Once again, the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences held its annual awards show, delivering the prestigious Oscars to the people who, in their opinion, did the best big-screen work in the past year. If one was able to tune in (streaming partner Hulu was plagued with outages amidst all the traffic), one might have been disappointed by just how sanguine these awards were. Sure, Conan, the nothing-close-to-a-barbarian host, was mildly entertaining, but he stayed away from anything that might be considered remotely controversial. In fact, the only remote mention of politics was when presenter Daryl Hannah announced simply: “Slava Ukraini” (“Glory to Ukraine!”). Even that statement came late in the show when half of the people watching from home were starting to nod off.
If there was any surprise, and there weren’t many, it was when “Anora,” a film about a stripper eloping with a Russian tycoon, was announced as the winner of the Best Picture award. Part of the surprise came from the fact that “Anora” had the lowest box office of any of the nominated movies, a mere $16 million in ticket sales. The other part of the surprise was that the Academy normally ignores movies about sex workers, especially those that are explicit. So, few people have seen the award winner and, should it ever make it to streaming, it’s not one you can show the kids.
Here’s the redband trailer. Warning: the word ‘fuck’ is used repeatedly.
In addition to winning Best Picture, Mikey Madison won for Best Actress, and writer/director Sean Baker won four awards: picture, directing, editing, and screenplay. This ties Baker with Walt Disney for the most awards in a season.
As for everything else, here’s the full list of winners:
Best picture
Best Actor
Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”
Best Actress
Mikey Madison, “Anora”
Director
Sean Baker, “Anora”
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
International Film
Documentary Feature
Original Screenplay
Adapted Screenplay
“Conclave,” Peter Straughan
Original Score
“The Brutalist,” Daniel Blumberg
Original Song
“El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez”
Animated Film
Visual Effects
“Dune: Part Two”
Costume Design
“Wicked,” Paul Tazewell
Cinematography
“The Brutalist,” Lol Crawley
Documentary Short Film
“The Only Girl in the Orchestra”
Best Sound
“Dune: Part Two”
Production Design
“Wicked”
Makeup and Hairstyling
“The Substance”
Film Editing
“Anora,” Sean Baker
Live Action Short Film
“I’m Not a Robot”
Animated Short Film
“In the Shadow of the Cypress”
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