95th Academy Awards Winners & Review

Written by Andreas Babiolakis

Review

After some looks at how films are made, including sound creation, visual effects generation, and more, we cut to a sequence from Top Gun: Maverick, but this time host Jimmy Kimmel is sitting behind Tom Cruise in the fighter jet; he is forced to eject from the plane, and he came “parachuting” down to the Dolby Theater (where he would proceed to chastise Cruise and James Cameron — two people who insisted that audiences return to the theatre — for not coming to the theatre). He would also boast that he sat through all of the long films of last year (and, my God, there were many), and so we now have to sit through his three and a half hours of awards. A lot happened: Austin Butler was poked at for still sounding like Elvis Presley months later, Will Smith’s snafu was referenced for the billionth time, and the proclamation that any winners who stay on the stage too long will be rushed off the stage with some Naatu Naatu dancing (the best way to go). After a relatively funny opening that felt direct, typical, and no-nonsense (it’s kind of refreshing after so many botched attempts or the lack of having a host at all, which I do kind of prefer), Kimmel’s Oscars — the 95th Academy Awards — were ready to begin.

Early in the night, two stories of triumph came full circle in the form of Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis, who both won in their supporting roles for Everything Everywhere All at Once. Quan talked about his twenty years of industry exile, growing up in a refugee camp, and struggling to get by. He finally made it. He instructed all viewers must never give up on their dreams. He proceeded to thank everyone in his life, from Goonies alum and best friend Jeff Cohen, to his wife and other loved ones. Curtis came after and proceeded to thank all of the hundreds of people, genre films, and other variables that got her to this place; she finished by honouring her parents (Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh) before tearfully accepting that she is now an Oscar winner, carrying their Academy Awards legacy as nominees; their family now has Oscars closure.

From this point on (well, technically from the first win of the night: Guillermo del Toro’s celebration of animation as cinema via Pinocchio), the evening wound up being one of the more effortlessly sincere, straight forward, non-bitter Academy Awards I’ve seen in years. No bloating. No nonsense. No controversy. This was a celebration of film through and through, from the reverting back to the ways of Oscars old (having clips of each nominated film showcasing why they were honoured) to being educational about cinema again. This has been the Oscars I’ve missed for years: one that is in love with film and not solely a podium for mediocre skits. Even the majority of the speeches were written straight from the heart, with Ruth Carter honouring her recently departed mother while winning Best Costume Design for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and star James Martin being given a hearty sing-along of Happy Birthday while his film, An Irish Goodbye, won for Live Action Short Film. There was love all around the Dolby Theater.

Kimmel continued to host at his very best (in my opinion) throughout the evening without overstaying his welcome with silly sketches or beaten dead horses (although a Matt Damon joke here and there may have come close). None of the presenters tried to outshine the show, and not a single gag or moment made me roll my eyes. Outside of the complete dismissal of the honorary Academy Awards whose neglect only seems to be getting worse and worse, the 95th Academy Awards was extremely pleasant, funny, electrifying, and a joyous occasion: everyone’s going back to the theatres to watch films again. Let’s not spoil this evening. I don’t think anyone did. It’s quite refreshing to see such an effortless affair, actually.

The majority of the night was a head-to-head between the technically strong All Quiet on the Western Front, which picked up four Academy Award wins (International, Cinematography, Production Design, and Original Score), and the globally powerful Everything Everywhere All at Once (which won major awards before the grand finale, including both supporting acting awards, lead actress, original screenplay, editing, and directing); the latter film ultimately won Best Picture and is the most dominant top prize winner (seven wins total) in over a decade. Between the triumphant speeches, eye-opening production, and the tear worthy wins (Brendan Fraser and Michelle Yeoh winning was a major exclamation point on the evening), this truly was one of the better Oscars in years. It’s this kind of ceremony that will instil love into the celebration of cinema, cocaine bears and all.

You can find all of the winners below.

Winners

BEST PICTURE

All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once-WINNER
The Fabelmans
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
Triangle of Sadness
Women Talking

BEST DIRECTOR

The Banshees of Inisherin-Martin McDonagh
Everything Everywhere All at Once-Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert-WINNER
The Fabelmans-Steven Spielberg
Tár-Todd Field
Triangle of Sadness-Ruben Östlund

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett-Tár
Ana de Armas-Blonde
Andrea Riseborough-To Leslie
Michelle Williams-The Fabelmans
Michelle Yeoh-Everything Everywhere All at Once-WINNER

BEST ACTOR

Austin Butler-Elvis
Colin Farrel-The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser-The Whale-WINNER
Paul Mescal-Aftersun
Bill Nighy-Living

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Angela Bassett-Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Hong Chau-The Whale
Kerry Condon-The Banshees of Inisherin
Jamie Lee Curtis-Everything Everywhere All at Once-WINNER
Stephanie Hsu-Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Brendan Gleeson-The Banshees of Inisherin
Brian Tyree Henry-Causeway
Judd Hirsh-The Fabelmans
Barry Keoghan-The Banshees of Inisherin
Ke Huy Quan-Everything Everywhere All at Once-WINNER

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

All Quiet on the Western Front-Screenplay: Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery-Written by Rian Johnson
Living-Written by Kazuo Ishiguro
Top Gun: Maverick-Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks
Women Talking-Screenplay by Sarah Polley-WINNER

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Banshees of Inisherin-Written by Martin McDonaugh
Everything Everywhere All at Once-Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert-WINNER
The Fabelmans-Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner
Tár-Written by Todd Field
Triangle of Sadness-Written by Ruben Östlund

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

All Quiet on the Western Front-Germany-WINNER
Argentina, 1985-Argentina
Close-Belgium
EO-Poland
The Quiet Girl-Ireland

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

All That Breathes
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Fire of Love
A House Made of Splinters
Navalny-WINNER

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio-WINNER
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
The Sea Beast
Turning Red

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

An Irish Goodbye-WINNER
Ivalu
Le pupille
Night Ride
The Red Suitcase

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

The Elephant Whisperers-WINNER
Haulout
How Do You Measure a Year?
The Martha Mitchell Effect
Stranger at the Gate

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse-WINNER
The Flying Sailor
Ice Merchants
My Year of Dicks
An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

All Quiet on the Western Front-James Friend-WINNER
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths-Darius Khondji
Elvis-Mandy Walker
Empire of Light-Roger Deakins
Tár-Florian Hoffmeister

BEST FILM EDITING

The Banshees of Inisherin-Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
Elvis-Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond
Everything Everywhere All at Once-Paul Rogers-WINNER
Tár-Monika Willi
Top Gun: Maverick-Eddie Hamilton

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

All Quiet on the Western Front-Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank, and Kamil Jafar
Avatar: The Way of Water-Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Sandon, and Daniel Barrett-WINNER
The Batman-Dan Lemmon, Russel Earl, Anders Langlands, and Dominic Tuohy
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever-Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White, and Dan Sudick
Top Gun: Maverick-Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson, and Scott R. Fisher

BEST SOUND

All Quiet on the Western Front-Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel, and Stefan Korte
Avatar: The Way of Water-Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, and Michael Hedges
The Batman-Stuart Wilson, Willian Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson
Elvis-David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson, and Michael Keller
Top Gun: Maverick-Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon, and Mark Taylor-WINNER

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

All Quiet on the Western Front-Volker Bertelmann-WINNER
Babylon-Justin Hurwitz
The Banshees of Inisherin-Carter Burwell
Everything Everywhere All at Once-Son Lux
The Fabelmans-John Williams

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Applause” from Tell it Like a Woman-Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
”Hold my Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick-Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop
”Lift me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever-Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson, Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler
”Naatu Naatu” from RRR-Music by M.M. Keeravaani, Lyric by Chandrabose-WINNER
”This is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once-Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski, Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

All Quiet on the Western Front-Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck, Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper-WINNER
Avatar: The Way of Water-Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter, Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole
Babylon-Production Design: Florencia Martin, Set Decoration: Anthony Carilino
Elvis-Production Design: Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy, Set Decoration: Bev Dunn
The Fabelmans-Production Design: Rick Carter, Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Babylon-Mary Zophres
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever-Ruth Carter-WINNER
Elvis-Catherine Martin
Everything Everywhere All at Once-Shirley Kurata
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris-Jenny Beavan

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

All Quiet on the Western Front-Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová
The Batman-Naomi Donne, Mike Marino, and Mike Fontaine
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever-Camille Friend and Joel Harlow
Elvis-Mark Coulier, Jason Baird, and Aldo Signoretti
The Whale-Adrien Morot, Judy Chin, and Anne Marie Bradley-WINNER

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.

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