96th Academy Awards Winners & Review
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
REVIEW
After a year full of delays (what else is new?) and strikes, the state of the Academy Awards was highly in question: how much do they matter anymore? In short, the 96th Academy Awards were quite the affair full of major wins (with some surprises, although there were many expected names being called, mind you), golden comedic entertainment, and a reminder of why we go to the movies after a year that seemed to find the film industry in a bit of jeopardy. With a glorious stage (where the orchestra sat inside of a backdrop screen that can divide itself in half) and a lack of sourness, the Oscars continue to head in the right direction after the signs of hope from last year’s ceremony. I’m happy to report that most of the 96th Oscars were fun, glamourous, exciting, and not controversial (thank goodness). This was straight forward goodness that we needed in film and in the world, even if just for this evening.
In a year full of fantastic films, the 96th Academy Awards chose to wisely kick off with quite a stunning compilation of all of the nominees, splicing in bits of dialogue to inspire all of us to remember why we are watching this ceremony in the first place: because we love motion pictures. Suddenly, Margot Robbie’s Barbie snaps back to reality and finds host Jimmy Kimmel sitting beside her; she calls him beautiful, and he brushes her off with an “I know” before returning to the stage for the fourth time to host this annual ceremony. Kimmel remarks on the time change with the Academy’s decision to start early by admitting that “we’re already five minutes late, and I’m not joking” (he wasn’t, to be fair). In terms of acknowledging ongoing discussions via self-awareness, Kimmel quickly brings up Greta Gerwig’s Best Director snub for Barbie; the auditorium erupts with applause, and Kimmel responds by saying “You didn’t vote for her”, alluding to her current predicament. Kimmel was seemingly on fire until he hit a few clunkers with Robert Downey Jr. by making jokes about his past drug addiction and his awards season streak (“is that an acceptance speech in your pocket, or do you just have a rectangular penis?”); Downey just batted his eyes and didn’t let this buffoonery destroy what will likely be the biggest night of his life.
After some other awkward jokes (Kimmel even made a retort by stating that they’re now recording for room tone when there was some quiet; a nice touch), he seemed to get back into top form (including a great quip about Killers of the Flower Moon: “A film so long that you can drive to Oklahoma and solve the murders yourself”). After some zingers, he brings up another piece of conversation: the upcoming Best Casting category, and joking that actors can watch those who don’t think they’re good enough for a film win an Oscar before them. The next order of business (before riffing on Steven Spielberg for being there with “seasons tickets”) is commenting on the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes and the threats of AI (with actors not having to worry about being replaced by it, but, rather, younger and more attractive actors like always). Kimmel calls for applause to all of the many crew members and workers who struggled during the strike as to celebrate them before “we celebrate ourselves” with Oscars trophies. With that terrific end to a mostly on-top opening monologue, it was time to award trophies.
The Oscars kicked off with a tradition of old: having five past acting winners present the new generation of nominees, and first off was Best Supporting Actress (which, obviously, went to Da’Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers, who was grateful for being seen for being herself and “forging [her] own path”); this was a touching decision in a year that followed a major year that celebrated the solidarity of entertainers and artists via pivotal strikes. Later on in the evening, Cord Jefforson — winning Best Adapted Screenplay for American Fiction — asked for a call-to-action for studios to not make just one 200 million dollar film, and, instead, make many films for much smaller budgets, as to best maintain the industry and get so many other daring and original projects off the ground; let’s hope the bigwigs listen. Later on, Robert Downey Jr. finally achieved that elusive Oscar which has evaded him for decades for his startling performance in Oppenheimer; of course, his acceptance speech was a tongue-in-cheek one, as if he hadn’t been working toward this moment for nearly forty years (teach me to be this suave, Robert).
One of the funniest bits of the night was when Kimmel aimed to recreate the infamous Oscar streaking stunt from fifty ceremonies ago with presenter John Cena, who was seemingly buck naked and struggling to present the Best Costume Design award while covering his genitalia with the envelope bearing the winning film within it (Cena stated that costumes are “perhaps the most important” category of the night for hilariously good reason; it’s too bad that everyone could, in fact, see John Cena this evening). At one point, Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling addressed the Barbenheimer sensation of 2023 with a comedic rivalry between the two stars of their respective films. They were saluting the stunt choreographers and people in film, which feels a bit like a strange regard from the Academy about the request to have stunts win Oscars for years; this is basically the Academy’s way of silencing the conversation, I suppose, and while the actual video played was quite good, a Best Stunt Choreography category is long overdue (and this comes from someone who doesn’t like action films as much as the average person; this category is necessary).
What seemed like a silly Twins and Junior reunion between Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger — who were presenting Best Film Editing and Best Visual Effects (which went to Oppenheimer and Godzilla Minus One, respectively) wound up being a hysterical crusade against Michael Keaton via all three actors’ affiliations with the Batman franchise (with the two villains, Mr. Freeze and the Penguin, commenting on the audacity of Batman to show his face at this event). It was another moment that reminded us that we may be out of that phase of the Academy Awards that was full of cringe comedy and uncomfortable, unfunny sketches: we may be back to entertaining gold. On a more serious note, 20 Days in Mariupol won what is reportedly the first Oscar win in the history of Ukraine, with director Mstyslav Chernov admitting that he wishes he never made the film for obvious reasons (as he pleads for Russia to stop attacking his homeland). When Cillian Murphy won Best Actor for Oppenheimer, he similarly discussed the state of the world right now by reminding us that “We’re living in Oppenheimer’s world, so this goes out to the peacemakers”.
While every musical performance was strong (each of the nominated original song nominees slayed), the standout performance of the night has to go to Ryan Gosling’s over-the-top rendition of “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie has to be the winning number of the night with its macho, hyper-pink design and stage full of Kens (and screens clad with lyrics which encourage even the Barbies in the audience to sing along). It’s everything the masses could have hoped for such a silly, self-aware song and more; as someone who usually cannot stand overly theatrical things, this was gold (a rose gold, mind you).
Preceding the In Memoriam segment was a recording by political rebel Alexei Navalny, who was the subject of last year’s Best Documentary Feature Film winner Navalny: a powerful kick-off to what was already destined to be a difficult segment to get through without tears. As the dearly departed graced the screen behind the Oscar stage and the Bocellis (Andea and his son, Matteo) sang with heavenly voices, interpretive dancers filled up the empty space, as if the legacies of these artists were their ghosts that live amongst us. After an evening of laughs and celebrations, this was the emotional moment that brings an evening of all things cinema full circle: we cannot move forward without remembering those we lost along the way who paved the path for others to keep going.
Wrapping up the night, Emma Stone tearfully won Best Actress for the second time (the first being for La La Land), this time for Poor Things; host Kimmel asked for her envelope to be ripped, so he didn’t have to experience another Moonlight-Best-Picture fiasco. Oppenheimer concluded the evening with seven Oscar wins including Best Picture (a win that presenter Al Pacino clumsily delivered, admittedly), with Poor Things winning four, and The Zone of Interest winning two (every other winning film had one Oscar apiece). Outside of the Oppenheimer takeover, this was a somewhat balanced affair trophies-wise; most Best Picture nominees won something (outside of Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, and Past Lives going home empty-handed). You can find the full list of winners below.
WINNERS
BEST PICTURE
American Fiction
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer WINNER
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest
BEST DIRECTOR
Anatomy of a Fall-Justine Triet
Killers of the Flower Moon-Martin Scorsese
Oppenheimer-Christopher Nolan WINNER
Poor Things-Yorgos Lanthimos
The Zone of Interest-Jonathan Glazer
BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Annette Bening-Nyad
Lily Gladstone-Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Hüller-Anatomy of a Fall
Carey Mulligan-Maestro
Emma Stone-Poor Things WINNER
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Bradley Cooper-Maestro
Colman Domingo-Rustin
Paul Giamatti-The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy-Oppenheimer WINNER
Jeffrey Wright-American Fiction
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Emily Blunt-Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks-The Color Purple
America Ferrera-Barbie
Jodie Foster-Nyad
Da’Vine Joy Randolph-The Holdovers WINNER
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Sterling K. Brown-American Fiction
Robert De Niro-Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr.-Oppenheimer WINNER
Ryan Gosling-Barbie
Mark Ruffalo-Poor Things
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Anatomy of a Fall-Screenplay-Justine Triet and Arthur Harari WINNER
The Holdovers-Written by David Hemingson
Maestro-Written by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer
May December-Screenplay by Samy Burch, Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik
Past Lives-Written by Celine Song
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Fiction-Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson WINNER
Barbie-Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach
Oppenheimer-Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan
Poor Things-Screenplay by Tony McNamara
The Zone of Interest-Written by Jonathan Glazer
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Io capitano-Italy
Perfect Days-Japan
Society of the Snow-Spain
The Teachers’ Lounge-Germany
The Zone of Interest-United Kingdom WINNER
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
Bobi Wine: The People’s President
The Eternal Memory
Four Daughters
To Kill a Tiger
20 Days in Mariupol WINNER
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
The Boy and the Heron WINNER
Elemental
Nimona
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
The After
Invincible
Knight of Fortune
Red, White and Blue
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar WINNER
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
American Fiction-Laura Karpman
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny-John Williams
Killers of the Flower Moon-Robbie Robertson
Oppenheimer-Ludwig Göransson WINNER
Poor Things-Jerskin Fendrix
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot-Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
”I’m Just Ken” from Barbie-Music and Lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt
”It Never Went Away” from American Symphony-Music and Lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson
”Wahzhazhe (A Song for my People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon-Music and Lyric by Scott George
”What Was I Made For?” from Barbie-Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell WINNER
BEST SOUND
The Creator-Ian Voigt, Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van Der Ryn, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic
Maestro-Steven A. Morrow, Richard King, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic
Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One-Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor
Oppenheimer-Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O’Connell
The Zone of Interest-Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn WINNER
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
El Conde-Edward Lachman
Killers of the Flower Moon-Rodrigo Prieto
Maestro-Matthew Libatique
Oppenheimer-Hoyte van Hoytema WINNER
Poor Things-Robbie Ryan
BEST FILM EDITING
Anatomy of a Fall-Laurent Sénéchal
The Holdovers-Kevin Tent
Killers of the Flower Moon-Thelma Schoonmaker
Oppenheimer-Jennifer Lame WINNER
Poor Things-Yorgos Mavropsaridis
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Creator-Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould
Godzilla Minus One-Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Sibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima WINNER
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3-Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams and Theo Bialek
Mission Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part One-Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland and Neil Corbould
Napoleon-Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco and Neil Corbould
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Barbie-Jacqueline Durran
Killers of the Flower Moon-Jacqueline West
Napoleon-Janty Yates and Dave Crossman
Oppenheimer-Ellen Mirojnick
Poor Things-Holly Waddington WINNER
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Barbie-Production Design- Sarah Greenwood, Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
Killers of the Flower Moon-Production Design: Jack Fisk, Set Decoration: Adam Willis
Napoleon-Production Design: Arthur Max, Set Decoration: Elli Griff
Oppenheimer-Production Design: Ruth de Jong, Set Decoration: Claire Kaufman
Poor Things-Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath, Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek WINNER
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Golda-Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby, and Ashra Kelly-Blue
Maestro-Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell
Oppenheimer-Luisa Abel
Poor Things-Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston WINNER
Society of the Snow-Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé
You can compare this list of winners with my final predictions of every category here.
Here is how I ranked every category’s nominees from worst to best:
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best International Feature Film
Best Documentary Feature Film
Best Animated Feature Film
Best Live Action Short Film
Best Documentary Short Film
Best Animated Short Film
Best Original Score
Best Original Song
Best Sound
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Visual Effects
Best Costume Design
Best Production Design
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson 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.