By Leonardo Salazar
Tejano Tribune Film Critic
The Oscars ceremony on Sunday gave a lot to talk about with just a few surprises and several disappointments.
First of all, in the Animated Picture section, the winner was “Flow,” a film about a cat in a water flooded world who now lives on a ship with animals of other species. And get this: all the "dialogue" is provided in the sounds the animals make in reality!
For the movie “A Real Pain,” Kieran Culkin won for best supporting actor, and if you don’t recognize that name, he’s the brother of Macaulay Culkin, and actually he did an appearance in "Home Alone" as one of the kids. I think Culkin really deserved this recognition because he’s been proving an extraordinary actor since featured n the HBO Max amazing original series, “Succession.”
“Wicked” was definitely one of the most popular movies of 2024, and not for nothing. Although coming up short in the major categories, it won for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. I didn’t get to watch all nominee movies, but I can understand why “Wicked” got this one because all the production and design on sets and the costumes is really amazing. Even for people who don’t like musicals, the Academy had to recognize the great job they put on the production of “Wicked.”
“The Brutalist” won for Film Score and Best Cinematography (photography by Lol Crawley). “Dune: Part Two” won Best Sound and Best Visual Effects, but its star, Timothée Chalamet, was blocked from snagging a Best Actor Oscar, losing to "Brutalist" lead Adrien Brody (who, by the way, garnered some opprobrium for tossing a wad of chewing gum back to his girlfriend, Georgina Chapman, as he was leaping up the steps to accept his trophy).
In the category of timely news with Pope Francis still in hospital, "Conclave" grabbed just one Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay and is now available to stream on NBC's Peacock service.
One of the more controversial elements during this ceremony had to do with “Emilia Pérez” which won two awards, one for Best Original Song for “El Mal” (a shame, IMHO, that the legend Mick Jagger had to give this award), and another one to Zoe Saldaña for Best Supporting Actress.
A lot of people posted that they hated this maintaining Saldaña did not deserve this. I haven’t watched “Emilia Pérez,” but I think we must focus on the good things, like Saldaña has shown a lot of times before giving amazing performances, so even if this movie was not liked, we can’t deny that she is an amazing actress.
As mentioned earlier, Adrien Brody won Best Actor for “The Brutalist,” a film about a Jewish architect who escapes to America following the end of the Second World War. This award was very well deserved but it’s a bit funny because this is the second time Adrien Brody wins Best Actor for playing a Jewish character in a movie about the Holocaust (“The Pianist” being the first one).
But now let’s talk about the actresses. Mikey Madison was the winner for Best Female Actor for “Anora” and there were some people who complained about this, saying that Demi Moore deserved more the Award for her role in “The Substance.” There were even jokes about this, saying that Demi Moore (62 years old) losing the award to Madison (a beautiful young girl in her 20s) is literally the theme of “The Substance.”
I know it’s people just joking, but I’m sure there are people who really believe this and that is totally not true because saying that is like saying that Mikey Madison won just because Moore is pretty old while Madison is young and beautiful, and that’s not giving credit to the amazing near perfect performance in Madison gives in “Anora.” So I don’t think this was unfair, as many people do. I think Demi Moore did a fantastic job but I think the one who deserved the award was Mikey Madison and I’m glad she got it.
But my favorite part of this is when we talk about “Anora.” I said it in the last article and I’ll say it again, "Anora" was my favorite film of 2024, and I am more than glad that it is the most awarded film this year with five Oscars. “Anora” won for Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, and of course, Best Picture.
I’ve been watching Sean Baker’s films for years ("Red Rocket" (2021), "The Florida Project" (2017), "Tangerine" (2015), to name a few) and I’ve always been a big fan of his way of making successful independent cinema. Seeing his success now is satisfying as he made history winning four personal Oscars in one night. Some people may disagree with this, and that’s okay, but in my opinion, “Anora” was definitely the greatest picture of 2024 and one of the best of the decade.
And remember, “Long Live Independent Film!”
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