Political thriller One Battle After Another has dominated this year’s Oscars, scoring six wins including best picture
It marks the first best picture and best director win for Paul Thomas Anderson, who had never previously won an Oscar despite being one of Hollywood’s most respected film-makers.
“You make a guy work hard for one of these, I really appreciate it,” he joked in his acceptance speech, adding that making the film had been a “wonderful, wonderful journey”.
Other winners included Sinners star Michael B Jordan, who beat Timothée Chalamet to the best actor award; and Irish actress Jessie Buckley, who was recognised for her role in Hamnet.
Buckley’s ‘beautiful chaos’ rewarded
Buckley won the first Oscar of her career for her performance as William Shakespeare’s wife, who is overwhelmed with grief after the death of their 11-year-old son.
“This is really something,” Buckley said. “It’s Mother’s Day in the UK today. So I’d like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart.
“We all come from a lineage of women who continue to create against all odds. Thank you for recognising me in this role.”
She paid an emotional tribute to her eight-month-old daughter, and thanked her parents “for teaching us to dream, and to never be defined by expectation, but to carve from your own passion”.
Michael B Jordan in the footsteps of ‘giants’
A tight best actor race, meanwhile, culminated in a win for Sinners star Jordan, who played twins whose plans to open a music venue in 1930s Mississippi are derailed by an evil force.
Thanking Sinners director Ryan Coogler, Jordan said: “I’m so honoured to call you a collaborator and a friend, you gave me the opportunity and the space to be seen.”
Jordan paid tribute by name to all six of the previous black winners of the lead actor and actress category, and said he was honoured “to be amongst those giants”.
“I stand here because of the people who came before me – Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith,” he said.
“Thank you everybody in this room and everybody at home, for supporting me over my career. I feel it, I know you guys want me to do well, and I want to do that, because you guys bet on me.”
‘Sorry for the mess we left in this world’
The big winner of the night was One Battle After Another, whose six awards also included best adapted screenplay, and supporting actor for Sean Penn.
It was the third Oscar of Penn’s career, but he was not present to accept his trophy. The US actor has not attended any of the major ceremonies this awards season since the Golden Globes in January, where he lost.
Penn plays a white supremacist immigration commander who comes back to haunt an anti-government activist played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and his teenage daughter.
Accepting the screenplay prize, Anderson said: “I wrote this movie for my kids, to say sorry for the housekeeping mess we left in this world we’re handing off to them.
“But also with the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency.”
One Battle After Another’s Cassandra Kulukundis also won best casting in the category’s first year at the ceremony.
She thanked the Academy “for even adding this category – and for the casting directors who fought tirelessly to make it happen despite everything in their way”.
Amy Madigan’s 40-year wait
Amy Madigan won best supporting actress for Weapons, becoming the first winner of the category from a horror film since Ruth Gordon for Rosemary’s Baby in 1969.
It was also her first Oscar nomination since 1986, when she was shortlisted for her role in Twice in a Lifetime.
Madigan said she was “very overwhelmed” to have won what was one of the most competitive acting races of the night.
She said the film’s director Zach Cregger “wrote a dream part, and let me grab it by the throat”, adding: “We had a ball.”
First ever female best cinematographer
Elsewhere, Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first female winner of best cinematography, for her work on Sinners.
She said she was “so honoured” to have won, adding: “I’ve felt so much love from all the women on this whole campaign, and gotten to meet so many people, and I just feel like moments like this happen because of you guys, and I want to thank you for that.”
Cinematography was the last Oscar category not to have had a female winner.
Sinners also won best original score and best original screenplay for Coogler, who paid tribute to his family, including his producer wife Zinzi, “the best wife and mom in the world”.
He thanked his own parents “for making me believe in myself”, and told his own children: “I apologise for all the time away. Dad loves you.”
KPop wins ‘for Korea and Koreans everywhere’
Netflix’s viral smash hit KPop Demon Hunters won best original song for Golden, and was named best animated feature.
“For those of you who look like me, I am so sorry that it took so long for us to see us in a movie like this,” said producer Maggie Kang.
“But it is here, and that means the next generation don’t have to go longing. This is for Korea and for Koreans everywhere.”
Sentimental Value was named best international feature, and director Joachim Trier joked: “I’m just a film nerd from Norway, this means so much.”
In a night that was relatively short on political speeches, Trier concluded his speech by saying: “All adults are responsible for all children, and let’s not vote for politicians who don’t take this seriously into account.”
Spanish actor Javier Bardem was one of the few other stars to make any kind of political reference on the night, commenting as he took to the stage to present an award: “No to war, and free Palestine.”
Streisand’s touching tribute
Other winners included Frankenstein, which won three technical prizes – best costume design, production design, and make-up and hairstyling – and racing thriller F1, which won best sound.
Elsewhere, there was the first tie since 2013, with best live action short being awarded jointly to The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva.
The traditional In Memoriam segment saw tributes paid to late film figures including Diane Keaton, Catherine O’Hara, Val Kilmer, Rob Reiner, Tom Stoppard, Robert Duvall, Michael Madsen, Terence Stamp and Diane Ladd.
Barbra Streisand paid tribute to her former co-star in The Way We Were, Robert Redford, who died last year aged 89.
“Bob had real backbone,” she said. “He was thoughtful and bold. I called him an intellectual cowboy who blazed his own trail. I miss him now more than ever.”
*BBC*
