If for some reason you have been living under a rock for the past week, or just don’t care about movies much, here is a hopefully interesting review/summary of the 97th academy awards that will keep even the movie-hating lowlifes entertained.
Conan O’Brien Wasn’t Funny:
Conan O’Brien is a funny man who, on an ordinary day, would get a chuckle or two out of me. However, he should never, ever step foot on the Oscars stage again. I know the host of the show is almost always the easiest target, but O’Brien’s sheer dullness needs to be discussed.
Certain bits definitely hit their mark—such as his opener, where he birthed himself out of Demi Moore’s back in homage to “The Substance”, one of the night’s nominees, or his incredibly random and hilarious fight with Adam Sandler over his choice of attire. But beyond that, I found myself wanting to change the channel—only to remember I couldn’t because there were still two hours left, and the ginger guy was still spouting unfunny jokes at me.
Kieran Culkin Being Him:
As always, they started the night with the Best Actor category, in which the Academy honored Kieran Culkin with a win for “A Real Pain”. To me, this was a no-brainer, considering his astonishing performance as the extremely extroverted and charismatic cousin who is later revealed to have attempted an overdose. The movie’s heavy subject matter was juxtaposed with his hilarious acceptance speech, in which he joked about convincing his wife to have another child now that he had won an Oscar.
Anora Winning It All:
While I thought and hoped “A Real Pain” would win Best Original Screenplay for Jesse Eisenberg’s genius, another film took its place—and I’m not too upset about it. “Anora” claimed the crown, and this was just the beginning, as it went on to win five Oscars by the end of the night. Director of the film, Sean Baker, made history by becoming only the second person ever to win four Oscars in a single night for the same film, a record previously achieved by Walt Disney in 1954.
What was so surprising about this avalanche of victory for Baker was how outright strange “Anora” was. According to the history of the Oscars and the tendency of the academy to select the most largely public-appealing films, Anora was the ugly duckling if it stayed ugly and was merited for its ugliness instead of turning it into something it’s not. “Anora” is a romantic comedy-drama about a Brooklyn sex worker who impulsively marries a Russian oligarch’s son. When the news reaches Russia, his parents come to New York, determined to annul the marriage. It’s not the usual best picture film, but no one’s complaining.
A driving force for the success of this movie was the outstanding performance of Mikey Madison, the actress portraying the film’s protagonist. Being just 25, Madison joined an elite group of actors who have won an Academy Award before the age of 30 through her win. If you don’t already love her, Madison honored the sex worker community in her incredibly graceful speech, saying, “I will continue to support and be an ally,” adding that meeting women from the community was a highlight of the experience. She is an emblem of hope for aspiring actresses and I can’t wait to see what she does next.
All of the pre-Oscar fears of the flashier movies of 2024 such as “Wicked”, “Emilia Perez” and “A Complete Unknown” winning were put to rest time and time again as “Anora” took it all. This was especially such an incredible feat considering Baker is a Renaissance Man for his movies and does everything, even the editing, which is another category he won for. After securing these two wins, Baker went on to receive both best director and best picture, a sentence many directors dream to say about themselves.
Baker ended the night by saying, “This film was made on the blood, sweat and tears of incredible indie artists — and long live independent film.” Here is an example of an “indie film” reaching marvel movie numbers, and that is why the win was so powerful.
Adrien Brody Needs to Wrap It Up:
From tossing his gum to his wife as he ran up to accept his Best Actor for the movie “The Brutalist” win to his five-minute speech, not many were pleased by Brody’s presence at the award show. Aside from his appearances in Wes Anderson films, I don’t care much about him, which is why I think people claiming to have “always hated him” are probably lying, since he’s not a huge Hollywood figure. Still, I think he should have shortened his speech and maybe given his wife some hand sanitizer afterward.
2024 Was A Year of Wonderfully Weird Movies:
Anora wasn’t the only movie to push boundaries and viewer expectations in 2024. Films such as “The Substance”, “A Different Man” and my personal favorite movie of the year, “Challengers” are all examples of the great strangeness within the film industry in 2024.
In her acceptance speech, “Anora” crew member Samantha Quan said, “We made this with very little money, but all of our hearts. To all the dreamers and young filmmakers out there, tell the stories you want to tell. Tell the stories that move you. I promise you; you will never regret it.” She’s right—movies should be made because people have stories to tell, not because of money. I hope this continues to be the narrative for 2025 films, leading to another indie film taking the Oscars by storm.
