2021 Academy Awards Recap

Another Awards Season is officially in the bag, with the conclusion of last Sunday’s Academy Awards. For better or worse, a ceremony took place and it was well…it was something. There were highs (score one for more diversity) and there were some major lows (we all know what I’m referring to).

When it was all said and done, voters spread the love to several movies though surprisingly, none for The Trial of the Chicago 7, which started the season a heavy award favorite.

Typically I do these recaps in a Best and Worst format but honestly, the struggle was very real trying to find five things I genuinely loved about this year’s ceremony. So I’ve decided to do things a little differently and try a highlights-slash-stream of consciousness approach.

I’m just going to list everything that stood out from the ceremony, good or bad, in no particular order.

• The Upset Heard Round the World – Naturally the biggest and most discussed moment from this year’s ceremony was Anthony Hopkins’ surprising win for Best Actor over the late Chadwick Boseman. Everyone predicted and expected that this would be a bittersweet celebration of Boseman. So much so that for maybe the first time in Oscars history, the order was flipped in the presentations of Best Picture and Best Actor and Best Actress. The show’s producers obviously expected Chadwick’s winning moment to cap off the night. But alas, it was not to be. I understand many people’s outrage. However, by all accounts, Anthony Hopkins gave a stunning performance in The Father. And while Chadwick was more than deserving of the win, Hopkins wasn’t undeserving either, if that makes sense, which is why awards are so subjective. At the end of the day, more than anything, what I felt was sadness. Sadness that this brilliant actor’s life and career was cut way too short, sadness that we’ll never get another masterful performance from him, and sadness that he doesn’t have another chance to become an Academy Award-winning actor.

• Applause for Diversity – While Chadwick’s loss was even more disappointing, as it meant that there are still only two black actors to have ever won the Oscar for Leading Actor, the night did have many moments of diversity worth celebrating. Chloe Zhao’s win for Best Director not only meant a second woman winning in the category, but it was also the first for a woman of color. Yuh-jung Youn’s win for Best Supporting Actress made her one of the oldest women to win, as well as the first Korean. And Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson’s win for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom made them the first black women to ever win in this category.

• Where Were the Clips – Until the shock of the final award of the night, I feel fairly confident in saying this is what most viewers were screaming at their screens. I am genuinely fascinated to hear the producers’ reasoning for choosing to forego 90 percent of the clips from the nominees in favor of a lot of talking. Did I mention there was A LOT of talking? The Academy Awards are ostensibly a celebration of films and the art of filmmaking and yet we saw little to none of said films and filmmaking process throughout the night.

• Red Carpet Fashion Was Back – For better (hello Carey Mulligan) or worse (looking at you Frances McDormand), the award show red carpet was back in full effect. There were some wonderful highlights, such as the aforementioned Mulligan, Regina King, and Margot Robbie, some who were okay but maybe not that great, like Zendaya, Maria Bakalova, and Amanda Seyfried, and some “no, really”, such as Laura Dern, Emerald Fennell and Andra Day.

• Musical Performances – This counts as both good and bad. Good in that the performances were all stellar, despite none of the songs being a smash hit like Shallow was a few years ago. The bad comes from the fact that once again, for whatever inexplicable reason, the producers decided to air it as part of the pre-show, meaning many viewers likely didn’t even see them. Also, those performances would have been a great way to break up the monotony of all the talking. Again, did I mention there was a lot of talking?

• Venue – Due to social distancing, this year’s festivities were mostly moved away from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood to Union Station in Los Angeles. There were some nominees present at the Dolby Theatre, but most of the night’s action took place at Union Station and I have to say, I quite liked it. Similar to this year’s Grammy Awards, the setup helped to create an atmosphere that felt both casual and intimate.

• Where’s the Orchestra When You Need It – So I have a love/hate relationship with award shows playing the winners off. Sometimes, when the individual just seems to ramble nonstop, I get it. Other times, however, when it feels like someone has barely had a chance to thank anyone and the music’s already going, I find it annoying. This year’s Oscar ceremony though made me gain a newfound appreciation for the ‘ol playing off the winners. I assume owing to the different venue, there was no orchestra available or maybe the producers just decided to forego a time limit on speeches. Whatever the reason, my goodness, we needed that time limit. Because so many of these speeches just seemed like they would never end. And goodness knows there was already so much other talking going on.

• In Memoriam – In keeping with the rather dull, clip-less, music-less feel of the whole show, the In Memoriam segment turned out to be a disappointing dud. With weirdly peppy music playing in the background, the segment was nothing more than a collection of quick glimpses at the celebrities who passed in the last year. Once again, there were no clips shown of these people’s storied careers and thus, no showcase of their contribution to film. This was particularly baffling when considering some of the legends who passed away, like Sean Connery for example. These actors and filmmakers deserved more.

While it certainly wasn’t the ceremony I hoped for, I am glad we were able to have an Award Season at all and that some amazing films were still able to be released and seen. Like many, I hope that come this time next year, normalcy or something close to it will have returned and we could have an Oscar ceremony again with all the bells and whistles that typically accompany Hollywood’s biggest night.