It was written in the Hollywood sky: Oppenheimer won as expected an explosive victory on Sunday evening by winning seven Oscars, namely best film, direction, photo direction, editing, music, actor and supporting actor. Producer-director Christopher Nolan took the stage at the Dolby Theater twice rather than once, completing the exceptional journey for his 12th feature film. After having won the majority of the awards presented by the different guilds, it would have been very surprising if another film topped Oppenheimer to the post. In fact, the 96th Academy Awards itself was almost—almost—free of surprises, except, perhaps, for a rather staggeringly embarrassing opening monologue.
After a joke that fell flat on the flop Madame Web, host Jimmy Kimmel pursued a kind of unfunny goodness, hesitating between crass complacency and ill-assumed cowliness (not that Ricky Gervais wants to). His reminder of Robert Downey Jr.’s past drug problems was uncomfortable — although known for his sense of self-deprecation, the main person concerned did not seem amused.
Also winner, before the ceremony, of most of the key laurels, notably those awarded by the influential Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Cillian Murphy won the Oscar for best actor as anticipated for Oppenheimer. The Oscar for best actress, which many already saw going to Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moonwas instead awarded to Emma Stone for her (furiously original and brilliant) performance in Poor Things.
No surprises in supporting performance either: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, for The Holdoversand Robert Downey Jr., for Oppenheimer (and this time smiling), completed their respective flawless rounds.
Not much suspense in the writing department, but deserving winners. For the original scenario, Anatomy of a fall won. Director Justine Triet and her co-writer Arthur Harari went to collect the prize: a sweet revenge after France did not choose the film, despite winning the Palme d’Or, to represent it in the best international film category.
In bulk
With Emma Stone’s victory, Poor Things is the other notable winner, with also the statuettes for makeup and hairstyles, artistic direction, and costumes. Japanese production Godzilla Minus One stood out for its visual effects. Also from Japan, The boy and the heronby living legend Hayao Miyazaki, was crowned best animated feature film.
Quebecer Vincent René-Lortie and his film Invincible bowed to Wes Anderson and his The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar in the category of best short fiction film.
The Zone of Interest came away with the Oscar for best international film (as well as that for sound design). With trembling hands, director Jonathan Glazer recalled that the Nazi dehumanization he depicts in his film is still at work today.
In his speech, director Mstyslav Chernov, whose 20 Days in Mariupol was crowned best documentary, also became political: “It’s the first Oscar in the history of Ukraine. And I am probably the first winner to declare that I wish I had never made this film [sur l’invasion russe]. But I can’t change History. All together, we can ensure that the truth is known: cinema forms memory, and memory forms History. »
On a lighter note, John Cena managed to make people laugh by parodying the famous crossing of the stage by a naked activist, which occurred in 1974… not without having to deal, in advance, with a tedious set-up of the gag by Jimmy Kimmel .
From the presenters having difficulty reading the teleprompter, to the winners who struggle with their thanks, through lame improvisations, the high mass of cinema has suffered (and us with it) from faulty progress.
Fortunately Ken
The event certainly remains unmissable for a majority of moviegoers (and still is), but audience ratings have been in constant decline since 2015. Having two huge box office successes like barbie And Oppenheimer in the running for best film, will surely have helped the 2024 ratings (they will be known on Monday). In the long term, however, it is not the dusty spectacle of Sunday that will bring ordinary viewers back to the fold.
In any case, it will take more than one or two glasses of alcohol (something stolen from the traditionally more swinging Golden Globes) to renew the formula.
Rare moment that is frankly delightful and perfectly successful in its assumed second degree: Ryan Gosling’s interpretation of the song I’m Just Kentaken from barbie (with the participation of Slash on electric guitar!).
The Oscar-winning song by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell What Was I Made Foralso taken from barbiethe number offered by the Osage nation… These musical passages also increased, for a few minutes, the level of interest in an evening that was too often soporific.
Which is paradoxical, given the fact that 2023 will have been an extremely invigorating cinematographic vintage, of rare quality, and incredible diversity. A world separates indeed barbie And Oppenheimer, Poor Things And Past Lives, American Fiction And Maestro, Killers of the Flower Moon And The Holdovers, The Zone of Interest And Anatomy of a fallall remarkable in their own way… The films nominated, as well as those who created them, deserved better than this laborious spectacle.