With seven statuettes, the night of the 2023 Oscars went to “Everything Everywhere All at Once”. Best Picture, Best Actress (Michelle Yeoh), Best Directors and Best Original Screenplay (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Schenert), and then Best Editing, Best Supporting Actress (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan).
The Daniels' film, which arrived on the eve of the Academy Awards with eleven nominations, was the ace taker in an evening without particular incidents and full of emotion.
A real triumph for Asian actors: never in the history of the Academy had two of them won in the same year. The only potential rival was the German film All Quiet on the Western Front, appreciated by older jurors: Edward Berger's pacifist film based on the novel by Eric Maria Remarque won four awards (cinematography, best international film, set and column sound), but lost for the film adaptation to Sarah Polley of the powerful feminist film "Women talking – The right to choose".
The Oscar for best actor went instead to Brendan Fraser for his performance in the film "The Whale".
Again this year, the Academy had denied Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky from sending a few words from Kiev. But the political message arrived when “Navalny”, the film by Daniel Roher on the Kremlin's attempt to poison Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin's arch-rival, won a statuette for best documentary: «My husband is in prison for having defended democracy. I dream of the day when you will be free and our country will be free. Stay strong, I love you," the dissident's wife said on stage.
Two awards went to films that brought viewers back to the cinema: "Avatar: Lay Water" won for special effects, "Top Gun: Maverick" for sound. Guillermo del Toro's "Pinocchio" won the Oscar for animated film The Oscar for best song went to “Naatu Naatu” from the Indian film “RRR”, international stars such as Rihanna and Lady Gaga were blown away.
Disappointment for Italy: "Le Pupille" by Alice Rohrwacher was beaten by "An Irish Goodbye", and so was Aldo Signoretti, candidate for Elvis' hairstyles.
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
The blockbuster film, winning 7 Oscars out of 11 nominations, is produced by the Russo brothers and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as the visionary Daniels.
Adventure, action, science fiction, family drama with LGBT themes, comedy and romance all together and with the background of great attraction of the metaverse. The protagonist is a Chinese American woman (Michelle Yeoh) tried by the economic crisis with her laundry to the point of being unable to pay taxes, pressed by a relentless inspector (an irresistible Jamie Lee Curtis) and who instead becomes a "wonderwoman" against her will. , featuring multiple versions of herself from a movie star to a Japanese chef.
The film moves and empathizes with Michelle and her family, her husband (Ke Huy Quan) and her gay daughter in search of recognition (Stephanie Hsu). You enter the cinema thinking of a light, funny film, and you leave with tears in your eyes. Unsettling.
(Unioneonline/L)