Anora triumphs with 5 Oscars, including best picture, at safe but steady Academy Awards

The 97th Academy Awards, hosted by Conan O'Brien and led by Anora with 5 wins, didn't conscionable debar the accepted Oscars pitfalls — they were really amazingly successful. 

The ceremonial kicked things disconnected with a Wizard of Oz-inspired tribute to an L.A. ravaged by fires featuring an awesome vocal medley by Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.

O'Brien followed that up by showing disconnected his skills as host, dancing done the dizzying fig of scandals that plagued this awards season. He built successful jokes astir the Catholic thriller Conclave perchance mirroring the Pope's current aesculapian crisis, and made an extended notation to Emilia Pérez histrion Karla Sofía Gascón's racist tweet debacle. 

After O'Brien noted that Anora used the F-word 479 times — just 3 times much than Gascón's publicist — the camera focused straight connected her. Addressing the actress personally, helium advised her that if she chose to tweet astir him, "Remember, my sanction is Jimmy Kimmel."

He besides managed to squeak successful a notation to the rap feud that volition ne'er die. 

"Well, we're halfway done the show, which means it's clip for Kendrick Lamar to travel retired and telephone Drake a pedophile," O'Brien said. "Don't worry, I'm lawyered up."

WATCH | Anora emerges arsenic large winner:

It was each par for the people for an awards play seemingly defined by shifting narratives, antagonistic headlines and atrocious blood. Going into the Oscars with a gigantic 13 nominations, Emilia Pérez ended the nighttime with a caller benignant of record. After lone taking location 2 awards, it is present tied arsenic the losingest movie successful the ceremony's history.

But it wasn't a nighttime defined by losses. Emilia Pérez's Zoe Saldaña took location the champion supporting histrion award, tearfully proclaiming she was the archetypal American of Dominican root to triumph an Academy Award, "and I cognize I volition not beryllium the last."

Anora pulled successful 5 trophies, including the night's biggest award, champion picture. Though it trailed Emilia Pérez's 13 nominations and Wicked and The Brutalist's 10, it had a somewhat historical night. A movie hasn't won truthful galore awards from truthful fewer nominations since The Bad and the Beautiful successful 1952.

Those wins included 1 that was somewhat of a surprise. Demi Moore was expected to gain her archetypal Oscar triumph for champion histrion disconnected the spot of her show successful The Substance, but Anora star Mikey Madison ended up pulling retired the win.

Anora manager Sean Baker ties record

To some, it was a sting that replicated the crippled of Moore's movie — an older performer rudely pushed retired of the limelight for a younger one. Despite Madison's triumph, Anora's big winner was manager Sean Baker. Due to his idiosyncratic manus successful the film, Baker took location 4 awards himself.

Before him, lone Walt Disney had accomplished the aforesaid feat, though helium won for 4 antithetic titles successful 1954. Anora's dominant show connected Sunday cemented the indie film's spot successful the Hollywood system, contempt being one of the lowest-grossing champion representation winners of each time.

Baker besides had the accidental to stock the signifier with his wife, Vancouver-born shaper Samantha Quan, making them the 2nd husband-wife squad to instrumentality home best representation successful a row, pursuing past year's win by Oppenheimer's Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas. 

In Baker's triumphant code aft winning champion director, helium made a plea for the aboriginal of films released successful theatres — perchance a subtle jab astatine Netflix and the wide emergence of streaming platforms.

"This is my conflict cry: filmmakers, support making films for the large screen," helium said. "When we can, delight ticker movies successful the theatre. And let's support the large contented of the moviegoing acquisition live and well."

Few moments addressing governmental issues

That rapid-fire code paled successful examination to Adrien Brody's. The actor, who added a 2nd Oscars to his furniture for his portrayal of a Holocaust subsister and designer successful The Brutalist, bushed retired Timothée Chalamet for A Complete Unknown. 

Midway done a five-minute, forty-second code — 10 seconds longer than what the Guinness Book of World Records states is the longest Academy code ever — Brody waved distant the music, promising "I volition beryllium brief" earlier continuing. In an impassioned if unspecific acceptance, helium spoke of racism, antisemitism, "othering," and ended with a plea.

"If our past tin thatch america of anything, it's a reminder to not fto hatred spell unchecked," helium said. "Let's combat for what's close … let's rebuild together."

On the whole, determination were fewer moments that sought to code ongoing governmental issues. There were nary protests, but arsenic with past year's intense acceptance code from director Jonathan Glazer, who spoke about Gaza, the team down Israeli-Palestinian warfare movie No Other Land called for nationalist rights for Palestinians successful their acceptance code for champion documentary feature.

"There is simply a antithetic path. A governmental solution. Without taste supremacy, with nationalist rights for some of our people," said co-director Yuval Abraham, earlier criticizing the United States. "And I person to say, arsenic I americium here, the overseas argumentation successful this state is helping to artifact this path."

As the favourites, it wasn't precisely a astonishment they bushed retired the Canadian Sugarcane, which focuses connected the lasting interaction of residential schools. 

While the Canadian-directed Navalny won 2 years ago — and documentaries from the state are often nominated — the past clip a Canadian diagnostic triumphed was successful 1986. Then, Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got won successful a tie, becoming the 3rd Canadian doc ever to win.

Outside of No Other Land's moment, the political messaging occurred largely connected the fringes — including The Brutalist supporting histrion nominee Guy Pearce sporting a "Free Palestine" pin, and Jeremy Strong, nominated for his relation arsenic Donald Trump mentor Roy Cohn successful The Apprentice, making a tiny allusion up of the awards. 

"It's dark," helium said erstwhile asked astir preparing for the part, "dark to beryllium talking astir it successful the discourse of what's happening successful our satellite close now." 

Rebuilding and sharing the wealth

Instead, determination were comments astir rebuilding aft the L.A. fires, and what seemed to beryllium a sharing-of-the-wealth betwixt productions that were antecedently astatine each others' necks. 

Trailing Anora with full wins was The Brutalist, which saw its champion histrion triumph padded by awards for cinematography and score.

Then there was the dense three-way necktie between Wicked, Dune: Part Two and Emilia Pérez, with the erstwhile two earning their honours mostly successful method fields — champion costume and accumulation plan for Wicked, and dependable and ocular effects for Dune: Part Two.

Besides its champion supporting histrion win, Emilia Pérez besides added a trophy for champion opus — beating retired Diane Warren's The Journey, which she wrote for The Six Triple Eight. It was Warren's eighth consecutive nomination, her sixteenth vocation information — and sixteenth loss.

There were precocious points elsewhere. I'm Still Here triumphed arsenic planetary movie of the year. Their triumph led to large chants of "Brazil! Brazil!" from fans and adjacent reporters successful the property country backstage, successful solemnisation of the country's first-ever triumph successful the category.

Then the plucky small animated movie Flow, made connected open-source bundle for astir $4 cardinal US, bushed retired the titanic, $80 cardinal US The Wild Robot. It besides earned the state of Latvia their archetypal ever nomination and win.

And agelong a favourite to win, Kieran Culkin took location his archetypal Oscar for his supporting relation successful A Real Pain. Pointing to his wife, Jazz Charton, he revisited his acceptance code astatine the 2024 Emmys wherever helium won for Succession and noted then that she had promised him a third child if helium won, but he told her aboriginal helium wanted 4 children. 

"She said, 'I volition springiness you 4 erstwhile you triumph an Oscar,' " helium said, clutching the trophy successful his hand. "I conscionable person this to accidental to you Jazz, emotion of my life, ye of small religion … Let's get cracking connected those kids, what bash you say?"