A surprisingly grayish gala.
Sure, it's a pandemic and you might be happy that it was a gala at all, but when such a visual and sharp director as Steven Soderbergh is the producer of the party, and also said in advance that he would make a cinematic one, one can only be amazed at the tame result.
It mostly felt
like a mandatory distribution of Employee of the Year on an Åland ferry. Five years after the hashtag oscarssowhite first spread, it can be stated that the campaign for increased representation has yielded results. This year we saw more minorities than usual among both the nominees and the winners, mainly and most clearly represented by Chinese-American Chloé Zhao whose drama Nomadland became the undisputed (and expected) winner of the gala: Best Picture, Director, Female Lead (Frances McDormand).
It is undeniably a worthy winner, even if the undersigned would rather have seen Florian Zeller's The father bang home with the heaviest statuette. Now they had to settle for Best Screenplay and Best Male Leading Role - which in themselves are heavy enough, and also two awards that were given, for this fine and suggestive dementia drama, where Anthony Hopkins shines with dull but persistent light.
You can also see
that the corona has had at least a good effect on the film world.
The virus has shut down the big cinemas, which in turn has caused the blockbuster to be put on hold, with the result that more narrow films than usual managed to qualify for this year's Oscar race.
If one forgets last year's anomaly, that a Korean arthouse film like Parasite won Best Film, it is a category that usually rewards clearly broader things than Chloé Zhao's subtle and thoughtful drama about the United States of unemployment and homelessness.
Maybe it's a clue as to where the price is going?
Away from the white glitter, towards nuanced tones.
Or not ... If the corona retires, Oscar will shine as usual in 2022.