Anora’s huge evening on the Oscars places an finish to essentially the most chaotic awards season in years | Hollywood
Anora, Sean Baker’s screwball tragicomedy of a younger intercourse employee who married the son of a Russian oligarch, swept the 97th Academy Awards final Sunday. It received Greatest Image, Greatest Director, Greatest Actress, Greatest Authentic Screenplay, and Greatest Modifying. The one nomination for which Anora didn’t safe a win was for Greatest Actor in a Supporting Function for Yura Borisov. If Kieran Culkin was not making a case for himself in class fraud together with his clearly co-lead flip in A Actual Ache, I might consider that Yura would have received too. (Additionally learn: Earlier than successful Oscars for Anora, Sean Baker made The Florida Venture: A compassionate portrait of life on the margins)
How did Anora emerge because the frontrunner this awards season? It went residence empty handed on the 2025 Golden Globes, despite the fact that it had 5 nominations. That brings us to one of the vital chaotic and exhausting awards season run in recent times, the place social media and extra controversies put many roadblocks in the best way of many titles of their campaigns for awards.
Emilia Pérez controversy
The most important controversy at this awards season must be with round Emilia Perez. Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language, genre-defying musical drama starring Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña was a sizzling mattress for controversies. Set in Mexico, the movie was broadly criticised within the nation for not solely trivialising Mexican historical past but in addition imposing stereotypes. Critics additionally known as out the movie’s insensitive portrayal of a transgender character stuffed with cliches.
Then all hell blew previous anybody’s management when lead star Karla Sofía Gascón’s previous tweets emerged, starting from George Floyd, Islam, and variety on the Oscars, which was met with extreme social media backlash. The actor apologised first, after which proceeded to delete her X (previously Twitter) account solely. “I consider I’ve been judged, I’ve been convicted and sacrificed and crucified and stoned and not using a trial and with out the choice to defend myself, ” she stated, reported Deadline.
Emilia Pérez was the frontrunner when the awards season began, going off robust with 4 Golden Globe wins. However the controversy put a definitive pause to a easy award season run, with Karla Sofía Gascón not attending any of the precursor awards show- the place she was nominated for Greatest Actress in a Main Function. Her movie, which was main with 13 nominations on Oscars evening, misplaced even essentially the most predictable win within the Greatest Worldwide Characteristic.
Brazil’s huge win
That win was secured by I am Nonetheless Right here (Ainda Estou Aqui), the Brazilian movie from director Walter Salles. If there was any silver lining in regards to the awards season this yr, it was the univocal love and keenness with which Brazilians cheered and celebrated the large win for the nation collectively. Individuals took to the streets, gathered in massive teams and watched the ceremony collectively within the movies that emerged on X.
The movie, a outstanding and gripping portrait of a real-life girl named Eunice Paiva enduring by way of Brazil’s period of navy dictatorship, acquired excessive acclaim and large field workplace success within the nation. Its main star Fernanda Torres delivers a wide ranging dramatic flip in it, and her shock Golden Globe win paved the best way for a deserving spot within the Greatest Actress class. For Brazilians, she had already received.
The fantastic pictures and movies of celebration of a whole nation coming collectively for a movie made me marvel how lengthy will it take for India and Indian movies to succeed in that stage? This yr, there was an excellent probability with Payal Kapadia’s All We Think about As Mild had such a terrific momentum to take residence the identical award, successful nearly all of the essential precursor critics circle awards within the class. However the movie was not even the primary selection by the Choice Committee right here. Clearly, an extended and arduous street is forward of us if we really wish to rejoice our movies and our tales.
The Brutalist controversy
The awards season additionally had one other main controversy, related to one other contender- The Brutalist. Brady Corbet’s over 3 hours-long epic was the odds-on favorite to win Greatest Director, after securing the identical award on the Venice Movie Pageant, Golden Globes and BAFTAs. However then its editor revealed that generative AI was used within the making of the movie and improve the Hungarian accent utilized by its actors Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones. This led to elevated social media debate that the actors’ performances shouldn’t be deemed for the Oscars. Adrien nonetheless received Greatest Actor, however Brady misplaced to Sean Baker.
Anora picked up tempo within the awards season with a shock win on the Critics Alternative Awards for Greatest Movie, after which went on to win the trifecta of guild awards- the WGA (Writers Guild of America) for Greatest Authentic Screenplay, the DGA (Administrators Guild of America) for Greatest Director, and the PGA (Producers Guild of America) for Greatest Image. The one movie to win all these three awards and never win Greatest Image was 1995’s Apollo 13. Three a long time later, The Academy did repeat that.
At the same time as gliding previous these controversies was not as easy for Anora given some backlash surrounding the remark made by Mikey Madison the place she stated that there was no intimacy coordinator on the set in the course of the intercourse scenes, the movie made a big case for itself with a superb campaigning run orchestrated by Neon. The indie movie firm deserves all the eye for an outstanding awards present campaigning methods, successful the Greatest Image statuette twice in the middle of 7 years. In addition they have the unprecedented streak of distributing the final 5 Palme d’Or winners at Cannes Movie Pageant within the U.S. Neon spent $18 million on the advertising and marketing, distribution and awards marketing campaign of Anora, reported Selection. Made for $6 million, it was thrice the finances of creating all the movie with an ensemble forged that consisted largely of newcomers.
Anora’s huge win on Oscar evening made an outstanding case for unbiased filmmaking, marking an finish to an exhausting awards season run that was stuffed with obvious missteps and controversies. This yr’s awards run will make for a terrific case examine on how to not sidestep social media discourse, as a result of on the finish of the day, the web at all times remembers.
