Surprise, surprise: Mikey Madison, star of ‘Anora’, the night’s big winner.
OSCARS 2025 – THE DEBRIEF
For independent films it was a stellar night, with the low-budget crime comedy Anora shining brightly as the little movie that could, taking out doorstops for Editing, Original Screenplay, Actress, Director and, most astonishingly, Best Film.
Drenched in humility, writer/director Sean Baker did a swell job giving voice to the passion, commitment and perseverance of indie filmmakers, adding how the cinema is still the best place to see a film.
Anora’s surprising sweep was a big upset, especially for the overrated favourite The Brutalist, though it did pick up cinematography, original score and, as everybody expected, best actor for Adrien Brody.
So, a great night for indie cinema. For the Oscars, though, not so much.
While the triumph of Anora again demonstrates Oscar’s deeply admirable willingness to laud non-mainstream fare, it also compounds the on-going issue of Oscar losing touch with the public giving big awards to films with small audiences – Anora has taken a meagre $US40m worldwide – and mostly sidelining popular films.
On that score, Wicked ($US728m) took production design and costume fom 10 noms while Conclave ($US101m), a brilliant drama that would have dominated in a previous era, landed best adapted screenplay, its sole win from eight nods. Dune: Part Two ($US714m) took sound and visual effects from five nominations.
The tension keeps Oscar stuck in a tough spot.
On one hand it’s great how unpredictable the outcome has become, with such a broad range of films in contention; on the other, it means thinner public appeal.
The ceremony’s ratings have been struggling for about a decade now and first-time host Conan O’Brien’s bold claim that a billion people were watching awaits confirmation once the show’s ratings are in. They might show he overstated the viewership a tad.
As feared, there was some garish, though thankfully brief, political fist pumping, with Daryl Hannah voicing support for Ukraine while Peter Straughan, winning best adapted screenplay for Conclave, sported a ribbon in Ukrainian colours.
And O’Brien couldn’t help himself, saying how Anora’s early wins showed how “Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian”, a reference to President Trump’s negotiations with Russian prez Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine.
It was weak and wet and, worst of all, unfunny. Cheers and whistles followed, nonetheless.
Much more intelligent commentary was offered by the Palestinian and Israeli makers of best documentary winner No Other Land, whose plea for peace in Gaza acknowledged the 7 October atrocities, criticized US foreign policy and advocated an end to ethnic cleansing. A great moment.
This was matched by Adrien Brody’s superlative acceptance speech calling for peace, unity and an end to hatred, with special Brutalist-related emphasis on anti-semitism. He also told the guys in the pit to stop trying to play him off, a command they obeyed. Brody deserves a special award just for that.
Overall, it was an OK show, though it didn’t have the crackle of last year’s telecast.
O’Brien was funny for the most part, pausing to pay tribute to the firefighters (and others) who had battled the blazes that tore through Los Angeles. Having various fire chiefs read jokes was an inspired touch.
Classiest woman of the night was Isabella Rossellini. She might not have won best supporting actress for Conclave, but she won the hearts of every David Lynch fan by wearing a dress of blue velvet.
Both Anora writer/director Sean Baker and best actress winner Mikey Madison gave big shout-outs to the sex worker community, topping Kieran Culkin who was so excited in taking out best supporting actor for A Real Pain he dropped an f-bomb. It’s the first time that has happened at the Oscars since Will Smith destroyed his career in 2022.
The sheer length of the telecast continues to be a problem. The butt of jokes by hosts for decades, this year exposed how much of the largesse is due to poor production decisions.
Some of the early speeches were inexcusably interminable. Winning best animated short for In the Shadow of the Cypress, Iranian filmmakers Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani were allowed to yap on at the mic, regaling the world with tales of visas and reading notes from their phone. Culkin, too, was way long.
Also chewing up time was the dubious idea of having five presenters reading out spiels for the nominees in one category, the worst offender being Best Costume, which took ages.
As for all the thankings, can’t winners do that at the afterparty? It’d shave off half an hour, easy.
Elsewhere: Morgan Freeman introduced the In Memoriam segment with a moving tribute to Gene Hackman; it was good to see Zoe Saldana close her winning streak by getting best supporting actress for Emilia Perez; the prehistoric Mick Jagger seemed full of beans presenting best original song to Wicked; and condolences to the poor sound guy from Dune who was denied his big moment at the mic when the band cut him off.
And it was gratifying I’m Still Here picked up Best International Film. Well deserved.