This past Sunday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented their awards to films, filmmakers, and actors for their achievements in movie-making for 2016. The awards presentation pretty much began and continued as expected, with glitzy and dazzling musical numbers, emotional acceptance speeches, political commentary, and quips-a-plenty from host Jimmy Kimmel. Now in regards to the awards results, La La Land, the big favorite with the most amount of nominations (14), went home with only six wins in their nominated categories. Director Damien Chazelle’s homage to classic Hollywood musicals almost went home with the big prize–The Best Picture of the Year. Almost.
Presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were caught up in a most awkward moment when they received the wrong envelope for the award they were presenting. A member of the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers handed the presenters a duplicate copy of the Best Actress envelope, and a rather bizarre moment occurred when Warren Beatty looked stunned and confused and Faye Dunaway announced La La Land as the winner. Acceptance speeches had already begun and were brought to a screeching halt when the error was announced and La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz declared Moonlight as the true winner of the award. Though this mistake seems unprecedented, it has happened before at the Oscars, but not in the main category of the evening.
Despite this odd blunder, the awards show offered audiences more or less of they should have expected. Some politically-charged statements were made by both presenters and winners during the night. Jimmy Kimmel made some jokes about the stars, took some jabs at President Trump and incorporated some of his signature gags from his late night talk show, including his little “feud” with actor Matt Damon. For the most part, I found the whole show entertaining, but some jokes played out better than others. Some comments came across as awkward and inappropriate.
I suppose what anyone can take away from the evening is that humans are going to be humans and that means we all make mistakes. However, maybe that common trait that we share should always be remembered and acknowledged rather than our differences in race, creed, color, place of origin, or sexual orientation. The fact that Moonlight, a film that deals with LGBT identity crises, won best picture is definitely a step toward progress as a human race. And perhaps that is what should be the major focus, the big takeaway for the 89th Oscars. All humans are capable of being wrong and making errors, but learning from our mistakes is what helps us grow and continue to thrive.
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“Hidden Figures”
“La La Land”
“Lion”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight” (WINNER)
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Casey Affleck in “Manchester by the Sea” (WINNER)
Andrew Garfield in “Hacksaw Ridge”
Ryan Gosling in “La La Land”
Viggo Mortensen in “Captain Fantastic”
Denzel Washington in “Fences”
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jeff Bridges in “Hell or High Water”
Mahershala Ali in “Moonlight” (WINNER)
Lucas Hedges in “Manchester by the Sea”
Dev Patel in “Lion”
Michael Shannon in “Nocturnal Animals”
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Isabelle Huppert in “Elle”
Ruth Negga in “Loving”
Natalie Portman in “Jackie”
Emma Stone in “La La Land” (WINNER)
Meryl Streep in “Florence Foster Jenkins”
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Nicole Kidman in “Lion”
Viola Davis in “Fences”
Naomie Harris in “Moonlight”
Octavia Spencer in “Hidden Figures”
Michelle Williams in “Manchester by the Sea”
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Moana”
“My Life as a Zucchini”
“The Red Turtle”
“Zootopia” (WINNER)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Arrival”
“La La Land” (WINNER)
“Lion”
“Moonlight”
“Silence”
COSTUME DESIGN
“Allied”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” (WINNER)
“Florence Foster Jenkins”
“Jackie”
“La La Land”
“Fantastic
DIRECTING
“Arrival” – Denis Villeneuve
“Hacksaw Ridge” – Mel Gibson
“La La Land” – Damien Chazelle (WINNER)
“Manchester by the Sea” – Kenneth Lonergan
“Moonlight” – Barry Jenkins
DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
“Fire at Sea”
“I Am Not Your Negro”
“Life, Animated”
“O.J.: Made in America” (WINNER)
“13th”
DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
“Extremis”
“4.1 Miles”
“Joe’s Violin”
“Watani: My Homeland”
“The White Helmets” (WINNER)
FILM EDITING
“Arrival”
“Hacksaw Ridge” (WINNER)
“Hell or High Water”
“La La Land”
“Moonlight”
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Land of Mine”
“A Man Called Ove”
“The Salesman” (WINNER)
“Tanna”
“Toni Erdmann”
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
“A Man Called Ove”
“Star Trek Beyond”
“Suicide Squad” (WINNER)
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
“Jackie”
“La La Land” (WINNER)
“Lion”
“Moonlight”
“Passengers”
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from “La La Land”
“Can’t Stop The Feeling” from “Trolls”
“City Of Stars” from “La La Land” (WINNER)
“The Empty Chair” from “Jim: The James Foley Story”
“How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana”
PRODUCTION DESIGN
“Arrival”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
“Hail, Caesar!”
“La La Land” (WINNER)
“Passengers”
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
“Blind Vaysha”
“Borrowed Time”
“Pear Cider and Cigarettes”
“Pearl”
“Piper” (WINNER)
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
“Ennemis Intérieurs”
“La Femme et le TGV”
“Silent Nights”
“Sing” (WINNER)
“Timecode”
SOUND EDITING
“Arrival” (WINNER)
“Deepwater Horizon”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“La La Land”
“Sully”
SOUND MIXING
“Arrival”
“Hacksaw Ridge” (WINNER)
“La La Land”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
“13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi”
VISUAL EFFECTS
“Deepwater Horizon”
“Doctor Strange”
“The Jungle Book” (WINNER)
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
“Arrival”
“Fences
“Hidden Figures”
“Lion”
“Moonlight” (WINNER)
WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
“Hell or High Water”
“La La Land”
“The Lobster”
“Manchester by the Sea” (WINNER)
“20th Century Women”
