Perhaps an unusual difference with the Oscars tonight was that the major awards were spread out among the top three films: Manchester By The Sea winning Best Screenplay and Best Actor; La La Land winning Best Actress and Best Director and finally Moonlight winning Best Supporting Actor and Best Movie. The biggest surprise was watching La La Land announced as Best Movie and then the announcement there was a mistake and Moonlight was actually the winner. As much as I hated La La Land I did truly feel sorry for all those on stage having Oscars in their hands only to have to turn them over to Moonlight personnel. That had to be much worse than just sitting in your seat and losing. Of all the awards of the evening my one true disappointment was Emma Stone as Best Actress. Of the five nominated performances I would have rated hers fourth. My personal disappointment in the same category was the failure of Isabelle Huppert to win. I was glad to see The Salesman beat out the overrated Toni Erdmann. The message from the Director, who did not risk attending, was a little soft in my opinion. he had the opportunity to say more, but…
The show itself had much less political comment than I had expected and the little that was made was in good taste. I thought that the show lacked the vibrance that one hopes for from an Oscar evening. It needed more “zap”. That said, Viola Davis’s (Best Supporting Actress) thank you speech bought tears to many. Maharshali Ali’s career is off to a strong start and many are waiting with hope that he can keep it going upward.
It certainly was not “Oscars So White” and it is important to note that this was not a case of the academy trying to make up for the past. Each of the black winners gave top performances – their award absolutely well deserved.
The new film year has already begun and let’s hope for some great demonstrations of the finest artistic expression.
Agree with all you said, especially about Emma Stone and La La Land. I didn’t think it deserved much of the awards it got. When we left the theatre I kept comparing it to the golden age of musicals. I my view everything about it came up short. Nothing special about directing, nothing special about screenplay, dancing and cine were ordinary. But what do I know not studied film as much as the critics.