Before the Oscar ceremony began, it was quite clear that “Oppenheimer” would win, not only the film award, but six other awards, including for directing, adapted screenplay, leading actor, supporting actor, cinematography and editing. But it was not clear who would lose. At the end of the evening, when all the envelopes were opened, it was already clear: Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Moonflower”, despite its ten nominations, came out empty-handed. By the way, this is the third time that a Scorsese film receives ten nominations and comes out with zero wins (“The Irishman” and “Gangs of New York” preceded it), and for ten years no Scorsese film has won an Oscar, and he made four films in this decade. Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro” also came out with zero wins, although there were experts who bet that he would win at least for makeup. And “Barbie”, the pink elephant in the room and the big ratings attraction of the evening, won only one award, for the original song by Billie Eilish and her brother, Phineas.
Every time one of the other favorites lost, the award went to “Poor People Like This”, which turned out to be the second most loved film by the Academy members and won four awards: for set design and costume design, which many expected to go to “Barbie”; for make-up, which did not go to the artificial nose of the “Maestro”; And Emma Stone, the lead actress, on account of Lily Gladstone from The Moonflower Killers. The American media expected Gladstone’s win to announce that she was the first actress of Idani origin to win an Oscar, it did not happen. And so, instead of celebrating her second Oscar win (after “La La Land”), Stone had to deal with the expected backlash that claimed Gladstone was robbed. That’s how the Americans are looking for the political title over awarding a prize based on the quality of the game.
By the way of politics, pro-Palestinian demonstrators who were happy against the war in Gaza blocked the road leading to the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, created a traffic jam of limousines and caused that many guests did not have time to take their seats in the hall. And so the ceremony, which always lasted too long, started this time with an uncharacteristic delay of five minutes (and indeed it was conducted efficiently). Almost the only mention of the war between Israel and Hamas – which was indeed present on the orange pins, symbolizing a demand for a ceasefire, on the lapels of some of the candidates’ suits, but almost never on stage – came precisely in the speech of the British-Jewish director Jonathan Glazer, who won the International Oscar for his film ” area of interest”. “I reject that my Judaism and the memory of the Holocaust will serve the occupation,” he said, “the film protests against dehumanization, the same dehumanization that made possible the Israeli victims on October 7 and the ongoing attacks on Gaza.”
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Billie Eilish and Phineas O’Connell, an award for the best song and a cease-fire pin in Gaza on the lapel
(Photo: EPA/ALLISON DINNER)
Al Pacino is confused
And back to entertainment. Jimmy Kimmel hosted for the fourth time. He is a talent of the ABC network, which broadcasts the ceremony, and after trying for several years to proceed without a moderator, they discovered that a traffic policeman was needed on the stage, who occasionally throws a new joke. Kimmel was the host in 2018 when Faye Dunaway mixed up the envelopes at the Best Picture award and announced “La La Land” as the winner instead of “Moonlight.” That’s why this year, after Emma Stone won the lead actress award again, Kimmel went on stage and yelled backstage to “rip up the envelope with Emma Stone’s name on it.” Funny, but not absurd, because right after that, Al Pacino – confused and distracted – came up and unceremoniously announced “Oppenheimer” as the winner of the film award, without reading the list of candidates first, in such a way that made the audience in the hall fall silent for a split second in embarrassment if Indeed this is the winner – he did win.
Although “Barbie” lost almost all of his awards, the producers of the ceremony knew that they had a cinematic event in their hands that would bring them a large audience, and they took advantage of it fairly. Starting with the fact that a section of Dua Lipa’s song from the movie was the opening and closing music of the ceremony. Kate McKinnon and America Ferrera, two of the stars of the film, presented the documentary film awards and did so with great humor. Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt came up ostensibly to pay tribute to the stuntmen, but mainly to create a comic moment related to the cultural and box office battle between their films, “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”. And Gosling stole the show again when he performed the evening’s showstopper, “I’m Just Ken,” with guest appearances on stage by Mark Ronson (the song’s composer) and Guns & Roses guitarist Slash, who went solo. Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie joined in the song from their seats in the hall.
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Emma Stone
(Photo: EPA/ALLISON DINNER)
Regarding Gerwig: she was admittedly nominated for the screenplay for “Barbie” but not for directing. And Kimmel, in his opening monologue, didn’t ignore it. “‘Barbie’ became such a cultural phenomenon that many believed that its director deserved an Oscar nomination.” The audience here claps enthusiastically. Then Kimmel added what was right to add: “You’re applauding her, but you’re the ones who didn’t vote for her, so don’t act like none of this has anything to do with you.”
Another highlight included John Cena almost completely naked on stage, with Birkenstock sandals on his feet and a costume design envelope covering his legs – a tribute to the man who 50 years ago burst onto the Oscars stage naked while David Niven was standing on it and introduced Elizabeth Taylor. That segment from 1974 entered the classics of the Oscars in an unplanned way, and now Kimmel and Cena’s tribute to that event will now also be included in the montage of the funniest moments at the Oscar ceremonies.
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John Cena naked. One of the funniest moments in the ceremony ever
(Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Robert Downey Jr., who won an Oscar for supporting actor for “Oppenheimer”, this evening completed his wonderful journey, from an actor who causes trouble for productions and gets involved in drug matters, to the biggest Hollywood star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in his role as Iron Man, and now to a serious actor and an Oscar winner. A similar move was made by the stand-up comedian John Mulaney, who also went through a period of drug addiction and recently made a clean comeback. He hosted the honorary Oscars ceremony that took place a few months ago, and yesterday he presented an award, in what looks like an audition for the future host of the ceremony.
To conclude the ceremony, it was Christopher Nolan’s evening. The man who changed the face of Hollywood when he turned comic books into Oscar-winning blockbusters with “The Dark Knight,” and moved to science fiction and from there to world history in World War II—first with “Dunkirk” and now with “Oppenheimer”—is now an Oscar winner for both directing and Best Picture Production along with his wife, Emma Thomas. To conclude the ceremony, this is Hollywood, which combines entertainment that appeals to a wide audience with intelligent historical cinema, and in the midst of street demonstrations against Israel, awards seven Oscars to a film about Jews, and two more to a film about Auschwitz.