Review and Analysis of the 96th Academy Awards

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Review and Analysis of the 96th Academy Awards

The 96^th Academy Awards were a pretty boring ceremony that was only enlivened by a couple of memorable and/or fun moments. As for the winners, there were very few surprises in here, but for the most part it was a sadly predictable state of affairs. While I loved a couple of unexpected choices, the worst of the nominated movies ended up sweeping the award, which makes it the second year in a row where a mediocre film swept with seven wins.

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THE CEREMONY

The ceremony this year was slightly better than the last one, but with one major caveat – the host. Kimmel’s fourth time hosting the Oscars ended up being his worst one yet. Hopefully, this is the last time that we see him host as none of his jokes were funny in the slightest and the ceremony was tiresome and boring mostly because of him. That jab at Trump was an unnecessary political moment on a show that otherwise thankfully excluded geopolitics.

Well, that is with one exception – the speech by Jonathan Glazer. This speech is the most important speech that the Oscars have seen in quite a while. It was brave for him to go after the Jews defending Israel’s atrocities and it’s a message that needed to be heard, especially in the context of his masterful film that is all about the dangers of complicity.

Other speeches were fine, though most of them were nothing special. The Godzilla team being so happy about their win was the sweetest moment while the most entertaining thing to happen was Gosling singing I’m Just Ken. That was a true spectacle. I would have gone without that John Cena bit that was too tasteless for the Academy, but the Michael Keaton bit was admittedly quite funny.

While I love the inclusion of inserts and clips from the movies during most technical categories – we hear how the sound designers work and we see how the cinematographers shoot the films – there was the problem of the past winners singing praises for the current nominated actors. It was sweet for sure, but it made for a boring showcase in comparison to the clips. They also butchered once again the In Memoriam section as it was filmed from way too afar, seeming disrespectful and classless throughout. It was an okay ceremony that was shorter than usual and at an earlier time for once, but it desperately needed more humor and a better host.

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BEST PICTURE

Unlike the terrible slate from last year, this year’s slate is among the best in recent Oscar history. Four of the ten nominees ended up on my personal top ten list for the year. Of these movies, Past Lives had no chance of winning, which was unfortunate. Killers of the Flower Moon was entirely shut out, which was an odd and frustrating choice. Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest were the clear highlights of the nominees, but these are foreign movies, so the fact that they were nominated speaks volumes. Ultimately, instead of American Fiction or The Holdovers being the frontrunners, it was actually Poor Things that could have taken this award had it not been for the overrated mediocrity that is Oppenheimer. This was an expected win of course, but it came with such a lack of enthusiasm, signaling that it was not a passion win like last year’s winner. In such a fantastic slate, Oppenheimer winning against such masterpieces as The Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall seemed like a foolish decision and hopefully this movie will be properly reevaluated in the future. You can read my full ranking of the nominees here.

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BEST DIRECTOR

This was another predictable win. This was Nolan’s time and he was overdue for an Oscar, so I am at least glad that we are done with him and now we can move on. I am not a fan of Nolan, especially not of his latest work and Oppenheimer ranks among his least successful efforts. Literally anybody else on this incredible slate of nominees would have been more worthy of the win. What Jonathan Glazer did on Zone was astonishing and Justine Triet’s direction of Anatomy of a Fall was masterful too. As for the possible winner had it not been for Nolan, I do genuinely think that Yorgos Lanthimos would have won and I would have been absolutely fine with that choice given that Poor Things is so artistic and confidently made.

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BEST ACTOR

The Best Actor slate this year was quite weak and none of these actors personally wowed me. I am fine with Cillian Murphy winning as he is definitely a terrific actor and his performance is the best of the bunch in that movie. But I would have personally liked more for Giamatti to have walked away with a win as he was more memorable in The Holdovers. Either way, I did not care much for this category this year, so I was okay with this choice.

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BEST ACTRESS

But the Best Actress category is the one that I cared about the most and this choice really frustrated me. This slate was quite strong with the exception of Annette Bening whom I never bought in that Nyad role. Carey Mulligan was scene-stealing in Maestro and Sandra Huller delivered the greatest performance in what was clearly a superb year for her. She should have won on the strength of both of those performances, but she is a German actress, so her just being nominated was a win for her. It was always going to come down between Lily Gladstone and Emma Stone and the latter ended up taking the award in such an unfortunate turn of events. The Oscars are not truly about being the best of the year as there is so much in play every year, so Emma Stone winning her second Oscar at the age of 35 and in a slate that was genuinely terrific really did not sit well with me. Lily Gladstone losing when Michelle Yeoh won last year also spelled hypocrisy as the two campaigns were highly similar in their representation angle.

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

The supporting actor awards these years were painfully predictable and for unbeknownst reasons to me. Robert Downey Jr. won, and although I’d fully expected it to happen, I was still frustrated at seeing his lack of humility in his speech. This is another overdue award, but his performance in Oppenheimer was honestly quite mediocre. I never bought him in the role. Furthermore, a supporting player should support their movie and not function as filler as was in his case. This was otherwise a pretty good slate, better than the main actor one. The standout is Sterling K. Brown, but the other three were all strong too. The worst performance of the five ended up taking the award this year unfortunately.

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

This was not the best slate out there. Emily Blunt was quite forgettable in Oppenheimer and America Ferrera being nominated for just one speech in Barbie was ludicrous. On the other hand, Jodie Foster was excellent and very believable in Nyad and Danielle Brooks was the best of the bunch as a scene-stealer in The Color Purple. Da’Vine Joy Randolph took the award, which was always bound to happen for some reason. She is not, however, overdue unlike the above actor, so this exaggerated praise of her performance was baffling to me as she is just fine in a role that really did not demand much from her. This was the only win for The Holdovers.

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BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The screenplay awards turned out great. I have no qualms about any one of these awards. Anatomy of a Fall was a clear winner among these mostly lackluster screenplays. Past Lives is the only other nominee where I actually loved the story. Anatomy of a Fall had a complex, layered and sophisticated screenplay and I was so glad that we have a deserved foreign winner this time around.

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BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

This was a much stronger slate. Barbenheimer had no business being nominated as their screenplays were the weakest parts of those films, but Poor Things and The Zone of Interest were both exceptionally well written. The winner ended up being American Fiction, which to me wasn’t the best of these nominees as it was too simple and lacking in subtlety at times, but it was a funny, solidly written movie and I was just glad that Oppenheimer lost this one.

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BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

This was a close race between Spider-Verse and The Boy and the Heron. The latter eventually won and this award made me so happy. It was by far the most joyous moment during this year’s ceremony for me. While Robot Dreams was clearly the best of the five nominees, it was unlikely to win and the same goes for the other two nominees. It was always going to come down between those two frontrunners and thankfully art won over commerce this time.

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BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

This was such a stellar slate. Perfect Days was the weakest of the bunch, but Io Capitano and The Teachers’ Lounge were both quite strong. Society of the Snow is one of the best films of the year. It’s such a moving Spanish survival story. The Zone of Interest was the clear winner, however, and it couldn’t have happened to a better movie. It’s the best and most thematically important film of 2023 and it was the first British winner in this category. You can read my full ranking of the nominees here.

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BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM

This slate wasn’t particularly interesting and overall documentaries this year were far from great. It was always going to go to 20 Days in Mariupol for obvious reasons. The movie is definitely far from great on a technical standpoint, but it’s far from bad either, so I have no qualms about it winning.

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BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

I was so happy that Wes Anderson took home this award. I am not usually a fan of his, but his style is best suited for short-form entertainment and he deserved this award as The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar was such a charming, timeless piece of crowd-pleasing, but still artistic storytelling.

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BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

I wasn’t particularly thrilled with most of the nominees for animated short this year. War Is Over ended up winning and I have yet to watch that film myself, so I cannot comment upon its quality this time. My favorite of the nominees was definitely Ninety-Five Senses, a beautiful, life-affirming film about life and death itself. Disney’s Once Upon a Studio was unfortunately snubbed here.

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BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

I would have personally chosen Poor Things for this category as that score is eclectic and quite memorable, but I was still quite content with Oppenheimer taking this one as the score is one of the rare aspects of that movie that was actually very good.

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BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Nothing from Wish was nominated for this category, which was a real shame as I quite liked that soundtrack. What Was I Made For? was the winner here and it was simply absurd that this Billie Eilish snoozefest ended up winning after the electric performance of I’m Just Ken confirmed that this song was the best of the nominated songs. It was ridiculous.

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BEST SOUND

By far one of the best surprises of the evening came when The Zone of Interest won over Oppenheimer for sound. The Academy did it right by recognizing that sound was not just an integral part of that movie, but the story’s character in and of itself. Justice prevailed here.

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BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

I loved that Poor Things dominated early on in the night, but I would actually go with Barbie for this award myself as the sets on that movie literally looked like dollhouses. But Poor Things still had impressive sets full of detail, so the Academy’s choice was also a strong one.

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BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Somehow the best-shot film of the year wasn’t even nominated and without The Zone of Interest, Oppenheimer could easily take as one of its seven awards. This was another undeserved win for that overrated movie as literally every other film here looked better with the standouts being the gorgeously old-fashioned Maestro and the kinetic Poor Things.

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BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

This category had Maestro as the frontrunner, but Poor Things was the eventual winner, which was fine with me as both films had excellent makeup effects.

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BEST COSTUME DESIGN

There was no question that Poor Things was going to take this award and I wholeheartedly agree with the Academy here as Poor Things had the best and most memorable costumes of any movie this year.

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BEST FILM EDITING

The most boring Oscar nominee somehow had the best editing. It had the most editing, but it certainly did not deserve to win this award over the likes of Anatomy of a Fall, a film that was superbly edited, paced and structured throughout.

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BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

I have yet to see Godzilla Minus One and their win this year made for the sweetest and most charming acceptance speech of the bunch, so I’m happy that Japan got this award. But personally The Creator was clearly the best movie in this category as that SF feature had some of the best, most groundbreaking and most realistic VFX work that I’ve seen in quite a while.

 

At the end of the day, Oppenheimer swept the Oscars with seven wins, tying it with last year’s also atrocious winner. Unlike that film, however, this one did not have that level of passionate support from fans or critics or apparently the Academy’s voting body. This was clearly just the case of an overdue filmmaker getting his time to shine and nothing else. When all is said and done, this was a great year when it comes to the nominations themselves as many of these slates were stacked and some were even impressive. It was a strong year for cinema and for the Oscars, but I just wish that a more competent film ended up winning most of these awards.