The 93rd Annual Academy Awards were tonight, and in a socially distanced, more intimate setting, the show shocked viewers with some changes down the homestretch and a controversial winner.
More on that later.
Daniel Kaluuya won the first acting award of the evening for supporting actor in Judas and The Black Messiah. He was favored and it’s well deserve. That acceptance speech thanking his mom and dad for having sex won’t be forgotten soon.
The Chloe Zhao win for Best Director in Nomadland may have been the slam dunk of the night. It was well earned, it’s a gorgeous film.
Yuh-Jung Youn won best supporting actress for Minari in another expected victory. Her acceptance speech was also great. She’s the light in a very depressing film. Her exchange with Brad Pitt on stage was just wonderful.
Well, this part is a little different.
Normally, we talk about Best Picture last. But that’s not how the Academy announced it this year. The decision to announced Best Picture at 11PM est, could perhaps lead to the fact that the show was running long. Or something else.
But Nomadland was the Best Picture.
It wasn’t a surprise, but it was a worthy winner. It was favored going into the evening but that’s not what we’re going to remember about tonight sadly.
Frances McDormand would continue Nomadland’s dominance with a win that wasn’t completely unexpected for Best Actress. but still a surprise given the way things were being rolled out.
At this point everyone was still asking questions.
And that might have been because of the way the final award given out.
It was to Anthony Hopkins in the Best Actor category for his performance in “The Father”, and not to Chadwick Boseman for his turn in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”
Hopkins, already an Oscar winner, wasn’t even there to accept the award, and while he’s wonderful in the role, the changed order caused the show to end with a rushed thud.
Viewers weren’t happy as this blog forecasted they wouldn’t be if Boseman didn’t get his posthumous honor (story HERE), and the altered order only gives critics more fuel to further questions.
Here is a video I shot before the night began…
Some last minute predictions and observations before #Oscars pic.twitter.com/lsYjkfujZo
— Frank Torres (@MrFrankTorres) April 25, 2021
And that’s what happened. Wow.
The Academy should hope for a full recovery from the pandemic in time for next year’s ceremony to avoid having to revisit this unfortunate conclusion to this unique outing.
Just wow. We need some answers. What a mess.