Moonlight makes Oscar history
An intimate portrait of a black gay man beat hit musical ‘La La Land’ to the Academy’s top prize. It was well deserved, writes Paul Whitington
All the glitz, glam and razzmatazz of Sunday night’s Oscar ceremony was entirely eclipsed by what has been christened ‘Envelope gate’. Hollywood legend Warren Beatty found himself at the centre of a hilarious snafu when he and Faye Dunaway announced the wrong winner for the coveted Best Picture award. Director Damien Chazelle and the producers of
La La Land raced to the stage to collect their gong, but it was red faces all round when, minutes later, Moonlight was declared the real winner, in an unprecedented Oscars blunder.
Beatty turns 80 next month, Dunaway’s not far behind him, and initially senior moments seemed the culprit before an embarrassing clerical error was revealed — someone backstage had handed them the wrong envelope. But while Barry Jenkins and his team jumped around on the Dolby Theatre stage, many viewers were left wondering what exactly Moonlight was.
Critics have been banging on about La La Land for months, so much so that the producers feared a fatigue induced awards backlash. The hit musical did pretty much as well as expected, with six Oscar wins including Best Director, Best Song, and Best Actress for Emma Stone.
But Moonlight claimed the Academy’s top honour. Barry Jenkins’ film opened in Ireland this month with little fanfare and is only on limited release, though that will surely change on foot of its win. And while it may have slid under the radar here, critics — myself included — flagged it as the film most likely to challenge La La
Land. In the end Jenkins and co walked away with three Oscars — Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali.
It’s an astonishing film, though in total contrast to the lightness of La La Land, a heterosexual love story and a love letter to Hollywood, which many had deemed catnip for Academy voters. But instead, the Academy was won over by an intimate portrait of a young, gay black man in a poor Miami housing project whose mother (brilliantly played by Naomie Harris) is a crack addict. It sounds grim, but is oddly uplifting, and deserves all the praise it’s getting. As well as being the first LGBT film to take the top prize, it’s also the first to star an all-black cast.
Justice in the main was done elsewhere, and there weren’t too many surprises. Casey Affleck and Denzel Washington were the clear frontrunners for Best Actor. I thought Washington, who already has two Oscars to his credit, might just shade it for his turn as a bombastic Pittsburgh bin-man in
Fences, especially given the unwelcome publicity Casey Affleck has received over two cases of alleged sexual harassment. But he was superb in Kenneth Lonergan’s sombre bluecollar drama Manchester by
the Sea, and showed the Academy Awards are not a popularity contest.
I never thought Ruth Negga — or anyone else for that matter — stood much of a chance against Emma Stone for Best Actress, but Negga conducted herself with great dignity as usual and the nomination has done her career and profile no harm.
Mahershala Ali took home Best Supporting Actor for his charismatic portrayal of a kindly drug dealer in
Moonlight, making him the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar. Viola Davis was an expected and equally popular winner in Best Supporting Actress for her wonderful work in Fences, and gave a moving and emotional speech.
Pixar’s Finding Dory was notable by its absence in the Best Animated Feature category, but Disney (who own Pixar) wasn’t too fussed, because its playful cartoon Zootopia won the gong instead.
Iranian director Asghar Farhadi had the last laugh when The Salesman won Best Foreign Language Film. His was among the countries included in the Trump administration’s ill-fated travel ban, and though it’s since been lifted, Farhadi chose not to come anyway, in protest.