The 94th Annual Academy Awards Takeaways
Last night, the 94th Annual Academy Awards aired live on ABC. As a reminder, these awards recognized films released between January 2020 and February 2021. This included many films that never received a traditional theatrical release because of the global pandemic, which surely put the anti-streaming contingent of the Oscars in a tricky situation.
The ceremony itself tried a lot of new things and I applaud them for shaking up the format given the circumstances. With Covid-19 filming protocols, they couldn’t have a full auditorium. Instead, it was a lights on, tables and chairs kind of scenario like the Golden Globes. The relatively few people in attendance were interviewed and played various games throughout the night to keep things interesting.
I have two major issues with the presentation.
First, the guests were told they were not allowed to wear masks on air. That is…not a good look. I understand wanting to show off the talent and see their full reactions, but the idea of an event of this scale (and yes, it was still large, just not nearly as large as usual) looks unsafe. I know there had to be testing and other safety measures in place, but it looks like they’re advocating for large mask-less gatherings with strangers. The film industry is huge and I guarantee you that all these nominees aren’t in a quarantine bubble together.
Second, they “randomized” the order of the awards. That means that when Chloé Zhao rightfully won Best Director and Best Picture for Nomadland, they were not among the final two awards of the night. The climactic build to the find out the highest prize at the ceremony was cut short. Director was announced about an hour into ceremony and Picture was announced before Actress and Actor. While I’ve previously written about the disregard for technical and short categories in the presentation, the solution was not to dump all the major non-gendered categories won by women into the earlier part of the ceremony.
The real reason for the change was transparent from the start and backfired tremendously. ABC clearly thought (as most of us did) that Chadwick Boseman was going to win a posthumous Oscar for his leading performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Best Actor was the last prize announced. I love a good Oscar surprise, so hearing Anthony Hopkins announced as the winner for The Father was one of those surprises. Talk about an anticlimactic ending: Anthony Hopkins wasn’t even present for the ceremony to accept his trophy.
The real winner of the night, for me, was Frances McDormand doing what Frances McDormand is wont to do: focusing on her own well-being as a person and treating her job as a job. She blatantly ignored the no-mask mandate as long as allowed, only removing it when she was would possibly have to go onstage. She won Best Actress in the most hotly contested category of the night. Seemingly any performer nominated in the category was a real threat to win and McDormand’s subtle and supportive turn in Nomadland triumphed. I only didn’t predict her because the performance was so quiet compared to the other potential winners.
Her two speeches were typical McDormand: a couple clever lines and a thank you. I’m especially fond of her Best Actress win where she said that her true voice was her sword, and her sword was her work as a performer. A close second was howling like a wolf on the set of Nomadland while accepting Best Picture.
The Oscar voters really shared the love this time, with all but one of the eight Best Picture nominees walking away with a trophy (sorry, The Trial of the Chicago 7). Nomadland won three; The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Mank, and The Sound of Metal won two; and Minari and Promising Young Woman won one.
A few highlights for me based on what I covered at Sketching Details this season:
Emerald Fennell took home Best Original Screenplay for Promising Young Woman, which is the only category I thought that revenge/horror film would even be nominated in, let alone win.
My Best Picture winner Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom took home Best Makeup & Hairstyling and Best Costumes.
Nomadland, one of the most beautiful and contemplative films I’ve seen in years, won Best Picture, Best Director for Chloé Zhao, and Best Actress for Frances McDormand.
Sound of Metal won the newly combined Best Sound category (as it should) and Best Editing. I’m still against the decision to combine Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing into one category as they’re very different jobs, but I’m glad the film that should have won both did.
“If Anything Happens I Love You” won Best Animated Short. I still cry just thinking about that film.
Soul won for Best Original Score, which is amazing, and Best Animated Feature, which was expected.
