His award was one of what felt like a well-judged set of Oscars, in a year of unusually complex movies. Of the Best Picture nominees, Maestro, Bradley Cooper’s tribute to the life and loves of the composer Leonard Bernstein, and Martin Scorsese’s magisterial western Killers of the Flower Moon, about the murders of the Osage Indians, went home empty handed. Celine Song’s sensitive and understated Past Lives also left without a single award. But Greta Gerwig’s much-undervalued Barbie did at least win best song for “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas O’Connell, which also made Eilish a double Oscar-winner at the age of 22.
The sophisticated French murder mystery Anatomy of a Fall won Best Original Screenplay for the husband and wife pairing of Justine Triet and Arthur Harari. “It will help my mid-life crisis,” joked Triet. The satirical American Fiction won Best Adapted Screenplay, with writer and director Cord Jefferson saying the chance to make the movie had changed his life – and pleading with the studios to invest in lower budget films, as well as blockbusters. Elsewhere, Wes Anderson won his first Oscar for his live action short The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, but wasn’t there to collect it. Another absentee was 83-year-old Studio Ghibli legend Hayao Miyazaki, who won the Oscar for Best Animated Film for The Boy and the Heron, supposedly his final movie. Sean Ono Lennon got the audience to chant “Happy Birthday” to his mother Yoko, who is 91, while picking up an Oscar for War Is Over, which won Best Animated Short.
All in all then, this was an Oscar night that was completely unsurprising, but strangely enjoyable, a rare blend of good humour, high seriousness, and good films. As Steven Spielberg said before he gave Nolan the Best Director prize, it really has been “a great and eclectic year”.
Sophie Anderson, a UK-based writer, is your guide to the latest trends, viral sensations, and internet phenomena. With a finger on the pulse of digital culture, she explores what’s trending across social media and pop culture, keeping readers in the know about the latest online sensations.
