Oscar 2022: CODA’s surprise triumph. All the winners of an explosive ceremony

After the tables set, the soft lights, the wreaths of flowers and the gloomy atmosphere, unable to hide the discomfort of being there to celebrate while the whole world was kneeling due to the pandemic, the Oscars return home – that is to the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles – for a ceremony that tries, at least in part, to replicate the glories of the past, when the great performers were conducting it and following it were millions and millions of spectators, with the addition of a pinch of pepper that no one, not even the most imaginative writers, he would have predicted. The slap that Will Smith delivers to comedian Chris Rock live, punishing him for a joke on the shaved head of his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, goes around the world and monopolizes the attention of an edition – the 94th – that gains in length but loses in pathos. The decision to eliminate 8 categories from the award ceremony to save time seems, in fact, a petty mechanism that betrays what Spielberg has always repeated, namely that cinema is a choral and shared art in which all the workers have the same importance. and the same weight. Said this, the 2022 Oscars respect the forecasts of the eve, reserving the most succulent surprise at the end, when The signs of the heart (TAIL) – available exclusively on Sky, which also broadcast the ceremony in simulcast on Sky Uno, Sky Cinema Oscar and free-to-air on Tv8 – snatch a The power of the dog by Jane Campion the heaviest statuette, the one for Best Film of the Year.

After winning the PGA Award, we somewhat suspected that Academy ratings would shift away from a dramatic story like that of The power of the dog – which won, among others, the Golden Globe and the BAFTA – to a “feel good” story, as the Americans say, capable of softening the tone of an industry that needed to neutralize the ugliness of war and pandemic through a film full of hope and good feelings. Even if, to be honest, The signs of the heart (TAIL) is nothing more than the remake of a French film, The Bélier familyof 2014, raising an insidious doubt among critics: the fact that the Oscar for Best Film of the Year went to a very European story transposed from Hollywood does it mean that the stars and stripes cinema no longer has good ideas and needs to draw from our repertoire?. It remains that, for the same film, the victory of Troy Kotsur as best supporting actor – first deaf-mute actor to hold the award in his hands – is undoubtedly one of the most exciting moments of the ceremony, with the parterre raising their hands applauding in sign language. “This is our moment,” says Kotsur, referring to people with some form of disability, making his speech even more powerful, which reaches the audience thanks to an interpreter.

Bitter disappointment for The power of the dog who, from the 12 nominations on the eve, is “satisfied” with the Oscar for best director to Jane Campion, that the statuette had already won it in 1994, but for the original screenplay. With her victory, the Oscars award 2 women to directing, a category that has always been considered a monopoly of men, for the second consecutive yearmaking us understand that the wind in Hollywood is changing even if, frankly, we would not have expected to see Sian Heder, director of QUEUE, for the best non-original screenplay, which we would have liked to go to Paul Thomas Anderson for that masterpiece of Licorice Pizza, who comes home empty-handed. Few surprises, then, on the front of the actors: as expected, Will Smith wins the first Oscar of his career – had been nominated two more times, for Ali by Michael Mann e The pursuit of happiness by Gabriele Muccino – as Best Actor for A Winning Family – King Richard, giving a speech interspersed with tears and strong words linked to the violent act he committed shortly before against Chris Rock. For him the sense of protection is fundamental, but an act of violence live worldwide cannot and must not be justified, We are sorry.

A lot of emotion also for the victory of Jessica Chastain who, after three nominations, finally takes the stage to receive the Oscar for the not really successful Tammy Faye’s eyes. His speech of thanks above all focuses on the importance of being unique, a powerful weapon capable of fighting the loneliness and depression into which many of us have fallen in the last two years due to the pandemic. In general, we can say that the three-way run of comedians Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall worked, so the live performance of Beyoncé, surrounded by a wave of pea green to say the least blinding, and that of Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas on the notes of No time to die, winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Although, let’s repeat it, more than the surprise of QUEUE and Jane Campion’s victory, to be impressed by the 2022 Oscars – in addition to the disappointment of not having seen It was the hand of God by Paolo Sorrentino as best international film, to which the Academy preferred the best Drive my car – will always be the fury of Will Smith who, in fact, enters the history of the award which, in its 94-year career, had never hosted an episode of this kind.

Here are all the winners of the 2022 Oscars:

Best Film
The signs of the heart (TAIL)

Best Direction
Jane Campion – The power of the dog

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Will Smith – A winning family – King Richard

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain – The eyes of Tammy Faye

Best Supporting Actor
Troy Kotsur – The signs of the heart (TAIL)

Best Supporting Actress
Ariana DeBose – West Side Story

Best soundtrack
Dunes

Best Costumes
Cruella

Best Original Screenplay
Belfast

Best Non-Original Screenplay
The signs of the heart (TAIL)

Best sound
Dunes

Best Original Song
“No Time to Die” – Billie Eilish & Finneas O’Connell (No Time to Die)

Best International Film
Drive my car

Best visual effects
Dunes

Best Photography
Dunes

Best editing
Dunes

Best scenography
Dunes

Best makeup and hairstyles
Tammy Faye’s eyes

Best Documentary
Summer of Soul

Best Animated Film
Encanto

Best Documentary Short Film
The Queen of Basketball

Best Short Film
The Long Goodbye

Best Animated Short Film
The Windshield Wiper

To receive the other cover of Vanity Fair (and much more), subscribe to Vanity Weekend.