The 97th Academy Awards emphasized the importance of those working behind the scenes who have devoted their lives to making films, so it was no surprise that Sean Baker’s independent film, “Anora,” took home the top prize. Baker walked away with four Academy Awards: Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Directing and Best Picture. He is the first person to take home all four of those accolades for the same film. “Anora” also claimed, in what was the surprise of the night, the Best Actress award for Mikey Madison’s performance as the titular character.
“Conclave” won Best Adapted Screenplay, “The Substance” was awarded Best Hair and Makeup and “Wicked” took home Best Production Design and Best Costume — Paul Tazewell was the first Black person to win the award. Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaña were rightfully awarded in the supporting acting categories for their roles in “A Real Pain” and “Emilia Pérez,” respectively. Saldaña talked about the importance of being able to win for a role in which she got to speak Spanish — a nice moment of closure for Saldaña and the audience given that Julianne Hough cut her off when she began talking about the immigrant experience on the red carpet.
While many of the victories were a pleasant surprise and well spread out, the rest of the award show was quite drab.
Clement Ducol and Camille delivered perhaps the most uncomfortable acceptance speech of the night. They won for “El Mal” from the “Emilia Pérez” soundtrack. At the end of their comments, Camille began to serenade the audience with “Emilia” — lyrics not from “El Mal.” She repeated this seven times until the music began to play and the audience erupted in what seemed to be a begging round of applause. Notably, “Emilia Pérez” director Jacques Audiard can be heard saying, “Wrap it up.”
Adrian Brody won the Best Actor accolade for his role as Lázló Tóth in “The Brutalist.” It may have been the desire to see Timothée Chalamet on the stage with a trophy in his hand that caused Brody’s speech to overstay its welcome. The orchestra began to play him off, but he urged them to let him finish. What followed was not profound; it was a tad self-indulgent.
The ceremony’s host Conan O’ Brian ended his monologue with a gag-musical number about the importance of running a tight ship in order to get through all 24 categories; however, the show still had time to indulge in a couple of musical performances. Thankfully, the academy did not include any performances from the original song category — unless one counts Camille’s acceptance speech. The show began with Cynthia Ervio and Ariana Grande performing a beautiful piece consisting of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Home” and “Defying Gravity.” In the middle of the ceremony, the camera suddenly zoomed in on Margaret Qualley, who was acting as a Bond Girl, in homage to Barbara Broccoli. Lisa performed “Live and Let Die,” Doja Cat belted “Diamonds are Forever” and Raye sang “Skyfall.” It was unclear why the singers were selected or what the performance was for, initially. The whole act felt unnecessary in a year without a Bond film.
The last song of the night, “Ease on Down the Road,” sung by Queen Latifah was dedicated to Quincy Jones. Although Latifah brought an energetic performance, it was quite peculiar to see the reaction of the crowd. Many of the Black and Brown artists were up and dancing along, while the predominantly white audience remained seated — it is unclear if they were not feeling the song or had never seen “The Wiz” just like they had not watched some of the films they voted on.
The 97th Academy Awards delivered a much better show from previous years, most notable was the lack of awards given to “Emilia Pérez”; however, the Oscars still have a lot of work to do to bring back the prestige they once held. They can start by giving Chalamet his Oscar.
