An Oscar's Recap: Conan and Anora Shine Bright

            On Sunday, the Academy Awards took center stage, and for the most part, I think it went really well. Conan hosted, and although I did not consider myself a Conan fan before this and did not really care that he was hosting, I was pleasantly surprised. He was very funny and knowledgeable. The opening bit did surprise me though. I did not think it would be socially acceptable for Conan to climb out of Demi Moore’s body. That seems like a lot at prime time 7 o’clock, also if you did not see The Substance, you probably had no idea what was going on.         

            One of the biggest aspects of the Oscar’s is the speeches that the winners give, and there were a few that were memorable, two for a good reason, and one not so much. The first was Kieran Culkin’s. He was all but guaranteed to win this one. He had won all the other award shows leading up to the Oscar’s for best supporting actor, and so this was completely expected, and one thing is for sure, and that is that he is always himself and does not care what anyone else thinks. In his speech he talked about how his wife told him that if he won an Emmy, she would give him a third child, and of course that happened. Then on the way home after the ceremony, she told him that if he won an Oscar, she would give him a fourth, and there he was on stage telling the world again, that there will be another kid. She seemed so embarrassed, but he seemed so excited!

            The other speech that I loved came from Sean Baker when he won for best director. He cleaned up in general, being the first person to take home four Oscars all for the same movie, and it was the first time someone had won four Oscars in general since Walt Disney. In his speech for best director, he talked about the importance of going to the theater, that is important to support art, and that the theatrical experience is so much better than watching something at home, which is undoubtedly true. I, of course, agree with this and obviously spend a large amount of time at the movies trying to do just that. According to the Slash Film podcast, if everyone went to the movies three times a year, then the movies would continue to be successful. Sometimes I go three times in a week… So it was vindicating hearing the guy who won the most awards be appreciative of how I spent my time.

            The one speech that has gotten the most negative attention is Adrian Brody. He won for best actor, and he was incredible, but I am still partial to Sing Sing and Colman Domingo’s performance. While he was giving his speech, he had been talking for a few minutes, and they started to play him off, but he told them they needed to stop playing the music, and that he was going to finish, and they actually stopped playing, which I had never seen before. He said he was almost done, but by the time he finished, I was lost, and he had given the literal longest acceptance speech in Oscars history.

            The other award that I think should have gone differently was best supporting actor. As mentioned, it was basically guaranteed that Culkin was going to win, but in the big picture Guy Pearce gave a much better performance in The Brutalist. It was powerful, emotional, and sinister. Culkin just felt like he was playing himself. It was very reminiscent of his performance during Succession, which do not get me wrong was incredible, but it just felt like the same performance in a different location with a poor character instead of a wealthy one.

            The biggest surprise of the night was Demi Moore losing to Mikey Madison. Demi had been winning the other awards for her performance, so like Culkin, it was almost expected for her to win. Moore’s performance was great, and I love that a movie like The Substance was getting acclaim. Normally a movie steeped in body horror does not get recognition from the academy, like not even a nomination. So it was great that she was even nominated, and that The Substance did win an Oscar for makeup which is pretty cool.

            But Mikey Madison winning, and Sean Baker winning does help signify a continuing change in the awards landscape. Anora is about a stripper/prostitute that falls in love with the son of a wealthy Russian crime boss. Although initially she is being paid, they fall in love and fly to Las Vegas and get married, but once his family gets involved, the son totally loses his spine, and just allows his family to push Madison’s character around and treat her as lesser due to her occupation. It was almost like a rom-com. It had some very funny moments, and two people got together at the end unexpectedly. It was made for $6 million dollars, and it was filmed in just 40 days. Both of those are incredible feats. Sean Baker has proven over and over that he can take a small amount of money and make something incredible. He cares about his independence, and he wants to make his art his way and tell the stories he wants to tell. After his speech though it is safe to say that he will never make a Netflix movie. Anora 4 Stars!! I recommend watching it. A worthy best picture winner.