The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, is the biggest night for movie fans all across the world. For almost a hundred years, The Oscars has been the decider on what is great cinema and who deserves recognition for their work.
Already rife with drama, this awards season wasn’t out of the ordinary, but the stakes for many felt a higher. With many monumental wins and advancements for certain communities, Oscars night became a historic moment for fans across the world, especially women.
The awards show, hosted by Conan O’Brien, opened with him cosplaying Aunt Gladys from “Weapons” and recreating the chase scene at the end of the movie, running through different scenes from most of the Best Picture nominees.
O’Brien was only getting warmed up with the jokes he had up his sleeve for the night. Poking fun at the younger generations’ lack of an attention span, O’Brien spoke to the audience with the mobile game Subway Surfers in the background while using brainrot phrases like “67,” “aura farming” and “rizz.”
As promotion for the new “Star Wars” movie, “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” Sigourney Weaver, Pedro Pascal and Grogu himself made an appearance to announce the production design award. During the lead up, Weaver jokingly threatened Kate Hudson, who was sitting next to the beloved “Star Wars” character, telling her to “get away from him” and calling her a rude name. The moment was a reference to Weaver’s character in the ’80s classic “Aliens.”
The Best Production Design award went to “Frankenstein,” as most people expected, for its grand and unique architecture. Kate Hawley won her first Oscar for Best Costume Design with “Frankenstein.” The film’s hair and makeup team also won.
Other expected wins of the night were “F1” for Best Sound and “Avatar: Fire and Ash” for Best Visual Effects. A favorite winner for many audience members, especially the younger ones, was “KPop Demon Hunters.” The film won for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song.
This marks the first time people of Korean descent have won for the animated category, and the first time a K-pop song has ever won an Oscar. During the night, the voice actors from “KPop Demon Hunters” came out and sang their song “Golden” for the Oscars audience. As they sang, audience members waved light sticks.
The live action short films nominated this year were all very different, but also incredibly beautiful. The films were so impressive that a rare moment happened this year where two films tied: “The Singers” and “Two People Exchanging Saliva,” a French dystopian film available on YouTube. The “The Girl Who Cried Pearls,” a stop-motion film about life and what the world places value on, won for Best Animated Short Film.
The beloved star of the evening was “Sinners.” The film has already beat records by becoming the most nominated film in Oscars history. Ryan Coogler, the director of the film, won for Best Original Screenplay, and his friend and college roommate Ludwig Göransson won his third Oscar for Best Score.
Music is incredibly important to the way the story in “Sinners” is told. The Juke Joint scene has become a well-loved part of the movie that almost a year later, people still are talking about it. So when the cast of “Sinners” came out to perform “I Lied to You” from the film, they decided to go all in and recreate the scene.
Lead actor Miles Canton sang the song as the dancers from the iconic scene performed on stage behind him. Representing Black culture, blues, the Delta and East Asian culture in one performance isn’t easy, but “Sinners” did it well. The performance also featured music icons like Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Kingfish and Shaboozey.
The surprise came at the end when Misty Copeland, famous American Ballet Theatre principal dancer, came out of retirement weeks after a hip replacement to participate. At that moment, the crowd went wild and the audience gave the cast of “Sinners” a standing ovation.
Autumn Durald Arkapaw, the cinematographer for “Sinners,” broke down barriers on Sunday night. She was the first ever woman to win for Best Cinematography and the first Black cinematographer to do so.
Closer to the end of the night, dreams came true when Michael B. Jordan won the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in “Sinners.” In his speech, he thanked those who supported the film for believing in “this dream, this vision of Ryan Coogler, and betting on the culture and betting on original ideas and original artistry.”
The most expected win of the night was for Jessie Buckley. After winning the Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA and Critics’ Choice awards for her role in “Hamnet,” she won the Oscar for Best Actress. This was not just a big moment for the creatives behind “Hamnet,” but for all of Ireland. Buckley is the first Irish woman to win the award, and only the second Irish person after Cillian Murphy won Best Actor in 2023.
During her speech, Jessie Buckley thanked the “incredible women” who have inspired her through their art: “I want to work with every single one of you.” In appreciation of Women’s History Month, Buckley went on to say, “We all come from a lineage of women who continue to create against all odds.”
At the end of the night, the winner for Best Picture was announced. For the past few months, the conversation around which films deserved to be nominated and which ones should win ramped up. The closer it came to Oscars night, the clearer it became that the answer was between “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another.” The Oscar for Best Picture ultimately went to “One Battle After Another.”
Oscars night is always a big moment in the world of entertainment. There were many memorable moments, from jokes to performances, and a lot of love shown. Sunday night was a good night for film lovers and a big win for original, unique art and the voices that often go unheard.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source lsureveille.com ’
