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The highlights, lowlights (and full list of winners) of 2022’s Oscars

FlicksFlicks29 March 22

You all know at least one thing that happened at the Oscars… here are the others.

Did something unusual happen at the Oscars? Besides a streaming service getting its first win for a fairly under-seen, independent family drama?

The 94th Annual Academy Awards started nicely enough, with hosts Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall, and Amy Schumer skewering the celebs in attendance whilst maintaining some shaky level of normalcy.

We could almost forget that eight deserving categories were rudely played out before the event properly commenced, including a promising four wins for Dune—pushed out to make room for absurd fan-voted categories beamed in from some alt-universe alt-right MTV Movie Awards.

West Side Story‘s only win went to Ariana De Bose for Best Supporting Actress—the same award that Rita Morena got for the same role back in 1961.

Despite not being a nominee for Best Original Song, the Oscars still found time for a fairly chaotic rendition of the #1 hit Disney tune We Don’t Talk About Bruno (sorry, why did the show bump all those awards about actual filmmaking again?)—but even fellow Encanto number Dos Oruguitas couldn’t beat Billie Eilish and brother Finneas, who took home the Oscar for No Time To Die and joined fellow superstar Beyoncé’s opening number as performances of the night.

Uplifting moments included Troy Kotsur’s win for Best Supporting Actor—the first of a few acceptance speeches told in ASL—and family fave Encanto‘s victory in the Best Animated Feature category. Drive My Car director and screenwriter Ryusuke Hamaguchi won Japan its fifth Best International Feature statue, but he was rudely cut off by the orchestra midway through his speech, butting back in to thank his actors.

Belfast director Kenneth Branagh scored a Best Original Screenplay Oscar and CODA picked up momentum with director Siân Heder’s Best Adapted Screenplay win. But no Hollywood screenwriter could plot out what was about to unfold next.

Presenter Chris Rock jokingly referred to Jada Pinkett-Smith as “G.I. Jane 2” for her buzzcut, perhaps not knowing that Pinkett-Smith suffers from alopecia. An earlier joke from Regina Hall about the Smith’s turbulent marriage didn’t get the couple that riled up…

Husband and Best Actor nominee Will Smith appeared to laugh at first, but then took to the stage and delivered a slap no one saw coming before yelling at the comedian to “keep [his] wife’s name out of your f**king mouth”. Viewers in New Zealand, Australia and Japan saw the uncensored version of the speech, seemingly proving that the incident was not in fact staged as a way to ramp up those dwindling viewer numbers.

The ugly incident overshadowed Questlove and Summer of Soul‘s Best Documentary win, and from there a pall hung over the proceedings’ final hour, with a jubilant gospel choir memoriam segment and Jane Campion’s second win for Best Director (her frontrunning film’s only Oscar!) kinda drowned out in the furious tsunami of celeb gossip.

Jessica Chastain piped up for queer rights in her Best Actress in a Leading Role acceptance speech for The Eyes of Tammy Faye. But of course Will Smith had to go and win Best Actor as Richard Williams in King Richard, and to then use the character’s fierce, protective qualities to justify his actions, while tearfully apologising to the Academy and the Williams sisters.

Virtually anything could’ve happened at this point. When Lady Gaga and Liza Minelli took to the stage to present the final award for Best Picture, we wouldn’t have been shocked if they broke into a whole House of Gucci/Cabaret tribute number, with all the remembered celebs from the in memoriam package springing to life as their can-can line.

What did happen was CODA winning Best Picture, inspiring a blend of applause and ASL hands in the air to salute the unexpected Sundance-winning triumph.

It’s hard to be too mad about a sweet coming-of-age indie randomly winning Hollywood’s biggest prize, especially after the ceremony’s constant references to an ongoing pandemic/genocide/global climate crisis, and the on-stage meltdown we all just witnessed. See you next year, Oscar.

Full list of winners

Best supporting actress

Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) – WINNER
Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter)
Judi Dench (Belfast)
Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog)
Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)

Best costume design

Cruella – WINNER
Cyrano
Dune
Nightmare Alley
West Side Story

Best sound

Dune – WINNER
Belfast
No Time to Die
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story

Best original score

Dune – WINNER
Don’t Look Up
Encanto
Parallel Mothers
The Power of the Dog

Best adapted screenplay

Coda (Sian Heder) – WINNER
Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe)
Dune (Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve)
The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal)
The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion)

Best original screenplay

Belfast (Kenneth Branagh) – WINNER
Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay, David Sirota)
Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson)
King Richard (Zach Baylin)
The Worst Person in the World (Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier)

Best animated short

The Windshield Wiper – WINNER
Affairs of the Art
Bestia
Boxballet
Robin Robin

Best live action short

The Long Goodbye – WINNER
Ala Kachuu – Take and Run
The Dress
On My Mind
Please Hold

Best supporting actor

Troy Kotsur (Coda) – WINNER
Ciarán Hinds (Belfast)
Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog)
JK Simmons (Being the Ricardos)
Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)

Best film editing

Dune – WINNER
Don’t Look Up
King Richard
The Power of the Dog
tick, tick… BOOM!

Best makeup & hairstyling

The Eyes of Tammy Faye – WINNER
Coming 2 America
Cruella
Dune
House of Gucci

Best animated feature

Encanto – WINNER
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells Vs the Machines
Raya and the Last Dragon

Best documentary feature

Summer of Soul – WINNER
Ascension
Attica
Flee
Writing With Fire

Best documentary short

The Queen of Basketball – WINNER
Audible
Lead Me Home
Three Songs for Benazir
When We Were Bullies

Best original song

No Time to Die (No Time to Die) – WINNER
Be Alive (King Richard)
Dos Oruguitas (Encanto)
Down to Joy (Belfast)
Somehow You Do (Four Good Days)

Best cinematography

Dune – WINNER
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story

Best international feature

Drive My Car – WINNER
Flee
The Hand of God
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
The Worst Person in the World

Best production design

Dune – WINNER
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story

Best visual effects

Dune – WINNER
Free Guy
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
No Time to Die
Spider-Man: No Way Home

Best actress

Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye) – WINNER
Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter)
Penélope Cruz (Parallel Mothers)
Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos)
Kristen Stewart (Spencer)

Best actor

Will Smith (King Richard) – WINNER
Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos)
Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog)
Andrew Garfield (tick, tick … BOOM!)
Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth)

Best director

Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog) – WINNER
Kenneth Branagh (Belfast)
Drive My Car (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)
Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)

Best picture

Coda – WINNER
Belfast
Don’t Look Up
Drive My Car
Dune
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story

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