Oscars 2023: Everything Everywhere All at Once dominates the 95th Academy Awards, taking home seven Oscars

Jimmy Kimmel and the Naatu Naatu joke at Oscars 2023

It was not the best of Oscars, it was not the worst of Oscars. A cheerful vibe to it, one inspiring Brendon Fraser speech, many choking up, and the Oscar event editor cutting down acceptance speeches like the grim reaper.

Jimmy Kimmel did a breezy start as the 95th Oscars host, dapper and smooth in the usual classic tuxedo.

Damn, men surely don’t have a lot of evening dressing options, or for that matter, day-afternoon-night dressing options. Maybe male nominees should go for deep hairy cleavages and fluorescent frocks for the shock and fun of it.

The good-natured jibes on actors, directors and other artists in Kimmel’s opening monologue, good comedy payback for last year’s Will Smith’s infamous ‘slapgate.’

My favourite opening part – Kimmel literally stunning the audience to silence by quietly joking about how Hollywood did nothing when Will Smith assaulted Chris Rock. They ended up giving him the best actor Oscar minutes later and a hug, Kimmel reminded the star-filled audience.

Cheeky, cheeky.

Kimmel also let out a fun warning that anybody speaking beyond the stipulated time on stage will be led offstage by a group of dancers jiving to Naatu Naatu from RRR. He was then promptly led off by the dancers.

Here is the definitive list of Oscar winners, as the event unfolded live, in chronological order.

Best Animated Feature Film: Pinocchio | Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley

Sober reaction, Toro urges to keep animation alive. Is animation a fast-fading cinema medium then? That’s news to me. There haven’t been many animation blockbusters in the last two years though. Food for thought.

Best Supporting Actor: Ke Huy Quan | Everything Everywhere All At Once 

Teary, emotional win for Quan, he intensely spoke about how we should never stop believing in our dreams.

Best Supporting Actress: Jamie Lee Curtis | Everything Everywhere All At Once 

Curtis was overwhelmed by win, she mentioned how her parents were also nominated for the Oscars, and how big this win was for her, eh, too many times?

Daniel Roher after the Oscars win

Best Documentary Feature Film: Navalny | Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris

The Daniel Roher acceptance speech was the only political statement and support for Ukraine at Oscars 2023, as he called for opposition against dictatorship and authoritarianism across the world.

Best Live Action Short Film: An Irish Goodbye | Tom Berkeley, Ross White 

Birthday wishes for the person featured in the short film (James Martin) was cut off by the telecasters. Ruthless telecasting at its peak.

Best Cinematography: James Friend | All Quiet on the Western Front

Referring to the previous award win, “Well, it’s not my birthday. but feels like one,” Friend seemed stunned and humbled by the win.

Best Makeup and Hairstyle: The Whale | Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Annemarie Bradley

The winners were congratulated by Brendon Fraser as he asked them to take the stage quickly. Eventually, only Morot ended up speaking, as Chin was sent off abruptly offstage with music playing and an ad break, ‘punishment’ for not making it to the stage on time.

Ruthless Oscar telecasting on show again.

Jimmy Kimmel returned then with a star of The Banshees of Insherin – a donkey! The donkey jokes weren’t as funny though. Heehaw.

Achievement in Costume Design: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | Ruth Carter 

Carter talked of how a black woman is a superhero, she ended by talking of her recently deceased 101-year-old mom.

RRR at the Oscars 

Deepika Padukone had good fun introducing the performance of Naatu Naatu to cheers and applause. An edited version of the song was performed.

They don’t even perform complete songs now for the Best Original Song nominees.

Alas.

The wrinkle-less faces remind me of Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes a few years ago going, “This audience reminds me of the good work done this year…by cosmetic surgeons!”

Best International Feature Film: All Quiet on the Western Front | Germany |  Director – Edward Berger

Only the eighth movie in Oscar history nominated for both Best Picture and Best International Feature Film.

Kimmel continued to good-heartedly jibe at last year’s ‘slapgate’, and how a slap could liven up things on a long evening of award giving.

Best Documentary Short Film:  The Elephant Whisperers | Karthiki Gonsalves, Guneet Monga 

Guneet Monga has an impressive producer track record of backing offbeat content, and thanks to Netflix, her backing of a documentary of human-animal relations struck her Oscar gold along with Gonsalves.

Best Animated Short Film: The Boy, The Mole. The Fox and The Horse | Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud

Based on a book, the makers never made a film before, so it is bewildering to win, said Charlie.

The makers were faithful to the original watercolour book version in their animation colour scheme and characters.

It takes an eye to retain what is good and improvise, in literary adaptations. OK, maybe two eyes.

Achievement in Production Design:  All Quiet on the Western Front | Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper

Best Original Score: All Quiet on the Western Front | Volker Bertelmann

FYI – John Williams is the oldest Oscar nominated artist ever after Walt Disney (59 nominations) – Nominated 53 times, five-time winner. Kimmel joked to Williams – That isn’t an impressive record.

Achievement in Visual Effects: Avatar: The Way of Water 

This is how a popular, money-spinning blockbuster is usually rewarded. Give them the visual effects award!

A touching tribute to Chadwick Boseman followed, with the Best Original Song performance by the mesmerizing Rihanna of Lift Me Up.

Best Original Screenplay: Everything Everywhere All At Once | Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Daniels) 

Daniel Scheinert thanked all the teachers who inspired him. Not before jokingly threatening to name all the schoolteachers who sentenced him to detention. Smooth Scheinert, smooth.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Women Talking | Sarah Polley 

Achievement in Sound: Top Gun: Maverick | Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor

Good to see last year’s crowd-pleaser get an Oscar recognition. They should also get one for getting blokes back to the theatres.

Tom Cruise may have single-handedly saved the Hollywood action genre and the big screen cinema culture for now.

M.M. Keeravani with Chandrabose after the win

Best Original Song: Naatu Naatu | RRR | Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyrics by Chandrabose

Woohoo! The Telugu language movie that became a storm in America, starting with its Netflix turn, leading to theatrical re-release, winning over cheering, dancing fans across the U.S.

Cheers and celebration here in India!

Achievement in Film Editing: Everything Everywhere All at Once | Paul Rogers 

The most chilled out speech of the evening or should be say…well edited.

Achievement in Directing: Everything Everywhere All at Once | Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Daniels) 

Kwan goes on into a breathless, excited monologue for winning his second Oscar of the evening with Scheinert. No editing grim reaper here or any threatening music. Hmm, aha!

Best Actor: Brendan Fraser | The Whale 

My favourite performance of the year. Fraser was all gratitude and tears. Cheers!

Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh | Everything Everywhere All at Once

“Dream big! Dreams do come true.” Yeoh also spiritedly mentioned not to let anyone tell you that you are past your prime. At 60, Yeoh is our female Tom Cruise.

Best Picture: Everything Everywhere All at Once | Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang (Producers)

The wackiest movie of the year wins the well-deserved best picture Oscar. The movie is about a Chinese immigrant seeking escape in a multiverse of her vivid imagination.

Given the derelict, climate changing state of the world, aren’t we all seeking an escape from our collective, grim reality? Probably that was a sentiment that echoes with audiences that have watched Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Oscars endnote 

They wrap it up at three hours and thirty minutes, just in time before it feels like stretched elastic.

Jimmy Kimmel would be relieved there was no Best Picture goof up, like the last time he hosted in 2017.

It wasn’t a very exciting Oscar event of many highs. Thankfully no hosts were harmed during the event, neither, as far as we know, was the donkey, or the person in the bear outfit.

From somewhere out here in the world, its biding goodbye to the 95th Academy Awards from the folks at Movie Marathon.

Wait, there are no other folks, only me.

Sayonara!

Jamie Lee Curtis and Michelle Yeoh with their acting Oscars