On Sunday evening, Hollywood rolled out the red carpet for the highly anticipated 98th Academy Awards. This year saw first-time Oscar wins for Ryan Coogler and his southern-horror blockbuster “Sinners,” as well as a nearly clean sweep for Paul Thomas Anderson’s revolutionary “One Battle After Another,” with many other categories seeing first-time wins for nominees.
Hosted by Late Night host Conan O’Brien, the ceremony carried an entertaining, if not vaguely over-the-top energy, with multiple sketches referencing this year’s nominated films and Hollywood’s inner workings, as well as some of the most brutal cutoffs for award-winning speeches.
The opening sequence showed O’Brien as Aunt Gladys, played by Best Supporting Actress winner Amy Madigan in “Weapons,” running through important scenes of the Best Picture-nominated films. This included a special animated sequence for Netflix’s “K-Pop Demon Hunters,” one of many shows of support for the animation industry.
Or as said by Will Arnett, while presenting the award for Best Animated Short Film: “Tonight, we are celebrating people, not AI, because animation, it’s more than a prompt. It’s an art form, and it needs to be protected.”
The team behind “The Girl Who Cried Pearls” won the category, a testament to the beauty of stop-motion animation. “KPop Demon Hunters” won Animated Feature Film, which also took home Best Original Song after a live performance of the film’s hit song “Golden.”
For the seventh time in Academy history, the night saw a tie between two nominees: “The Singers” and “Two People Exchanging Saliva” for Best Live Action Short Film.
Guillermo Del Toro’s “Frankenstein” saw a clean sweep for the production categories, taking home Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design and Costuming, a first-time win for designer and long-time collaborator of Del Toro, Kate Hawley.
The night also saw a live blues performance from the cast of “Sinners,” in a powerful tribute to black artistry and performance of the Oscar-nominated “I Lied To You.” Led by cast musicians Miles Canton and Raphael Saadiq, the performance welcomed Shaboozey, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Eric Gales and Alice Smith.
The sequence featured a performance from Misty Copland in her first ballet performance after her retirement in October.
The big winners of the night were “One Battle After Another,” with first-time wins for director Thomas Anderson in Best Director, Adapted Screenplay and Picture. The film also saw a first-time win for casting director Cassandra Kulukundis in the category’s inaugural year.
In his acceptance speech for Best Adapted Screenplay, Thomas Anderson dedicated the film to his children.
“I wrote this movie for my kids to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world we’re handing off to them,” Thomas Anderson said. “But also with the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency.”
First-time winner Jessie Buckley took home Best Actress for her performance as Agnes, a grief-stricken and resilient mother in Chloé Zhou’s “Hamnet.”
“Thank you to the incredible women that I stand beside. I am inspired by your art and your heart,” Buckley said. “I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart. We all come from a lineage of women who continue to create against all odds.”
Another favorite of the night, Coogler’s “Sinners” entered the night as the most nominated film in Academy history, up for awards in 16 categories. The film took home four awards with multiple first-time wins.
The night saw composer Ludwig Göransson continue his winning streak for Best Original Score and Coogler’s first-time Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay, Autumn Durald Arkapaw as the first woman to win Best Cinematography in award history, and a defining moment of the night, a first-time Best Actor win for Michael B. Jordan, for his portrayal of Smoke and Stack.
“I stand here because of the people that came before me,” Jordan said. “To be amongst those giants, amongst those greats, amongst my ancestors, amongst my guys. Thank you for everybody in this room and everybody at home for supporting me over my career.”
Throughout the night, there was a sense of celebration and camaraderie, with the room having clear excitement for all the winners. The night ended with a comment from Anderson, who stated his wins do not lessen the artistry of the fellow nominees.
“In 1975, the Oscar nominees for Best Picture were ‘Dog Day Afternoon,’ One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,’ ‘Jaws,’ ‘Nashville,’ and ‘Barry Lyndon.’ There is no best among them. There is just what the mood might be,” Thomas Anderson said.
