At the recent Oscar ceremony, we saw a bizarre dedication James Bond – but not showing respect To David Lynch, the late film visionary.
It is this choice that points to a deep identity crisis for the famous event.
On Sunday, in the early hours of the morning, during the broadcast of the Oscars, which lasted a little over three and a half hours, a segment was dedicated to the James Bond franchise.
First, Margaret Qualley performed a classic Broadway-style catwalk entrance, followed by singer-songwriters Lisa, Dodge Cat, and Ray singing three classic themes from the franchise.
It seemed strange, not only because no film about the famous secret agent has been released in the last three years, but also because Michael J. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, long-time owners of the rights to the series, recently transferred control of the family business to Amazon.
Given that many speakers that evening praised cinema and the experience of going to the movies, the viewer was uneasy about the fact that the dedication coincided with the sale of one of the most spectacular cinematic assets to a streaming service.
Wouldn't it have been more appropriate if they had dedicated part of the program to the late David Lynch?
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The American director, who passed away in January, is considered one of the most original visionaries of modern American cinema.
He was nominated for an Oscar four times, and received the award posthumously.
Still, he only deserved a few seconds of montage sequence in the section In Memoriam.
Later, during the ceremony, there was time to pay tribute to the late Quincy Jones, an undeniably legendary artist, but more in the musical than the cinematic realm.
In this section, singer Queen Larifa sang the theme Ease on Down the Road from the musical Wizard (1978)
Jones is not the author of the song, but the producer of the film version.
With all due respect, is there any film fan who thinks The Wizard deserves more attention than Lynch's masterpieces, including: The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet i Boulevard of Starsa?
Essentially, it was another evening during which a grumpy man in a bow tie casually called out films that perhaps didn't deserve it.
However, that's exactly what the event's producers seem to think – and that could be why it's experiencing a profound identity crisis.
A cursory glance at the list of winners gives the impression that this is perhaps the most radical celebration of innovative, low-budget cinema in the history of the Oscars.
And yet, the cheap and pre-seen ceremony has lagged behind the tastes of voters for decades.
This year's biggest winners are Anora i brutalist, independent films by two authors with big ideas and small budgets.
(If last year's award ceremony was dominated by Barbenheimer, then this one was dominated by Brutanora or Anoralista? Maybe, after all, I shouldn't try.)
A seriously intense drama brutalist Brady Corbett, won awards in the categories for music, film and lead actor (modeled after the film, Adrien Brody's incoherent speech should have had a break).
Anora was the voters' favorite.
Sean Baker's poignant tragicomedy won awards for best picture, director, original screenplay, and editing - quite an achievement for a boundary-pushing low-budget filmmaker who also directed, wrote, and edited the film.
Zvezda Anora Mikey Madison also won the award for best actress, which set a historic precedent at the awards ceremony - during two different speeches, she paid tribute to the sex worker community.
This twenty-five-year-old undoubtedly deserved an Oscar for her performance, which was as explosive and dynamic as it was sensitive.
Considering that she could be considered a newcomer, it was hard for the viewer not to feel sorry for Demi Moore, her biggest competitor that evening.
Moore in Substances plays a middle-aged Hollywood actress who is possessed by her younger, fresh-faced doppelganger, so when Madison took the stage to accept her award and Moore remained in her seat, it seemed as if Substance was taking place in real life.
However, the movie Substance won the makeup and hair competition – not bad considering it was a crazy competition body horror a film by a French director.
Transgender gangster musical Emilia Perez Jacques Audiard won the award for Best Supporting Actress (Zoe Saldanha) and Best Song.
A political, but also personal Brazilian drama I'm still here. Valter Saleša won the award for best international film.
The film won the award for visual effects. Dina: Part two, for the costume Spoon, for the adapted screenplay A conclave, but when it comes to most of the more prestigious categories, it can be said that this awards ceremony was marked by outsiders.
It was an evening when left-leaning artists like Baker won awards and then spoke about the value of independent filmmaking and seeing films in theaters.
Kieran Kalkin won the award for best supporting actor for his performance in True Grit, as expected, and as expected, he swore during his acceptance speech.
The Latvian film The Flood, made using open-source code, won the Oscar for best animated feature film.
And the award for best documentary film went to the film There is no other country, which is set in the occupied West Bank.
The film is produced by an Israeli-Palestinian collective and does not have an American distributor.
Until a few years ago, films like The Flood could never rival popular works like In my head 2, but the Academy's effort to appeal to a younger, more diverse group of voters has clearly borne fruit.
If only the show had been at a high level.
As it is, it was no different from a typical television variety show from the 1970s.
The host was Conan O'Brien, two years after Jimmy Kimmel hosted the ceremony.
So, this is the third year in a row that the event has been dominated by the smug voice of a late-night talk show host pouring in late-night jokes. talk show emission.
True, O'Brien is not unfunny, and he delivered some twisted and sharp political commentary, but overall, it was another evening of a grumpy man in a bow tie sarcastically calling out films that perhaps didn't deserve it.
The Oscars have clearly entered the era of "safe hands", as, after the famous scene with the wrong envelope in the case of the films La La Land/Moonlight, The slap that Will Smith gave Chris Rock, the producers did everything in their power to make the event mediocre and predictable.
The show was slick and polished enough, with nothing really outrageous, except for the offensive practice of interrupting the winner's speech to make time for O'Brien's sketches.
But the format has become so tedious that it no longer fits the purpose.
You don't have to believe me.
"If you're still enjoying the show, then you're suffering from something called Stockholm Syndrome," O'Brien said, about three hours into the show.
And if the host of the show is making jokes about how tiring the show he is hosting is, then a general overhaul is necessary.
The ceremony now needs at least a grain of the innovation, courage, and energy that the award-winning films exude.
The Oscar winners have changed.
Now it's time to change the event itself.
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