The Oscars have been and gone to much furore. Thanks to the talented hosting by Neil Patrick Harris, who dipped and slipped slightly through his presenting role, the 87th Academy Awards went off with much finesse. There were weird moments such as the bewildering Lady Gaga tribute to The Sound of Music and John Travolta went around touching actress’s faces. In general, Neil Patrick Harris was the cheeky host who slipped a lot of hilarious jokes that were rather uncouth and either went unnoticed or people didn’t want to laugh as much as they were inside. He also made us fall in love with the films a little bit more with his amazing opening number.
However, as film fans gathered tentatively to see all the winner’s collect their awards, it’s safe to say that there were a few upsets and cheers. And it wasn’t just because we saw Neil Patrick Harris in his tightie whities.
So what had angered and thrilled film critics and fans across the globe in equal measure?
This being said - this is the second year where a Director of colour - specifically Latino AND from the Holy Trinity of Mexican Directors (Alfonso Cuaron and Guilermo del Toro) has scooped up Best Director. Say what you will but that is a mighty caw caw for latino film-makers across the globe.
Apart from this shocking twist of events, the rest of the bigger gongs went to their predictable boxes. Eddie Redmayne won Best Actor for his transformation into Stephen Hawking for The Theory of Everything whilst Julianne Moore won her very belated Oscar for her performance in Still Alice. Both deserving, they gave humbling and emotional speeches reaching out to those who were stricken by the illnesses they were portraying. Best Supporting Actor went to J.K Simmons who had us all reaching for the phone to text our parents whilst Best Supporting Actress went to Patricia Arquette in Boyhood’s only win for the night.
It was also the year where people thought against the band. Good, the whole process is insanely rude. Especially as Ida director Pawel Pawlikowski was thanking his late parents and wife as the band increased in sound over his acceptance speech for Best Foreign Film. The Phone Call, which picked up Best Live Action Short similarly did the same – using their time ousting the band to celebrate the volunteers in Crisis centres.
On a personal note, the biggest upset was definitely the Animation categories. Look, Disney, you are great but your films since Frozen have been lacklustre at best. Big Hero 6 was fun but it wasn’t as vibrant, beautiful and heartfelt as How To Train Your Dragon 2. Feast was a dull short film whilst The Bigger Picture was technically sublime, full of hard work and a terrific story at the centre. It just seems that they throw the awards at Disney without taking a harder look and it needs to stop because better filmmakers are losing out to Disney at its mediocrity.
Whilst we’d like to talk about all the winners in-depth, we’d run out of breath! Certainly, there were some richly deserved and some controversial ones. People will be talking about that Birdman win for years to come. How do you feel about it?
Did your favourite win?
And The Winner's Are
Best Costume Design – Milena Canonero for The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Make Up Artist – Frances Hannah and Mark Coulier for The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Foreign Language Film – Ida
Best Live Action Short – The Phone Call
Best Documentary Short – Crisis Centre: Veterans Press 1
Best Sound Mixing – Whiplash
Best Sound Editing – American Sniper
Best Supporting Actress – Patricia Arquette for Boyhood
Best Animated Short – Feast
Best Animated Film – Big Hero 6
Best Film Editing – Tom Cross for Whiplash
Best Documentary – CITIZENFOUR
Best Original Song –“ Glory” from Selma
Best Original Score – Alexandre Desplat for The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Adapted Screenplay – Graham Moore for The Imitation Game
Best Director - Alejandro González Iñárritu for Birdman
Best Actor – Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything
Best Actress – Julianne Moore for Still Alice
Best Picture – Birdman