As spring rolls around, so does awards season. The Oscars, Hollywood’s most important award show, took place March 2 at 7 p.m. in LA’s Dolby Theater, with Conan O’Brien taking the stage as a first-time host.
Taking place soon after the LA wildfires, one of the biggest questions surrounding the show was how it would handle what happened to LA. The Academy chose to make it a major part of the show by opening with a montage honoring Hollywood and LA culminating in the iconic sunset scene from “La La Land” with the words “We Love LA” edited into the sky. After this and a brief performance by “Wicked” co-starts Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, O’Brien opened with a monologue that further discussed the fires. The Oscars also repeatedly showed a QR code leading to a website listing organizations contributing to relief efforts.
O’Brien remarked that while “any award show can seem self-indulgent and superfluous” during trying times, the Oscars has an important role honoring and celebrating all aspects of film — from famous celebrities to technicians that go unseen. He argued that “the magic, the madness, the grandeur and the joy of film, worldwide, is going to be with us forever.” Given film’s permanence and the Oscars’ goal to uplift and celebrate film, O’Brien argued that “this seemingly absurd ritual” will remain.
O’Brien also later invited several LA firefighters on the stage, who, after receiving a long standing ovation, made a number of jokes about the year’s most important films. This humanized the firefighters and gave them a real place in the show rather than just vague references. Overall, the Oscars handled their recognition of fires far better than other award shows this season.
Along with the Oscars’ approach to the LA wildfires, another hot topic was the impact of Karla Sofía Gascón’s recent controversies on the award potential “Emilia Pérez.” O’Brien wasted no time addressing this controversy, mentioning Gascón’s past tweets within minutes of his opening monologue. As the camera panned to Gascón, who was in the audience, the crowd filled with laughter, “oohs,” and eventually, applause.
Many, myself included, thought “Emilia Pérez” would still win Best International Film, yet this instead went to the Brazilian film “I’m Still Here.” Despite receiving an outstanding 13 nominations, the film ended the night with only two Oscars for Best Supporting Actress — Zoe Saldaña as Rita Mora Castro — and Best Original Song — El Mal. Sparking further controversy, the award winners did not acknowledge the transgender community in their speeches despite the film centering around a transgender main character and facing accusations of being anti-trans.
The show felt overly long, which made the inclusion of an elaborate, James Bond-focused performance featuring Margaret Qualley, Doja Cat, Raye and Lisa questionable. The performance had no real place in the show, and the choices of Doja Cat, Raye and Lisa was strange as — while they sang a song they co-released on Feb. 6 — none of them had any ties to the 007 franchise.
As for Oscar winners, it was delightful to see “Anora” dominate. Winning five of its six nominations, its sweep was a beacon of hope for independent filmmakers. Producer Alex Coco encouraged independent filmmakers to continue their craft, while director Sean Baker thanked the Academy for recognizing “a truly independent film” and ended his speech by stating “long live independent film.” Baker also “shared” his award for Best Screenplay with the sex worker community and thanked them for sharing their life experiences with him for this and other films he has made — like The Florida Project,” “Red Rocket” and “Tangerine.” Best Actress winner Mikey Madison echoed Baker’s sentiments by using her speech to also thank sex workers.
Along with recognizing “Anora,” the show highlighted other marginalized voices. “Flow” was Latvia’s first Oscar nominee and Oscar winner, Paul Tazewell (“Wicked”) was the first Black man to win Best Costume Design and “No Other Land” — co-created by a Palestinian activist and an Israeli journalist — won Best Documentary Feature.
Other less exciting records were also broken, as Adrien Brody’s Best Actor speech ran for nearly six minutes, making it the longest Oscars acceptance speech. As the music started to play him off the stage, Brody firmly stated, “I will wrap up. Turn the music off. I’ve done this before.” While Brody promised to “not be egregious,” I found his speech to be insubstantial and hollow for its length. At times difficult to follow, I found myself losing attention and struggling to understand his point.
While the show was overall nothing special and no Chris Rock-esque incident occurred, what stood out were the little moments, from Gascón’s tweets being called out, to an out of place performance honoring James Bond to Brody’s record-breaking speech. Even though the show lacked excitement, the winners did not. I was ecstatic to see “Anora” sweeping the Oscars rather than the anticipated “Emilia Pérez.” This year’s show demonstrated that there is a chance for small yet deserving filmmakers to make a splash and dominate Hollywood’s biggest night.
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Bhavika Verma is a Trinity first-year and a staff reporter for the news department.