Let's All Go to the Building That’s Dedicated to Streaming Movies
I don’t normally do a pre or post Oscars piece, but last night’s ceremony (or rather this early morning in Dubai time) had a few standout moments that I wanted to write about here.
The top two moments from the ceremony are very much related, about the importance of movie theatres, and I wonder if Conan O’Brien and Sean Baker talked about this after the ceremony.
Conan O’Brien’s CinemStreams sketch makes fun of streaming and basically saying we should watch films in a cinema, “a building that’s dedicated to streaming movies…we took 800 smartphones and glued them all together and made one giant smartphone”.
When asked “How do you hold it?” if the film can’t be watched on a phone or tablet, Conan replies, “You don’t. The building holds it.”
Also, ”How do I start it?” and Conan replies, ”We start the movie for you.”
Martin Scorsese makes an appearance at the end, “Tell ‘em Marty sent ya.”
It ends with “CinemaStreams is a trademark of Conan O’Brien in partnership with the Sackler family and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”, followed by Martin Scorsese saying “Tell ‘em Marty sent ya.”
The sketch is not available on YouTube, but I found it on Instagram.
Sean Baker’s acceptance speech for Best Director for Anora
We're all here tonight and watching this broadcast because we love movies. Where did we fall in love with the movies? At the movie theatre.
Watching a film in the theatre with an audience is an experience. We can laugh together, cry together, scream in fright together, perhaps sit in devastated silence together.
And in a time in which the world can feel very divided, this is more important than ever. It's a communal experience you simply don't get at home, and right now the theatre going experience is under threat.
Movie theatres, especially independently owned theatres are struggling, and it's up to us to support them. During the pandemic we lost nearly 1,000 screens in the US and we continue to lose them regularly.If we don't reverse this trend we'll be losing a vital part of our culture. This is my battle cry.
Filmmakers, keep making films for the big screen, I know I will.
Distributors, please focus first and foremost on the theatrical releases of your films. Neon did that for me and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Parents, introduce your children to feature films in movie theatres and you'll be moulding the next generation of movie lovers and filmmakers.
And for all of us, when we can please watch movies in the theatre and let's keep the great tradition of the movie going experience alive and well.
One last thing, my mother introduced me to cinema at 5 years old. Today is also her birthday. Happy birthday Mom. I love you. Thank you for everything. This is for you.
Other highs and a couple of lows:
I’ve been watching the Oscars ceremony for as long as I remember, it’s a personal annual tradition regardless of what is or isn’t nominated.
This year, the only films I wanted to win in their nominated categories were A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Flow and I’m Still Here, and Better Man for the only nomination it received - Visual Effects.
The song Forbidden Road from Better Man made it to the Best Original Song Short List but was disqualified later because it “…incorporates material from an existing song that was not written for the film and so has been deemed ineligible for the Oscar.”
But I digress…
I was happy for these winners:
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: Flow - Gints Zilbalodis, Matīss Kaža, Ron Dyens and Gregory Zalcman
I loved hearing Gints thanking Blender, the free software he used to make the film.
CINEMATOGRAPHY: The Brutalist - Lol Crawley
Whilst I don’t love the film, and compared to the other films nominated in this category, it deserved to win.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM: No Other Land - Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham
I was both surprised and happy it won, although I’ve not yet watched it. I didn’t have the mental or emotional capacity to see it when it premiered at Berlinale last year, but I hope to one day have the courage to watch it.
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM: I'm Still Here - Walter Salles (Brazil)
A worthy winner and really wished Fernanda Torres won Best Actress instead of Mikey Madison.
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE): The Brutalist - Daniel Blumberg
The score was my favourite thing from this film. I loved how he half-singing thanked Cafe Oto. I was happy to learn Blumberg is also a visual artist and keen to know more about his work.
WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY): Conclave - Peter Straughan
The only award out of the eight other categories it was nominated for. It deserved more awards.
I was sad Better Man lost to Dune: Part Two for Best Visual Effects. Shameful.
Also shameful to not include performances by Take That and Robbie Williams - between them their songs appeared in 3 of the nominated films this year:
Greatest Day by Take That in Anora
Swing Supreme by Robbie Williams in Emilia Perez
Forbidden Road by Robbie Williams in Better Man
Instead of the James Bond medley which felt pointless, there was a missed opportunity to have Take That and Robbie Williams on stage that night, even if Americans still don’t really know who they are. Can you imagine a medley of the three songs mentioned earlier, plus I Found Heaven, and ending with Rock DJ? It would’ve had everyone on their feet. That’s how I like to imagine it anyway.
But the biggest shame was allocating less than 10 seconds to David Lynch during the In Memoriam section (which also shamefully didn’t include several actors including Alain Delon).
The outpouring of tributes for David Lynch on social media went on for weeks after he passed away. Not having a special section during the ceremony dedicated to him was upsetting.
Isabella Rossellini turned up in a blue velvet dress in his honor - “I decided to pay homage to David. He was my partner for many years, and we worked together on several films, including Blue Velvet, which remains one of my most successful.”
She was accompanied by Laura Dern. Did the Academy not consider inviting them in advance to honour David Lynch on stage, like they did with Morgan Freeman for Gene Hackman?
A.S. Hamrah’s annual piece about the Oscar nominated films that gets published before the ceremony, ended it with six paragraphs remembering David Lynch.
This spontaneous, worldwide homage to Lynch and his work gave the lie to Hollywood’s refusal to back his films and TV series, proving once again that they only make what they want to make. Does anyone actually think that unfilmed Lynch screenplays like One Saliva Bubble or Ronnie Rocket would have done less well than such unnecessary garbage as last year’s Madame Web, AfrAId, or Borderlands? And every Lynch film has grown in stature with time.
It’s important to remember that even as Hollywood was ignoring Lynch, much of the mainstream, middlebrow critical establishment in the US was also disparaging his work.
I suppose it goes to show, if an artist sticks to their own creative vision, the powerful institutions that ignored you in life, will ignore you in death.
Conan O’Brien - the real winner
Conan O’Brien hosting this year’s ceremony was superb. He was sharp and funny, and looked like he was genuinely having a good time on stage. Most importantly it showed that he loves films, cares for cinema, and wasn’t being cynical, unlike Jimmy Kimmel who hosted three times (2017, 2018, 2023).
Not to mention his sincerity when he talked about the recent fires in LA (he too was effected by it).
I laughed out loud many times. Referencing Emilia Perez’s Karla Sofía Gascón controversy, “YOU TWEETED WHAT?” cracked me up.
There were hardly any words of protests by most of the American celebrities on stage, so it was great to hear Conan say, “Anora is having a good night. Two wins already. I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian.”
His hosting skills felt like a hark back to Billy Crystal’s years as a host - 9 times (1990-1993, 1997-98, 2000, 2004, 2012). I hope Conan will be invited back next year.
Honorable mention
Last, but not least, hats off to Guy Pierce for wearing a Free Palestine pin and a bracelet with the colours of the Palestinian flag. I think the only celebrity to do so on the night. Good people.
