The 2025 Oscars have concluded. Take a deep breath. Toss your used gum at your significant other — maybe even throw on your best butter-colored tux. It’s time to react and review.
On Sunday night, the 97th annual Academy Awards took place in Los Angeles, delivering a grand finale to one of the most undecided, volatile and classically Hollywood awards seasons in recent history.
Best Picture “Anora” was the big winner of the biggest night in the industry. Alongside the most prized award, Director Sean Baker — known for his uniquely gritty tone — took home three other Oscars: Film Editing, Original Screenplay and Best Director.
Baker became the second person in Oscars history to win four Academy Awards in an evening. The other is someone you may have heard of: Walt Disney. The statistic marks an incredible feat from a truly independent film on a miniscule budget, which Baker made sure to reference in one of his numerous victory laps on stage.
All that said, we ought not to forget about the titular Anora herself: Mikey Madison. In a remarkable upset, the 25-year-old talent from Los Angeles took home the Best Actress award over the favored Demi Moore, who starred in the body horror film “The Substance.”
Moore won precursor awards at the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards, but what many considered the “Anora” wave proved to be a tsunami on Sunday night. Both Madison and Moore delivered spectacular performances in two of the best movies of the year, but the Academy’s choice to recognize a younger actress over Moore adds even more fuel to the fire of the themes “The Substance” explores — an acidic irony.
As for Best Actor, Adrien Brody prevailed for his performance in “The Brutalist.” With Sunday’s win, Brody joins an elite list of actors to win Best Actor more than once, including actors Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson and Daniel Day-Lewis. Brody remains the youngest ever actor to win the award, putting a wrench in the revolving door of prestige that has surrounded Brody and Timothée Chalamet throughout the race. Chalamet — who portrayed Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown” — would have taken the title of youngest Best Actor had he won Sunday night. Lisan al Gaib’s time will have to wait.
Zoe Saldaña and Kieran Culkin took home the remaining two of the big five awards with their wins of Best Supporting Actress and Actor, respectively. Saldaña — recognized as one of the very few positives of the bafflingly poor “Emilia Pérez” — delivered an emotional and ardent speech.
Culkin, as expected, appeared endearingly unprepared and awkward, while at the same time giving polished remarks. His performance in “A Real Pain,” while well done, felt stale in the context of Culkin’s other work. A Culkin enthusiast would say he sticks to what he’s good at. I would say he needs a new on-screen bit that is not deeply interactive. A “Succession” fan cannot help but notice Jeremy Strong’s reserved applause for his former co-star.
A talented director creating films on salient issues, Walter Salles won Best International Feature Film with his “I’m Still Here.” The award represents the culmination of deserved praise for a devastatingly beautiful portrayal of a family’s plight under an authoritarian military regime in Brazil. Fernanda Torres gives a lived-in and subtly spectacular performance as the mother of the focal family. I can attest the film is worth your time. Salles is a talented director who creates important films.
With all of the glitz and glamour settling, I am left with Sean Baker’s final appeal of the evening. The newly crowned Best Director centered his rallying cry around the value of the communal experience of watching movies in a time in which we continue to lose theaters. He went on to advocate for the support of independent films with original ideas, like those that Baker creates himself.
As tyrannical studios with a stubborn loyalty to long-time intellectual property dominate our current era, indie projects like “Anora” are more important than ever. The recognition and value of Baker’s work is hopefully an indication of a shift to come in the film industry.
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