Oscars 2023: Who received, who misplaced, and what occurred on Hollywood’s greatest evening

The ninety fifth Academy Awards went off with out a hitch — and, as host Jimmy Kimmel made positive to remind us, with out “Hitch,” er, Will Smith. Banned from the ceremony after final 12 months’s notorious slap, Smith wasn’t the one distinguished celeb to skip this 12 months’s awards, which happened on the acquainted Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles Sunday evening. Major nominees like Tom Cruise and James Cameron have been absent, which made this 12 months’s ceremony really feel rather less dedicated to star-gazing and extra dedicated to navel-gazing. (Did we actually want a section about how nice Warner Bros. is?)

Still, the awards held fairly a little bit of appeal in between the 2 greatest sweeps of the evening: a technical coup for conflict epic All Quiet on the Western Front and a sweep of practically each main award together with Best Picture — each award, in all places! — for this 12 months’s clearly beloved favourite, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. (For extra on the evening’s winner to finish all winners, try Alissa Wilkinson right here.)

Even for those who’re not an Oscars junkie, we defy you to not be just a bit charmed by this 12 months’s highlights. Like M. M. Keeravani, the composer of “Naatu” from international Tollywood hit RRR, successful India’s first Academy Award for Best Song and improvising a speech to the tune of the Carpenters’ “Top of the World.” Or Ke Huy Quan’s ebullient pleasure when he sealed one of many 12 months’s finest comeback narratives by successful Best Supporting Actor for Everything, Everywhere and giving us a spontaneous TED speak on the collective wellspring of genius and creativity. Or these Irish guys singing “Happy Birthday” to that different Irish man! James! Happy birthday, James!

The little moments of humanity peeking out beneath the glitz and glam are actually what make the Oscars price tuning in for. This 12 months was markedly apolitical — although kudos to “the Daniels” (Everything, Everywhere administrators Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan) for shouting out help for drag queens in all places within the wake of Tennessee’s controversial new transphobic regulation banning drag performers — however the temper within the room was surprisingly hopeful. As Quan reminded the room by way of tears, this evening could also be a bit campy and ridiculous, however it’s additionally what the American dream seems like. Here’s to many extra banal Oscar nights to return.

Here are our picks for this 12 months’s winners and losers.

Winner: All Quiet on the Western Front

Did anybody see All Quiet on the Western Front? If you skipped, I don’t blame you. I don’t have a lot tolerance for a “conflict is horrible’’ film that’s simply two and a half hours of conflict.

But I’m (we’re?) not the Academy that rewarded AQOTWF with 4 Oscars, together with Best Cinematography, Best International Film, and Best Original Score. That Best International Film win appeared predictable — AQOTWF was the one film in that class additionally nominated for Best Picture. Less predictable is the truth that the movie was fairly disliked in its native Germany, the nation it received the award for. One of the greatest critiques from Germans about this German movie primarily based on a German ebook was that it had strayed too removed from the supply materials for the sake of … an Oscar. —Alex Abad-Santos

Loser: Disney

This 12 months’s Oscars aired on ABC, the community owned by Disney. Unfortunately, the very profitable leisure firm didn’t have its finest evening. Angela Bassett, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Wakanda Forever, misplaced to Jamie Lee Curtis. Turning Red, the corporate’s bid within the Best Animated Feature Film class, additionally misplaced. And in a clumsy transfer, Disney premiered the trailer for The Little Mermaid remake through the ceremony. Reader, that trailer didn’t look nice on my tv display.

Ruth Carter did win for Best Costume Design for Wakanda Forever, an award she received in 2019 for the unique Black Panther, and Avatar: The Way of Water received for Best Visual Effects. But total, it may’ve been a greater evening for the House of Mouse, particularly on its dwelling turf. —Alex Abad-Santos

Winner: White Gowns

Whether it was in an try to match with the “champagne” (learn: beige) carpet or out of a widely-held conviction that the Oscars ought to look extra like a mass wedding ceremony ceremony, a stunning variety of A-listers confirmed as much as the ceremony in glowing white.

Among the nominees, Michelle Yeoh wore feathery white Dior, Michelle Williams wore a white Chanel column with hooked up capelet, Ana de Armas wore glowing nude Louis Vuitton, and Paul Mescal wore a white Gucci tux. Among the presenters, Mindy Kaling was in peekaboo white Vera Wang, Emily Blunt was in off-the-shoulder white Valentino, Eva Longoria in white Zuhair Murad, Halle Berry in Tamara Ralph, and Ariana DeBose wore customized Versace Deco-style. Scattered by way of the viewers: Rooney Mara in white Alexander McQueen, Harry Shum Jr. in white Adeam, musical performer Sofia Carson in bridal Giambattista Valli, and Tems in show-stopping Lessja Verlingieri.

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

(Jimmy Kimmel additionally become a white tux midway by way of the ceremony, explaining that he spilled guacamole on the black tux he’d worn earlier. We don’t assume that counts, although.)

That’s simply quite a lot of white! It’s quite a lot of white, particularly for a ceremony the place individuals often present up in punchy jewel tones that may pop on Instagram. We don’t know what to let you know besides that white: It’s having a second. —Constance Grady

Winner: The Irish

It was the 12 months of the Irish Oscars, with a whopping whole of 14 nominations for Irish movies, actors, and filmmakers. Loads of that was due to The Banshees of Inisherin, which nabbed 4 of the 20 appearing nominee slots, with Aftersun’s Paul Mescal taking a fifth. Banshees additionally noticed nods for writer-director Martin McDonagh in addition to Best Original Score, Best Editing, and Best Picture. Meanwhile, The Quiet Girl was nominated for Best International Film, the primary Irish-language movie to earn that distinction. The live-action brief An Irish Goodbye received in its class. Irishman Richard Baneham was on the Oscar-winning visible results crew for Avatar: The Way of Water, and Jonathan Redmond was nominated for enhancing Elvis.

Not a nasty exhibiting for the week main as much as St. Patrick’s Day — and the Irish press took word. But a stealth winner right here can be the Irish language, which UNESCO lists as endangered, a truth with a protracted historical past rooted in a colonialist try to suppress it as English was imposed. Earlier within the season, Mescal garnered cheers from the Irish press when he spoke Irish with a red-carpet reporter, for the primary time in his public profession. It struck a chord with Irish observers, who study the language in class however generally hesitate to talk it. Banshees’ Brendan Gleeson additionally gave an interview in Irish, whereas co-star Colin Farrell expressed remorse for not doing so. And upon his win, Baneham spoke in Irish, too: “Go raibh míle maith agat,” he mentioned. Roughly translated: A thousand thanks. —Alissa Wilkinson

Loser: Fat individuals and fats fits

Fat individuals, even very fats individuals, are outlined by greater than their our bodies. But Hollywood has a protracted historical past of portraying fats individuals as socially awkward loners obsessive about meals and disordered consuming, utilizing fats fits for well-known actors who play into these dehumanizing caricatures and stereotypes.

Much has been written concerning the fat-shaming elements of Aronofsky’s The Whale, however no quantity of criticism can overcome Hollywood’s love for a bodily transformation. While many take into account Brendan Fraser’s efficiency transferring, the very fact is fatness is most prominently introduced on movie as a swimsuit skinny individuals slip into. The movie’s win for finest make-up design — which included an awards voice-over praising the way in which the fats swimsuit “pushed Fraser’s weight into the severest excessive“ — was regressive and insulting to all of the strides fats actors and creators have made in Hollywood.

Fraser’s win for Best Actor could have been extra about his Hollywood comeback within the eyes of the Academy, however the legacy of his efficiency can be about Hollywood’s fatphobia. “Who would want me to be a part of their life?” his character asks. As lengthy as we refuse to permit fats individuals to manage their very own narratives, we’ll by no means have an sincere reply to that hideous query. —Aja Romano

Winner: Donkeys

There have been three donkeys on this 12 months’s Oscar class (showing in Banshees of Inisherin, EO, and Triangle of Sadness), however just one donkey really appeared onstage on the Oscars telecast. In our skilled opinion, this was a misfire: There ought to at all times be extra donkeys.

Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times through Getty Images

In this case, the donkey was candy Jenny from Banshees of Inisherin. (At least, that’s what they instructed us, though a conspiracy concept is flourishing on-line that the donkey wasn’t Jenny. Regardless, we’ve got a powerful pro-donkey stance right here at Vox.com.) Batting her lengthy eyelashes, she took command of the stage with easy star energy. “Look, it’s your friend, Colin Farrell,” mentioned host Jimmy Kimmel, and from his seat towards the entrance, Farrell blew his co-star (or an imposter thereof!) a kiss. International movie star Jenny or anonymous no person, that donkey handily delivered essentially the most charming second of the night. —Constance Grady

Loser: Hollywood’s failure to construct new film stars

Traditionally, the Oscars will get a pop of power from the glamour of the entire present: all these film stars, lovely and otherworldly creatures of the large display, smiling gamely in a single room collectively. Their presence brings an outsize gravitas to what’s, on the finish of the day, an trade shindig, which then proves ripe for puncturing by the host.

That glamour and gravitas is rising steadily extra elusive, in all probability as a result of true film stars hold getting rarer. The period wherein we noticed film actors solely within the dim sanctity of the movie show is gone, and now that we’ve dragged them onto our cellphone screens, they’re all loads smaller than they was. So whereas this 12 months’s Oscars was stuffed with engaging, proficient, charismatic actors, Our Lady of the AMC Nicole Kidman needed to maintain down the star energy quotient alone, a shimmering reminder of the form of icon Hollywood used to have the ability to prove and now not can.

There are some large positives to our new and extra human period. For one factor, the Oscars are rewarding figures they used to disregard in favor of their most well-liked icons, netting awards to individuals like Brendan Fraser and Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan. All the identical, Movies’ Biggest Night has misplaced a bit of that acquainted shine. —Constance Grady

Winner: Musical numbers

The Best Original Song class isn’t often a giant a part of the Oscars as a result of, in any case, this can be a evening to have fun films — and the music that often will get celebrated is a track that performs through the credit, when the film’s successfully over.

But this 12 months was an exception, filled with spectacle and pleasure. Lady Gaga gave us a stripped-down model of her hovering Top Gun ballad “Hold My Hand.” Rihanna, contemporary off a seemingly informal Super Bowl efficiency, sounded incredible performing Wakanda Forever’s “Lift Me Up.” Stephanie Hsu, Son Lux, and David Byrne gave us scorching canine fingers in a trippy efficiency of “This Is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All At Once. Sofia Carson and Diane Warren’s rendition of “Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman made me wish to study extra about this film. And the class winner, “Naatu Naatu” from RRR, was completely joyous.

Musical-number enthusiast Ariana DeBose could be thrilled with tonight’s vindicating performances. —Alex Abad-Santos

Loser: Anyone hoping for a giant gaffe

If you have been on pins and needles hoping for a repeat of final 12 months’s slap, you have been out of luck. While it might have run a bit lengthy, this 12 months’s Oscars was virtually painfully benign. Everyone from the donkeys to the cocaine bear was on their finest habits, and even the award-winners principally stored their speeches brief. Presenter Elizabeth Banks did have a close to stumble — these lengthy Oscar-dress hems are a hazard — however she performed it off like the professional she is, even whereas presenting subsequent to the aforementioned bear. Even Kimmel resisted the urge to overplay his hand by making too many Slap jokes. Still, the ultimate word of the evening spoke to a manufacturing that will have maybe been a bit on edge: As he walked offstage, Kimmel flipped a placard studying “Oscars without incident” from “0” to “1.” So far, so good — till subsequent 12 months. —Aja Romano