2023 Oscars Reaction: ‘EEAAO’ Sweeps, Yeoh Makes History
Awards season finally came to a close on Monday (Mar. 12) with the airing 95th Academy Awards. Featuring an Everything Everywhere All At Once sweep, a three-hour runtime that still went half an hour over, and several asinine Slap jokes… it was certainly a telecast that aired on ABC. Here are some reactions from your favorite contributing writers:
Sweeps make for a dull ceremony, and this year, the Academy’s feverish embrace of Everything Everywhere All At Once and All Quiet on the Western Front led to a spectacularly lifeless program. However you feel about either movie, the domination of both in a year filled with great movies feels ridiculous (directing *and* screenwriting for the Daniels is insane, let alone Jamie Lee Curtis leaping over the competition in Best Supporting Actress), to say nothing of The Whale winning multiple prizes while half of the Best Picture nominees went home empty-handed. Something tells me that we’ll be looking back at this ceremony 20 years from now and cringing at the “nicecore” sweep the same way that film school students from the late 2000s will cringe now if you ask them about Charlie Kaufman movies. We’ll be wondering why the Academy revealed itself to be easily swayed like a baby with Fischer Price toys. Also, Jimmy Kimmel is a demon who needs to be exorcised back to Hell. — Cole
The Oscars were a relatively ho-hum affair if you had been paying close attention to this year’s awards season. Everything Everywhere All At Once’s historic sweep was pretty expected at this point, it had spent months prior racking up every guild and critic award it could get its hands on. While EEAAO’s win after win did suck up most of the suspense of the night, seeing such an ambitious and left-field candidate finally take its crown was satisfying for many viewers at home.
While much of the narrative surrounding The Daniels’ film has been about its Asian/Asian American representation, the most remarkable thing about EEAAO’s success is that it’s a deeply and sincerely silly-ass movie. Films like this aren’t supposed to win Oscars. A woman hops through universes with talking racoons, mutants with hot dogs as fingers and sentient rocks to save her family. It’s goofy, but it’s beautiful, heartfelt, relatable, and one of the best Oscar winners in recent memory.
Elsewhere in the Oscar races, things were a bit of a mixed bag. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever scored a win for Costume Design, a repeat for designer Ruth E Carter who also won for the first Black Panther. It was much deserved, the Afrofuturistic world of Wakanda would be nothing without Carter’s brilliant and experienced eye for details and cultural specificity. It was dismaying to hear that she was the first black woman to win more than one Oscar. I don’t know how many times I have to tell the Academy to do better, but do better!
EEAAO’s dominance did leave for several shutouts this year though. Five of the ten Best Picture nominations were left empty-handed. I can’t help but wish that TAR’s weighty screenplay or The Fablemans’ lush cinematography had been awarded as well.
With Austin Butler losing Best Actor for Elvis, it finally broke a streak where at least one acting win every year goes to a performance from a biopic. I wish I felt better about Brendan Fraser’s win. While I admittedly haven’t watched The Whale, I read the summary, I’ve seen the clips and nothing about it makes me feel good about its portrayal of fat people and disordered eating. Between that and a Best Makeup and Hairstyling win for what I consider, quite frankly, to be a dehumanizing fat suit, Fraser’s triumph isn’t all sweet.
Ultimately I believe this to be one of the strongest Oscars in years, sometimes they do get it right. — Engwari
I never imagined this year’s Oscars to be one where after the ceremony ended I could say, “Oh okay.” This year’s winners felt mostly predictable. I can't lie. The surprises of the night came from the number of films snubbed. Baz Luhrmann’s chronicle of the King of Rock failed to take home any of its categories despite being amongst the front runners for both Best Actor (Austin Butler) and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. I was expecting a Butler win here, but I am not too shocked at Brendan Fraser (The Whale) taking it home. A comeback story versus a biopic definitely left the voters sweating.
Other films that went home empty-handed include TÁR, The Banshees of Inisherin, and The Fabelmans. While I never expected all of these movies to get their flowers, for none of them to secure a win was not on my bingo card for the evening. Even on a night with well-deserved victories for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and the entire EEAAO squad (not you, Jamie Lee Curtis), I’m left wishing there was more glory for some of the other amazing films this year.
Regardless, the night still had its usual memorable moments with all the acting categories going to first-time winners and Ruth Carter’s historic second Academy Award win (making her the first black woman to win more than a singular trophy — yikes). Everything Everywhere’s sweep, while arguably excessive, was a delight to witness. Films like EEAAO rarely get the chance to shine at the Oscars, so when they do get their time in the limelight it feels all that more special. — Sean
Awards institutions have been facing an ever-growing challenge of proving their legitimacy to a generation that is increasingly resistant to things like traditional glamour and vanity fairs. Everything must be drip with irony while sentimentality is rebuffed and larger-than-life talent is glanced over in favor of something that feels more relatable and therefore palatable. Awards institutions like the Oscars and the Grammys have been fighting to stay alive for some time now, and last night showed that the Oscars have a better hold on securing their future.
While every publication foresaw Beyoncé’s Renaissance as the inarguable winner, sans maybe Bad Bunny, for the top prize, it went to Harry Styles, a logical, yet still unexpected, choice. Last night could’ve gone wrong if Michelle Yeoh, another person who publications said would be the runaway winner, hadn’t made history as the first Asian woman to win Best Actress and the second woman of color to win the prize ever. The Academy is an institution that is fraught with problems surrounding race and gender, but it has proven itself to be resilient in mattering to the American consciousness for at least a few months out of the year. The anticipation for Michelle Yeoh to receive her flowers for both an illustrious career and an enthralling performance has helped foster that resilience and encourage more people to watch the telecast than they did last year. And while Michelle could’ve earned a nomination for Crazy Rich Asians and should’ve earned a nomination for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, it’s nice to see that her win here wasn’t banked on legacy alone but rather the continued strength of her craft and talent.Some might say that the Academy shouldn’t dictate who gets jobs and opportunities, but the reality is that it does. I can say that Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan’s profiles are much larger than they would have been without this boost, as is Stephanie Hsu’s. They’re all starring in a new Disney+ show later this Spring. That’s huge!
Speaking of Stephanie, the show’s biggest blunder according to social media was Jamie Lee Curtis’s win. Which…yeah. I can’t remember a single good or bad choice she made in the film. Winning over Stephanie is perplexing, and while Angela’s performance wasn’t special to me, at least she had two strong monologues to justify a nomination. The real loser was Kerry Condon and I’m glad that the British Film Academy gave her the dues she deserved. Banshees of Inisherin and Elvis getting nothing were also confusing choices. I’m not going to get into the politics of Brendan Fraser’s win, but 2022 was Colin’s year and Banshees had a performance from him that should’ve melted the coldest heart. It’s actually very interesting to me that the Oscars have been embracing warmer and more sentimental movies for the past two years, but movies like The Fablemans, Top Gun: Maverick, Banshees of Inisherin, and Elvis left with either very little or next to nothing. The sentiments behind each of those films are also earnest and indulge in the human condition in a way that calls to mind the most classic storytelling. They’re the type of movies Hollywood likes to reward. If they all received something, then TÁR’s loss would’ve been very easy to pinpoint as it’s a cold film (no matter how much Film Twitter tells you it’s a comedy). Nonetheless, both the cerebral and the grounded stories were ignored in favour of something far more left-field. That’s pretty cool to me… even if I still hate the hot dog finger jokes. Regardless, EEAAO hogging the glory isn’t breaking my heart (Okay, it is. We all know I was going for Maverick winning Best Picture).
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the lack of Black nominees is still frustrating with a year of releases like Nope, Till, and The Woman King —all of which deserved more than a few nominations. It’s also frustrating that, this year, the anonymous ballots for both major Academies had to tell us how much they dislike Black women. According to their delusions, Beyoncé should be punished for being a big powerful star, Viola Davis needs to stop the snotty crying, and Danielle Deadwyler is an insincere star-hungry scene chewer. One even referred to BAFTA-nominated Gina Prince-Bythewood as “that lady director.” It’s disheartening and tells us where people’s hearts and minds are when casting their votes.
P.S. — Abolish Jimmy Kimmel.
— Johnny B.
We won! I won! Everything Everywhere All At Once swept! I laughed, I cried (not really), and occasionally, I got scared. That brief All Quiet sweep was like a gun being pointed at the back of my head, it’s insane that almost happened. Sucks that Stephanie Hsu didn’t win, but she’ll be back, so it’s fine and I honestly don’t mind [REDACTED] winning instead.
I watched all of the international films and I mean it when I say All Quiet is the worst one. Congrats to them, I guess, but I was rooting for Close or The Quiet Girl. Not that. Ugh. Congrats to Sarah Polley for winning Best Adapted Screenplay for Women Talking. The movie is a bit too constructed for most, but I enjoyed it!
While I did enjoy Fablemans, TÁR and Elvis, I can’t be too sad they came up short. I won in the end! Until next year when they inevitably make us angry again anyway. — Paul
Save for M. M. Keeravani & Chandrabose’s “Naatu Naatu,” those performances were awful. Either the songs were borderline unlistenable (Diane Warren’s “Applause”) or the vocal performance doubled as an exercise to see how often one could deviate from the key of the track (Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up”), or the rendition made an already maudlin song even more of a slog (Lady Gaga’s “Hold My Hand”). Let’s step it up next year!
Angela Bassett was robbed. As were Stephanie Hsu and Kerry Condon. The JLC win is a joke and will go down as one of the worst wins and one of the most forgettable performances in Oscar history. Outside of her win, I’m over the moon about the EEAAO sweep… although The Banshsees of Inisherin deserved that Original Screenplay win. Overall mid show. Nice moments here and there, I guess. — Kyle
