“Green Book” won best picture, and Spike Lee won his first competitive Oscar, for best adapted screenplay. An analysis of “Green Book” and movies like it in Hollywood.
• Rami Malek won best actor for “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and Olivia Colman won best actress for “The Favourite.” Alfonso Cuarón won best director for “Roma,” which also won best foreign language film. Here’s the full list of winners.
• Two “Black Panther” crew members, Hannah Beachler (production design) and Ruth E. Carter (costumes), became the first African-Americans to receive Oscars in their categories.
• See photos from the red carpet. Read our TV critic’s review of the show. Read about the best and worst moments of the Oscars.
Oscars 2019: Watch the Highlights“Green Book” won the Oscar for best picture. Olivia Colman and Rami Malek took home the awards for best actress and actor. And Alfonso Cuarón won best director for “Roma.”CreditCreditMonica Almeida/The New York Times
LOS ANGELES — “Green Book,” about a white chauffeur and his black client in segregation-era America, won best picture and two other trophies at the 91st Academy Awards, overcoming a series of awards-season setbacks and mixed critical notices.
In honoring “Green Book,” voters slowed the rise of Netflix, which had aggressively pushed “Roma” in the best-picture race. Netflix made significant inroads, however, with “Roma,” about a domestic worker in 1970s-era Mexico City, winning three Oscars, including best director and cinematographer for Alfonso Cuarón. (Netflix had previously received only one Oscar for a feature-length film.)
[Here’s the full list of winners.]
In many ways, the ceremony — the first without a host in 30 years — played out like the more populist and less prestigious Golden Globes: veering in multiple directions as voters sprinkled their attention among a dozen pictures, with no film walking away with a commanding sweep.
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” the blockbuster biopic about Queen and its frontman, Freddie Mercury, received the most Academy Awards — four — with wins for Rami Malek’s lead acting and for editing, sound mixing and sound editing. “Black Panther” went home with three Oscars. The Dick Cheney biopic “Vice” received one, for hair and makeup. “The Favourite,” which had 10 nominations going into the night, tying “Roma” for the most, also left with one Oscar, for Olivia Colman as lead actress.
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Oscar Winners and More From the 91st Academy Awards18 PhotosView Slide Show›ImageNoel West for The New York Times
A gobsmacked Colman gave a giggling, circuitous acceptance speech that nonetheless managed to address the elephant in the room — that her victory had denied one to Glenn Close (“The Wife”), who had been expected to break her seven-nomination losing streak.
“This is not how I wanted it to be,” Colman said, as the camera cut to Close in the audience. Close smiled and offered a c’est la vie shrug.
Spike Lee was not as sanguine. When “Green Book” won best picture, he made a disgusted gesture and started walking out of the theater as “Green Book” producers gave their speeches. Backstage, Lee said, “No comment,” when asked about the coronation of “Green Book,” which detractors complain has a retrograde view of race.
Lee then added, “I thought I was courtside at the Garden and the ref made a bad call.”
In a major shift from the #OscarsSoWhite years of 2015 and 2016, this year’s ceremony, which lasted a little over three hours, was notable for the diversity of honorees. Two “Black Panther” crew members, Hannah Beachler (production design) and Ruth E. Carter (costumes), became the first African-Americans to receive Oscars in their respective categories. Cuarón received the prize for best cinematography for “Roma,” making him the first director to win for shooting his own film.
[Hannah Beachler and Ruth E. Carter make Oscar history for black women.]
Asian-Americans were represented in victories for “Free Solo,” which was named best documentary, and for “Bao,” which won best animated short. L.G.B.T. people were acknowledged with “Bohemian Rhapsody.
“We made a film about a gay man, an immigrant, who lived his life just unapologetically himself,” Malek said. “We’re longing for stories like this.”
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Get recommendations on the best TV shows and films to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.SIGN UPSpike Lee accepting the award for best adapted screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman.”CreditNoel West for The New York Times
And Lee (“BlacKkKlansman”) won a competitive Oscar for the first time in his celebrated career — albeit for writing and not directing. It was the lone award for the film. “Let’s all mobilize,” Lee shouted, referencing the coming presidential election as he accepted the adapted screenplay award. “Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Let’s do the right thing!”
“Green Book” also won best original screenplay. It was written by Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly. Vallelonga, who wrote the book on which the film was based, thanked his parents. Farrelly thanked his cast, agents, publicists, production executives, family and the entire state of Rhode Island.
“Shallow,” the duet between Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper that serves as the centerpiece of “A Star Is Born,” won best song. The film came up short during much of the awards season, but “Shallow” proved irresistible to voters.
No Host? No Problem
And the Oscar for best Academy Awards host goes to … nobody!
The original plan, of course, was for the comedian Kevin Hart to preside over Sunday night’s awards, until he was dropped for his history of homophobic tweets. So instead of a comedian delivering a monologue, there was a mini-medley from Queen — whose original singer, Freddie Mercury, was celebrated in “Bohemian Rhapsody” fronted by the former “American Idol” contestant Adam Lambert.
So began this hostless, in-a-hurry Oscars, itself a longtime institution moving forward and putting on a show without the public face it started with.
And as it turns out, Hart — or whoever might have replaced him — was hardly missed.
That the Oscars managed a watchable show, much less the brisk, entertaining one we got, was a surprise. Read the full review of the show here. JAMES PONIEWOZIK
Queen opens the show
Brian May and Adam Lambert opened the Academy Awards ceremony.CreditNoel West for The New York Times
The show took its lead from the Grammys, opening with a rowdy rendition of “We Will Rock You” by Queen.
“Welcome to the Oscars!” shouted Adam Lambert, who has taken over for Mercury as Queen’s frontman in recent years, as a waterfall of sparks fell to the Dolby Theater stage.
Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph then took the stage and — while explaining they were not the hosts — gave a mini-performance that drew relaxed laughter from the audience and seemed to make the case that the three women should be hired to co-host next year, pronto. In a quick segue, they began presenting the Oscar for best supporting actress at the show’s eight-minute mark. Last year, it took the show 18 minutes just to get through Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue.
Regina King won the supporting actress trophy for her role in the lyrical art film “If Beale Street Could Talk.”Regina King won best supporting actress for her role in “If Beale Street Could Talk.”CreditNoel West for The New York Times
“I’m an example of what it looks like when support and love is poured into someone,” King said, composing herself after breaking into tears.
Historic wins for ‘Black Panther’
Two subsequent awards also found African-American women called to the stage. Carter, a three-time nominee (“Amistad,” “Malcolm X”), won best costume design for her Afro-futuristic “Black Panther” attire. Beachler made history herself for her work (with Jay Hart).
“When you think it’s impossible, just remember to say this,” Beachler said, reading off her phone during an emotional speech. “I did my best, and my best is good enough.”Alfonso Cuarón won three Oscars for “Roma.”CreditNoel West for The New York Times
The film also won for Ludwig Goransson’s score.
“Roma” won best foreign-language film.
“Free Solo,” about a daring rock climber, took the prize for documentary feature.
“Thank you National Geographic for believing in us, and for hiring women and people of color,” said one of its directors, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.
[Glenn Close loses at the Oscars. Again.]
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had pressed the producers of this year’s ceremony to drastically reduce the running time. Last year, the Oscars stretched to almost four hours — beyond the endurance of viewers, with ratings dropping to a record low. In one abandoned plan, the academy wanted to award four Oscars, including hair and makeup, during the commercial breaks, with the winning moments edited and aired later in the broadcast.Oscars Red Carpet 2019: Stars Arriving at the 91st Academy Awards85 PhotosView Slide Show›ImageJosh Haner/The New York Times
Perhaps as a protest, intentional or not, the three winners for hair and makeup, honored for their work on “Vice,” took their time at the microphone. In an awkward and halting set of thank yous, they fumbled with a piece of paper containing names and went way over their allotted 90-second time. Producers started the playoff music and ultimately cut sound to the microphone.
The academy spreads the love around
Notably, none of the winners from “Bohemian Rhapsody” thanked Bryan Singer, who was fired as the film’s director because of erratic behavior on the set and has been dogged by sexual misconduct allegations.
The first win for “Green Book” was a supporting actor victory by Mahershala Ali. It was Ali’s second supporting actor win in recent years. (He previously won in 2017 for his role in “Moonlight.”) Ali became the second African-American man to win two Oscars for acting, joining Denzel Washington.Mahershala Ali won best supporting actor for his role in “Green Book.”CreditNoel West for The New York Times
“I want to dedicate this to my grandmother, who has been in my ear my entire life telling me that if at first I don’t succeed, try, try again,” Ali said from the stage.
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” won best animated feature for Sony Pictures, as expected. The win was a blow to Disney and its Pixar studio, which have dominated the category since its creation in 2001 and had two nominees this year, “Incredibles 2” and “Ralph Breaks the Internet.”
Peter Ramsey, one of the three-credited “Spider-Verse” directors, spoke about the importance of inclusion in animated films. “We see you, we’re powerful,” he said to fans who identified with the diverse characters in the film.
Pixar did not leave empty-handed, thanks to its win for “Bao,” conceived and directed by Domee Shi. Even the space-race thriller “First Man” picked up an award, for visual effects.
by nytimes.com
