The 91st Academy Awards concluded on Feb. 24, and big surprise, there is much controversy circling it.
“Green Book” pulled the upset of the night and wound up winning Best Picture over the likes of critical darling “Roma” and Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody.” This buddy road trip movie has generated a lot of controversy these past few months, due to its supposed historical inaccuracies and past actions of people involved, but somehow, it still landed on top. Why, might one ask? Because it is a great feel-good movie. Contrary to popular belief, people still do love a great crowd-pleaser, however safe it may be. “Green Book” no doubt struck a chord with the general public and Academy voters, also winning for Best Screenplay and Best-Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali’s (“True Detective”) portrayal of Don Shirley, winning him his second Oscar in the span of two years.
Another big upset was when Olivia Colman (“The Night Manager”) won Best Actress in a Leading Role for her role in “The Favourite” over the supposed favorite Glenn Close (“The Wife”). Will she ever win an Oscar? After seven nominations and an illustrious career, Close still has not won and is not getting any younger. But considering how great of a turn her performance in “The Wife” was, no one should count her out just yet.
The African-American community really showed up last night, with the likes of the aforementioned Ali, Regina King (Best Supporting Actress for “If Beale Street could Talk”), Hannah Beachler (Best Production Design for “Black Panther”), Ruth Carter (Best Costume Design for “Black Panther”), Peter Ramsey (Best Animated Feature for “Spider-Man: Into the Spider verse”) and, of course, Spike Lee (Best Adapted Screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman”) getting their dues. Rami Malek (“Bohemian Rhapsody”), who is of Egyptian descent, also took home the statuette for his performance of legendary Queen frontman, Freddie Mercury, proving that the Academy has become much more diverse since 2016’s “Oscars So White” controversy.
Besides “Green Book” taking home Best Picture, some may be irked by the awarding of Best Film Editing to “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a film considered by many to be very sloppy in that department, as well as Live Action Short Film going to “Skin,” which makes 2005’s Best Picture winner “Crash” look slightly better in comparison. Sure, the general public will have their own personal debates, but the film community seems on board with most of the awards.
The no-host debacle somehow helped both the show and ratings, with the show moving at a brisk pace and 29.6 million people tuning in. The performances left little to be desired, with Bette Midler doing a strange take on “Mary Poppins Returns’” “The Place Where the Lost Things Go,” sliding from note to note whenever she got the chance, and Jennifer Hudson struggling to get to and maintain the pitch at the climax of the “RBG” song, “I’ll Fight.” Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings’ take on “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” song, “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings,” however, was very welcome, and Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s performance of “Shallow” was one of the talks of the night. If one was questioning whether Gaga is in love with Cooper before, they would be crazy not to question it now.
While many may sneer at this year’s Best Picture winner, the overall consensus for almost everything else is pretty solid. Hopefully, next year, the Academy will have better films to vote on and perhaps vote on one that will change its narrative.
Image from Universal Pictures via YouTube
