This is an opinion piece, I promise.

So, I slept through the Oscars last night. This was mostly apathy, and the fact that I didn’t want to witness an Emilia Pérez sweep live and in glorious technicolor. The universe seems to have taken mercy on me and given it all to Anora.

I’m sure we’ll all be talking soon about Sean Baker’s equal Twitter offences to Karla’s, once people care enough to actually go after him, but for now, i’m just gonna say that Anora was destined for a win like this from the start. Just inoffensive enough that it’s still considered cinema, focused on the ‘humbling’ of a loudmouth working class prostitute — that’s Oscar Bait by definition. I loved the sugar rush the film gave me at the time, but Best Picture should have gone to ‘I’m Still Here’. I’m glad they at least got some of the gold they deserved.

Where they got it Right

‘I’m Still Here’ for Best International Feature

There are a wealth of incredible things I can say about this film, but the most poignant of them would be that this film met the moment. Not just for Brazil, but for all of us across the globe - those of us descending into, and those of us who may already be in, Military rule. It’s all fun and games until it isn’t. It should have won Best Picture, and I will hold this grudge for years now.

Kieran Culkin in ‘A Real Pain’

His hilarious but concerning speech at a time of cultural conservatism and Tradwifery aside, this actually was the best performance of the ones I saw. I have yet to see ‘The Apprentice’.

Production Design, Costume Design for ‘Wicked’

Aside from being the first Black Man to win in the category - The Wicked Costume Design was a marvel on two levels. First, it looked amazing on film, and good enough that you didn’t even think about how amazing it looked - it fit right in to the visual language of the film. Secondly, it was functional, at scale, for performers to dance and sing without impediment.

And as for Production Design, can we be honest and real and say that the set at Pinewood was a modern revival of practical filmmaking on a scale heretofore unseen? Gold. Gold for everyone.

No Other Land as Best Documentary

Between the response to Pingate (Let them wear whatever pin they want!), and the fact that this vital Documentary won, and Academy Members also mentioned not bothering to watch Dune 2 (if you know, you know) - I feel like the perception of Hollywood as an unfeeling apathetic Islamophobic hotbed is completely and unequivocally off - it either is not true, or simply not true anymore.

Abraham and Adra have been at the vanguard of the conversation about the Genocide in Gaza across the festival circuit and awards ceremonies for months now - they made their statement both with the film and with their voice, and Hollywood basically said ‘Yes. We agree. We stand with you. We want peace.’

Let that embolden all artists to ‘wear whatever pin they want’. Free Palestine.

Reluctantly…i’m OK with Director going to Sean Baker for ‘Anora’

Soon, we will have the discussion about his Twitter and probably boot this guy fully out of the culture, but they were never going to give this to Coralie Fargeat, who actually deserved it— and I was never fully sold on the other nominees either.

Makeup and Hair for ‘The Substance’

Like. That’s the very least you could do.

Where they fumbled

Not giving Colman Domingo his things

I’m so sick and tired of this, i’m sorry - this man should have had an Oscar on his shelf, at the very least, last year. The fact we keep deferring the inevitable worries me - we’ve done this to too many artists in this ceremony’s history, only to give them a Lifetime Achievement, or worse, a Posthumous Lifetime Achievement.

Don’t you dare - whatever Colman does this year, you are going to give him gold for next year, trust.

Mikey over Fernanda

I feel that, technically, the performance Fernanda managed to deliver in ‘I’m Still Here’ was much, much more intense, proficient, and layered than Mikey’s, which is to take nothing away from her turn in ‘Anora’.

Zoe over…Honestly, anyone else on the list.

My pick would have been Felicity Jones, as her performance in ‘The Brutalist’ was absolutely sprawling in it’s scope, but of all the nominees, I felt Zoe Saldaña’s was the weakest.