Another year and another Oscar season has come and gone. Award season is finally over. A relatively drama free year, in terms of winners and slaps, which has seen a couple of films run away with it.
Going into Oscar night All Quiet on the Western Front had picked up a lot of steam with big wins at this years BAFTAs, along with The Banshees of Inisherin, who together had locked out Everything Everywhere All At Once out of all the awards apart from Best Editing, but then with EEAAO sweeping at the SAG awards it certainly put the little multiverse film in front seat.
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL THE AWARDS
It was the firm favourite in basically every category it was nominated for, picking up 11 nominations in total and taking home 7 of them with a lot of big wins. Best Supporting Actor and Actress, Best Directing, Best Original Script, Best Leading Actress, Best Editing and of course Best Picture. It was a busy night for The Daniels who were up and down from their seats and on stage, more than host Jimmy Kimmel was. Not a huge surprise for the film that recieved huge praise when it premiered at South by South West film festival this time last year setting records for a small indie film and becoming A24’s highest grossing film, and their first film to make over $100 million worldwide, due to the perfect word of mouth it had. The Daniels are fantastic filmmakers championing the weird and wonderful that can be Indie filmmaking, very much a big win for the future of the industry.
Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian actress to take home the award for Leading Actress and the first woman of colour to win the award since Halle Berry (who presented the award along side last year’s winner Jessica Chastain). Yeoh is an incredible actress who has been in the industry for a long time and is more than deserving of the award. Her resurgence is very much thanks to Crazy Rich Asians and everytime she is on the screen now audiences lap it up.
Ke Huy Quan has been the heart of this award season, his touching and powerful story of how he walked away from the acting side of the industry when there was a lack of roles for him but has returned fiercely with an incredible performance that charmed audiences and won the hearts of voters all award season long. A beautiful touching emotional speech from Ke very well might not be the last we see of him at the Oscars, and his fantastic moment with Harrison Ford, who presented the Best Picture award was a highlight. We will be seeing him later this year in Loki season 2.
Jamie Lee Curtis’ win for Actress in a Supporting Role was perhaps the biggest surprise of the night. Angela Bassett was the early favourite to take home the award and set to become the first Actor or Actress to win an award for a Marvel film. However, when Jamie Lee Curtis picked up the award at the SAG awards it seemed to be swinging in her favour and it did once again on Oscar night.
Return of Brendan Fraser
I don’t think people were surprised that Brendan Fraser had an Oscar performance in him but more a surprise that it came out of nowhere after he seemed to be gradually phased out of the industry after he was the biggest star in the world for a time. The award race between Fraser, Colin Farrell and Austin Butler has been close but after having seen The Whale for myself, Fraser is by far the most deserving and did deliver the best performance of the year. I’m excited for when we get to see Fraser next and the roles we will get to see him in now his star is at the top for the incredibly likeable man.
Not Quiet on the Award Front
I was almost on the train believing that All Quiet on the Western Front was set to cause a big upset this year with it’s late charge that could’ve given it Best Picture. The German Netflix film won a lot of awards at the BAFTAs and did very well with critics. The film ended up picking up a few technical awards taking home 4 Oscars, a solid score which the team should be delighted with and in another year if EEAAO wasn’t there then it could’ve taken the big prize which Netflix is still hunting for.
The Didn’t Winners
With a couple of films picking up most of the big awards there were a couple of films that earlier on in award season like they were going to at least take something home but didn’t. The Fabelmans was an early award season favourite to be contending with EEAAO but early on it was clear it wasn’t going to be in the running with it’s best chance being for Spielberg for Director which was all but dashed after the DGA’s where The Daniels picked up the top award there.
The Banshees of Inisherin took home some big awards at the BAFTAs but went home empty handed from the Oscars. Again in a year with EEAAO it would’ve likely been a different story and could’ve taken home both Supporting awards and Screenplay at the very least. But getting to see the Donkey from the film being brought onto the stage by Jimmy Kimmel and Colin Farrell’s reaction was one of the best moments of the show.
The Winners List
Best Picture – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Director – The Daniels (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Leading Actor – Brendan Fraser (The Whale)
Best Leading Actress – Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Supporting Actor – Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Supporting Actress – Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Original Screenplay – Everything Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Adapted Screenplay – Women Talking
Best Animated Feature – Guilermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Best International Feature – All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Documentary Feature – Nalvany
Best Documentary Short – The Elephant Whisperers
Best Live Action Short – An Irish Goodbye
Best Animated Short – The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse
Best Original Score – All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Original Song – Naatu Naatu from RRR
Best Sound – Top Gun: Maverick
Best Production Design – All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Cinematography – All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Makeup and Hairstyling – The Whale
Best Costume Design – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Best Editing – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Visual Effects – Avatar: The Way of Water
And that’s it for this years Oscars. I’m already excited for what next year will hold with films from Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, Greta Gerwig, Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson and David Fincher all set to be in contention as well as those surprises that come out of nowhere and take the award season by storm. I can’t wait.
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