The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
A Hollywood Ending
The gaffe over Best Picture might have stolen the spotlight at the 89th Academy Awards but the stage showcased Black experience, the immigrant’s journey — and the absence-presence of Asghar Farhadi
IN AN epic flub that drew gasps of horror — and joy — at the Dolby Theater, Los Angeles, Faye Dunaway mistakenly named La La Land best picture at the 89th Academy Awards on Sunday night, but in reality Moonlight won the top prize.
The producers of La La Land were still thanking their families and fellow artists when the interjection came that Moonlight had in fact won, as everyone wondered if that was a joke. But it wasn’t, and the La La Land people quickly exited the stage as producers and stars of Moonlight, just as stunned as everyone else, walked on.
Warren Beatty and Dunaway had presented the best picture award. “I want to tell you what happened,” Beatty said in the chaotic moments after Moonlight was announced as the winner. “I opened the envelope, and it said ‘Emma Stone, La La Land.’ That’s why I took such a long look at Faye and at you. I wasn’t trying to be funny. This is Moonlight, the best picture.”
Moonlight, the story of a young, gay, black man, won three statuettes in total, including best adapted screenplay and best supporting actor. And held up as an escapist, believein-yourself antidote for the times, the neomusical La La Land won six Oscars, including statuettes for Damien Chazelle’s directing and Stone’s acting, during a jaunty ceremony that swung between self-celebration and political acrimony — before its wild ending.
Pricewaterhousecoopers, the accounting firm that handles the Oscars balloting, took responsibility for the mixup. In a blog post published on Medium this month, Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz of the firm Pricewaterhousecoopers, explained the process of handling the envelopes for the Oscars. Cullinan wrote that he and Ruiz each had a full set of envelopes and stood on opposite sides of the stage, where they handed envelopes to presenters. Other notable moments from the show:
Diverse Set of Winners
Hacksaw Ridge, the true story of a heroic World War II medic, won Oscars for sound mixing and film editing, a category that is often predictive of the best picture winner. Kenneth Lonergan won the best screenplay statuette for his Manchester by the Sea, the story of a grieving New England handyman. Casey Affleck, who played the lead role in Lonergan’s film, beat Denzel Washington (Fences) for best actor.
The supporting acting prizes went to Viola Davis for her work in Fences, about a Pittsburgh family in the 1950s, and Mahershala Ali for his portrayal of a sympathetic drug dealer in Moonlight, which also collected the adapted screenplay Oscar, for Jenkins and Tarell Alvin Mccraney.
After two years when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was criticised as racist for overlooking black actors and films about African-american experiences, this year’s nominee list was remarkably diverse. Six black actors received nominations, a record.
Spotlight on Immigrants
The foreign film and documentary races were notably relevant this year. President Donald Trump’s travel ban put the spotlight on Iran’s entry, The Salesman, whose director, Asghar Farhadi, said that he would boycott the ceremony in protest — a decision that may have ultimately helped his film win.
Anousheh Ansari, an American-iranian businesswoman, accepted the award for The Salesman and read a message from Farhadi. The note said that he was not attending in solidarity with immigrants “who have been disrespected by the inhumane law,” referring to the Trump administration’s travel ban.
With politics a consistent topic, Gael García Bernal, presenting best animated film to Zootopia, said, “As a Mexican, as a Latin American, as a migrant worker, as a human being, I am against any form of wall that wants to separate us.”
A Host’s Balancing Act
Jimmy Kimmel, an Everyman schtick carefully in place, opened his monologue by asking viewers, both conservative and liberal, to come together in a calm conversation. “If we could all do that we could make America great again, we really could,” he said. Kimmel, appearing confident and calm — and with the A-list audience, munching on Red Vines and Junior Mints, now firmly on his side — soon took sharper aim. In a reference to President Trump, Kimmel said, “Remember last year, when it seemed like the Oscars were racist?” As the ceremony went on, organizers played up Hollywood glamour and paid homage to Academy Awards history. Music interludes were taken from the scores of Top Gun and Tootsie.
NYT