In retrospect, that it would be a night of bad decisions should have been apparent from the start.
Never mind the near constant stream of controversy that marred the months long run up to the 91st Academy Awards—the decision to enlist Kevin Hart as host, the decision not to replace him when he pulled out, the decision to give out four awards during the commercial break, the reversal of that decision following backlash, the deafening quiet regarding the nominations for the Bryan Singer directed Bohemian Rhapsody following the bombshell report of underage sexual abuse from The Atlantic on the day following the nominations. If we hadn’t suspected then that something would be off about the evening then we should have suspected as the show began.
Queen—or, rather, the surviving members of Queen in their recent alliance with American Idol alum Adam Lambert—opened the evening with a stunningly awkward performance of “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions” looking every bit as uncomfortable on the stage as we all felt at home watching them. That they performed was never going to under question. Given the wild commercial and awards success of Bohemian Rhapsody, it made sense. But why those songs, which lack in the theatricality deserving of the Oscars, played in that way?
It was cringey and dated, stilted and uninspiring, questionable and boring. In a way, it defined not only the Oscars last night but what the Oscars have, especially in the last decade, become.
That sense of pointless futility never left the air of ABC’s show, which seemed to forget that the Oscars are at their best when they are alive and breathing and spectacular. This year’s gala was rushed and perfunctory and stilted—the exact opposite of everything that makes an Oscar’s ceremony not only memorable, but worth watching.
It would be easy to blame this on the lack of a host, especially during the first hour of the show which stumbled and fumbled its way from commercial break to commercial break in awkward steps. However arrhythmic it felt during that first hour the show did seem to find its footing and gain some traction as the night wore tediously on. Some early signs pointed to a great evening as Regina King won Best Supporting Actress for If Beale Street Could Talk and Black Panther picked up two awards for Costume Design (for Ruth E. Carter) and Production Design (for Hannah Beachler).
Carter and Beachler’s awards were history making events; prior to that night, only one African-American woman had won an Oscar for a category other than acting. Those wins, happening in quick succession, felt monumental. Could it be that the Oscars were changing? Could it be that the insular world of film was finally opening up to inclusivity?
It felt that way more than a few times last night, perhaps none more memorably than when Spike Lee won his first Oscar, for Adapted Screenplay (alongside David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel, and Kevin Willmot) for BlackKklansman. Samuel L. Jackson’s overjoyed response at getting to announce his old friend’s victory was the stuff of Oscar gold—and, notably, one of the few times that night the ceremony was allowed to breath—as was Lee’s tackle hug for Jackson as he leapt to the stage. His excitement was powerful and beautiful as he exclaimed (beneath the quick hand of the censor) “do not turn that motherfucking clock on.” He’d been waiting for this moment for three decades; he earned his time at the podium. It was glorious.
So too was Olivia Colman’s speech for her huge upset for Best Actress. The Favourite star looked as stunned as the rest of us that it wasn’t Glenn Close’s name that got called, muttering “this is hilarious” to herself and the world as she searched for the words to express herself. Stunning though it was, hers was not an undeserved victory, and as she jumped into her speech we all got to see what it looks like when a dream is realized. It, too, was why we watch the Oscars.
And yet those moments feel overshadowed by the honoring of Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book, both surprise front runners in this year’s race, and both among the night’s big winners, with the Queen biopic taking home four awards (Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Film Editing, and Best Actor for Rami Malek) and the hammy examination of race relations taking home three (Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali, and, most shockingly of all, Best Picture). That either of those movies were nominated for anything was shocking, that the won anything more so, and that, combined, they took home nearly a third of all awards was downright baffling.
Even if we remove Bryan Singer—as well as the allegations and evidence against him—from the equation (which the producers of Bohemian Rhapsody seemed to have successfully done), none of the awards the film received made sense. The Twitter hivemind was quick to point out the choppiness of the film’s editing (with one scene having an edit about once a second for thirty seconds) and sound design and mixing (a few times, the music and singing were about a half-second off from the performances). Malek, no doubt, turned out a fantastic performance even with everything working against him, and his award was fairly well-earned.
So too with Ali, who looked humbled as he accepted his second Best Supporting Actor award. Green Book has been marred by controversy over its depiction of Dr. Don Shirley (whom Ali played) with Dr. Shirley’s family decrying the inaccuracies of the film since before its release. Perhaps in a kind of sick symbolism, Ali was the only Green Book award winner to acknowledge and thank Dr. Shirley in his speech, which felt subdued compared to his award for Moonlight. The film’s co-writer Nick Vallelonga (real life son of Viggo Mortenson’s character, Tony Lip) and Peter Farrelly (who has acknowledged accusations of pulling his dick out on sets in the past, saying “I thought I was being funny”) neglecting to even acknowledge the pianist in their speech.
You could feel the tension in the air as Julia Roberts announced Green Book as this year’s Best Picture, with the crowd offering subdued applause mixed with stunned silence as Farrelly and company took the stage. Spike Lee, never one for taking it sitting down, got up from his seat and walked towards the back of the theater (he said later that, “The refs made a bad call”) as the speeches were underway. The backlash on Twitter was immediate, with many calling it the worst decision since Crash took home best picture in 2006.
That’s not inaccurate. Hollywood loves stories that simplify race relations in ways that might white audiences at large feel good about themselves, which Green Book does. While Ali turns out a powerhouse performance (doesn’t he always?) and Mortenson does a fine job, the film’s script and direction are so simple and so ordinary. Nothing about the film is memorable and, in the grand tradition of Oscar winners, seems destined to fade as we move on from the big night.
It was hardly the death knell for Hollywood’s Biggest Night, but it certain punctuated the long-brewing sentiment that the ceremony has outlived its use in the culture at large. They used to be the only game in town, and now awards are a dime a dozen. Best Picture used to mean something—or, at the very least, we got to pretend it did—but now it’s just one group’s opinion out of a thousand other groups. Throughout the evening, and even in the awards that were won, there was a sense of palpable desperation, as if the Academy and its elder members tried to cling desperately to the ways of old at the expense of, well, everything else. But, like everything else in American culture today, things are changing whether we want them to or not. How quickly is yet to be determined but, if the reactions from stars and the audience last night are any indication, it probably can’t come soon enough.
All the winners from the 91st Annual Academy Awards:
Best Picture:
Green Book
Director:
Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Actor:
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Actress:
Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Supporting Actor:
Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Supporting Actress:
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Original Screenplay:
Green Book
Adapted Screenplay:
BlackKklansman
Foreign Language Film:
Roma
Animated Feature:
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Sound Editing:
Bohemian Rhapsody
Visual Effects:
First Man
Film Editing:
Bohemian Rhapsody
Animated Short:
Bao
Live Action Short:
Skin
Documentary Short:
Period. End of Sentence.
Original Score:
Black Panther
Original Song:
“Shallow” from A Star Is Born
Production Design:
Black Panther
Cinematography:
Roma
Costume Design:
Black Panther
Makeup and Hairstyling:
Vice
Documentary Feature:
Free Solo
Sound Mixing:
Bohemian Rhapsody
