Oscars 2023: who were the big winners and losers of the ceremony

There have been winners and losers, of course, at the Oscar ceremony. There were more of the latter than the former, for obvious reasons -out of five candidates per category, 4 out of 50, 80% withdrew empty-handed-, but there were films that were the big winners of the gala and others which were completely ignored by members of the Hollywood Academy.

Let’s go on with the analysis: what happened to it Elviswith The Fabelmanswith the spirits of the islandwith tarwith The triangle of sadness, all nominated for best film? They didn’t win a statuette.

And to say that stage performances are not rewarded, because there were many who deserved their award, and others did not hide their displeasure. Like Angela Bassett, sitting in the audience, who lost Best Supporting Actress to Jamie Lee Curtis, and Salma Hayek, who she was thrilled to nominate Argentina, 1985 among the candidates, but when he opened the envelope and read No news at the front he did not hide, mask or disguise his bitterness.

With the Oscars it seems like something had to happen every year for the ceremony to get attention. It is already known that ratings are falling, but this is happening with television broadcasts all over the world: people – and young people – follow awards ceremonies more through social networks, as Janet Yang, president of Hollywood, explained to me last week Academy.

But either for Will Smith’s slap at Chris Rock in last year’s edition, or for cultural rather than pugilistic facts, such as a film not spoken in English that wins the award for best of the year (parasitesin 2020, just days before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out), the first film from a streaming service to win the main award (Tailby Apple, last year), or the first actress to win three major Oscars since Katharine Hepburn (it was Frances McDormand, in 2021, for nomadic land).

Well yesterday at the Dolby Theater All everywhere at the same time made history. For one thing, it’s the first film considered, among its many intersecting genres, science fiction, to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. If you want to see it, it’s in theaters, on Amazon and on Flow, for rent.

She had 11 nominations -one canceled each other, for Best Supporting Actress, because Stephanie Hsu lost to Jamie Lee Curtis-, so we can well say she won in 7 out of 10 possible categories. That number of statuettes, 7, also marks a difference from recent years, when the Academy wasn’t so inclined to back a film with so many accolades.

It was something common in other boom times, when productions were popular titanicin 1998, which won 11 of 14 nominations, or The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the Kingin 2004, they were the most nominated and ended up being the most awarded (Peter Jackson’s won the eleven statuettes in the categories in which he was nominated), not for theft, but you get me.

more records

Costume designer Ruth E. Carter became the first black woman to win two Academy Awards (she did it for Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) and winning Best Original Song Naatu Naatu, from RRRit was the first win in the category for an Indian film.

Another fact for which Daniels’ (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) film set another record is that Michelle Yeoh became the first Southeast Asian woman to win the award in this category.

Further? As his co-stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan also won, as supporting actors, All everywhere at the same time it’s the third film to win three acting awards, after A Streetcar Named Desireby Elia Kazan, who joined him in the 1952 edition (Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden and Kim Hunter), and Network: Power That Kills, by Sidney Lumet, in the 1977 edition (Peter Finch, who was the first actor to receive posthumous award, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight).

Nor is it very common for the Best Director award to be shared by two directors, as happened with Los Daniels. The last to join him were the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, for There is no place for the weakin the 2008 episode.

The other production that withdrew more than satisfied from the Dolby Theater is the German one No news at the front. The Netflix production, which has focused heavily on this title, won in the category in which it competed Argentina, 1985, and he did so also for his cinematography, his music and production design. Four out of nine isn’t bad.

Finally, another one who took two of the three awards he aspired to The whaleby Darren Aronofsky. Brendan Fraser cried on stage when he received his Oscar for best actor. The film about the morbidly obese man also won Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

Now let’s go to the other side of the scale.

It’s bad to arrive with expectations and leave without having gone on stage to thank the parents. And this happened to five of the ten films nominated in the main category.

Perhaps the biggest failure was, in terms of awards, those of the spirits of the islandby Martin McDonagh, e Elvisby Baz Luhrmann. The first came with 9 nominations, and we thought that, like so many other times, the Academy would give, as a consolation prize, the best original screenplay to its director. But there, too, the storm of All everywhere at the same time.

In the case of the film about Elvis Presley, it had 8 nominations, and Austin Butler, as an actor, and Tom Hanks’ character make-up, boasted two awards that were not (and they were for the same film: The whale).

We know Steven Spielberg is adored by the Academy, but The Fabelmans won none of the 7 statuettes he aspired to, and the director, who has the curious merit of having been nominated in the last sixty years!, has not risen to thank an award since he won best director, for Save Private Ryana long time ago: it was 1999.

tar she could win Best Actress in a Leading Role. It would have been the third statuette for Australian Cate Blanchett, who lost to Michelle Yeoh. He lost in the 6 categories in which he was nominated.

That The triangle of sadnessby the Swedish Ruben Östlund, would not have won in any of its three categories (film, direction and original screenplay) it was known.

And some Oscar nominees have saved the potatoes They speakwith the award for best adapted screenplay, Top Gun: nonconformist (better sound) e Avatar: The Path of Water (visual effects).

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