“One of the wilder oscar seasons in recent of memory-one jolted, to an unknowable expnt, by wildfires that devastated los angeles in early january, followed by a mas-amSIVINA. Contender in Late January – Came to An End on Sunday Night with Neon’s Anora, A $ 6 Million Indie About a”, – WRITE: www.hollywoodReporter.com
How did this happen?
Anora‘s journey began at May’s Cannes Film Festival, WHERE The MAIN COMPETITION JURY, Preded Over by by Greta GerwigAwarded The Dramedy that fest’s Highest Honor, The Palme D’Or. The Palme Is Not Always a Gurante of Oscar Success – Indeed, Only Two Prior Films, 1955’s Marty and 2019’s Neon-Distributed ParasiteHAD Ever Won The Palme and Ten Been Able to Sustain Enough to Win The Best Picture Oscar Someine Months Later. But in the Case of Anorait caused the Industry to take Seriously a Film Starring A Cast of Actors and Actresses that FEW HAD HAD EVER HEAR But Whose Prior Seven Features Had Collectively Received Only A Single Oscar Nomination (best Supporting Actor for For The Florida Project‘s Willem Dafoe).
From there, neon – perhaps realizing that in AnoraIT Once Again Had A Solidly-Made and Highly-Entertaining Film That Is Arguably, At Its Core, About Economic Inequality and Desperation-Largely Redeplayed ITS Parasite Playbook. It re-launched the Film at the Fall Fall Film Fests (Telluride, Toronto and New York), with Its Filmmaker on Hand to Help Introduce Its Stars to The Film Community. Itn Did the de Rigueur Screenings, Q & As and Receptions, en route to a Mid-ortober Platform Release (Parasite DEBUTED ON OCT. 11 On a Single Screen, Anora Began It Rollout on Oct. 18 In Six Locations). And It Let the Strong Buzz and Amazing Reviews (Anora is at 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) Provide the Wind Begind Its Sails The REST OF THE WAY (It Has Thus Far Grossed Just Under $ 41 Million Worldwide, Nearly Seven Times ITS COST).
This Season’s Oscar Nominations Were AnnounCed Just Over Five Weeks Ago, On Jan. 23. Five Films Garnered More NOMS THAN Anora‘s six: Netflix’s Emilia pérez with 13; A24’s The brutalist and Universal’s Wicked with 10 each; and Searchlight’s A Complete Unknown d Focus’ Conclave with eight each. BEST Picture Was Generally Regarded As A Six-Horse Race Between Titles, with A Slight Edge to Emilia pérez; No One Was Picking Anora to win. But Less than a week later, the Emilia pérez Campaign Was Shattered by the Dissemination of Intolerant Tweets by the Actress Who Played The Film’s Title Character, and Subsequent Interviews and Statements that Made of Made of.
THEN CAME A 48-HOUR PERIOD Three Weekends Ago-Between Friday, Feb. 7, and Sunday, Feb. 9, just ahead of the Window of Final Oscars Voting Spanning Feb. 11 Through Feb. 18 – Durying WHICH Anora Decisively Seized the Pole Position. On Feb. 7, IT WAS AWARDED THE BEST PICTURE Critics Choice Award (Voting for Whol Closed before The Emilia pérez Brouhaha), and on Feb. 9 It Snagged The Top Prizes at Both the Producers Guild Awards (Voting for Which Slightly Overlaped with It) and at the Directors Guild Awards (Veting for Wholing Wel. Anora Backers Subsequently Got A Bit of A Scare WHEN Conclave Won the BEST FILM BAFTA Award (Feb. 16) and the Best Ensemble Sag Award (Feb. 23). But by that time, the cake was already baked.
Funnily Enough, Baker, A LOVELY, UNDERSTATED, GENUINELY HUMBLE GUY, SEEMED TO KNOW The SCORE BEFORE Any of the REST OF US DID. I Remember Chatting with Him and Madison in Early October, Before Heading Out to Moderate A Q & A K & A K WHEN Baker Let Slip Something to The Effect of, “The brutalist Sounds Like It’s Our Main Competition. ” At the time, i must confess, i thorough Several Films Might Actuly Have a Better shot than Anorabut i kept that sentiment to myself.
I Think Something My Fellow Pundes and I Were Too Slow to Realize Was The NumeRous Ways in Whole The Post-#Oscarssowhite (2015 and 2016) Transformation of the Academy Changed. MOST OF FOCUS IN RECENT YEARS HAS BEEN ON Race and Gender (The Academy Doubled Its Number of Number of Non-Hope Members and Non-Male Members) An Effect on Voting. The Huge Increase in Members Based Outside the US Sems to have Created a Greater Openness to Non-English-Language Films, As We Saw with Parasite. And that, Coupled with An Influx of Younger Members, Most of Whom Work Outside of the US Studio System, Sevely Undercut Long-Held Biases About.
Indeed, in the Years Since #OSCarssowhite, BEST Picture Winners – Chosen Using A Preference Ballot That Osationsibly Rewards Consensus – Have Includedd Moonlight, The Shape of Water, Parasite, Everything everywhere all at once and now AnoraAll Quirky, Eccentric, Non-Formulaic Art-House Movies That Never Wuld Have Won The Old Academy. Something Else Those Films Share in Common: The Directors of Each Are All Filmmakers’ Filmmakers – Only 10 Years Ago, Baker Shot An Entire Feature Film, Tangerineusing iPhones – who are passionate and outtspoken champions of cinema. This Sems to Matter More than it is used to.
Anora‘S Popularity Was, to a large Extent, Propelled by Breakout Madison, and, in Turn, Propelled Her to a Far-From-Assemed Win in A Tremendously Competitive Best Races. While The 25-YEAR-ELD HAD WON BAFTA AND SPIRIT Awards Over 62-YEAR-OLD Demi moore of The SubstanceMoore Had Won Golden Globe, Critics Choice and Sag Awards Over Madison, and Was The Favorite to Win the Oscar As Well.
I Should Have Stuck with My Second-To-Last Forecast, On Feb. 17, in WHICH I HAD MADISON WINNING. After all, if oscar voteers loved Anoraas Many Clearly DID, THEN WHY Wuldn’t they love anora harself? But I Ultimately Suspected that Wow Break for the Overdue Veteran – Even if Her Movie Was Polarizing – Over The NewComer Who Will Surely Have More Chances Brendan Fraser Over Austin Butler. Alas, they did not. I must confess that, while Feeling Happy for Madison, I Feel Sorry for Moore, Who Has Now ExperienCed in Real-Life Something Elbowing Her Aside for a Younger Alternative. IT’s A Room Business.
The Other Acting Races Were Won by the Favorites.
22 Years After Winning Best Actor for The pianist, Adrien Brody won it again for another torto de form portraysal of a holocaust survivor, in The brutalist. In so doing, he became just the 11th person to have won that Award More than Once, joining a pretty elite club. The Other Members: Daniel Day-Lewis (the only Three-Time Winner), Jack Nicholson, Spencer Tracy, Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins, Fredric March, Gary Cooper an Sean Penn. For A Guy Whose Career Had Floundered in The Years Since The pianistto the extent that he temporarily quit the business, this is a remarkable comeback. (To be sure, A Complete Unknown‘s Timothée chalamet Will have more chances; I HOPE The SAME IS TRUE FOR Conclave‘s Ralph Fiennes.)
A real pain‘s Kieran Culkin an Emilia pérez‘s Zoe Saldaña Had Won Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, Respectively, All Season Long, and Were Not Derailed at The Oscars by the Facult An Ann. wounded by the Tweets Scandal. Indeed, of ITS 13 NOMS, Emilia pérez‘s Only Oscar Win Win Was Best Original Song for “El Mal.” It Was Derailed in The Best International Feature Category by Brazil’s I’m still hereWHICH HAD LOST TO Emilia pérez at the Golden Globe, Critics Choice and Bafta Awards, But Was Gaining Interest and Momentum (on the Heels of It Surprise Best Picture Oscar) Just As Emilia pérez WAS LOSING IT.
NETFLIX, WHICH CAME INTO the CEREMONY WITH NOMS THAN Any Other Company, 18, Left with Three Wins: The Two For Emilia Pérez, Plus Best Documentary Short For The Only Girl in the Orchestra. Neon, Who Came Into The Ceremony with Seven NOMS, Left with Five Wins, More Than Any Other Company. Close Behind Was A24, WHICH RODE The brutalist To Three Wins (Best Actor, Cinematography and Original Score). Winning Two Each Were Universal (Best Costume Design and Production Design For Wicked) And Warner Bros. (Best Sound and Visual Effects for Dune: Part Two). And Taking Home One Each: SearchLight (Best Supporting Actor for For A real pain), Focus (best adapted screenplay for Conclave), Mubi (Best Makeup/HAIRStyling for The Substance) and sideshow/janus (Best Animated Feature for Flow).
Three Other Winners Are Still Seneking Us Distribution: Best Documentary Feature No Other LandA collaboration Between palestinian and israeli filmmakers about life in the west bank (which prevailed in what i suspect was a close contest with Porcelain Wara film about Ukrainian artists affed by the Russian Invasion); Best Animated Short In the shadow of the cypress; and Best Live Action Short I’m not a robot.
Thus ends another oscar season. My Thanks to All of the Artists Who Worked on the Beautify and Provocative Films that I Watched and COVER Awards Chatter Podcast (Including Madison, Brody and Saldaña); to all of the publicists who helped me to see Films and Book Talent; to my Thr Edites and Colleagues, with Whom and Am Privileged to Consult and Collaborate Every Day; and to all of you, who read, watch and listen to the content that and put out. I am very gratify.
And now… on to the Emmys Season!