Anora triumphant at a surprisingly apolitical Oscars

What had initially looked like one of the most wide-open Academy Awards in history turned out to be nothing of the kind. Indie director Sean Baker’s twisted romantic comedy Anora — about a sex worker who marries an oligarch’s son — had won the Palme d’Or at Cannes last year. After various twists and turns, it asserted its front-runner status once again, as Baker took four awards — Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing — and, in one of the night’s more notable upsets, saw the film’s star Mikey Madison win Best Actress over the hotly-tipped Demi Moore, who stunned in the acclaimed body horror film The Substance. 

Excellent films are passed over every year, and after the return of big-name, big-star classicism in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer last year, this ceremony celebrated instead the avant-garde, low-budget film, reflecting the new make-up of the voting Academy. 

I would have loved to see The Brutalist take Best Picture and Best Director for the indefatigable Brady Corbet, who worked wonders on a tiny budget. But that modern-day masterpiece had to settle for Best Actor — given to the film’s star Adrien Brody — Best Cinematography and Best Score. Meanwhile Conclave, a big winner at last month’s BAFTAs, received only Best Adapted Screenplay, an award for Peter Straughan. Although the film did inspire the award show’s host Conan O’Brien’s to deliver one of his best lines of the night (“A movie about the Catholic Church… but don’t worry.”)

O’Brien, in fact, was a smooth host. He made self-deprecating gags (“A Complete Unknown, A Real Pain and Nosferatu…these are just some of the names I was called on the red carpet. I think two were fair”). He largely defused the controversy over the once-heralded French-Mexican trans musical Emilia Pérez and its star Karla Sofia Gascón’s getting canceled for social media history (“Little fact for you, Anora uses the F-word 479 times. That’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofia Gascón’s publicist”). Even his song-and-dance number wasn’t entirely embarrassing. Expect to see him return to the podium in the next few years. 

What was most interesting, in fact, was how apolitical the ceremony was. O’Brien steered clear of Trump gags. Kieran Culkin was awarded Best Supporting Actor for his lively performance in Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, trumping his Succession co-star for his magnetic appearance as Donald Trump’s mentor Roy Cohn in the controversial biopic The Apprentice. Jeremy Strong would have made an intense, politically charged acceptance speech; Culkin goofed around and, as has become traditional with the actor, asked his wife if they could have another child now that he has another award. 

The most significant controversy was one that has barely been noticed. Several of the actors in Anora are well-known stars in Russia, and just as few of the American winners had anything meaningful to say about the current state of world politics, the Anora actors have declined to make any comments about Putin or Ukraine. It is tempting to wonder if the current vogue for standing against Russia might have led to a boycott of all their works, including their actors. Such a decision could have made for a more interesting (and, whisper it, worthier) winner. 

It is always nice to have a personal connection to the Oscars, however slight and fleeting it might be. Hearing the Conclave screenwriter give a shout-out to my daughter’s godfather Simon during his acceptance speech was a deeply pleasurable moment. Yet this joyful touch aside, this was a surprisingly unsurprising Oscars, excepting Moore’s snub.