Tonight’s 91st Academy Awards was an evening of upsets. While some of them are worth celebrating, the Academy’s selection of “Green Book,” a film that tried but failed to tackle race through film, seemed like the biggest blunder of the night, especially when “BlackKklansman” and “Black Panther” were also up for awards.
Instead of an impassioned speech from Spike Lee or a recognition of how much “Black Panther” shifted the power of superhero films, we got a white filmmaker giving a short speech about how loving each other despite differences is enough to solve racism in this country — the “we shouldn’t see color” of awards speeches.
Despite not winning Best Picture, Lee, who has somehow never won an Oscar before, spoke when “BlackKklansman” won the award for Adapted Screenplay. After jumping into Samuel L. Jackson’s arms in a Prince-inspired purple suit and gold Jordans, Lee brought up the 2020 presidential election and exhorted viewers to “do the right thing” by choosing love over hate.
The “Green Book” decision aside, some of the night’s upsets were deserving ones.
The night started off with Regina King, who, after winning Best Supporting Actress for her role in “If Beale Street Could Talk,” directed a tearful speech at her mother sitting in the front row. Olivia Colman won Best Lead Actress for her portrayal of Queen Anne in “The Favourite,” beating out Glenn Close in “The Wife” and Yalitza Aparicio in “Roma.”
Christian Bale’s complete transformation into his portrayal of Dick Cheney in “Vice” seemed like it would be a shoe-in for Best Lead Actor, but Rami Malek achieved a stunning victory with his role as Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Malek then gave a heartfelt post-award speech in which he discussed struggling with his own identity, thanked Mercury for being “unapologetically himself” and pointed out that people are “longing for stories” like that of Mercury.
Although there were plenty of upsets, a few of the evening’s award-winners were unsurprising. “Black Panther” gathered awards for its production and set design, costume design and score, while Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s hit “Shallow” from “A Star is Born” walked away with Best Original Song.
“Roma,” which was considered a frontrunner for Best Picture, won Best Foreign Language Film and Cinematography. Alfonso Cuarón, who drew from his own life and had immense creative control over “Roma,” was certainly deserving of his award for directing.
Cuarón’s speech for Best Director was an important one. Just as he did in “Roma,” Cuarón used his time to honor the millions of indigenous people and domestic workers who have been “historically relegated to the background of cinema.”
Another big Oscars conversation was how the show would work without a host. The Academy made a good choice in having different stars deliver the awards, although the program still lasted nearly 3 1/2 hours.
