The 91st Academy Awards were held last night, the biggest night of the year with all the glitz and glamour to go with it. A-list stars gathered at the Dolby Theatre to celebrate another year in cinema. A picture perfect night you would presume and for those winning or being nominated I’m sure it was. However the road to awards show held on the 24th February 2019 was far from smooth and the night itself was a mixed bag of celebration and bemusement.
The Academy Awards was rife with controversy throughout its build up. You could date this back to the phenomenon that was Black Panther and the continued hype surrounding the film, this hype held strong year round landing a first Best Picture nomination for a ‘superhero’ film. The debate on whether it would deserve a nomination had built up all year meaning this years award show was always at the forefront of conversation as soon as the previous ceremony ended. The main controversies however began later into the calender year; in a way to boost the ratings and try to engage with a wider audience a new category was announced. ‘Best Popular Film’ was going to award the films which had a big impact on the Box Office and were considered to be popular amongst the wider public, as the name suggests. Obviously this received backlash, people were complaining that it was patronising to those films, others were arguing it was tarnishing the spirit of the prestigious awards show; this led to the category being delayed and probably scrapped.
Pressure continued to build on the Academy heads to improve the ratings and get the general public to engage with the awards show. The 90th Academy Awards had the lowest ratings of all time, showing a disinterest from the public; people just don’t seem to care about it anymore. In a way to counteract this decline, the Academy tried to get the highest paid actor currently working Dwayne Johnson to host however he was unable to due to work commitments. So who did they turn to? Kevin Hart of course, it makes sense considering he is a world renowned personality who would be able to take a hold of the ceremony, make it entertaining but keeping it professional and respected. But we live in a world where people on social media will look for any reason to drag you down, rightfully or wrongfully. Hart was yet another victim of his own past ignorance and tweets which he wrote years previous; so it was announced that he would no longer be the host. This left the Academy with a massive problem, do they try to save face and scramble around for another host or do they continue the ceremony without one. Well they took their time to decide and after a number of notable potential hosts backed away from showing their intention to host, the Academy was left with the option to not have a host; the first time since 1989.
It’s all about those ratings and the thirst to draw attention towards the show made those in charge make some more questionable decisions, you know like cut out 3/5 performances for the ‘Best Original Song’ meaning only ‘Shallow’ by Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper (the obvious winner for this award) and ‘All the Stars’ by Kendrick Lamar & SZA. Only to shorten the broadcast, but in doing this they would eliminate entertainment. Sometimes you wonder do people in charge of big shows or companies think before they make decisions? Probably not because only a week after this announcement did they reverse it to include all songs in the show and then Kendrick Lamar and SZA announced they wouldn’t be performing their song due to ‘scheduling conflicts’ which was probably not the real reason. You know with all this controversy, maybe those running the ceremony might look to do some damage control and shed positive light on it. Nah, that wouldn’t make sense right… the next brilliant idea they had was to have 4 awards be presented during the commercial breaks, it’s a bad look to have any of the awards not be shown live on television but especially bad to have key awards like ‘Cinematography’ or ‘Film Editing’ 2 of the most important aspects of filmmaking take place during an advert for some cologne nobody will buy. They obviously reversed this decision only 4 days later.
- (From Left to Right) Rami Malek, Olivia Colman, Regina King, Mahershala Ali
The night had arrived and there was no real way the show would be a huge disaster, even after the messy build up and preparation. Legendary band Queen opened and immediately the vibe and atmosphere was set. The first hurdle for the show to jump was the missing host, the person to captain a sinking ship however it was never really a major issue and the ceremony ran smoothly for the most part.
The nominations were mostly locks (let’s not get into Won’t You Be My Neighbour and Three Identical Strangers not being nominated for ‘Best Documentary’) however there were definitely eyebrows raised at some of the winners. Bohemian Rhapsody was the most successful film on the night winning 4/5 of its nominations. I don’t really know why it did! The win for ‘Best Editing’ is inexcusable and baffling to start with. Both wins in the Sound categories are questionable. Rami Malek’s ‘Best Actor’ win for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury wasn’t the biggest surprise but the clear favourite for the award Christian Bale (Vice) was robbed in a weak category. The reason why most people will be surprised by the love shown the film is because of it’s director Bryan Singer who has had a number of sexual abuse allegations against him, it’s weird to see the Academy shine light on his film and although he was not nominated it was thought that the film would suffer due to his recent history. Green Book took the biggest award of the night ‘Best Picture’ now while it is undoubtedly a good film, the clear favourite going into the ceremony was Roma, my personal pick. I don’t think you will see many people defending Green Book’s win and in my opinion it will be a forgettable one. It was predicted that Glenn Close would win ‘Best Actress’ for her role on The Wife and that it would be seen as a lifetime achievement award; similar to Leonardo DiCaprio’s win for The Revenant. So when Olivia Colman’s name was announced I’m sure it was a shock to many, however a pleasant one her performance was good even if it’s not clear she is the lead in The Favourite. ‘Best Screenplay’ went to Green Book when it probably shouldn’t have and although it was nice to see Spike Lee finally win an Academy Award, the award for ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ could be seen as a contentious decision.
The awards that were never truly in doubt maintained their position and ending up being the winners. Alfonso Cuaron swept up on the night winning 3 awards for ‘Best Director’, ‘Cinematography’ and ‘Best Foreign Language Film’. Regina King won ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for her role in If Beale Street Could Talk and Mahershala Ali’s stardom continues to rise as he took the ‘Best Supporting Actor’ award for the 2nd time in 3 years, for his role in Green Book. There were also obvious wins for Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper for ‘Best Original Song’. The same can be said for ‘Best Makeup and Hairstyling’ going to Vice. It was great to see Black Panther get some love but predictable too although Ludwig Goransson’s win for ‘Best Original Score’ could be questioned. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse obviously won ‘Best Animated Feature’ and too right it did!
The 91st Academy Awards will be remembered for the controversy surrounding it and also for some questionable winners however it’s a night where dreams came true and hard work paid off. One day I will be on that stage with that award in my hand and whether it was deserved or not, whether the ceremony is shrouded in controversy or not, at the end of the day you cannot take anything away from those who won or were recognised. Onto next years where there will be even more talking points I’m sure.
Robbie Dhesi 
A very interesting read Robbie a short film called Parjis at Brewers will hopefully be out soon
LikeLiked by 1 person