When it seemed that the Oscars could not sink any lower, this year's ceremony has shown that the bottom is much further than imagined. This, not only because of the unexpected performance of the nominee Will Smith slapping the presenter Chris Rock, but also because of the absurd performance of the other trio of presenters, at times dressed up as characters taken from the movies and making bad jokes even about the covid-19 crisis. . After a dull and mediocre ceremony last year, the organizers probably wanted to return with a more iconoclastic and daring night; but the atmosphere of intolerance within an increasingly polarized world turned such intention into a grimace, mirroring the high degree of global dysfunctionality in which we find ourselves submerged.
Although the elegant spectacle of Beyoncé opening the show predicted a certain return to the elaborate musical numbers of the past, such hopes were soon dissipated, in the face of false attempts at inclusivity, especially from the population of color, by choosing four African Americans among the five. presenters, giving rap a preponderance over other musical styles and set the scene for the tribute to the disappeared with an evangelical choir in the style of the Baptist churches of Harlem. Attempts that were also truncated with Smith's unusual display of violence, which did nothing but give racism new arguments and divide people even more.
The sad moment of Liza Minnelli in a wheelchair and with serious cognitive problems to announce the winning film, a smiling Judy Dentch showing in the foreground the hole where she should have had an implant, or the aging trio of "The Godfather" led by a hesitant Francis Ford Coppola commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of its premiere, showed another type of decadence that was obviously unnecessary, since it does not add to, but subtracts from, the distinguished careers of these artists and the illusion of Hollywood glamour. All of this within a setting more typical of the MTV awards than of the Academy; although it is not surprising, given the current power of entertainment platforms over large studios.
In fact, “Coda” was widely publicized by its production company Apple TV +, achieving the statuette as best film over the favorite “The Power of the Dog”, Oscar for best direction only, which had not happened since “The Graduate ” (1968), since it is almost de rigueur that direction and film are awarded jointly. This showed the great influence of these platforms to aggressively advertise the films where they have interests despite the fact that, unlike the big studios, they lack tradition and cinematographic culture, favoring the commercial over quality. In this sense, the winning film is a minor work, within the style of productions such as “Children of a Lesser God” (1986) by Randa Haines, whose main protagonist, winner of the Oscar for best actress at the time, played the role of a deaf and mute mother. of the heroine. Here too, the issue of disability centered an argument supported by the apology for American family values, highly devalued given the enormous emotional deficiencies existing within their core, and the increasingly intransigent, xenophobic and homophobic behavior of much of the country.
Sian Heder, a new director with only one feature film to her credit, “Tallulah” (2016) produced by Netflix, represents this new breed of filmmakers promoted by digital platforms. Although she was not nominated in the category of best direction, she also won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay, in this remake of “La Famille Bélier” (2014) by Éric Lartigau, awarded on par in France; another commercial film equally supported by the emotional manipulation of the viewer and the empowerment of the disabled. “Coda”, fluctuating between comedy and melodrama, sought to repeat the feat, proposing a series of situations, mostly hackneyed and predictable, but which comforted the damaged psyche of an audience subjected to three years of pandemic, in a destabilized world. by wars and cataclysms of all kinds.
A film that made no concessions and is among the best that Hollywood has produced in recent years has been “The Power of the Dog” by Jane Campion, Oscar for best direction and with 12 nominations in total. Deliver my soul from the sword. From the power of the dog my life. Save me from the lion's mouth. And deliver me from the horns of the buffalo”, points out the Anglican Psalm that inspired the title. “Morally unclean people are called dogs. The law that God gave to Israel said: 'You must not introduce the rent of a harlot nor the price of a dog (prostitute)'…. All those who, like stray dogs that feed on offal, practice disgusting things, such as sodomy, lesbianism, depravity and cruelty, are prohibited from entering the New Jerusalem,” continues the “Book of Common Prayer”.

Campion's film smashed such prejudices, weaving an extraordinary fresco of emotions, sensations and reactions built like a great symphony; and where all the instruments —script, direction, interpretation, cinematography, soundtrack— were coupled in unison to offer the viewer a unique and unforgettable show.
Based on Thomas Savage's novel of the same name, the film captured the essence of the text in detail, bringing both media closer together until a constant dialogue was established. It is worth noting here the excellent performances of Benedict Cumberbatch, as the lonely and violent cowboy afraid that his homosexuality will be discovered, nominated for best actor; Jesse Plemons, in the role of the brother seeking to maintain the balance of the ranch and the brother, nomination for best supporting actor, Kodi Smit-McPhee, as the tempting and diabolical teenager, nominated in the same category, and Kirsten Dunst, in the role of the boy's unstable mother, nomination for best supporting actress. Perfect teamwork shaped Campion's intense script, nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, maintaining tension and viewer attention throughout the film.
An impeccable scenography, focused on the spectacular shots of the desolate and lonely landscapes, framed the development of characters living their respective dramas in solitude, and interacting in the way that these solitudes meet but fail to build a common existence, either siblings, friends, lovers, parents or spouses. Here Campion's mastery of creating extreme situations where the erotic, the cruel, the desperate and the unexpected are combined, was put at the service of the demystification of the Western, breaking the stereotypes of the mode like "Brokeback Mountain" (2005) by Ang Lee achieved at the time.
"Belfast" by Kenneth Branagh, Oscar for best original screenplay, turned out to be another iconic film with very little recognition at the awards, despite its 7 nominations; although its impact at this juncture of global terror, unleashed at levels not seen since World War II, has already made it a classic. This, given the intelligence and sensitivity with which the director approached another long and brutal conflict: that of the armed struggle between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, spurred on by extreme nationalism.
The film, however, did not immerse itself obsessively in the conflagration, but instead privileged the resilience of the most vulnerable groups, women and children, following their routines in the midst of a daily life permeated by hatred and blindness caused by fanaticism. The careful black and white photography and agile camera work, which favored the wide shots of the barricades in the streets and the insensitive confrontations between neighbors growing up in the same neighborhoods, constituted the ideal setting to accentuate the powerful work Caitriona Balfe acting — surprisingly no nomination; although very weak roles, such as that of Penelope Cruz in Pedro Almodóvar's “Parallel Mothers” was recognized with a nomination for best actress. Judy Dench and Ciarán Hinds earned nominations for best actress and best supporting actor, respectively, playing the grandparents of Buddy (Jude Hill), the perceptive little boy through whose eyes the viewer can follow the diegesis unfold.
As an alter ego of Branagh himself, the character of Buddy led him to return to his own memories and recover the small stories of very close characters who, in their optimism and inclusive values, defied the manipulation of the wills and hatred of those who sought to sow terror, spurred on by resentments, frustrations and revenge. Gallantry under pressure, to move forward in the midst of chaos, allowed the members of this family not to give up in order to protect and protect themselves. In his words: “When you live on high alert, when your family and everyone around you spirals into violence, everything else escalates and becomes extremely precious.”
Nominated for best film —the first of the Japanese filmography—, direction and adapted screenplay, “Drive My Car” by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, won the Oscar for best foreign film. Based on a story by Haruki Murakami, it tells the story of an actor and theater director and the young woman assigned to him as a conductor, when he goes to Hiroshima to put on a production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. The sense of loss and lack of incentives of the characters in the play was transferred to the protagonists of the film, whose lives intersected emotionally as both had experienced the loss of someone who motorized their lives.
The sudden death of the director's wife leads him to flee from the shared places, and the death of the mother in an accident forces the young woman to leave her home and start a new existence far from what was known until then. In Hamaguchi's direction, the roads, highways and streets through which they circulate —he rehearsing the lines of the work, she listening to him in silence attentive to the road— became an integral part of the diegesis by giving them the space of time necessary for friendship to germinate. and bear fruit. The use of close-ups and close-ups in a shot-against-shot game created the necessary intimacy in the reduced space of the car; and the elevated shots capturing the landscape where they rolled, produced the contrast between the physical space of the car and the mental space where each one was immersed for the duration of the journey.
Upon moving to the young woman's town, where the accident occurred, the drama closes in on itself, allowing both of them to close the duel and the guilt that has gripped them until then. This, without the drama exploding but remaining contained, following the leisurely rhythm of events, very much in the style of the director Wong Kar-wai; although here the romantic development of the relationship was barely noted in the final scene, when the young woman returned from the market with the director's dog in her car, but alone, perhaps with him waiting for her at the house now shared by both. The open ending thus left room for speculation, allowing the viewer to fill in the blanks with their own fears and desires, enriching and multiplying the transforming effect of the film.
Paul Thomas Anderson's “Licorice Pizza”, nominated, among other awards, for best film and director, failed to win any statuette, although it stood out for its successful portrayal of the friendship between two teenagers in the early seventies. Gary (Cooper Hoffman, son of the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Alana (Alana Haim, known for her rock group Haim) share high school in the relaxed Californian atmosphere of the time, with Gary as an intrepid entrepreneur proposing Alana to participate in his adventures into the world of small businesses in the area.
A photography and a cinematography very adjusted to the time mirrored the energy and aesthetics of another Anderson film, “Boogie Nights” (1997), although here it was the adventures of two young people discovering the world and discovering each other that constituted the plot point. The use of the subjective camera and the fragmentary montage gave the scenes a rhythm, in tune with the developments of a geography and a moment where the freedom of the sixties was breathed but the forces that would lead to the conservatism of the eighties had not yet taken hold. .
Another film that was returned to the recent past was the version of "King Richard" by the director Reinaldo Marcus Green. Set in 1994, it chronicles the rise to stardom of tennis players Venus and Serena Williams. Will Smith, in the role of the father of the young women, won the Oscar for best actor, in a role of a kind, tolerant and inclusive man, who was belied by his aggressive and rude performance in real time during the Academy ceremony.
The struggles to separate adolescents from street life and focus on their careers, within a society that hinders the rise of the non-white population, obtained an accurate development, although the complacent and manipulative nature of the script weakened this production. The couple's ups and downs, the difficulties in maintaining a balance between the family and the professional, and the hostilities within such a competitive and lucrative world, were acutely explored from the racial and personal tension, just as the director had shown in his first film. movie “Monsters and Men” (2018). This, as a corollary to a reality where the rise and fall can come to succeed each other quickly, as this year's Oscars have unfortunately shown.