Reedies Reflect on the Oscars

Actor in a Leading Role - Adrien Brody, The Brutalist 

In a stacked category, Adrien Brody was by far my least favorite choice for the award. Ralph Fiennes, Sebastian Stan, Colman Domingo, and Timothee Chalamet all had excellent performances amongst which I struggle to choose a favorite, and, unlike Brody, did not use AI to make their accents more realistic! This category left a bad taste in my mouth for many reasons, but chief among them was the lack of knowledge showcased by Oscars voters. In a Variety article by Clayton Davis, it was revealed that many Oscars voters voted against Fiennes under the belief that he had won an Oscar already for Schindler’s List (which he had not!). Ironically, Brody was the only actor present who was already an Oscar winner, having won for The Pianist in 2003. It saddens me that the most important awards in the film industry are given out by people who seemingly do not watch movies or know how to do basic research, but at this point my bar for what makes a good Oscars pick is in hell.

Actor in a Supporting Role - Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain

One of the least surprising wins of the night, but well-deserved! Culkin was excellent in A Real Pain. His performance was both entertaining and a very emotional and realistic portrayal of mental illness. This award also had the added bonus of pitting Culkin against his former Succession co-star Jeremy Strong and the outcome was humorously reminiscent of their characters’ dynamics within the show. I hope Jeremy Strong will get his moment to shine in a future awards season, but seeing the spirit of Kendall Roy overtake him as he lost award after award was very entertaining.

Animated Feature Film - Flow

After decades of this category being dominated by whatever Disney or Pixar movie came out that year, Flow’s win is a breath of fresh air. In an already groundbreaking year for independent film at the Oscars, a movie such as Flow made entirely using Blender, a free and open-source animation software, is a milestone for the category. In addition, this is the first ever Oscar nomination (and win!) from Latvia, further increasing the international nominations beyond the international feature category. Do the Oscars finally respect animation? Who’s to say, but this is another step in the right direction. 

International Feature Film - I’m Still Here

I breathed a sigh of relief over I’m Still Here winning best international feature, knowing that a moving, well-made film won the category rather than Emilia Pérez. Over the past decade the Oscars have given international films considerably more attention at the Oscars beyond just the International Feature category, with these films getting representation within the acting, directing, and best picture categories. However, many of these films still remain extremely inaccessible in the United States, with I’m Still Here being non-streamable in the weeks leading up to the Oscars and only available to watch in a few tiny art house theaters. Here's hoping that the increased attention to international cinema will lead to increased accessibility as well!

Best Picture - Anora 

This is the first time in several years where I had absolutely no idea what film was going to win Best Picture going into the Oscars, which I really enjoyed. Having a very obvious frontrunner all season takes some of the fun out of the whole affair. Anora was an excellent pick, I really enjoyed it and I’m happy to see Sean Baker finally getting some well deserved recognition from the academy! Having a director who is so passionate about independent film use his speeches to champion low budget independent projects and the importance of seeing films in theaters made me feel hopeful for the future of the industry. Anora is the 4th film to win both the Palm D’or and Best Picture, previous winners being The Lost Weekend (1946), Marty (1955), and Parasite (2019). Anora and Parasite winning both only a few years apart is very interesting to me. Could it be reflective of America’s taste in film becoming more aligned with European art house sensibilities? It’s much too early to say, but regardless, the true winner of best picture this year was independent film!

Adapted Screenplay - Conclave

This was a great choice! Conclave was a very well-written film and hearing that it was adapted made me very interested in reading the book. However, it pains me that its fellow nominees Sing Sing and Nickel Boys both walked away with nothing. Both were incredible and extremely overlooked this awards season. I’m glad Conclave won something, though, since it was one of my favorite films nominated this year.

Actress in a Leading Role - Mikey Madison, Anora

While I really wanted Demi Moore to win this because I believe her performance in The Substance was phenomenal, I am overall very happy with this award going to Mikey Madison. Madison in Anora was definitely one of the best performances I’ve seen all year. She brings so much life and emotion to the screen and she plays the role of Ani so incredibly well that I could not think of a better actress for this role. This year, Madison proved that she is a force to be reckoned with and I can’t wait to see what she does in the future.

Actress in a Supporting Role - Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez

While I do believe that Zoe Saldaña’s performance was the only decent thing about Emilia Pérez, I don’t think that should automatically qualify her to win the Oscar. She did have a good performance, and for that I’m not too upset with this win. What I am upset about is her “apology” when she said, “I’m sorry that you and so many Mexicans felt offended [...] I don’t share your opinion [that this film is offensive and borderline exploitative]. For me, the heart of this movie was not Mexico. We weren’t making a film about a country. We were making a film about four women.” This statement is atrocious because Mexico is an integral part of the film. In order to fully grasp Mexico’s role in this film, I had a conversation about Saldaña’s apology with Valeria Gonzalez Padilla ‘28 and she said “That’s fucking crazy. They touched on topics that are basically exclusive to my country. Yes, [Emilia Perez] is about [Mexico]. People missing are a serious problem back home, like it’s very common [...] and they’re just talking about it blatantly. This isn’t fiction, it’s reality.” What Jaques Acherman, and consequently Saldaña, don’t realize is that if they wanted to make a film where the focus is on these four women and not on the country, they shouldn’t have included serious issues in the film itself. 

Directing - Sean Baker, Anora

I feel as though Sean Baker should have gotten this award sooner. His previous works, particularly The Florida Project, should have been at the very least nominated. While, yet again, I wish Coralie Fargeat won for The Substance, I am ultimately very happy with this win. I loved Anora and I think Sean Baker did an absolutely phenomenal job. Long live independent film!

Production Design - Wicked

This is deserved. The sets on Wicked were phenomenal and the production, as a whole, looked phenomenal. No notes.

Original Screenplay - Anora 

Again, Baker should’ve gotten this award sooner. But, I’m again very happy he won this. This year Baker proved himself yet again, showing the world the importance of independent film.

Original Song - “El Mal” from Emilia Pérez

El Malis one of the worst songs from the film, and that’s saying a lot. To be able to fully grasp just how bad this song is, I talked to Padilla. While discussing this film with her, she said, “the most confusing thing about it is the sexualization of corruption in Mexico [...] and the whole song is funny because [Rita Mora Castro] is saying how they’re all going to pay for what they did while they’re attending a gala to fund the association in charge of finding the missing people.” Additionally to this, the musicality of the song is ear grating and the rhyme scheme is so basic it sounds like it was written by ChatGPT.