94th Academy Awards in Review: Slaps, Tears, and Confusion. "And the Oscar goes to... Mixed Messaging"
Monday, March 28, 2022 at 2:15PM by Nathaniel R
Nicole reacts... to what? I was sent this image but it applies to the whole show really
"What just happened?" the question ricocheted across the room at our Oscar party last night. We weren't yet drunk enough to have lost the thread but confusion reigned.
Having cut the cords years ago we were watching the Oscars via the "live TV" on Hulu, putting us at the mercy of not just ABC and Hulu but a temperamental 5G internet connection in Bedstuy, Brooklyn. We heard Chris Rock making a pretty low G.I. Jane joke at Jada Pinkett-Smith's expense (we were already aware that she lost her hair due to Alopecia and how could Rock not be aware of that?) When Smith lept on stage and approached Chris Rock with what looked like aggression we knew something was up. But wait, is this a comic bit? Smith was laughing seconds earlier. Abruptly, true story, our screen-mirror connection cut out and the menu screen appeared. When we restored the connection a few seconds later, Chris Rock was doing his presenting job (the category now forgotten) but he looked and sounded a bit rattled. We missed the whole verbal exchange too. "What just happened?" No one in the room had the answer.
But dear reader, the booze kept flowing, the pizza (sans licorice) and fried chicken (in honor of The Power of the Dog) kept being devoured, and the Oscars kept "going to"...
So our night proceeded in ignorance until Will Smith's very tearful speech began and cleared it up that it had not been a comic bit and something awful had happened that we missed. But Will Smith's impulsive violence, which he blamed on the devil (!) and his calling to protect the women in his life (I'll take toxic masculinity for $800, Alex), was hardly the only confusion or exceedingly mixed messaging coming through the screen on Oscar night.
Jessica Chastain congratulating the Makeup team, who won before the show began. Their speech was censored!
Academy executives had promised that the show would be respectful -- in reaction to their disrespectful cutting of five crucial categories to the art of feature filmmaking as well as the three short film categories. But the show was anything but. While it's true that the awards were edited in in ways that were, if not quite seamless at least not jarring, but executives outright lied when they claimed that the speeches would be unedited. We've already learned that they edited out elements of the speech that talked about the importance of the craft awards. Editing out righteous complaints about your decisions is extremely shady behavior and the very last possible word to describe it is "respectful".
The 94th Academy Awards were hardly the first Oscar telecast to show disrespect to the art of filmmaking -- anti-intellectualism and jokes about artistically minded movies are a staple of our popular culture and thus the ceremony, too -- but in these years of the feature film art form being on the defensive, it feels not unlike bullying or punching down. While the three hosts (Regina Hall, Wanda Sykes, and Amy Schumer) were mostly funny, if seldom deployed, their collective three-way joke about not being able to sit through The Power of the Dog was not just offensive but downright mean considering the beating the film has taken from all corners of the internet from people who take offense at art in their entertainment; God forbid!
One of our friends leaned in confused after one of several mean jokes at the expense of movies and movie stars (I forget which) and said "is this a roast?" No, no. It's meant to be a celebration. Even at its best this Oscar show felt very influenced by Ricky Gervais take on hosting the Golden Globes --tear people and movies down for fun.
But if the Academy Awards aren't meant to celebrate the art of filmmaking and the joy of gawking at movie stars, what are they meant for?
Throughout the night we learned that new producer Will Packer, ABC, and the Academy's current Board of Governors don't. remotely. know.
Their "innovations" such as having non-movie stars present did not pay off. Their decisions, trying to appeal to the kind of imaginary voter that doesn't watch the Oscars (as far as we can tell that's some amalgam of straight extreme sports fans, superhero obsessives, and tween girls with Disney Princess fetishes?), only ended up puzzling those of us who do. Where were the current movie stars? Where were the icons of Old Hollywood? One cutaway to Samuel L Jackson, Danny Glover, and Liv Ullmann is just not going to cut it for our Honorary Oscar winners when we're spending two minutes on random superhero clips. Where was the celebration of CINEMA?
Sure the latter got lip-service but the amount of jokes about people not having seen any movies undercut that considerably. Amy Schumer made a joke about only having seen Encanto this past year and Wanda Sykes entire Academy Museum tour skit was about having no idea what any famous movies were. Out of context those jokes were actually funny (we're not humourless!) but in context and collectively they were depressing reminders that the Oscars are embarassed about sharing movie love... their whole raison d'etre! Bring back hosts that actually quite obviously care about movies and the Oscars like Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, or Hugh Jackman. This should be mandatory. No one who doesn't care about movies need apply.
The twitter poll #FanFavourite portion of the show ended in spectacular backfire fashion providing moments from films nobody interested in watching the Oscars knew or cared about -- what is this Johnny Depp movie Minimata (which made far less money than most of the Best Picture nominees that people always claim 'no one watches')? Why are we watching a helicopter stunt from a streaming zombie movie? Why is a poorly reviewed superhero film released in 2017 taking up space in a celebration of 2021 cinema? Oh, right, because those films have mobilized online fanbases. End of story. Mobilizing fanbases is not even in the same universe as promoting the Oscars. Hell, it's not even a sign of which movies have the biggest fanbases. It's a venn diagram where the overlap is only between which fans are the most extremely online and which have defensive/obsesssive/or aggrieved fanbases.
Other tributes were also lame. Why were their whole minutes dedicating to James Bond movies when we were already getting 1) a song performance from a James Bond movie 2) a visual effects clip 3) an Oscar speech involving a James Bond movie? We would have had even a fourth non-tribute Bond moment if Oscar hadn't disrespected the presentation of the Best Sound category in which it was also nominated! We love Bond here at The Film Experience, but that's an awful lot of attention for a franchise connected to a film with just three nominations when a new popular franchise (Dune) which was nominated for and won several Oscars was right there. Best Picture nominees that were watched in large numbers like Don't Look Up and West Side Story (with the combo of theatrical and streaming) got less attention.
This will get petty now but next time hire a gay man to produce. Gay men understand the appeal of the Oscars more than anyone. That might have saved us from Kevin Costner's rambling at least.
Don't misunderstand. We were happy to see him! He is a movie star (points for that as presenters go) and has been part of several classics (more points) and he was talking about how he fell in love with the movies (yet more points -- THIS IS WHAT THE OSCARS SHOULD BE ABOUT).
Despite all of that, he's also one of the dullest celebrities alive. Only Mormons and Ex-Mormons will get this next joke but one of my girlfriends turned to me during the ceremony and said "General Conference vibes". Costner's older white man stiffness and relentlessly monotone voice (never his strong suit) don't work solo or out of movie character. It's like listening to a CEO give a presentation or a Mormon prophet drone on at a twice annual religious event. It's not the right energy for an awards show. Why not pair him with a female co-star (since he has proven chemstiry with them) to raise his energy. Susan Sarandon? Sean Young? Mary McDonnell? Diane Lane? Annette Bening? Rene Russo? That way you'd give us another movie reunion. As we said on Twitter, when sharing presenter ideas, it is not rocket science. People watch the Oscars to watch movie stars being themselves with other movie stars. It's that simple. Yet producers seem confused about this. It's actually the #1 easiest thing to understand about the appeal of movie awards shows.
Lady Gaga and Liza Minnelli presented Best Picture together, a smart pairing and nice to see women doing it since the honor has so often gone to men.
Gay bosses would also understand to goose the Liza Minnelli appearance rather than treating it as a 'we're out of time' shrug. 'Oh, sure, it's Cabaret's 50th Anniversary, too' The 1972 Oscars were iconic. Why is only The Godfather getting special treatment (if a lame tribute... which weirdly played into the Will Smith equating "family" with violence) when Cabaret has also endured and won a historic amount of Oscars that night, the most ever (8) without a Best Picture win.
Under the current Oscar leadership they get halfway towards understanding (Kevin Costner is fine, WHEN PAIRED) but can't commit! You can see the same 'halfway there but clueless as to how to commit' in the weird insistence that cutting categories would make the show short (as if that should be a goal when fans love that it's an epic night!) only to have the show run well over time the alloted time... just like it always does. The trick to making it shorter -- also not rocket science -- if that's truly your end goal is not to ADD things while you're cutting things.
Not that it was all a misfire. The Oscars are still the Oscars and every year has highlights that feel very "oh, yes, this is the Oscars!" warm and cornily thrilling even when the producers and goals are terrible.
The Juno team: Jennifer, Elliot, and J.K. reunited to present Screenplay
All the movie reunions were fun and an easy way to point to fond memories of movies, but there should have been more of them! Juno, White Men Can't Jump, Pulp Fiction. More of this please.
The Song performances were nice breaks. Beyoncé was best kicking off the show with a heavily choreographed very tennis colored costumed rendition of "Be Alive" but the other song performances weren't too shabby either. The "FIRST EVER" live performance of "We Don't Talk About Bruno" was a complete mess trying to be modern (even though the song is brand new and thus modern!) by adding raps about the Oscars. Still, messy overproduced accidentally camp performances have a long tradition at the Oscars!
The moment when all three hosts dressed as movie characters -- Amy as Spider-Man, Wanda as King Richard, and Regina as Tammy Faye was a terrific silly bit. And show appropriate!
The In Memoriam section, which they tinkered with, was actually respectful and a highlight. The whole room at our party enjoyed the format which had movements broken up by three moments where a celebrity spoke about a beloved icon that had passed.
Among the speeches, Costner wasn't the only one to actually pay tribute to movies in a genuine way though there wasn't enough of that. Jessica Chastain, Ariana DeBose, Troy Kotsur and Questlove also had their heads and hearts in the right places. Or as Nick wisely said on Twitter:
Also, bouquets to anyone who said anything sincere, substantial, or inspiring about art on an evening weirdly militarized against the prospect.
— Nick Davis (@NicksFlickPicks) March 28, 2022
Troy Kotsur gave a beautiful speech
But the highlights outside of beautiful speeches were few and far between. And so we arrive at the big winner, another case of mixed messaging.
When I first saw CODA i thought it was charming and I happily admit that I got choked up at the "Both Sides Now" audition sequence and during the best scene in the film when a father (Oscar winner Troy Kotsur) "hears" his daughter singing through touch. But seeing things outside the context of awards is a far different experiencing than watching them win prizes. CODA simply isn't "Best" material outside of Kotsur's performance. It's a minor pleasant picture, and apart from its deafness, there's nothing revelatory or transcendent about it. It's a well-done formula picture but "Best" is different than enjoyable and this sends a dangerous message primarily because it was paired with the most controversial (pre-Slap) part of this year's ceremony.
Film fans and the industry balked about eight below the line categories being cut (including Cinematography and Editing, the two most crucial crafts without which not a single film could exist) but even some of the same people expressed deep rooted interest in CODA winning. CODA is a sweet picture but rewarding a film with no clear artistry in its crafts sends a terrible message to the artisans who were already cast aside by ABC as unimportant in the sisyphean search of audiences that don't care about the Oscars. You've only proven to them that your support is hollow.
Where does the Academy go from here? We'd like to think the only way is up but we're still feeling the sting. We aren't even referring to Will Smith's outrageously inappropriate behavior. We're talking about the Oscar show itself, figuratively slapping their most devout audiences for the sin of daring to care about movies, the Oscars, and the iconic rich history of Hollywood.
THE WINNERS
Best Picture CODA
Best Actress Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Best Actor Will Smith King Richard
Best Supporting Actress Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Best Supporting Actor Troy Kotsur, CODA
Best Director Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Best Adapted Screenplay CODA
Best Original Screenplay Belfast
Best Cinematography Dune
Best Animated Film Encanto
Best Original Score Dune
Best Original Song "No Time to Die" from No Time to Die, Billie Eilish, Finneas O'Connell
Best Costume Design Cruella
Best Makeup & Hairstyling The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Best Editing Dune
Best Visual Effects Dune
Best Production Design Dune
Best Sound Dune
Best International Film Drive My Car
Best Documentary Summer of Soul
Best Documentary Short Subject The Queen of Basketball
Best Animated Short Film The Windshield Wiper
Best Live-Action Short Film The Long Goodbye
LGBTQ+, Oscar Ceremonies, Oscars (21), Will Smith
Reader Comments (39)
Movie stars being movie stars is what makes the Oscars fun! I think the best moments were those.
I'll admit, one of my least favorite things year in and out is that a lot of the nominees don't actually get to present. How fun would it to have Nicole and Denzel, or some other pairing, presenting on stage? Still I thought the presenters, other than the Gen Z ones, were mostly good.
I was okay with the bits, but some just weren't that great? However, they were mostly fine and enjoyable. I do think there were too many montages (e.g., Bond, Godfather, etc.). There has to be a better way to honor classic films than an intro and montage, though I appreciated the "we love films" vibe of this year.
On Coda: I think it's fine if Coda is the winner. I think the definition of best picture used to be the picture that had clear artistry in its craft. However, I think the Academy has shifted pretty hard away from that. They want a picture with a strong message, that resonates with them, and that challenges them in some way. CODA fits the bill, while also fitting the national mood coming out of 2 years of mass sickness and death. I think this is the trend with most recent winners going back to Slumdog Millionaire, even if some of those were more artistic than others. I do, however, appreciate that the academy hasn't gotten better over time with the Picture/Director split. It feels as if the Best Picture award really is the most liked category, while all of the other categories are more craft oriented.
I'm so disappointed in the best editing win. I can give sound and cinematography to Dune but the rest I disagree with. Even Licorice Pizza would have been a more worthy winner, which wasn't even nominated, let alone the other 4. But at least the editing-sound correlation is still going on, if almost everything else was shattered by CODA.
Pretty sure the previous BP was handed out by Rita Moreno and 2 years before that Julia Roberts had the honor so I'm still saying this Minnelli-Gaga thing didn't work as intended. Yes, she was right about Cabaret 50 but then why no clips from that? Plus Pulp Fiction was a random 28 in comparison to the rest. Frances couldn't make it?
Performing two songs from Encanto doesn't feel right with Miranda not attending and not winning, it was more Disney brand promo. Which they did not actually do with Rachel Zegler, go figure!
Even Kidman showed little or no class by wearing her husband's jacket around her shoulders.
She could have at least taken it off when she knew she would be on camera when Best Ac tresses were announced.
ALL in ALL... A Night To DISmember!
There are so many things to unpack about last night's ceremony, including that shocking act of violence. Still, my biggest question coming out of the night was, "How is it possible that the same academy that chose such risky, original, and singular visions like PARASITE and NOMADLAND also chose....CODA?" I don't know how to make sense of that. The only way I can explain it is that this disparity in taste and discernment points to a wide schism within the academy — one half trying to make bold and interesting choices that represent steps forward in filmmaking, while the other half unwittingly tries to undo that by seemingly not caring about being reflective and discerning about what good cinema means.
The one thing that's super clear to me is that the director's branch is worthy of applause. They somehow almost always pull through with who they nominate, thereby giving the rest of the academy only worthy choices to choose from. I was not at all scared for Jane Campion last night, even after seeing Power of the Dog lose category after category, because I knew Campion was not up against CODA.
Not only did the show go really long, in spit of the "efforts" to make it short, but, technically, they added an hour onto it for all the crafts people (+ Judi and Jessica and anyone else who made an effort to attend the first hour) - so that's over 4.5 in that theatre, a lot of it spent watching speeches from a few hours earlier.
No wonder the vibe was so strange, even before violence punctured the last hour.
Supporting actor + Adapted screenplay have equaled BP now for Moonlight, Green Book, and CODA. What an odd stat. We still have sweeps, they just don't take BP anymore.
Let's get the rubbish stuff out of the way
Regina Hall's CoVid inspection skit,dragged on and on and became less appropriate
The Slap heard around the world obviously,what is this Dynasty!
The Towering Inferno Lounge setting.
The songs performances we're all quite weak,Beyonce beaming in wasn't enough.
Nicole's dress,usually so stylish and risky,the top part looked like fingerless hands.
The Good
GaGa and Liza,Queens both of them
Chastain's lovely speech
Correct on Costner but when he walked on stage I got a warm feeling like I was 14 again and Film Stars we're Film Stars,Where was Sharon Stone,Sandra Bullock and their like.
Jada's emerald showers gown
Hopkins and Dench we're both there.
The presenters did fine esp Wanda
Jane winning and making history as the only woman director who has been nominated twice
This isn't the first time I haven't seen a Best Picture winner before an Oscar ceremony, but I used to be a completest with the nominees depending on if my parents were subscribing to HBO and/or Showtime back in the 90s or access to Blockbuster. The ratings and interest in the show are never going to be the same again because you now need multiple streaming services to access them all and the affordability of such endeavors is lost on me currently. Back when Chris Rock and Jimmy Kimmel hosted, they did "bits" where they interviewed "regular" movie goers and most hadn't seen many of the Oscar nominated films during those years and I doubt many will seek out this year's crop. CODA seems nice, Power of the Dog feels like typical Oscar film bait, but I haven't had a strong desire to see either yet.
The Tonys and Emmys have often had separate or pre-shows that honored the technical awards many viewers don't necessarily know much about. The Oscars tried to do something similar this year and I won't be surprised if more of the categories get similar treatment next year. I'd hate to see the ceremony moved away from network TV in an attempt to air everything with equal measure though, I don't want to have to pay to watch an award show. The show is just never going to be the same like it used to be.
I only liked the female acting clips. The rest was awful. So vulgar. The place where you can say that Ricardos is a piece of crap is the Globes not the Academy Awards. The lack of direction. The Godfather tribute? The lazyness. That lady over there is Liv Ullmann, bye lady. Oh, and here's Liza. I mean, I could go on an on.
@bvrs90 - my theory on the academy choosing Parasite and Nomadland, while also choosing CODA, is that a decent chunk of the academy, who are probably the real deciders, cares about how a film makes them feel, is something they deem important, and that makes them think or challenges them to think about things they don't often consider. Parasite, Nomadland, and CODA all do that, even if Parasite and Nomadland are more artistically accomplished films.
I also think you could do this with a lot of categories. The same academy that voted for Chastain to win also voted for Olivia Colman. Voters honored Rami Malek and Anthony Hopkins. Some of these performances are standard and others are challenging and filled with interesting choices. I think the difference is the mood of a given year, as well as what connects with voters at a certain point in time.
Nicole was reacting to something else. I saw the pic very early in the evening.
Comments about other topics:
What was up with the song choices? Random at best. The fact the DJ played Toto's "Africa" when Daniel Kaluuya and HER presented was terrible, and then he did it again playing a random Santana song when John Leguizamo got up to present. Yikes and yikes again.
Also -- did I miss that White Men Can't Jump is a cultural touchstone? Genuinely asking. It wasn't bad, but was I supposed to whoop and holler over that reunion, of all things?
OK, what was worse? This year's ceremony or the 1989 ceremony with Rob Lowe singing with Snow White?
White Man Can't Jump is a classic film but unfortunately, this year's generation of film-goers wouldn't know a good movie if it came out of their ass. At least that film has some notable fans in Terrence Malick and Stanley Kubrick.
@Nathaniel
I do resent you saying that gay men understand the appeal of the Oscars better than anyone., I am NOT gay... have watched movies for over 50 years and feel I am as in tune
with movies as much as the next person. I know what you mean, but I found its insulting to
we straight men who love the cinema.
I felt embarrassed for the 8 ‘below the radar’ nominees. They weren’t even given the courtesy of having their name read ‘by a star.’ Each nominee was zipped through via a random Voice Over, quick cut Edit to the winners onstage receiving their award from some anonymous ‘Oscar carrier.’
And weren’t these categories awarded when ‘the stars’ were outside being fawned over on the red carpet? I felt somewhat deceived seeing Edited reaction shots from actors/actresses that I was sure wouldn’t bother showing up an hour early and miss all the hoopla outside…
Also-for the dumbing down of the niche audience that ABC craves, it’s beyond annoying when the announcer tells us ‘this is the first nomination & win for Adriana DeBose, this is the first nomination & win for Billie Eilish, this is the first nomination & win for Troy Kutsur…’
Also, I believe in forginevess but not ten minutes after the assault.
Slapgate aside, I thought the most damning part of the evening as entertainment is that there were no upsets! Outside the short films if you picked the consensus GoldDerby favorite for each category you were right every single time. To me this suggests the biggest problem is the late date and precursors having too much time and energy to influence perspectives.
I loved having reunion casts present, especially the light and fun ones with the actual stars of the movie in question (White Men Can't Jump, Pulp Fiction). If this became a tradition to have 3-4 awards presented this way it would be fun and a good hook to bring back stars from the past.
I thought the hosts were fine. Either Sykes or Schumer probably would have done fine solo. Hall was game and goofy though the COVID test bit ran a bit long. The "gifts in the audience" gag was a bit flat but I cracked up at them telling Judi Dench to work harder.
They should have combined the Bond tribute and Eilish performance and combined the Encanto performances, and switch out some rando presenters (Shawn Mendes? the guy from Euphoria?) for actual movie stars, but all in all random late-show act of violence aside I thought it was a pretty typical Oscars in terms of quality.
Will Smith should have been expelled immediately. It is unacceptable to use physical violence if you are offended (by a professional comedian!), and letting Smith stay the Academy said they were OK with that.
I'm not going to bother going on a whole rant because I've already made most of my points in comments on other posts here, but this is the first time in my 22 years of following the Oscars that I'm pretty damn sure I'm not going to bother following along next year. I'm sure I'll check out the nominees and winners when they're announced, but devoting the time and energy to following along all season, which was once a source of a lot of fun and excitement for me, sadly just doesn't seem worth it at all anymore.
As if cutting eight categories from the telecast and devoting time instead to pointless Twitter polls insisted upon by sleazy network executives in the hopes of generating fleeting mainstream interest at the expense of enduring artistic credibility -- which one can easily argue the Oscars have never truly been about, but they've at least tried in the past -- wasn't bad enough, it turns out that they actually got their wish for mainstream relevance, and it came in the form of what will almost certainly go down as the lowest moment in the history of the Academy Awards, one that had absolutely nothing to do with the art of movies or even the glamor of the people who make them, but just an ugly sideshow display that completely overshadowed what little was even left of what the Oscars are supposed to be about. It's sad, but that's the world we're living in. The network wanted mainstream attention for the show, well...here it is.
This whole thing is just depressing, and that's not even accounting for the actual awards which were quite frankly the most underwhelming set of winners in a long time. I can sense that the Academy is going through a sort of identity crisis, but until they sort it out and rediscover what they're supposed to be about and whom they're supposed to be for (movie lovers, not some imaginary mainstream audience that we can now see will only be reached when some embarrassing fiasco gets the show trending for all the wrong reasons), I just can't bring myself to be invested in the Oscars anymore. Maybe in a few years they'll be on HBO Max and they can repackage themselves as a show by and for movie lovers to celebrate the year's most outstanding achievements in the medium, across ALL fields within the medium and not just the ones some soulless network deems popular enough to include lest they risk losing the viewership of the viral-chasing philistines they'd obviously rather appeal to. Then I'll watch again. But for now, yeah, I'm out. At least there's still Cannes.
Nathaniel, I pretty much agree with everything else you say in this artilce, except for the gripe about CODA winning. Joe G is the wisest person here on that topic. (Also, knowing how much many of Team TFE love THE POWER OF THE DOG and believe it to be the best film of the year, it does start to look like sour grapes - even though I am pretty confident it isn't, I am just referring to appearances.)
For those of us who [prefer the arthouse films, we just had NOMADLAND and PARASITE win. For those who thought GREEN BOOK was too conservative for the win, we just had SPOTLIGHT and MOONLIGHT a couple of years earlier than that. I think the Oscars should represent all members, and the preferential system was intorduced just so the category isn't always the arthouse or the mainstream heartwarmer. I do not think CODA was the best film in the category, but my vote would've been for NIGHTMARE ALLEY, which I know many others would have had a bugbear about if it had won. I have my own Best Of 2021 list for mt choices. The Oscars are about the best popular consensus, and I think they did OK this year.
If we want continuous honuors for artistic achievemnt, then I suggest we focus on the Directing category. That's where vision and innovation and transcendence is celebrated. Sian Heder and Peter Farrelly not even being nominated supports that theory. Foreign language films regularly getting directing nods support that theory. Best Picture is where the voter votes with their heart.
Jessica Chastain is the Jessica Lange of her generation: Undeniably beautiful and graceful. Unquestionably considered "great" and "overdue" from the minute she became famous. A trail of movies and performances I have absolutely no desire to revisit for any reason. No knack for comedy, a tendency toward melodrama...
These are actresses who became "great actresses" because enough people, for enough years, insisted it to be so! 2011 is finally over.
I didn't watch the ceremony and judging from reactions I'm seeing that was a wise choice. The whole punching down mean jokes are so weird. I get the Oscars (and the industry) needs to have a sense of humor about itself but like making digs about how boring or how nobody watched your movie just seems rude? Like meanness somehow equates to being clever or funny nowadays. Makes me long for the days when it was just Billy Crystal making Jack Palance jokes.
I am weary of the CODA bashing. Best Picture should not be an attempt to guess which flick will be revered decades from now. The prize should represent film’s profundity in this moment.
Best Picture of 1944 Going My Way is subjected to disdain for its crooning priest. However, back in the day Oscar voters and audiences alike embraced the end of the film where an elderly mother is reunited with her beloved son after a long separation. The quiet reconciliation was devastating to movie goers in the aftermath of WWII. How many wept quietly in the dark yearning for an opportunity to hold a lost son or father or husband or brother or friend?
Best Picture of 1968 In the Heat of the Night is discounted against the introduction of New Hollywood provided by The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde. However, the scene where Virgil Tibbs slaps the face of an aging rich white landowner was deeply shocking in a dark, crowded theater in its initial release. Sidney Poitier had a clause in his contract that prevented the studio from editing out the tense moment, even in movie houses in the Deep South. The altercation spoke to the immediacy of societal upheaval amidst the Civil Rights Movement.
Best Picture winner CODA is a remake of the French film La Famille Bélier. The 2014 comedy was controversial for casting hearing actors as the deaf characters and so badly mangling the sign language that deaf audiences required subtitles. CODA speaks to the present determination to embrace inclusivity in film making. The demonstration that deaf actors can communicate with hearing audiences, cinematography can insure that signing is clearly and completely included in each shot, and stories of deaf culture have resonance is worthy of high honors.
I was happy with exactly 4 wins (Actress and Supporting Actress, though I would have preferred Stewart and Dunst, and Director and Animated Short, where my top choices won).
I am deeply concerned about the future of not only the Oscars and their value but of cinema and art in general when ALLLLLLLL of the other awards went to dumbed-down entertainment that is easily digestable by the lowest common denominator.
Sure, give Dune a visual effects award. Sound too, if you must. But EVERY tech award? You're telling me that one robots and aliens movie (a genre I detest, btw) had the best camera work AND the best art direction AND the best music AND the best editing of every movie released in 2021? I call bullshit. Lazy, lazy bullshit.
And CODA is the most bland winner probably ever. You could tell from the ASL applause the entire room gave each of its wins that it won its categories not because anyone thought it was "best" but because it makes people feel like they must be good people for recognizing diversity and are patting themselves on the back for rewarding the deaf movie. To be clear, diversity and representation are EXTREMELY important. I'm glad people saw the movie, which is perfectly sweet and heartwarming. I hope it makes more people think about how deaf and hard-of-hearing folks experience the world. It makes me want to learn conversational ASL. That is VERY important. Put more deaf actors and deaf stories on screen, but can we please give them a quality script? That was a totally amateur production (minus the deaf actors, who were great) and has NO business anywhere near the Oscars.
I love the Oscars. I'm obsessed with them. I'm losing my patience and wondering if I need a better hobby.
@Doug. You sum up CODA well but if you want to criticise Dune’s award haul then you need to actually know what it is you are actually talking about. You may detest the “robots and aliens” genre but Dune is in no way a” robots and aliens” film. The people who populate the Empire of which Dune is a part are descendants of Earth humans, while “thinking machines” (Robots and computers) have been specifically banned from the Empire. The story is a human drama set in a distant galaxy. It’s artistic merit may be a point of contention based on taste, but it’s quality is not in doubt.
My impression of Will, Jada and the entire clan is that they’re highly narcissistic (I mean they named their kids Willow and Jaden for god’s sake). The narcissistic injury of Rock’s joke triggered Smith act in a manner that disgraced himself, his family, his film, co-stars, the Williams sisters and embarrassed his fellow nominees. It is awful, awful behaviour. I think, however he will emerge relatively unscathed - as much as I wish it would tank his career.
Highlights for me were Regina Hall, Chastain’s win and speech, Campion’s win, the obvious reverence from Dune’s winners for Villeneuve, Kirsten Dunst being Kirsten Dunst &, albeit a bit cheesy, I did love the Pulp Fiction reunion- if only to see Uma Thurman on the stage.
The state of the Oscars is pretty dire. It was not only the worst ceremony in years, it was possibly the worst slate of winners in my lifetime.
Stale, predictable, milquetoast, mediocre work was rewarded in almost every major category. The screenplay winners were two genuinely horrible screenplays. CODA felt like a Disney Channel or Lifetime movie, and unfortunately there seems to be no backlash given how much it was overshadowed by the Will Smith moment.
I know I sound like a hater hoping for backlash, but Green Book backlash absolutely helped Parasite win Best Picture. It helps to let voters know that their choices are wrong sometimes, and why.
The worst part is that folks keep saying “CODA is no Green Book or Crash.” Well yeah, because it’s worse. And as equally offensive. It was clear that the movie was made by hearing people. The story infantilized deaf people and made them seem helpless. And the actual plot, whether to go to a singing audition or miss it because…..her family is deaf??….is so elementary that I am actually embarrassed for the Oscars. Easily in the top five worst best picture winners ever.
And another of the BP nominees, Drive My Car, had a much more moving and authentic signing plot.
Yes, slapgate aside - i can't believe Timothee Chalamet didn't have the respect to even WEAR A SHIRT to the Oscars?!? WTF - how totally inappropriate I felt. And I'm sorry, but Dune was a long boring movie that went nowhere for me - why all the Oscars? oh well - to each his own. But i just couldn't believe when I saw what he was wearing - is it showing a middle finger to the Oscars from the younger generation?? I mean c'mon. Thank goodness for JESSICA CHASTAIN's speech (and i did absolutely love Wanda Sykes going thru the museum LOL). But it feels more and more lately after I watch the Oscars, i think about giving up on them all together, but i keep coming back, but pretty soon I'm gonna ask myself, what exactly am I coming back to??
Stephen C
"'CODA is no Green Book or Crash' Well yeah, because it's worse."
Too bad we can't upvote. But you can consider yourself upvoted anyway.
Why are people coming for Jessica Lange.
I think the hosts did well for the most part. All three had their highs and lows. Amy's solo monologue was funny, but then her weird attempt to acknowledge political/social issues while shaming everyone for being at an awards show that SHE was hosting was odd - especially since it came 3 hours into the ceremony. Regina was fun, but her more risqué jokes seem to be divisive. I just love her energy. Wanda was maybe the weakest of the three for me. Her video at the Academy Museum was only slightly amusing. I actually really liked them more as a unit.
I'm glad to see your positive reaction to the In Memoriam segment. A lot of people have never experienced a black funeral/"celebration of life" and it shows. I'm glad it wasn't the usual somber affair. The only thing I disliked was their decision to single out specific people in the montage, that was tacky.
All in all, it was a messy but very watchable show. I knew it would run long despite the stupid changes they made, but I have no idea what lessons they'll take away from all of this for next year.
There were no great films this year. There, I said it.
I loved the hosts, especially Schumer. I wanted more of them. And Schumer's individual monologue at the 20 minute mark KILLED. So funny.
As for Smith, he should be expelled from The Academy. Shameful behavior.
I am weary of the CODA bashing, but also the overpraise for The Power of the Dog. The Power of the Dog is not Nomadland or Parasite. Those were two films set in the present day that spoke uniquely to the fraught political and economic landscape of our era and featured protagonists that we never see represented our screens.
The Power of the Dog is an exceedingly well-made period piece from a brilliant auteur that puts that auteur's stamp on a famililar genre. It's more comparable to The Irishman than Nomadland or Parasite. These are the types of films that receive numerous Oscar nominations but underperform at the ceremony.
The fans of The Power of the Dog should have recognized it was a relatively weak frontrunner when none of the three premier critics' groups awarded it Best Picture. The Drive My Car sweep was highly unusual and reflective of the fact that, as whunk says, there really was no great movie (at least no great English-language movie) this year.
Late to this, but great recap, Nathaniel! I watched with a few friends, and interestingly, we all thought (at the time) the Will Smith/Chris Rock dust-up was a staged bit, though we wondered about the audio being cut and were bemused by Smith's subsequent speech. It wasn't until we watched the unedited clip that we realized no, the slap was real. And agreed it was totally out of line.
Aside from that, I think we enjoyed the ceremony more than you did...it wasn't great, but seemed pretty middle-of-the-road as Oscars ceremonies go, setting aside the ridiculously disrespectful decision to ditch half the craft awards. The "fan favorite" bits were beyond idiotic, but every year the Oscars have their share of stupid filler. Feature, not a bug. Just wish this year's hadn't been at the expense of actual awards.
Generally liked the three hosts and the clips and about the usual quota of the speeches. Obviously not thrilled with the results - it seems wrong that The Eyes of Tammy Faye walked away with more Oscars than Power of the Dog, Drive My Car and West Side Story, and I wished that at least a couple of Dune's pile of awards had gone to Dog, but I can't hate on Coda. (Although, as I predicted, I'm still more annoyed about its win for screenplay than for picture.) It is a shame that all anyone's talking about today, though, is Will Smith and Chris Rock.
Strong disagreement on the In Memoriam, which I thought was extremely disrespectful, an almost literal dancing on the graves of those being honored. It may have played differently in the room, but the TV cameras were more interested in the dancers/singers than in the honorees, whose images were reduced to so small a portion of the screen that the names were almost unreadable, and the job descriptions were entirely so.
And marking the deaths of a large number of people, from goodness knows how many different religious traditions, with such explicitly Christian music, was completely inappropriate and offensive.
I appreciated the comment at the end that this was meant to be a celebration of lives lived rather than a somber listing of deaths; that's not an awful idea, but this was a poor execution of it.
I think I need to rewatch the Condon/Mark telecast from 2009 just to wash the taste of this year's show out of my mouth. Granted, that means I'll have to watch Will Smith present four categories with new eyes, but still that year was hands-down the classiest, most across-the-board enjoyable telecast they ever mounted.
It was strange. I enjoyed the show *in the moment* as I often do (things often move so fast that it's hard to be super critical as they're unfolding), but even then it was obvious they were making boneheaded choices. Why not get Shirley Bassey out or, hell, even Adele, or both(!) to sing during the Bond piece. Or just have it segue into Billie's performance. The opening pre-filmed bit with "Be Alive" was actually a great choice - this is a televised show. You can do things that make the at home expreience better and that was one of them. But so many easy marks just weren't hit.
Why wasn't the "Bruno" song wrapped up in a 'musicals of 2021' montage. THAT would've been great. Something from TICK TICK BOOM and WEST SIDE STORY, plus even those without nominations. This is a celebration of cinema after all. IN THE HEIGHTS! So many choices.
Why did THE GODFATHER thing not lead to the presentation of an award? Why was DeNiro there when he wasn't even in THE GODFASTER? Why was P Diddy presenting THE GODFATHER?! As you note, why wasn't CABARET given such respect (we all know why, but it stills begs the question). I didn't mind the three sporting 'GOATS' presenting the Bond thing, but, it was pretty average presentation.