The 97th Annual Academy Awards occurred on Sunday, March 2 at the Dolby Theatre, recognizing movies released in 2024. The Oscars honored multiple films, actors, directors, etc during the night’s ceremony, with “Anora” notably taking home five awards.
“Anora” won the most competitive award for Best Picture, beating out box office successes like “Wicked” and “Dune: Part Two” as well as “The Brutalist” and “The Substance”. Sean Baker, the director of the movie, won four Oscars, including Best Directing, Best Editing, and Best Original Screenplay.
As for the actors, Mikey Madison won the fifth award for “Anora” as she won the coveted Best Actress in a Leading Role at only 25 years old. Adrien Brody won Best Actor in a Leading Role for “The Brutalist”, winning his second Oscar for that category. Similar to Madison, Brody won his first Oscar at 29 years old, which is a record for the category. Brody’s Best Actor victory notably defeated Timothée Chalamet who played Billy Joel in “A Complete Unknown”.
Kieran Culkin won Best Actor in a Supporting Role for “A Real Pain,” and Zoe Saldana won Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her incredible work in the controversial film “Emilia Perez”.
In addition, “Conclave” won Best Adapted Screenplay, “The Brutalist” won for Cinematography, and “The Substance” won for Makeup and Hairstyling.
Many film lovers were upset over how “Wicked” lost in the major categories, including Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role for Cynthia Erivo, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Ariana Grande. However, the film did win two Academy Awards for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.
It is important to note that whoever wins is decided by the Academy, specialists who have worked their entire lives in the film industry. This means that the decisions are made by people who have different criteria or mindsets on movies in contrast to the average moviegoer.
As many stars have won their first-ever Oscars, so did an entire nation. The award for Best Animated Feature went to the Latvian film “Flow” giving Latvia its first-ever Academy Award. The film’s quality was able to defeat major box office hits like “Inside Out 2” and “The Wild Robot”.
