Column: Reels with Ryan
With no host and temporary reports that certain category announcements would go untelevised, there was plenty of speculation how this year’s Oscars would go, but surprises and a few genuine moments made the 91st Academy Awards a success.
It began with a live performance by Queen — who has been involved in this year’s awards season thanks to the biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” — instead of the traditional monologue full of references to the year’s nominees. This led to plenty of cutaways to our favorite stars banging their heads to the iconic rock songs, and it seemed to diffuse the tension that had accumulated. It was an unconventional opening, but not a bad one.
Excluding the predictable award races, especially when the technical awards came around, there were some surprises. Best Sound Editing, an award almost predestined for a sound-centric film like “A Quiet Place,” went to “Bohemian Rhapsody” instead. By the end of the night, the film had accumulated four Oscars, including Best Actor for Rami Malek and Best Film Editing.
The race for Best Original Song was never much more than a sprint, as the duet “Shallow” from “A Star is Born” was never doubted. Almost all of the Original Song nominees performed live, and the appearance by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper was incredible. Left uninterrupted by intercut camera angles, the presentation of the song we’ve heard for months on end was still just as intimate and touching.
The Oscars sometimes gets things wrong when it comes to nominations and wins, and there have been many actors and filmmakers who end up waiting far too long to earn their statuette. Spike Lee, the influential mind behind films like “Do the Right Thing” and “Malcolm X,” finally received his first Oscar for adapting the script for “Blackkklansman,” a true story about a black detective in Colorado who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan. While I’ve never been a fan of Lee as a person, it was enjoyable to see someone who has surely paid his dues to film finally receive some recognition.
The upset of the night had to be in the Best Actress category. If you read my predictions from a couple weeks back, you’ll see this category was a neck-and-neck race between Lady Gaga and Glenn Close, with Close being the favorite, due to a long career of going home empty-handed on Oscar night. However, the dark horse Olivia Coleman nabbed the win for her off-kilter performance in “The Favourite.” Even in her acceptance speech, Coleman seemed to be shocked that Glenn Close wasn’t standing in her place, and I felt the same way.
A moment I enjoyed that may be forgotten was when Guillermo Del Toro, who won Best Director last year for “The Shape of Water,” presented the same award to his friend and fellow Mexican auteur Alfonso Cuaron for “Roma.” As Del Toro opened the envelope and saw the name inside, he said, “This name I can pronounce.” It was a small exchange between two foreign filmmakers who have had immense success in Hollywood, and I loved it.
Best Picture is always the pinnacle of the night, and this year never had one true film at the forefront for the award. “Roma” was filled with artistry and subtlety and was definitely the more refined of the nominees, but since it was produced by Netflix and was a foreign film, I think the more traditional voters denied it the grand prize. “A Star is Born” was what I wish could have won, but it didn’t have the legs that other nominees had. In the end, “Green Book” took home Best Picture as what I think was the safest choice by the Academy. It wasn’t exactly the most flawless film, but it told an uplifting story about mending race relations and featured quality performances.
A few surprises, victories that were long overdue, and a lack of major mishaps made the 91st Academy Awards an enjoyable night for movies. There were only a few political statements, and we got to experience something that almost everyone can enjoy: movies.