We review The Oscar’s 2019 so you don’t have to
Words by Olivia De Zilva
For the first time since 1989, The Academy Awards had no host. Because of controversy surrounding its original choice, Kevin Hart, the team behind the Oscars decided to forge a lone path to the stage of glory. Though there was no one manning the in-between scenes filmed at Hollywood’s Dolby theatre, there were still enough theatrics, laughs and tears to bring us to the end of awards season.
Here are the most important moments of The Academy Awards you may have missed:
- Queen opening the show with Adam Lambert:
The safe choice for this year’s controversial awards show, Queen (Brian May & Roger Taylor) + Adam Lambert opened the Academy Awards with all the glitz and glam one would expect. Opening with We Will Rock You, Lambert put on his best Freddie Mercury impersonation while May and Taylor rocked away to the tunes that made them into fully-fledged rockstars. Capitalising on the success of Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) at the boxoffice, this opening was only fitting seeing the film’s big wins for the rest of the night.
2. The Golden Quartet
Without the winners, there would be no Oscars. Rami Malek took home the coveted Best Actor Award for his role as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, while Olivia Colman took home Best Actress for The Favourite. Mahershala Ali accepted his second Best Supporting Actor award for Green Book and first-time nominee, Regina King won the Best Supporting Actress Award for her role in If Beale Street Could Talk. Watch their acceptance speeches here:
3. Roma gets the recognition it deserves
Alfonso Cuarón’s searing insight to everyday life of a cleaner in Mexico has been largely overlooked this Award’s Season due to production juggernauts A Star is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody taking up most of the spotlight and publicity. This mean’t that Alfonso’ Cuarón’s win for Best Director (and fourth Oscar) was a pretty big deal.
4. Green Book wins Best Picture
Though it received a hammering in the press for it’s idealisation of racial tension during the 1960s, caricatures of ethnic minorities and inaccurate depiction of Dr. Don Shirley’s real story, Green Book took home the Oscar for Best Motion Picture. A safe choice to avoid this year’s controversy? Yes. While many were hoping to see the teams behind Black Panther or Roma take home the most important award of the night, the Academy just couldn’t spare another PR misstep. Plus, they love movies about the 60s and historical figures.
5. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper perform Shallow on the Oscar’s stage
Though losing out in heavy categories including Best Picture, Director, Actor & Actress, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper still brought the musical magic of A Star Is Born to the Dolby Theatre. Performing their Oscar Winning song Shallow, Gaga and Cooper treated the audience to a tender, dynamic display of their enviable chemistry.
6. Period. End of Sentence wins the Oscar for Documentary Short Subject
It’s not everyday a documentary about menstruation wins an Academy Award. Director Rayka Zehtabchi was more than ecstatic with this achievement, saying “I’m not crying because I’m on my period of anything! I can’t believe a film about menstruation has won an Oscar!”
7. Shangela walked the red carpet with Jenifer Lewis
Ru Paul’s Drag Race alumni Shangela made everyone forget that this year’s Oscars was a shambles by proudly walking the red carpet with the “Auntie of Black Hollywood”, Jenifer Lewis. Their appearance at the 2019 Oscars signified a change in the heteronormative couples and relationships usually encouraged on the red carpet.
8. Billy Porter wore a tuxedo dress on the red carpet
Defying gender norms, The Pose star Billy Porter arrived at the Academy Awards in a custom-designed tuxedo dress by Christian Siriano. Porter claimed that he wanted to challenge the conventional expectations of masculinity, telling US Vogue, “women show up everyday in pants, but the minute a man wears a dress, the seas part”.
9. Black Panther Wins 3 Oscars
Wakanda Forever! After becoming the first superhero movie to be nominated for Best Picture, Black Panther finally took home gongs for Best Costume Design (with the first Black woman Ruth E. Carter taking home the award), Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures and Best Achievement in Production Design. Although many had hoped it was in the runnings for Best Picture/Director, it was still a monumental achievement for diversity in Hollywood and the comic-book genre.
10. In Memoriam
The Academy Awards paid tribute to all of those lost this year and last with a stirring memoriam reel in the middle of the ceremony. Among those remembered was comic book legend Stan Lee, actor Burt Reynolds, publicist Paul Bloch, animator Will Vinton, actress Penny Marshall, writer William Goldman, actor Bruno Ganz and actor Albert Finney.
And with that, the 91st Academy Awards comes to a wrap. Goodbye Awards Season, Hello new contenders!
Here are the full list of winners:
BEST PICTURE
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
WINNER: Green Book
Roma
A Star Is Born
Vice
DIRECTING
Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman
Pawel Pawlikowski, Cold War
Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite
WINNER: Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Adam McKay, Vice
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
Glenn Close, The Wife
WINNER: Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Christian Bale, Vice
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate
WINNER: Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Viggo Mortensen, Green Book
ORIGINAL SONG
All The Stars from Black Panther by Kendrick Lamar, SZA
I’ll Fight from RBG by Diane Warren, Jennifer Hudson
The Place Where Lost Things Go from Mary Poppins Returns by Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman
WINNER: Shallow from A Star Is Born by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt and Benjamin Rice
When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch
ORIGINAL SCORE
BlacKkKlansman, Terence Blanchard
WINNER: Black Panther, Ludwig Goransson
If Beale Street Could Talk, Nicholas Britell
Isle of Dogs, Alexandre Desplat
Mary Poppins Returns, Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
WINNER: BlacKkKlansman, Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee
Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
If Beale Street Could Talk, Barry Jenkins
A Star Is Born, Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Favourite, Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
First Reformed, Paul Schrader
WINNER: Green Book, Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly
Roma, Alfonso Cuarón
Vice, Adam McKay
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Detainment, Vincent Lambe
Fauve, Jeremy Comte
Marguerite, Marianne Farley
Mother, Rodrigo Sorogoyen
WINNER: Skin, Guy Nattiv, Jaime Ray Newman
VISUAL EFFECTS
Avengers: Infinity War
Christopher Robin
WINNER: First Man
Ready Player One
Solo: A Star Wars Story
DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Black Sheep, Ed Perkins
End Game, Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
Lifeboat, Skye Fitzgerald
A Night at the Garden, Marshall Curry
WINNER: Period. End of Sentence., Rayka Zehtabchi
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Animal Behaviour, Alison Snowden, David Fine
WINNER: Bao, Domee Shi
Late Afternoon, Louise Bagnall
One Small Step, Andrew Chesworth, Bobby Pontillas
Weekends, Trevor Jimenez
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Incredibles 2, Brad Bird
Isle of Dogs, Wes Anderson
Mirai, Mamoru Hosoda
Ralph Breaks the Internet, Rich Moore, Phil Johnston
WINNER: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
WINNER: Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
Sam Elliott, A Star Is Born
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Rockwell, Vice
FILM EDITING
BlacKkKlansman, Barry Alexander Brown
WINNER: Bohemian Rhapsody, John Ottman
Green Book, Patrick J. Don Vito
The Favourite, Yorgos Mavropsaridis
Vice, Hank Corwin
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Capernaum (Lebanon)
Cold War (Poland)
Never Look Away (Germany)
WINNER: Roma (Mexico)
Shoplifters (Japan)
SOUND MIXING
Black Panther
WINNER: Bohemian Rhapsody
First Man
Roma
A Star Is Born
SOUND EDITING
Black Panther, Benjamin A. Burtt, Steve Boeddeker
WINNER: Bohemian Rhapsody, John Warhurst, Nina Hartstone
First Man, Ai-Ling Lee, Mildred Iatrou Morgan
A Quiet Place, Ethan Van der Ryn, Erik Aadahl
Roma, Sergio Diaz, Skip Lievsay
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Cold War, Lukasz Zal
The Favourite, Robbie Ryan
Never Look Away, Caleb Deschanel
WINNER: Roma, Alfonso Cuarón
A Star Is Born, Matthew Libatique
PRODUCTION DESIGN
WINNER: Black Panther, Hannah Beachler
First Man, Nathan Crowley, Kathy Lucas
The Favourite, Fiona Crombie, Alice Felton
Mary Poppins Returns, John Myhre, Gordon Sim
Roma, Eugenio Caballero, Bárbara Enrı́quez
COSTUME DESIGN
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Mary Zophres
WINNER: Black Panther, Ruth E. Carter
The Favourite, Sandy Powell
Mary Poppins Returns, Sandy Powell
Mary Queen of Scots, Alexandra Byrne
MAKE-UP AND HAIRSTYLING
Border
Mary Queen of Scots
WINNER: Vice
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
WINNER: Free Solo, Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
Hale County This Morning, This Evening, RaMell Ross
Minding the Gap, Bing Liu
Of Fathers and Sons, Talal Derki
RBG, Betsy West, Julie Cohen
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams, Vice
Marina de Tavira, Roma
WINNER: Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
