The 93rd Academy Awards were already shaping up to be
unusual — delayed because of the pandemic and featuring movies that, for the
most part, bypassed theaters for streaming. Then the producers, including
Steven Soderbergh and Stacey Sher, were asked to shake up the show. That they
did, setting it at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles and upending the order
of awards so that best picture was announced earlier than usual and best actor
was the last to be revealed. While “Nomadland” won best picture as pundits
predicted, hopes were high for a sweep by actors of color, only to be dashed
late in the evening.
اضافة اعلان
All told, it was one of the odder Oscar nights in memory.
Here are the highs and lows as we saw them.
Most Cinematic Entrance
The opening set expectations high: The camera followed the
first presenter, Regina King, making her way through the depot in a long,
tracking shot that continued to trail her as she wound through the
banquet-style tables, surrounded by guests who had all been COVID-tested,
tested and tested again, for good measure. King, whose directorial debut, “One
Night in Miami,” was nominated for three Oscars, served as a tour guide to a
scene that almost made us forget we were in the middle of a pandemic. — Sarah
Bahr
Most Unexpected Trendsetters
On the red, er pink, carpet, it was the men who raised the
bar: Colman Domingo in tone-on-tone hot pink, Leslie Odom Jr. in all gold
(really channeling the statuette there), and Paul Raci in all black. Including
the nails. — Vanessa Friedman
Most Ambitious Dressers
Both Carey Mulligan, nominated for best actress for
“Promising Young Woman,” and Andra Day, nominated in the same category for “The
United States vs. Billie Holiday,” tried to manifest an Oscar win in gold. Take
home a statuette or just dress like one. — Vanessa Friedman
Biggest Breakthroughs
This year’s Academy Award nominees were historically among
the event’s more diverse lineups: Seventy women earned nods across 23
categories, and nine people of color were nominated for their acting. And that
led to a few history-making victories:
Chloé Zhao, the Chinese-born filmmaker behind “Nomadland,”
was the first woman of color to win — and to be nominated — for best director.
(As a producer of “Nomadland,” Zhao also won best picture.)
Yuh-Jung Youn, named best supporting actress for her turn as
the wry grandmother in “Minari,” was the first Korean actor to win an Oscar.
Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson, who worked on “Ma Rainey’s Black
Bottom,” were the first Black women to win best makeup and hairstyling (and to
be nominated for the category). “I know that one day it won’t be unusual or
groundbreaking,” Neal said in her acceptance speech. “It will just be normal.”
Anthony Hopkins, at 83, became the oldest actor to win best
actor. He won for his performance as a man suffering from dementia in “The
Father.”
Ann Roth, who won for the costume designs in “Ma Rainey’s
Black Bottom,” became the oldest woman to ever be awarded an Oscar. She is 89.
And finally, a losing streak: Glenn Close, nominated for
supporting actress for “Hillbilly Elegy,” hit a less exciting milestone: After
eight fruitless nods, she has tied the record held by Peter O’Toole for most
acting nominations without a win. — Nancy Coleman
Best Curveball Acceptance Speech
After Daniel Kaluuya took home his first statuette, for best
supporting actor for his turn in “Judas and the Black Messiah,” his mother
probably anticipated he would acknowledge her. But not quite like this. “It’s
incredible,” he said, after expressing gratitude to God, his family and
supporters back home in London.
Best All-Around Acceptance Speech
Yuh-Jung Youn already gave one of awards season’s best
speeches when she accepted her BAFTA award weeks ago and said it was all the
more meaningful coming from British voters, “a very snobbish people.”
At the Academy Awards, when she won the supporting-actress
Oscar for playing the grandmother in “Minari,” Youn brought that same comic
energy and then some. Greeting presenter Brad Pitt, a producer on “Minari,” she
cracked, “Mr. Brad Pitt, finally nice to meet you! Where were you when we were
filming?” The speech that ensued was both heartfelt — “This is because Mommy
worked so hard,” she told her family — and funny, as Youn mused to her fellow
nominees, “Tonight I’m luckier than you. And also maybe it’s American
hospitality for the Korean actor?” In an awfully dry ceremony, Youn was a
godsend. — Kyle Buchanan
Most Heartbreaking Speech
Thomas Vinterberg, the director of the best international
feature winner, “Another Round,” grabbed the audience by the throat with a
heartbreaking speech that belied the joy captured in his film. Vinterberg
dedicated the victory to his daughter Ida, who was killed by a distracted
driver shortly after production began. She was 19 and had been slated to appear
in the movie. “We wanted to make a film that celebrates life,” Vinterberg said
onstage. “And four days into shooting, the impossible happened. An accident on
a highway took my daughter away — someone looking into a cellphone. And we miss
her, and I love her.”
He explained that two months before the shoot, she had sent
him a letter “glowing with excitement” about the project. He added, “We ended
up making this movie for her, as her monument. So, Ida, this is a miracle that
just happened. And you’re a part of this miracle. Maybe you’ve been pulling
some strings somewhere, I don’t know.” — Nicole Sperling
Most Heartfelt Speech
For 16 years, ever since his “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,”
arrived with a box office thunderclap, Hollywood has been underestimating Tyler
Perry and his work. Actually, scrap that — looking down its nose at Tyler Perry
would be more accurate. On Sunday, the snooty film establishment acknowledged
as much, choosing Perry to receive one of two honorary Oscars.
In a surprise to some people in the cinema capital (but not
to anyone who has been paying attention to him all these years), Perry
delivered a tour-de-force acceptance speech. “My mother taught me to refuse
hate — she taught me to refuse blanket judgment,” he said.
He dedicated the award “to anyone who wants to stand in the
middle, no matter what’s around the walls. Stand in the middle, because that’s
where healing happens. That’s where conversation happens. That’s where change
happens.” — Brooks Barnes
Most Pressing Concern
Regina King alluded to the Derek Chauvin verdict in her
opening remarks. “Two Distant Strangers,” a live-action short about a white
police officer killing a Black man, won the Oscar in its category. Perry
delivered a moving speech in which he urged Americans to “refuse hate.”
And to introduce the ceremony’s “In Memoriam” segment,
Angela Bassett insisted on acknowledging lives lost both to the coronavirus
pandemic, and to the “violence of inequality, injustice, hatred, racism and
poverty.”
In ways big and small, America’s continued reckoning with
racial justice reverberated throughout the ceremony.
“I know that a lot of you people at home want to reach for
your remote when you feel like Hollywood is preaching to you,” King said to
start the show.
But almost three hours later, performers and others given a
chance to speak had managed to get a message across anyway.
“In 2020, we were united by loss,” Bassett said before the
“In Memoriam” segment played. She noted that more than 3 million had died from
COVID around the world, and added, “Considering the enormity of our collective
loss, and the often incomprehensible times we’re living through, we wish to
also acknowledge those precious lives lost to the violence of inequality,
injustice, hatred, racism and poverty.” She added, “To all of those who left
our lives too soon, we cherish the moments that we had the honor of having with
you.” — Matt Stevens
Best Spokeswoman for the Movies
This year’s Oscars had splashy promos for “West Side Story”
and “In the Heights” intended to convey the message that hey, the movies are
back. But only one winner onstage seemed to make a full-throated plea for
audiences to reengage with the big screen.
In her role as a producer of “Nomadland,” Frances McDormand
accepted the film’s best picture award while pitching the theatrical experience
both to viewers and her colleagues, an acknowledgment of just how tough things
have been for the industry.
“Please, watch our movie on the largest screen possible,”
she said. “And one day, very, very soon, take everyone you know into a theater,
shoulder to shoulder, in that dark space, and watch every film that is
represented here tonight.”
For an evening that felt like a muted celebration — at best
— this moment stood out more than a Spielberg trailer could. — Mekado Murphy
Most Considerate Animal Impression
The award for best picture was announced before the top
acting prizes, not at the end of the night as it usually is. So the team behind
“Nomadland” didn’t go in with the kind of show-capping momentum normally
afforded to best-picture acceptance speeches. Luckily, they had McDormand there
to create a climactic moment: She let out a guttural wolf howl before the group
walked offstage. The howl was a tribute to Michael Wolf Snyder, the film’s
production sound mixer, who died in March. McDormand turned her face away from
the microphone as she began howling, a great kindness to whoever was at the
Oscars sound-mixing board. — Gabe Cohn
Best Achievement in Presenting
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” didn’t win the Oscar for best
adapted screenplay (that went to Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton for
“The Father”). Nonetheless, there should be an award for pulling off the
announcement of the “Borat” nomination.
“OK, here we go,” presenter Regina King said, taking a
breath before reading the list of the nine screenwriters who worked on the film
and who were represented on five separate video feeds, one from Sydney, another
from London and the remaining nominees scattered throughout the audience at Union
Station. If that wasn’t enough, King then read the film’s entire title: “Borat
Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make
Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” King received well-deserved
applause after that, the entire affair a seeming movie production in and of
itself. — Mekado Murphy
Worst Timing for a Funny Bit
Well into the show’s third hour, the producers staged their
first genuine comedy bit of the night: a music quiz in which Lil Rel Howery
asked stars about songs that were Oscar-nominated, Oscar-winning or
Oscar-ignored. The players included Daniel Kaluuya, Andra Day and Glenn Close.
It seemed like a lot to ask of Close, who had already lost a record-tying
eighth nomination, but she was game for a challenge about “Da Butt,” a go-go
hit from “School Daze,” even demonstrating the dance to everyone’s delight. If
only the bit hadn’t arrived when the show was already running late, prolonging
the strange evening even more. — Stephanie Goodman
Best Telecast Tweak
If nothing else, this Oscars proved that bloat does not come
from overly long acceptance speeches: It comes from everything else. Sans a
monologue, musical performances and cavernous venue, it turns out there’s
plenty of time for winners to say pretty much whatever they want! The
acceptance speeches are the show, and in this more-focused ceremony, winners
having a little more time to say what was on their minds felt right. — Margaret
Lyons
Worst Telecast Tweak
Usually awards shows run clips of nominated performances,
offer glimpses of the hair and makeup, give us a taste of the shorts. Not so
here; the ceremony included scenes from the international feature, animated
feature, documentary feature and best picture categories, but that was it.
(They played snippets of the nominated songs, too, but they weren’t really
clips from the movies.) The clips have a purpose, and their absence meant not
only did we miss out on little samples of all the movies, but also that the
first hour or so of the show lacked texture. Biographical tidbits are nice, but
we need clips, too! Free the clip! — Margaret Lyons
Weirdest Ending
It felt like walking out of the arena after a 10-time state
champion in basketball sinks a last-second shot to beat an underdog in
overtime. The producers decided the best-actor category should take the final
slot of the night this year, instead of best picture, then Anthony Hopkins
(“The Father”) upset Chadwick Boseman and the Oscars just … ended. Hopkins
wasn’t even at the ceremony to accept, and the credits rolled on a shellshocked
theater. Boseman, who died of cancer in August at 43, had been nominated for
his final film appearance, in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” It was a performance
that had been honored all awards season (there were wins at the Golden Globes
and other ceremonies), and his victory seemed a given until recent days when
pundits started reporting a surge in interest in Hopkins. But there was no
Hollywood ending here. — Sarah Bahr
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