On Sunday, Jimmy Kimmel hosted the 95th Academy Awards ceremony where A24’s Everything Everywhere All At Once cleaned up, taking home seven trophies including Best Picture, Director, Actress (Michelle Yeoh in a historic win), Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan), Best Supporting Actress (Jamie Lee Curtis), Original Screenplay and Film Editing.

The fiasco ceremony last year felt, in many ways, like the accumulation of the worst bits of Hollywood, but more polished production, a better host and a considerably better slate of films made the historic and most prominent American film award ceremony feel like a return to form. The iconic red carpet was swapped out for a more rose-tinted color to match the weather, all 23 awards were presented live, and the stage design was engaging. Even some of the mini “skits” performed by presenters were fun—a rare feat.

There was collective glee amid the crowd when the bubbly Quan won his award for the first film he’s starred in since retiring to assistant directing and stunt coordination 20 years ago due to the lack of opportunities for Asian actors. There was similar happiness from the audience and across social media for Yeho’s win for her wonderous turn as Evelyn Wang, a struggling laundromat owner, unhappy wife and disgruntled mother. She’s the second actress of color to ever win the award; Halle Berry—the only other—presented her with the win alongside last year’s winner Jessica Chastain.

A24 films continued to dominate when Brendan Fraser won Best Actor for The Whale, another prominent actor that has spent recent years rather off the grid. The film also won Best Makeup and Hairstyling for the extensive prosthetic makeup done to create a 600-pound Fraser.

All Quiet on the Western Front took home four awards—Best International Feature, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Production Design—the second most of the evening.

Guillermo Del Toro’s stunning stop-motion Pinocchio took home Best Animated Feature, while RRR’s “Natu Natu” deservingly took home Best Original Song. The ceremony featured performances of all five nominees for the category. An (even more!) pregnant Rihanna and an all-natural Lady Gaga performed their rather underwhelming songs “Lift Me Up” and “Hold My Hand,” while Everything’s Stephanie Hsu performed “This Is a Life,” Sofia Carson performed Dianne Warren’s “Applause” and the cast of RRR performed. Even from the night’s performances, the “Natu Natu’s” songwriters deserved the win.

Women Talking took home Best Adapted Screenplay while box-office powerhouses Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick took home Best Visual Effects and Best Sound respectively.

Though the MCU’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever lost Best Supporting Actress (Angela Bassett) in the franchise’s first acting nomination, Ruth E. Carter repeated her win for Best Costume Design, becoming the first Black woman to win multiple Oscars.

An Irish Goodbye, The Elephant Whisperers and The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse took home all the “Short” awards, winning Best Live Action, Best Documentary and Best Animated Short. Lastly, Navalny—an account of the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny by the Russian government—took home Best Documentary Feature and featured an appearance by the opposition leader’s wife. It almost felt like a political statement from the Academy, aside from the fact they turned down Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after a second year of requesting to appear on the special.

Kimmel felt comfortable and familiar (does anyone even remember the hosts last year?) and had a decent number of funny jokes and gags including an appearance from The Banshees of Inishiern’s donkey, while poking fun at Nicole Kidman’s AMC ad and lack of attendance from Tom Cruise and James Cameron—two moguls responsible for last year’s two biggest films.

Let’s see if the Academy can understand the ways in which the show worked this year and keep that momentum going for next year.

 

For more awards season coverage:

2023 SAG Awards Recap