Once you get past having to listen to Jonathan Ross and the other British panellists who don’t know what fun is for hours on end, the Oscars is a highlight of the year for cinema lovers and the 97th ceremony was no different.
Wicked duo Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo opened the show with a bang, singing ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ and Whitney Houston’s ‘Home’ respectively before coming together for ‘Defying Gravity’. A truly rousing musical note to begin a big, big night.
Karla Sofía Gascón was unsurprisingly in the firing line for host Conan O’Brien as he delivered the opening monologue, while the likes of Timothée Chalamet, John Lithgow and Adam Sandler were targets of the more light-hearted jokes.
It was hardly surprising to see Kieran Culkin collect the first award of the night for his greatly admired Supporting Actor performance in A Real Pain, rounding off his dominance of the various award shows with a golden statue in his hand. Zoe Saldaña was another star heavily favoured to have their name read out, and that is exactly what happened for the Emilia Pérez Supporting Actress. Talking of Emilia Pérez, the obvious controversies may have dragged them down in some categories— I’m Still Here swooped in to claim the Best International Film prize.
The night saw a first-ever Oscar win for Mubi as Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance topped the Makeup and Hairstyling category. However, the body horror hit lost out on the Original Screenplay prize to Sean Baker and Anora, with Baker returning to the stage to claim the Oscar for Best Editing as well.
The Documentary Feature Film category consisted of five gut-wrenching nominations covering some hugely important topics. No Other Land, a Palestine-Israeli collective’s film about Israel’s destruction of the Western Bank, was announced as the winner.
Some may feel that Denis Villeneuve’s spectacular Dune: Part Two was underrepresented across the board, but thoroughly deserved wins for both Best Sound and Best Visual Effects made sure they didn’t go home empty-handed.
The Brutalist boasted a stunning score and equally impressive cinematography and was rewarded in both categories. To add to the success of Brady Corbet’s film, Adrien Brody edged out Chalamet (A Complete Unknown), Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Ralph Fiennes (Conclave) and Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice) for Best Actor. The night built up to a real toss-up between Corbet and Baker for Best Director, with the latter coming out on top. The ceremony concluded with a Best Actress win for Mikey Madison and Best Picture success for Anora, truly cementing Baker’s latest film in the annals of cinema history.
Full list of winners and nominees:
Best picture
- WINNER: Anora
- The Brutalist
- A Complete Unknown
- Conclave
- Dune: Part Two
- Emilia Pérez
- I’m Still Here
- Nickel Boys
- The Substance
- Wicked
Best actress
- WINNER: Mikey Madison – Anora
- Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
- Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez
- Demi Moore – The Substance
- Fernanda Torres – I’m Still Here
Best actor
- WINNER: Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
- Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
- Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
- Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
- Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice
Best supporting actress
- WINNER: Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez
- Monica Barbaro – A Complete Unknown
- Ariana Grande – Wicked
- Felicity Jones – The Brutalist
- Isabella Rossellini – Conclave
Best supporting actor
- WINNER: Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
- Yura Borisov – Anora
- Edward Norton – A Complete Unknown
- Guy Pearce – The Brutalist
- Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice
Best director
- WINNER: Sean Baker – Anora
- Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez
- Brady Corbet – The Brutalist
- Coralie Fargeat – The Substance
- James Mangold – A Complete Unknown
Best international feature
- WINNER: I’m Still Here – Brazil
- The Girl with the Needle – Denmark
- Emilia Pérez – France
- The Seed of the Sacred Fig – Germany
- Flow – Latvia
Best animated feature
- WINNER: Flow
- Inside Out 2
- Memoir of a Snail
- Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
- The Wild Robot
Best original screenplay
- WINNER: Anora – Sean Baker
- The Brutalist – Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold
- A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg
- September 5 – Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum, Alex David
- The Substance – Coralie Fargeat
Best adapted screenplay
- WINNER: Conclave – Peter Straughan
- A Complete Unknown – Jay Cocks and James Mangold
- Emilia Pérez – Jacques Audiard
- Nickel Boys – RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes
- Sing Sing – Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar
Best original song
- WINNER: El Mal – Emilia Pérez
- Never Too Late – Elton John: Never Too Late
- Mi Camino – Emilia Pérez
- Like A Bird – Sing Sing
- The Journey – The Six Triple Eight
Best original score
- WINNER: The Brutalist
- Conclave
- Emilia Pérez
- Wicked
- The Wild Robot
Best documentary feature
- WINNER: No Other Land
- Black Box Diaries
- Porcelain War
- Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
- Sugarcane
Best costume design
- WINNER: Wicked
- Nosferatu
- A Complete Unknown
- Conclave
- Gladiator II
Best make-up and hairstyling
- WINNER: The Substance
- A Different Man
- Emilia Pérez
- Nosferatu
- Wicked
Best production design
- WINNER: Wicked
- The Brutalist
- Dune: Part Two
- Nosferatu
- Conclave
Best sound
- WINNER: Dune: Part Two
- A Complete Unknown
- Emilia Pérez
- Wicked
- The Wild Robot
Best film editing
- WINNER: Anora
- The Brutalist
- Conclave
- Emilia Pérez
- Wicked
Best cinematography
- WINNER: The Brutalist
- Dune: Part Two
- Emilia Pérez
- Maria
- Nosferatu
Best visual effects
- WINNER: Dune: Part Two
- Alien: Romulus
- Better Man
- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
- Wicked
Best live action short
- WINNER: I’m Not a Robot
- Anuja
- The Last Ranger
- A Lien
- The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent
Best animated short
- WINNER: In the Shadow of the Cypress
- Beautiful Men
- Magic Candies
- Wander to Wonder
- Yuck!
Best documentary short
- WINNER: The Only Girl in the Orchestra
- Death by Numbers
- I Am Ready, Warden
- Incident
- Instruments of a Beating Heart