The film year 2023 can be most accurately described in a word: Hot.  Be it the hot, sandy beaches at Barbie World, the heat of an atomic reaction, or of course #HotLaborSummer. The year started off with the promise that Covid-19 was behind us, and movies were back in the cinema, but a 6-month long WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike drove production to a halt.  Some notable departures from the fall frame included Dune: Part 2, Kraven the Hunter, and Challengers, but there were still some epics to be put to screen from Napoleon to Killers of the Flower Moon and a much quieter odyssey through New England during the holiday season, The Holdovers. 

Despite many of the larger blockbusters fleeing the frame as they could not promote, the smaller independent studios, many of whom were granted waivers from the guild because they adopted the terms of the proposed contract and were not part of the AMPTP, they strangely did not capitalize on having all of these screens opened up to them.  A24 kept The Zone of Interest, nominated tonight, exceptionally close to the chest, even through to the new year, funneling leftover campaign funds into Past Lives instead of The Iron Claw while Neon spent their time fumbling the release of Ferrari and instead pushing forward on Origin; a misguided strategy as neither film will be recognized tonight.  They are not sitting tonight out completely, though, as Anatomy of a Fall is all but guaranteed some gold this evening.  Another French gem from this year, The Taste of Things, was held from audiences and pushed to a Q1 2024 release after its qualifying run by IFC Films, and admittedly, it played well over the Valentine’s Day frame.  Italy, however, represented tonight by Io Capitano has only this weekend expanded to 70 screens from Cohn Media Group.  Even the specialty arms of the larger studios did not allow audiences starved for content to see their films.  Searchlight gave All of Us Strangers a punishingly small release while Netflix pushed forward with a theatrical release of Maestro and Nyad while keeping The Killer, Nimona, and Society of the Snow mostly regulated to their platform outside of a qualifying release. 

As frustrating as this year was with the artificial scarcity of films for screens, it was not without some really incredible success stories, too.  Outside of the “Barbenhiemer” phenomenon that defined the summer, Angel Studios counterprogrammed with The Sound of Freedom and a unique “pay it forward” marketing campaign that was more successful than even they had anticipated.  In the fall, Taylor Swift, eager to get into the good graces of the film industry which she has not been secretive about wanting to break into and be taken seriously by, “saved cinemas” by releasing The Eras Tour, a three-hour concert film that fell just outside of the top 10 grossing films of the year despite its late debut.  

It was also a year of success stories for international film, not only within the Academy, but for film fans as these titles are slowly becoming more available to a wider audience.  As mentioned, two French-language films captivated audiences and in December, two Japanese-language films opened the month in the top 5; The Boy and the Heron and Godzilla: Minus One.  The message is clear that there is an audience for these films, and when made available, they will come out to the cinema to see them.   

The onus then is on the studios – who all heavily funded the Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition which all but eliminated the role of the projectionist – to fill these screens with unique and engaging content.  It is there.  They have it.  But they would rather overbook the multiplexes with blockbuster fare and auditoriums that are only half full than spare a screen for a new, emerging filmmaker – or an established auteur – whose work has gained considerable festival buzz.  At that point, the juries of Cannes or Sundance or Venice did the initial marketing push for them and more or less, that advertising was free!  No, those works find themselves padding out a streaming service while CEO’s whine that their tentpoles are underperforming and the only options are to begin writing off completed films to save money on taxes or insist that the approximately 180,000 unionized writers and actors are asking for too much in their contracts and should be starved and forced to foreclose on their homes all the while the studio bosses are giving interviews while sunbathing on their yachts.  Studio greed has put the entire industry back in a very fragile place, and with IATSE’s contract coming due in 2024, and provisions already added to the current DGA contract after it was ratified, hopefully, the lesson has been learned but there is still a sense that we have seen this all before and it is going to be a long, hard battle to get their eyes of the execs off the spreadsheets and realize you need humans to be able to tell the human stories that connect with human audiences. You might be able to write a movie using AI for cheap, but AI does not buy tickets; humans do.

It is almost time to begin celebrating those stories that audiences did get to see this year despite the strikes.  While Oppenheimer is the odds-on favorite to win big tonight, there are a few really interesting matchups to consider, and with many categories potentially splitting the vote, it may pave the way for a few dark horse wins this evening.  The race most likely to see this upset would be in Best Actress which all season found Emma Stone and Lilly Gladstone sharing the awards which may allow Sandra Hüller to thrive given the growing international voice.  Philosophically, however, Achievement in Adapted Screenplay poses the biggest and most interesting question.  All five nominees stand a shot at the gold, but it really puts Oppenheimer and The Zone of Interest in its most direct, close combat competition; two films that follow architects of disaster, yet one is shown as a hero while the other – and rightfully so – a monster.  But enough doom and gloom, the Academy thankfully cut short the red carpet, so it is on with the show.   

Opening with a cute montage and Dua Lipa‘s “Dance the Night Away” which was shamefully omitted from tonight’s ballot, Jimmy Kimmel takes to the stage for the 4th time now and jokes that they are already running long, starting the show about 9 minutes past.  He really does know how to walk the line between poking fun but also honoring the films up for awards.  Addressing the Barbie controversy right out of the gate, he segues into Oppenheimer with a few pointed and, to be fair, a little low-blow jokes at Robert Downey Jr’s expense who does not seem pleased before moving on to Messie the Dog from Anatomy of a Fall.  Thankfully, he expands on his Killers of the Flower Moon coverage more than just commenting on its length and then makes his way through the other nominees before starting to discuss the strikes with a great joke about how long this year felt that the kid from The Fabelmans – Gabriel LaBelle – looks like this now and the camera cuts to Steven Spielberg. From there, he springboards into a really heartfelt takedown of the Hollywood stereotype that really does seek to empower the workers culminating in a callout of the truckdrivers and tech crew for tonight and a pledge to stand with IASTSE should they go on strike later this year. Hopefully, the execs in the room were listening when he pledged that “we will stand with you,” and hopefully it was not all just empty posturing. 

Twenty-one minutes into the broadcast, the contingent of Jamie Lee Curtis, Mary Steenburgen, Lupita Nyong’o, Rita Moreno, and Regina King, all previous winners of Best Actress in a Supporting Role, take to the stage to give each of tonight’s nominees a personalized introduction before opening the envelope and awarding Da’vine Joy Randolph for her work as Mary in The Holdovers; her first win and the culmination of an incredible Awards season run for the actress.  You love to see it.  We can pack it up and go home now because it will be hard to match the sheer gratefulness, gratitude, and genuine love not just for all those around her who helped get her where she is today, but also for the craft; even if she did forget to mention her publicist’s name after making it a point to recognize their contributions to her success tonight.   

Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy present Best Animated Short to Dave Mullins and Brad Booker for War is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko. Best Animated Feature goes to Hayao Miyazaki for The Boy in the Heron, accepted on his behalf by the presenters.  A good film in its own right and the alleged final film from the Japanese master – though we have heard that one before – it is also a win for audiences at home who gained back some time with one less acceptance speech.  It does feel like a pretty obvious choice even though Nimona and Robot Dreams had a much better balance and really pushed the limits of creativity in a unique way whereas The Boy and the Heron seemed more like an extension of Miyazaki’s established and curated style. No one but Miyazaki could have made The Boy and the Heron, but it feels like he has made this movie before.

We move next into the screenwriting awards to be presented by Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer.  Kimmel’s “at what age do you tell a screenplay it is adapted” dad joke lands better than the first rough bit of the evening did.  Courier type face flicks over some brief selected scenes of the nominees ahead of the awarding of Justine Triet and Arthur Harari for Anatomy of a Fall while the now-iconic steel drum instrumental of PIMP plays on her cross to the stage.  Cord Jefferson is the next screenwriter awarded for his adaptation of American Fiction.  He comes out swinging in support of small and middle-budget films and hopefully Hollywood is listening because audiences and exhibition are hungry for unique stories to see up on screen. 

The energy of the night completely drops to zero as Billie Elish and Finneas O’Connell take to the upright piano for her latest raspy, nasally lullaby, “What Was I Made For,” from Barbie.  One live performance down, four more to go but not without first cutting to Ariana Grande giving us a terrifying look at what lies ahead for followers of film who will have to put up with her promotion of Wicked: Part 1. 

The first award of the second hour, Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling is introduced by Catherine O’Hara and Michael Keaton.  In a bit of a surprise win, Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, and Josh Weston bring home the first bit of gold for Poor Things.  A bit of an odd choice as outside of Willem Dafoe‘s cracked and scarred face, the makeup and hair styling are all rather tame for the otherwise outrageous film, but it works as a nice precursor to James Price and Shona Heath for Production Design making it a back-to-back win for Poor Things.  There is a lot to take in across each frame of the film for sure, it is just a shame that the cinematography obscures so much of it for audiences and that Yorgos Lanthimos was far more fascinated in the look of the film than the depth of his thesis. 

Kimmel returns to the wheel with a call back to the 1974 show when a streaker interrupted host David Niven.  A funny bit then develops with a reluctantly streaking John Cena to present the Award for Achievement in Costume Design.  Holly Waddington accepts her award for her work on Poor Things putting the strange and beguiling film on a three-statuette streak. 

We return to the show with the second live performance of the night, “Wahzhazhe (A Song for my People),” a rousing, exciting, and impactful performance backed in bright red and yellows of the sun. It plays far more rousing and commanding than it does over its more mournful placement in Killers of the Flower Moon. 

Another odd couple takes to the stage, Dwyane Johnson and Bad Bunny, where Johnson makes a really cumbersome joke about Bad Bunny introducing the award for Best International Feature in Spanish.  The Zone of Interest takes home is first award for the evening with director Jonathan Glazer taking the mic to read his prepared speech.  The camera cuts to a very emotional Sandra Hüllerr, star of Zone though not nominated for her work in that film tonight. 

International Feature is normally one of the more exciting lineups of the night, but this year it lands pretty soft.  Society of the Snow is a harrowing outlier along with Io Capitano, but the favorite to win, The Zone of Interest, is honoring a failed cinematic experiment.  With too many rules to abide by, Glazer’s Holocaust-adjacent film is anything but as he all but dares us to want him to break from the formalism so that he can then turn around and blame us.  Glazer’s speech gets at the heart of the intolerance and cruelty that his film was seeking to dismantle, and being able to speak so bluntly about it makes the message far stronger here than it does in his film. It is a scared film that gets away from its creator, and had the immersive sound design, meticulous production design, and steely performance by Hüller not been there, this film would have been immediately seen for the gross and exploitative work that it actually is that undermines even those who agree with Glazer’s message and are seeking to create a better world. 

Off the ballot, Argentina’s The Delinquents, France’s The Taste of Things, and Iceland’s Godland are all worthy titles to be sought out by interested audiences.  Looking forward, Chille’s The Settlers will premiere later this month on Mubi, North Macedonia’s Housekeeping for Beginners was acquired by Focus Features, Poland’s The Peasants was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics, and both Mexico’s Tótem and Turkey’s About Dry Grasses were acquired by Janus Films which all bodes well for continued access to international titles. 

Emily Blunt and Ryan Gossling share some “Barbenhiemer” jokes back and forth, a funny bit that lands well with the audience but a real tonal shift from Glazer’s acceptance speech that inevitably comes with the show but never makes these transitions any easier.  They lead into a montage honoring the storied history of stunt work from the earliest days of Hollywood and Cinema, a poor consolation prize to an entire branch that the Academy has yet to expand to recognize, and also a bit of covert marketing for Blunt and Gosling’s upcoming The Fall Guy.  Hopefully, the recent expansion to recognize casting directors will bode well for the addition of stunt work and breakout performance while we are at it. 

The show returns with its third sampling of “Dance the Night Away” before Kimmel turns the stage over to Sam Rockwell, Tim Robbins, Ke Huy Quan, Christoph Waltz, and Mahershala Ali to crown Robert Downy Jr. as the Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his work as Strauss in Oppenheimer.  Another easy to predict win, but the tone and appreciation could not be more different than when Randolf accepted her award.  He entered the Doby Theatre expecting to win and that swarminess was evident on stage.  Maybe it read better in the room as he received quite an applause, but as a prodigal bit of Hollywood Royalty, the warm reception is to be expected.  Sterling K. Brown would have been the only real upset here as his role could have be cut from American Fiction entirely and the only change to the film would be about a five-minute shorter runtime. Looking at any of the other three nominees, Downy Jr. does deliver so it is hard to say that this award went to the wrong guy without clear bias showing, but his insufferable attitude is enough to sour his perception and take away from what should be a nice moment. 

We return from break to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito reminiscing about their antics and demise in Gotham City and throwing some shade at Keaton in the stands before introducing the nominees for Achievement in Visual Effects.  Godzilla: Minus One takes home the gold making it the third non-English language film – not counting the win for Zone in International Feature – to win tonight.  What a fun and exciting win for the team comprised of Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi, and Tatsuji Nojima, and it is great to see some appreciation for the award again after the smug display in the previous category. 

The Gotham baddies next introduce Achievement in Film Editing to Jennifer Lame for her work on Oppenheimer.  She made sense out of what was surely miles of film and put it together so that even those of us who failed chemistry class had a cursory understanding of nuclear science while also balancing decades of story from multiple points of view.  The story would circle back on itself as we oscillate between narrators but she manages to inject a vitality and variance to the repeated sequences that we see two, sometimes even three times.  It is unlikely that Christopher Nolan will not seek her out again for his next time-bending tale as she is able to make sense of even his most wild and massive ideas; Tenet (2020) notwithstanding. 

Jon Batiste closes out the second hour of the show with his performance of “It Never Went Away” from American Symphony and we return from the break with a Maestro montage.  After a theatre-wide toast with Don Julio Tequila led by Guillermo Rodriguez in a charming bit, America Ferrera and Kate McKinnon display some great chemistry discussing the line between fact and fiction as the lead into the presentation of Best Documentary Short to The Last Repair Shop and feature to 20 Days in Mariupol, bringing a historic first Oscar to Ukraine.  Mstyslav Chernov gives a very personal speech about how proud he is to bring the award to his country, but it comes at such a terrible cost due to Russia’s continued aggression against his homeland.  It is a quiet moment, but one of the most powerful of the show.  “Cinema forms memories, and memories form history.” 

Zendaya, affirming her place as a leading lady without the accompaniment of either Tom Holland or Timothée Chalamet, takes to the stage in a stunning purple and silver dress to present the award for Achievement in Cinematography.  Hoyte van Hoytema brings Oppenheimer its latest accolade and it is well earned.  As with Lame’s work in the editing suite, his work too was a monumental undertaking shooting in the desert, at night and at day, in multiple interiors, and across multiple eras.  Color, black and white, on film stock designed for IMAX’s expanded format, there were a lot of beautiful films on this year’s ballot, but Hoytema far and away put in the work, and it is nice to see him recognized for it. 

Issa Rae and Ramy Youssef are the next presented up and they dive right into the Best Live Action Short accepting the award on Wes Anderson’s behalf for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar; the director’s first Oscar win. 

Becky G then performs a brief segment of “The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot.  Its screentime, even briefer than the entirety of the Best Live Action Short, really settles for some films, such as Flamin’ Hot, the honor is in the nomination. 

John Mullaney comes up next to present Achievement in Sound with a rambling, but thankfully funny piece about some of the great movie lines including a tragic story about spiders in the Amazonian rainforest.  After the montage, Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn win for The Zone of Interest.  In the same way that Hoytema brought in all elements of the camera to bring about his director’s vision, this team did so with the soundscape sought by Glazer.  They really push audiences to grapple with their own interpretation of the sounds they hear across the runtime of the film.  First, what are we hearing?  Second, which side of the wall is it coming from?  It is a horrifying realization, and they walk the line of being oppressive with the sound design because the film hinges on that, but they keep it subtle enough that it continually sneaks up with each new sound we hear. They also helped create a truly alien tone that is used across a few key moments of the film, specifically the beginning, that help to transport audiences into this uncomfortable sensory world that will be shown to them.

Next, the moment that may be more anticipated than even the awarding of Best Picture, Ryan Gosling gets the whole room involved in his lively and energetic performance of “I’m Just Ken.” 

The Wicked hype train keeps on rolling as Ariana Grande – apparently wrapped in her comforter – and Cynthia Erivo presents the award for Best Original Score to Ludwig Göransson for his work on Oppenheimer.  It is a fine score, but with Robbie Robertson’s final score and John Williams’ work up for recognition tonight, it makes the win a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.  Göransson is certainly a capable composer, but the score in Oppenheimer does not feel like a true expression of himself, rather that he was asked to mimic the tones of Hans Zimmer.  Next, Billie Elish and Finneas win for Best Original Song.  Credit where credit is due, she at least decided to show up in something other than her pajamas this evening; maybe all that time it took to get dressed meant she did not have time to prepare a speech because she could barely ramble out half a thought here. 

The In Memoriam segment comes next, opening with a clip from Navalny (2022), last year’s winner of Best Documentary Feature and whose subject died under mysterious circumstances earlier this year in a Russian prison.  The performance tonight is making great use of the stage, now in a blue light, first using the center screen, transitioning to show the orchestra while dancers perform below, and then using the five pillars while Andrea Bocelli and his son, Matteo, perform the slightly too on the nose “Time to Say Goodbye.” Unfortunately, each utterance of the song’s title almost feels comical in a farcical sense as if it is unintentionally lampooning the annual tradition of public displays of grief. 

Kimmel returns to the stage and says what we are all feeling, with four awards left as we enter into the third hour, we are all getting fidgety.  He welcomes Nicolas Cage, Matthew McConaughey, Brendan Fraser, Ben Kingsley, and Forest Whitaker to honor tonight’s Best Actor in a Leading Role; Cillian Murphy as the title character in Oppenheimer.  Another safe bet going into the evening, his acceptance speech is so much humbler and more appreciative than his pompous co-star’s was earlier in the evening.  Even if he walked in all but knowing he would be leaving with the statue, his speech still portrays gratitude, and it is these more human moments that help make this slog of a broadcast a little more watchable. 

Next, Steven Spielberg awarded Nolan for Best Director.  It is another strong slate, and while Nolan may not have another Oppenheimer left in him, it pains to think that Martin Scorsese, who poured an incredible amount of self-reflection, love, and atonement into Killers of the Flower Moon may not have another film in him.  His run of late-career masterpieces have gone largely ignored, but even looking back at his career as a whole, it is a travesty that one of the foremost purveyors of cinema only has one directing win for The Departed (2006) and no Best Picture wins to his name. That being said, Nolan’s passion for the art form is clearly evident – something that very well may have been seeded by Scorcese – and it is exciting to see just how much creativity we have yet to tap into. 

The show returns with Sally Field, Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle Yeoh, Charlize Theron, and Jessica Lange presenting Emma Stone with the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her work as Bella in Poor Things.  It is not her fault that the script is ill-conceived and a total mess when you really look at it, but she placed her trust in Lanthimos, and it paid off for her.  It is glad to see the appreciation again as she speaks out briefly to her other nominees, not just because it is customary, but because she also wants to help foster the craft. 

Kimmel returns to vamp ahead of Best Picture with some fun jabs at Trump and his “truth” in a play on Kimmel’s own Mean Tweets segment.  He then introduces the normally live wire Al Pacino, 9 9-time Oscar nominated 1-time winner veteran, to open the final envelope.  And the Oscar goes to, “And my eyes see Oppenheimer.” Talk about a confusing and unclimactic crowning of tonight’s best picture winner, not only because it was the extreme odds-on favorite since the race started, but also in the beguiling delivery by Pacino. 

While tonight’s inevitable sweep was easy enough to watch without the suffocating silicone stink from last year’s Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), The Oscars desperately need to reinvent themselves. The Academy is well aware of this, bringing in TikTok “celebrities” to interview the stars as they arrived on the Red Carpet, and with Barbenhiemer on the ballot, this year would have been the one to do it, but they still held fast to their network agreement with no signs of wavering from the antiquated model.  If they want to survive in any meaningful form that is not just a press release, they must, must, must vacate both ABC/Disney as well as March for a neutral ground and safe harbor that takes place earlier in the year. Make it an enjoyable experience for those watching at home because for fans of film, this is the perfect night to get us excited about the upcoming slate of movies instead of spending all the ad time on whatever new show FX has let Ryan Murphy self-indulge on. We have grown so weary of the awards circuit narratives and a dried-up winter box office and for those few who stumbled upon the broadcast and stuck with it, there are few things less exciting than a 3+ hour awards show, even with a strong slate of nominees.