Awards Season 2024: The 96th Academy Awards

 

And there we have it, ladies and gents. The curtain comes down on the 2024 awards season with one of the strongest Oscar ceremonies of recent years. 

Jimmy Kimmel's opening monologue was funny enough, but a couple of jokes- at the expense of Robert Downey Jr's past- didn't really land. However, he won a lot of good will by giving behind-the-scenes crew members a shout out as the people who kept Hollywood going during the actors' and writers' strikes. He's on his fourth time at the Oscars, and I personally think this was his best attempt yet. There was little in the way of superfluous gimmicks; the ceremony ticked along at a nice pace, and came in at around 3hrs 30m (including copious ad breaks). 

Some of my personal highlights of the evening: a very game John Cena, appearing nude(ish?) to announce Best Costume Design;  Jonathan Glazer's powerful acceptance speech on winning Best International Feature for Holocaust drama The Zone Of Interest; the winning crew of Godzilla Minus One bringing a golden Godzilla onto stage; and the truly stunning performance of "I'm Just Ken" replete with 65 Kens, Slash on guitar, and a pink-clad Ryan Gosling!

I was very happy that The Boy And The Heron won Best Animated Feature Film, and that American Fiction won Best Adapted Screenplay. Along with The Holdovers, American Fiction was one of my favourite films of this awards season. Cord Jefferson's enthusiastic acceptance speech contained a plea that I've long hoped Hollywood would listen to: take a chance on making smaller budget movies. Who knows, maybe they'll listen?

20 Days In Mariupol becomes the first Ukrainian Oscar winner; its director Mstyslav Chernov gave a stirring and emotional speech, saying he wished he'd never had to make the film. The inclusion of a clip from last year's Best Documentary Feature- Navalny- about the (recently-deceased) Russian political prisoner before the "In Memoriam" section was an interesting choice and will no doubt provoke a couple of column inches. 

Hosting pairs were the usual mix of passable and get-these-two-to-host-this-next-year; Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling were funny, riffing on the Barbenheimer "rivalry", and rightly introduced a tribute to stunt performers - which does beg the question: why the fuck aren't stunt performers getting an Oscar? Yes, casting is important, but stunt work is an intrinsic part of most films and has been from cinema's inception. Get on it, Academy. 

John Mulaney riffing on Field Of Dreams, and Ramy Youssef and Issa Rae cutting right to the chase were particular highlights, and there was an enjoyable reunion between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. They also did something interesting with the acting awards: each of the four categories had five former winners (including last year's winners) to give a short testimonial about one of the nominees. (They'd done something similar a few years ago, but refined it somewhat for this time around) 

Onto my predictions: 5 out of 6, as I expected. Emma Stone looked genuinely shocked to have her name announced, and her tearful, torn-dress acceptance speech was touching. Robert Downey Jr's speech was superb, full of what's become a familiar kind of snark disguising genuine feelings. Da'Vine Joy Randolph's win was the first award announced of the evening, and her acceptance speech was pretty lovely, and Cillian Murphy's was thoughtful and considered, giving a shout out to the "peacemakers" in the current-day. 

Unsurprisingly, Oppenheimer was the big winner of the evening, with seven Oscars. Poor Things came second with four, whilst The Zone Of Interest was the only other multiple Oscar winner, taking two. 

Despite multiple nominations, Killers Of The Flower Moon, Maestro, Napoleon, Nyad, and Society Of The Snow came home emptyhanded. 

Below is the full list of winners at the 96th Academy Awards:

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Oppenheimer

Best Actor: Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)

Best Actress: Emma Stone (Poor Things)

Best Supporting Actor: Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)

Best Supporting Actress: Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

Best Director: Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)

Best Original Screenplay: Justine Triet and Arthur Harari (Anatomy Of A Fall)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Cord Jefferson (American Fiction)

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: The Boy And The Heron

Best International Feature Film of the Year: The Zone Of Interest

Best Cinematography: Oppenheimer

Best Film Editing: Oppenheimer

Best Production Design: Poor Things

Best Costume Design: Poor Things

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Poor Things

Best Original Score: Oppenheimer

Best Original Song: "What Was I Made For?" (Barbie)

Best Sound: The Zone Of Interest

Best Visual Effects: Godzilla Minus One

Best Documentary (Feature): 20 Days In Mariupol

Best Documentary (Short Subject): The Last Repair Shop

Best Animated Short Film: WAR IS OVER! Inspired By The Music Of John & Yoko

Best Live Action Short Film: The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar

Congratulations to all winners!