The Oscars 2024

The 96th edition of the Oscars Gala took place on the 10th of March and went down without any major surprises or chaotic moments. The show was a perfect blend of funny moments and short introduction speeches, the fast-paced gala was decorated with memorable moments, such as John Cena walking on the stage “naked” or Ryan Gosling performing his iconic song from Barbie with 64 Kens in a breathtaking pink suit.

The biggest innovation of this year’s edition was during the actors’ categories, where previous winners praised the candidates, as well as announcing the winner, whereas for similar categories such as screenplays, the awards were presented quickly after one which balanced the length of the show, as well as making it more entertaining.

Oppenheimer, the blockbuster portraying the life of J Robert Oppenheimer, the inventor of the atomic bomb won seven awards, making it by far the night’s most successful movie. The movie’s triumph can be contributed to the circumstances, as Russia’s Vladimir Putin poses a threat of using the country’s nuclear arsenal against the western world, which made viewers extremely sensitive of the topic of the movie.

Filmmaking genius Cristopher Nolan finally received his first award for directing Oppenheimer, prior his seven unsuccessful nominations, as well as winning best picture, which was highly anticipated -even though personally I considered Poor Things the best movie-, after the movie won the Golden Globe in the category.

Cillian Murphy got his well-deserved win for his magnificent portrayal of Oppenheimer himself, which did not come unexpected to anyone who has seen the movie, where he amazingly showed changes of a human character when it creates something so unhuman.

Robert Downey Jr has won his first Oscar for his performance as Lewi Strauss in Oppenheimer. This came as no surprise as he was the favorite to win the award, after winning all the major film awards leading up to the Oscars.

Perhaps the only major upset was that seven years after winning for La La Land, Emma Stone earned her second Best Actress Oscar for Poor Things. She played a character with the mind of a child in the body of a grown woman who embarks on a journey of self-discovery in the steampunk fantasy. Although many opinions can be heard that Lily Gladstone was robbed, personally I considered Emma’s acting outstanding in comparison to Lily’s and was glad to see her win. Stone’s win was one of four victories for Poor Things, which also was recognized in several technical and below-the-line categories.

One of the most un-surprising victories of the night happened when Da’Vine Joy Randolph earned best supporting actress for her role as a grieving cafeteria manager grappling with the death of her son in The Holdovers.

Billie Eilish made history, becoming the youngest two-time Oscar recipient at age 22 after winning best song for her Barbie ballad What Was I Made For? She co-wrote the song with her brother, Finneas O’Connell — the pair previously won for penning the theme to  2021’s No Time to Die.

On the other end of the age divide, Hayao Miyazaki became the oldest winner of best animated feature for The Boy and the Heron. The 83-year-old Japanese animation maestro previously won for 2002’s Spirited Away.

The Ukrainian film 20 days in Mariupol, which was shot inside the besieged port city during the assault by Russian forces, has won the best documentary Oscar at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Taking to the stage, Chernov said the Oscar was the first ever for a Ukrainian film. “I am honored but I will probably be the first director on this stage to say that I wish I had never made this film.”

Killers of the Flower Moon went home without winning a single award, which some found surprising; however I wasn’t fond of Scorsese’s western -it being over three hours long was way too much-, hence I wasn’t expecting the movie to win an award.