Independent studios Neon and A24 dominate Awards
The 97th Academy Awards marked a celebration of independent film, with Neon’s “Anora” claiming five Oscars, including for best film, lead actress and director.
Director Sean Baker’s movie about an exotic dancer and sex worker who has the chance of a Cinderella story when she marries the son of a Russian oligarch, received broad critical acclaim — but modest box office success.
Its 25-year-old star, Mikey Madison, scored an upset victory for best actress over sentimental favorite Demi Moore, who received a Screen Actors Guild award for her portrayal as an aging television star who finds a potion that can make her look younger in “The Substance.”
Another independent darling, A24, collected a trio of Academy Awards for “The Brutalist,” including best actor for Adrien Brody for his portrayal of a Hungarian-Jewish architect rebuilding his life in America after the Holocaust.
The independent films triumphed over more broadly popular films, such as Universal Pictures’ “Wicked” and Warner Bros’ “Dune: Part Two,” which were acknowledged for technical achievement, such as costume and production design and visual effects.
“We always jump into these projects knowing we will have to compete with films that have budgets almost 100 times what we shot our film for,” Baker told reporters after the Oscar ceremony. “When we’re actually able to do that, get into the same room as films such as ‘Wicked,’ it means we’re doing something right.”
The themes tonight
Last year, it was all about the huge box office hits: “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” (or, er, “Barbenheimer”) and history and creativity took center stage.
With this year’s films, we saw musicals, human stories and films about forced disappearances.
Musicals “Wicked” and “Emilia Pérez” featured 11 and 43 songs respectively.
And while the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” isn’t quite a musical, it’s filled with songs by the iconic singer-songwriter.
Various films dive deep into human stories.
Tonight’s big winner, “Anora,” shares a deeply intimate portrait of a New York City sex worker. “The Brutalist” follows a Hungarian immigrant who flees the horrors of World War Two to rebuild his life in the United States. And “Nickel Boys” is so personal it was shot almost entirely through the point-of-view of its protagonists.
Finally, two films center around mass disappearances.
In “Emilia Pérez,” the protagonist seeks redemption for her “past life” as a drug cartel boss responsible for forced disappearances. in Mexico, a country where more than 100,000 people are missing.
In best foreign film winner “I’m Still Here,” a woman rebuilds her life after her husband is taken during Brazil’s military regime in the 1970s. The dictatorship ended four decades ago but no one has been held accountable for the murder of hundreds of its critics or the torture of what many believe were tens of thousands.
Ukraine barely mentioned in this year’s Oscars
Support for Ukraine was not a feature of the awards, even after U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s clash at the White House on Friday.
Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, the Academy Awards have frequently highlighted the conflict, and awarded work covering Russia’s government.
This year presenter Daryl Hannah did declare her support on stage by saying “Slava Ukraini” (Glory to Ukraine) and host Conan O’Brien made a joke about standing up to Russians in this year’s awards.
Here’s how the conflict was referenced in the past:
2022’s MOMENT OF SILENCE
Hollywood highlighted the people of Ukraine in 2022, using text on a screen to ask the world for financial contributions for those suffering from the Russian invasion just weeks before the ceremony.
A few celebrities also made brief comments, but the Oscars telecast did not turn into a megaphone for messages about Ukraine.
Instead, the show’s directors opted for a moment of silence that did not mention Russia.
Hollywood actor and director Sean Penn, sanctioned by Russia for criticizing its war in Ukraine, loaned his Oscar statuette to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a visit to Kyiv in November of 2022.
2023’s AWARD TO ‘NAVALNY’
The film “Navalny” about the poisoning that nearly killed Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, and his detention upon his 2021 return to Moscow, won the Oscar for best feature documentary.
Joining director Daniel Roher on stage, Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya said: “My husband is in prison just for telling the truth. My husband is in prison just for defending democracy. Alexei, I am dreaming of the day when you will be free and our country will be free.”
Navalny died in an Artic penal colony in 2024.
2024’s AWARD TO MARIUPOL DOC
Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov won the first Academy Award for his country for the “20 Days in Mariupol” documentary about the Russian siege of the port city.
