Weirdos and geeks drag Oscars into modern era
This year every award category was included in the official broadcast, meaning the diversity quota was up but the entertainment factor was about as compelling, and as sanitised, as a tampon commercial.
Where’s Will Smith when you need him?
His film Emancipation was banished and replaced with emaciated “weirdos” at the 95th Academy Awards.
Smith is now one year into a 10-year ban from the Oscars since he stormed the stage and slapped one of last year’s presenters, Chris Rock, for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
While Smith’s film about slavery and segregation was not nominated, Rock was also replaced this year by a “safer” option in late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel.
Reports of the Academy having a “crisis team” on hand to offset any more off-script acts appeared to be on the money. The only hilarity and hijinks were thanks to Jenny – the donkey from Best Picture nominee The Banshees of Inisherin, which was rolled out and named the Oscars’ official emotional support animal.
This year, every award category was included in the official broadcast, meaning the diversity quota was up but the entertainment factor was about as compelling, and as sanitised, as a commercial for Libra.
Even the red carpet was turned neutral: stars walked a “champagne” rug that made already less than size 0 starlets appear not only Ozempic thin but anaemic as well.
Cate Blanchett missed her third Academy Award but won the season at large for her sustainable fashion statements. The star of Tar recycled outfits for every outing, culminating in an aquamarine blue top fished from the Louis Vuitton archives.
Winner of the category Michelle Yeoh dressed for the occasion in fluffy Christian Dior couture. Photos of her as the first Asian woman to take out Best Actress will age like a fine wine, given the classic style of the gown made especially for her.
Despite the near five hours of boring TV being as politically correct as a human resources convention, the awards offered a glimmer of hope for the future of film.
Cult classic Revenge of the Nerds never won critical acclaim nor awards in the 1980s but the 95th Oscars was a triumph for geeks. It potentially signalled the death of the old guard and ushered in a renaissance for overlooked stars of the past.
The 2023 Oscars saw two stars of the 1992 film Encino Man take home statues. Brendan Fraser played a caveman back then; on Monday he won Best Actor for The Whale.
Everything Everywhere All At Once star Ke Huy Quan, who had a cameo alongside Fraser in the ’90s as a high school computer club’s leader, was named Best Supporting Actor.
Hopes are now pinned on their collaborator MTV VJ turned movie star Pauly Shore making his mainstream return in 2024.
All Quiet on the Western Front picked up four awards including best score and cinematography, but the Netflix adaptation failed to win in any major categories.
Directors Steven Spielberg for The Fabelmans and James Cameron for Avatar didn’t attract much attention from the Academy either, leaving many film buffs and streaming novices asking: is this the end of the studio blockbuster?
Independent production company A24 swept the board with 10 wins.
It was the most nominated single studio of this year’s ceremony, with 18 total nominations between six of its films: Everything Everywhere All at Once raked in 11 nominations, The Whale had three nominations, Aftersun, Causeway, Close, and Marcel the Shell with Shoes On each had one.
Best Documentary went to Navalny, a film centred on imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and a project made possible only because of investigative journalists and “our Bulgarian nerd with a laptop”, according to director Daniel Roher.
Everything Everywhere All At Once swept the Oscars with seven wins, rounding out the night by taking home Best Picture.
The manic multiverse fantasy follows a fractured family swept up in a kooky interdimensional adventure.
Producer Jonathan Wang praised creators Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, saying their win was a triumph for “people over profits” and “creativity” that was allowed to flourish because of the cast and crew “of weirdos”.
The Academy not only extended an olive branch for those wanting more diversity in Hollywood, at this year’s ceremony it allowed its freak flag to fly.
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