After last year's debacle where the short categories were presented before the live telecast, the Academy finally reversed their decision and included them in the telecast. Of course, that didn't stop host Jimmy Kimmel from blaming the short categories for the length of the show (and not stuff like the bullshit Warner Bros montage or the Little Mermaid trailer). Anyways, it's good that Best Animated Short gets its regular due, although it means I have to watch the rest of the telecast to find out who won. Not that I mind, since it seems like Everything Everywhere All at Once is a top contender for Best Picture.
But there really shouldn't have been any surprise. While My Year of Dicks made some splash with its name and Ice Merchants touched the hearts of viewers, the front-runner the entire season ended up capturing the crown: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse.
No real qualms from me. While I enjoyed all of the rest of the nominees more (and thought Ice Merchants should have won), The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse is still an exquisite piece of art that expound on the idea of kindness, something that is sorely lacking in today's society. At 34 minutes, it does surpass Peter & the Wolf to become the longest winner in this category.
More about the rest of the night after the break.
So there was initially quite a bit of suspense with regards to this year's Oscars, what with several great filmmakers coming out with films: Steven Spielberg with The Fablemans, Todd Field with Tár, Martin McDonagh with The Banshees of Inisherin, James Cameron with Avatar: The Way of Water, Ruben Ostlund with Triangles of Sadness, Sarah Polley with Women Talking among others. The critics awards seem to be evenly distributed between most of these films. Then the guild awards rolled about, and Everything Everywhere All at Once came to sweep most of them, winning PGA, DGA, WGA, SAG among others. They quickly became the front-runners going into Oscar night.
There was one wild card. Netflix's All Quiet on the Western Front hailed from Germany and wasn't eligible for many of the guild awards. It won big at the BAFTAs and also had a strong haul of nominations. Plus the earlier adaptation from 1930 had also won Best Picture. Since it didn't have a chance to go up against Everything Everywhere All at Once in the guild awards, the Academy Awards would be a chance for it to prove its mettle.
Guillermo del Toro opened the night by winning Best Animated Feature for Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, a triumph for Netflix. He stumped for animation, saying "Animation is cinema, animation is not a genre" in his speech. Then came the Supporting acting categories, which the Academy changed up by having last year's winners Ariana DuBose and Troy Kotsur present together. Everything Everywhere All at Once jumped out to an early lead by securing Best Supporting Actor for Ke Huy Quan (which seemed like a lock) and Best Supporting Actress for Jamie Lee Curtis (which seemed like a toss-up).
Then after Navalny and An Irish Goodbye captured Best Documentary Feature and Best Live Action Short respectively, there came a bunch of technical Oscars. That was where All Quiet on the Western Front began to show its strength. It captured Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, and Best Original Score (a few of the categories where it wasn't necessarily favored), and the whispers that it could upset for Best Picture began rising.
Of course All Quiet on the Western Front couldn't win every technical award. The Whale won for Best Makeup & Hairstyling (a category where All Quiet was nominated) while Black Panther: Wakanda Forever won for Best Costume Design (a category where All Quiet was not nominated). Later in the night, Avatar: The Way of Water took home Best Visual Effects, and Top Gun: Maverick won Best Sound. In between these categories, All Quiet on the Western Front did win Best International Film for Germany, while Elizabeth Olsen and Pedro Pascal came out to present Best Documentary Short to The Elephant Whisperers and Best Animated Short to...well, you know already.
The screenplay awards came up, and thanks to the division between Original and Adapted Screenplay, the two front-runners were not in direct competition. Best Original Screenplay was seen as an avenue where the Academy could have rewarded one of the other auteurs such as McDonagh, Spielberg, Field, and Ostlund. However, Everything Everywhere All at Once took home the trophy, which was a major mark in its strength. Meanwhile, Sarah Polley won the Adapted Screenplay for Women Talking, a crushing defeat for All Quiet's hopes. Meanwhile, Best Original Song went home to the crowd-pleasing "Naatu Naatu" from the Bollywood hit RRR.
The night was growing late, and there were still a few categories to present. But first came the stirring In Memorium segment where they included two Best Animated Short winners in Ralph Eggleston (who won for For the Birds in 2001) and Nick Bosustow (who won for Is It Always Right to be Right? in 1970) as well Burny Mattinson, who was nominated for Mickey's Christmas Carol in 1983. Then came the final technical award of the night: Best Editing. It was a category that has long been correlated to success within Best Picture. The fact that All Quiet on the Western Front failed to secure a nomination in this crucial category seemed like a crushing blow to their chances, especially since Everything Everywhere All at Once ended up with the win, also breaking the tie for most wins by a movie.
Then there were the final four categories. In more recent years, the Best Director categories had been presented before the lead acting categories and Best Picture. Splits between Best Picture and Best Director have become quite common, as the Academy has often used Best Director to reward films they respected but not necessarily loved, such as 2021 when Jane Campion won for The Power of the Dog before losing to CODA. This year's Best Director lineup was the same as the lineup for Best Original Screenplay and like the writing honors Best Director went to the Daniels Kwan and Scheinert for Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Then came the lead acting awards, where there was still some suspense. Once again there was a tandem of presenters, with last year's Best Actress winner Jessica Chastain and former Best Actress winner Halle Berry replacing last year's Oscar winner Will Smith (who was banned due to some silly little incident). Best Actor was a category where there was still quite a bit of suspense. Brendan Fraser won several critics awards for his role in the controversial The Whale while Austin Butler won the Golden Globes Drama and BAFTA among other critics awards for his role in the much less controversial (and Best Picture nominated) Elvis. Yet when the dust cleared the Oscar went to Fraser.
Following that is Best Actress, where there still appeared to be a toss-up. Cate Blanchett captured most of the critics awards for her stirring portrayal of conductor Lydia Tár in the film of the same surname. However, the momentum appeared to be heading towards Michelle Yeoh, who had captured the SAG award for the same category. Both had won the Golden Globes in the Drama and Comedy categories respectively, so that would not be any help. Some feel that the fact Blanchett already won two Oscars could push the needle towards Yeoh. And that was exactly what happened as Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian actress to win a lead acting Oscar.
By this time the race for Best Picture appeared to be over. There was still some potential for a surprise upset, but all of that ended when Harrison Ford read the name Everything Everywhere All at Once. It was a triumphant moment for a film that appeared to be the antithesis of everything the Academy traditionally awards. It's a comedy about an Asian American family with sci-fi and fantasy overtones. Nevertheless it won seven awards, the most by a Best Picture winner since Slumdog Millionaire's eight in 2008. It became the third film to win three acting Oscars, and unlike A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) or Network (1976), it also went on to win Best Director and Best Picture. And considering it's still the only Best Picture nominee that I've seen this year, I'm pretty happy with the results.
And of course I'm more happy that Best Animated Short was once again presented in the main telecast. And I'm glad that a film I liked more than The Windshield Wiper won.
Full Awards List
Best Animated Short: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Best Picture: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Director: Daniel Kwan (關家永) & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Actor: Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊), Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Supporting Actor: Ke Huy Quan (關繼威), Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Supporting Actress: Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Original Screenplay: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Adapted Screenplay: Women Talking
Best Editing: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Cinematography: All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Costume Design: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Best Original Score: All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Original Song: "Naatu Naatu", RRR
Best Production Design: All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Sound: Top Gun: Maverick
Best Visual Effects: Avatar: The Way of Water
Best Makeup & Hairstyling: The Whale
Best International Film: All Quiet on the Western Front, Germany
Best Animated Feature: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
Best Documentary Feature: Navalny
Best Documentary Short: The Elephant Whisperers
Best Live Action Short: An Irish Goodbye
Awards by Film
Everything Everywhere All at Once: 7
All Quiet on the Western Front: 4
All Quiet on the Western Front: 4
The Whale: 2
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse: 1
Avatar: The Way of Water: 1
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: 1
The Elephant Whisperers: 1
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio: 1
An Irish Goodbye: 1
Navalny: 1
RRR: 1
Top Gun: Maverick: 1
Women Talking: 1
The Banshees of Inisherin: 0
Elvis: 0
The Fablemans: 0
Tár: 0
Triangle of Sadness: 0
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