They will not always have a slap to put in their mouths to make people talk about them on a planet delighted with the windfall. By dint of running after their audience, the Oscars, celebrated on Sunday at the Dolby Theater, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel (a role that requires strong nerves), look like tired tightrope walkers. It’s hard to keep a legendary star shining while supporting works sometimes shunned by a public less eager than yesterday for intimate stories. Walking on the tightrope becomes a sport of necessity.
It’s the 95e edition, long trajectory in the course of eras, of the chic Hollywood gala. We salute him for having known how to last, even if this type of ceremony seeks its air and its marks at a time when California is burning and where the screens are multiplying too much to maintain real prestige. The goddesses and gods have left Olympus. Only their beautiful clothes still cause a sensation on the red carpets.
For several years, the Academy has been juggling with diversity objectives. No women in the running in 2023 for best direction. No African Americans either. Fucks her badly, after all the fuss over relentlessly pampered white men. But Asia scores points with Everything Everywhere All at Once, co-directed by the American Daniel Kwan, of Chinese origin, and his friend Daniel Scheinert. This film, which electrifies or irritates, it is according to, should reap the bulk of the laurels. Doesn’t he prance at the top of the nominations? Eleven, including that of Michelle Yeoh for best actress.
The palette of influences and faces of performers is not so monochromatic in a vintage where African-American filmmakers and many directors have not signed their best works. Moreover, the wind often blows from outside the country. The Swede Ruben Östlund, with the turbulent Triangle of Sadness, palmé d’or at Cannes, is in the race. The Briton Martin McDonagh, for the admirable The Banshees of Inisherintogether, like the German Edward Berger with the beautiful pacifist film In the west, nothing is new. Add Australian Baz Luhrmann alongside his whirling Elvis. And then the Torontonian Sarah Polley, who is competing for the best film (not for the direction). Here she is with her feminist camera Women Talking, whose magnificent images eclipse the subject. More and more, the Oscars find their inspiration outside of their homes.
Not easy for as much to seat the general public in front of its TV to honor the seventh art under the lights of Hollywood. The spectators, courted by too many platforms, have not seen everything. The big screen is suffering from a post-pandemic drop in attendance. Still, we always talk about the Oscars in full media – old connivance – and that all the filmmakers in the world dream of enthroning themselves in evening dress on the famous evening.
They may well, in the race for the best film, line up box office champions, like Avatar 2 by James Cameron, Top Gun: Maverick by Joseph Kosinski and Elvis by Luhrmann, wrapping themselves in their public successes, the real part will be played between less frequented feature films. Macho or not, voters are more cinephiles than before, and their choices often diverge from those of the large audience. For the benefit of art or novelty, to the detriment of the popularity of the gala. Top three: the kaleidoscopic Everything Everywhere All at Oncethe admirable The Banshees of Inisherinthe percussive In the west, nothing is new. It would be surprising for the Oscars to crown others at the top, as the predictions point to this troika. Oracles are sometimes wrong, notice. Elvis to its defenders, Triangle of Sadness too, but Steven Spielberg’s star fades indoors and his touching ode to classic cinema The Fabelmans unlikely to rise very high.
This way, the prediction game.
Best film. Prediction: Everything Everywhere All at Once. My choice : The Banshees of Inisherin.
Best Achievement. Prediction: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for Everything Everywhere All at Once. My pick: Martin McDonagh for The Banshees of Inisherin .
Best actor. Prediction: Brendan Fraser in The Whale by Darren Aronofsky. My pick: Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin.
Best Actress. Prediction and choice: Cate Blanchett in Tar by Todd Field.
Best Supporting Actor. Prediction: Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All at Once. My choice: Brendan Gleeson in The Banshees of Inisherin.
Best Supporting Actress.
Prediction: Jamie Lee Curtis in Everything Everywhere All at Once. My pick: Kerry Condon in The Banshees of Inisherin.
Best International Film. Prediction: In the west, nothing is new. My choice : EO by Jerzy Skolimowski.
With that, good Oscars to whoever makes it to the end of the evening! A few incorrigible faithful grumble or applaud in their armchairs from one vintage to another. I’m in !