizon. And I’ll see you next year, Oscar!