Two years ago, the Oscars gala was marked by Will Smith’s stomach attack on Chris Rock. Last year, the ceremony kept a low profile, with many of the speeches appealing to grief and cinema as therapy for managing it. This year, the Academy seemed to be reborn from its miseries by celebrating sentiments linked to friendship and peace. Jimmy Kimmel was once again the figure that guaranteed a controlled and relaxed party. It dispenses with cruelty and doses the causticness with droppers. He’s the efficient and friendly master of ceremonies, who doesn’t provide an unforgettable gala but makes it easy for everyone to get out of it unscathed.
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The system of awarding both leading and supporting actors and actresses underscored the culture of praise as an infallible resource of epicness and emotionality. Five actors or actresses previously awarded in that category appeared on stage and, each of them, intensely praised the figure of one of the nominees, who were deeply moved by those words. An extra gift for the candidates that exalts the performers as special figures within the ceremony.
The gala was characterized by pragmatism and the desire to recover cinema’s ability to fascinate. He played with his own story and his productions. It even commemorated the sixtieth anniversary of the spontaneous man who crossed the gala stage naked in 1964. He took three of the aspects that the industry dominates to extremes: sensitivity, the sense of spectacle and visual effectiveness. The large central circle of the set was an allegory to the eye and the gaze. From that giant retina, which opened and closed like an eyelid, emerged spectacular montages of old films, moving sequences of the candidates, musical performances, an orchestra that enveloped the Dolby Theater with epicness and even everything returned the presence of the last deceased in the sector. Resources that, beyond the prize, serve to display the cultural and social value of the industry, its magic and the importance of cinema in the construction of collective memory. They also opted for small narrative subtleties that played with the cinematographic language. A camera in the exit corridor of the stage showed the presenters and winners, giving viewers at home moments that the audience in the room could not perceive. An extra for the audience and a slight flirtation with the duality between the show (the public event) and reality (the bouncers). They also looked for the presenting pairs to often have a past in common, a nod to the viewer. The duet formed by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito was the culmination of this strategy which, beyond celebrating cinema, sought to connect with the public and with the commercial spirit inherent in Hollywood.
The show also highlighted inertias that are perpetuated. The great moment of euphoria that will be remembered most in the future was Ryan Gosling’s musical performance, with the song where Ken vindicates himself and regrets being just an accessory to Barbie. Despite the social, economic and cultural impact that this doll’s revision has had, the party gave more importance to Ken and his pained male cries than to Barbie, making it clear that the industry feels compassion for men in who gets to play secondaries. Margot Robbie’s role was limited to that of a passive spectator, which is what is expected of a Barbie.
The ceremony inevitably had an explosive subtext. The grand prize winner was Oppenheimerthe documentary 20 days and Mariupol about one of the bloodiest stages of the war in Ukraine was the winner and the Oscar for The area of interest served to warn of the cruelty of massacres and genocides. When Cillian Murphy collected his award he remembered the political context: “We live in Oppenheimer’s world” dedicating the statuette to those who fight for peace. And, immediately after, the main theme of Schindler’s list about the Jewish Holocaust. A crack of unintentional sarcasm, which hints at Hollywood’s frailties and imperfections despite its efforts to disguise them.
Mònica Planas Callol is a journalist and television critic
2024-03-11 10:52:11
#Oscars #peace #friendship
