Academy Award Reactions

 


The 93rd Academy Awards were last night, and it was an evening that had highs, lows and some big surprises. Below are some of my thoughts on what we saw last night.

Nomadland: The film won Best Picture and Best Director, which was expected, and snagged a Best Actress win for Frances McDormand. I liked McDormand in the role, and she's good in pretty much everything she does, but it was certainly a surprise to hear her name called. Still, a great showing for this film, which took three of the night's biggest awards.

Small Film Wins: Another Round winning for Best Foreign Language Feature was expected, but it was a deserved win. And the speech from director Thomas Vinterberg was one of the emotional high points of the night. Another win that I was excited about was If Anything Happens I Love You in the animated short category. I loved that film and thought it was incredibly powerful.

Promising Young Woman: While I was thrilled that Emerald Fennell won for Original Screenplay, I'm bummed Carey Mulligan didn't get Best Actress. She was incredible and the movie was incredible. Sadly, I think it was cursed by my love for it.

Best Actor: When the Academy Awards opted to move Best Picture up in the program to end with Best Actor, it seemed certain the move was designed to celebrate Chadwick Boseman. A funny thing happened in that Anthony Hopkins won, and wasn't present, so the awards just sort of ended. It was a big miss to close a night that was, otherwise, pretty good and engaging. It's not just about the outcome. Boseman gave a great performance and would have been a worthy winner, but Hopkins gave a great performance and is a worthy winner. His win, however, will be overshadowed by the circumstances. Clearly everyone was anticipating a celebration of Boseman, his life and his career. We expected to hear his name called and see his family give a speech remembering him. As happened a few years ago when the mistake was made with La La Land and Moonlight during the final award, I believe the controversy over this ending moment will overshadow the rest of the awards, which is a shame.

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