Defying Gravity Like a Complete Unknown: The 97th Academy Award-Winners

WRITER’S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on March 3, 2025. 

 

Heading into the telecast of the 97th Annual Oscars ceremony, there were largely no clear-cut front-runners in each respective category, especially since the other award shows leading up to it had diverse contenders and winners. A few standouts that most people were rooting for—and who did win last night—included supporting roles by Kieran Culkin (for Jesse Eisenberg’s live-wire dramedy A Real Pain) and Zoe Saldaña (for Jacque Audiard’s controversial crime musical Emilia Pérez). The latter became “the first American of Dominican origin” to win an Oscar, while the film itself—which has been slowly sinking into scrutiny in recent weeks, due partly to lead actress Karla Sofia Cascon’s past tweets—was recognized for one of its two nominated songs (written by Audiard and songwriters Clément Ducol & Camille). Strangely, the controversy surrounding the film seemed to kind of fade throughout the evening. Even Gascón, despite not appearing on the red carpet, was still quietly present at the ceremony. 

Halfway through the telecast already, I could tell that different movies were winning in each category. Two international features that apparently came out of nowhere heading into this season included the Latvian-produced (and dialogue-free) animated Flow and the Brazilian biographical drama I’m Still Here. The former stands in the same league as Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022) and Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron (2023), as the third consecutive Animated Feature Film-winner not made by a major studio, while Walter Salles’ adaptation of Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s nonfiction book of the same name has been gaining significant traction and praise since lead actress Fernanda Torres’ win at the Golden Globes back in January. The film, I am happy to say, received the Best International Feature trophy last night, marking a first for Brazil. (The statue was accepted by Salles.) 

Host Conan O’Brien (second right) honors the first responders of the recent LA wildfires. 

Other highlights of the evening included host Conan O’Brien’s opening monologue, his shout-outs (and presentation) of the first responders to the recent LA fires, as well as to the countless people who work behind the scenes to bring movies to life. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande opened the show with a captivating performance of “Defying Gravity” from Wicked. (The lights in the auditorium of the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, where the ceremony took place, looked amazing.) And Andrew Garfield lovingly thanked co-presenter Goldie Hawn for inspiring his late mother. 

There was also Conclave actor John Lithgow’s “slightly disappointed reaction,” arguably a first since George Clooney’s “stare” from the 2010 ceremony. (Conclave won for Peter Straughan’s adapted screenplay.) An exciting tribute was made to longtime producing team Barbara Broccoli & Michael G. Wilson of the James Bond series, as well as the franchise itself, with a thrilling montage of film clips, followed by a dance routine featuring The Substance actress Margaret Qualley, and covers of “Live and Let Die,” “Diamonds Are Forever,” and “Skyfall” by artists Lisa, Doja Cat, and Raye, respectively. (The latter was especially classy.) 

In terms of comedy, there were brief appearances by a Dune sandworm and a Dancing Deadpool. Presenters like Robert Downey Jr., Amy Poehler, Billy Crystal & Meg Ryan (the original Harry & Sally), Ben Stiller, and announcer Nick Offerman, did their thing as only they could do. Conan even managed to hold his own as a first-time host. But arguably the biggest laugh of the night was at the beginning, when Adam Sandler made a brief “dress code” appearance in a hoodie—and gave his now-memorable pronunciation of A Complete Unknown nominee Timotheé Chalamat’s name. 

And let’s not forget Morgan Freeman remembering and paying tribute to the recently late Gene Hackman, and to those we lost in 2024. Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg remembered and honored the late Quincy Jones while presenting a live performance of “Ease on Down the Road” from the 1980s cult classic, The Wiz, performed by Queen Latifah. (This very energetic and celebratory moment shares a connection with Wicked. But I didn’t really need to tell you that.) 

For the supporting actor and actress awards, and especially the technical categories in costume design and cinematography, the Academy revived the “Big Five” concept from last year by having actors from each nominated film speak about the nominees. 

However, the biggest surprise of the night was the most awarded film, and more specifically one of the key people behind it. For his nearly-two-and-a-half-hour, hard-R-rated, romantic dramedy Anora, Sean Baker accomplished what no filmmaker had previously done in the history of the Oscars. He was awarded for his directing, original screenplay, editing, and (shared with Samantha Quan and Alex Coco) co-producing. Brady Corbet and Coralie Fargeat were the only other multi-hyphenate nominees this year, for The Brutalist and The Substance, respectively. The most recent person to achieve a similar feat was Bong Joon Ho, whose 2019 South Korean genre-bender Parasite became the first International Feature to win Best Picture five years ago. 

Anora also became the second film from indie distributor Neon to win the top prize since Joon Ho’s film, and the fifth consecutive entry from the studio to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Mikey Madison’s win for Best Actress, on the other hand, was kind of an upset, not just because of the type of role that she played (both she and Baker made shout outs to the sex worker community in their acceptance speeches), but also because she is still relatively new to the industry. I, personally, was rooting for Fernanda Torres, for her extraordinary lead performance in I’m Still Here. Although, others were hoping Demi Moore would nab the win, for her radical turn in The Substance after a decades-long career. The latter did win for its practical makeup effects, on the other hand. The acclaim that Anora has been getting has me kind of wondering how far we’ve really come since the Me Too movement. (It’s interesting that Conan made a joke early in the evening about Stockholm Syndrome. Just saying.) 

This year’s acting winners included (l-r) Adrien Brody (lead role for The Brutalist), Mikey Madison (lead role for Anora), Zoe Saldaña (supporting role for Emilia Pérez), and Kieran Culkin (supporting role for A Real Pain). 

I will say this about Sean Baker. I commend him for advocating not only independent cinema, but also, more importantly, for our movie theatres and the moviegoing experience. I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it again: the movie theatre was, is, and will always be the greatest place to see movies. 

With that in mind, while other nominated films like A Complete Unknown, Nickel Boys, Sing Sing, and The Wild Robot went home empty-handed (they’re still worth seeing if you haven’t, by the way), it was nice that Dune: Part Two was awarded for its thunderous sound design and its stunning visual effects. Ditto The Brutalist, for Lol Crawley’s mesmerizing VistaVision cinematography and Daniel Blumberg’s powerful score. The film also made lead actor Adrien Brody an official, two-time Oscar-winner (his first since 2002’s The Pianist, which also told the story of a Holocaust survivor). Brody’s speech was very humbling and gracious, even though he politely told the orchestra to not cut him off. (To be fair, they did cut off a few of the other acceptance speeches too soon. On a more positive note, did anybody else really notice how the orchestra was staged? Incredible.) 

Wicked still has the other half of its story to tell at the end of this year (with Wicked: For Good), but it is, at least, good that Part 1 was awarded for Paul Tazewell’s colorful and extravagant costume design (making him the first black man to win in this category), as well as Nathan Crowley & Lee Sandales’s large-scale and practical production design. I can only imagine how “popular” next year is going to be.  

Let me conclude with a few quotes from the night that, I think, stood out: 

“Art is giving meaning to the chaos we are living through.” 

~Documentary Short winner, The Only Girl in the Orchestra (accepted by Molly O’Brien & Lisa Remington) 

“Thank you for recognizing the richest diamonds are always the hardest to mine.” 

~Cinematography winner Lol Crawley, for The Brutalist (acknowledging the film’s writers, Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold) 

“If the past can teach us anything, it’s not to let hate go unchecked.” 

~Best Actor winner Adrien Brody, for The Brutalist 

“Where did we fall in love with the movies? At the movie theatre! . . . It’s a community experience you just don’t get at home!” 

~Best Director winner Sean Baker, for Anora 

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