Everything Everywhere All at Once wins over the Oscars

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Few days after this year’s ceremony, people are already waiting for next year’s Oscar. After the pandemic overtook 2021’s ceremony, the world of cinema has prepared for a solar revolution. After rumors on nominations and bets on possible winners of the previous days, the ceremony was a time bomb. This year, whom has the Academy decided to award the so coveted statuette?

Looks like we are back to three years ago: Parasite routs the other films and wins almost all nominations, bringing to Bong Joon-Ho’s Palmares four out of six positions. Likewise, the night of the 13th March, Daniels’ films (aka film directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) Everything Everywhere All at Once earned seven statuettes: best film, best actress, best actor, best supporting actress, best direction (obviously to both directors), best adapted screenplay, best editing.

This year the Academy decided to endorse a film with a fresh perspective that plays around a principle unfortunately strictly bound to a big company, MARVEL, which makes the film a lot less “authorial” than what it could have seemed and been. Everything Everywhere All at Once came out of the blue among a list of films more in line with the Academy’s taste, like Fabelmans, by an emerging director Martin Scorsese (obviously it’s sarcasm), was nominated to seven prizes but won none.

“The Multiverse is something we know incredibly little about” said someone. And they were right. This film is a perfect example: you don’t need a combat suit or save humanity to dream about jumping through space and time. A simple tax check in Evelyn Wang’s coin-operated laundry is enough to turn the laundry into a portal that allows her to travel in space-time dimensions.

After thirty years, Brendan Fraser goes to the stage and takes home a prize that pays back her commitment. Among all films, The Whale is probably the one that moved the most those who watched it. Remember the fourteen-minute clap in Venice? A dramatic film with the right dose of sarcasm that opens eyes on a disastrous situation. Charlie, the character played by the winner, is victim of an eating disorder that forces him to bed with a strong heart disfunction. Fear of death will lead him to restart relationship with his daughter, played by Sadie Elizabeth Sink, Max in Stranger Things for friends. Thanks to this film I hope Fraser will not be considered “that of the Mummy” and Sink like “that of Stranger Things”.

Let’s talk about Europe. I am sorry for the defeat of Italian Aldo Signoretti, who doesn’t win for the makeup of the movie on Elvin and “The Pupils”, but All Quiet on the Western Front wins as best foreign film, best photography, best scenery and best sound – important prizes that start bringing Europe to its place in the screens and makes us realize the importance of peace through its contrary, war.

Grea letdown also for Elvis and The Banshees of Inisherin, that win nothing, and for James Cameron, whose second chapter of Avatar only wins one statuette for best visual effects. Bad luck also for Top Gun Maverick and Babylon.

In animation, the winner is Pinocchio, that through an attentive analysis of Collodi’s story brings to the streaming screens (as it is produced and distributed by Netflix), the story of an old Geppetto struggling during world war one. This year, the competition was hard, but Guillermo del Toro still imposes a lot of awe, especially since the technic used surprisingly reminds of another master, Tim Burton. It’s a shame for Red, still a beautiful film on personal development, change and transformation.

What do you think? Would you award the same titles? Above all, would you have good reasons to award the films? Here is the complete list of winning titles.

Best Film

• Everything Everywhere All at Once, by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

Best Foreign Film

• All Quiet on the Western Front, by Edward Berger

Best Direction Regia

• Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert in Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Original Screenplay

• Everything Everywhere All at Once, by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Women Talking, by Sarah Polley

Best Screenplay Sceneggiatura

• All Quiet on the Western Front, by Edward Berger

Best Photography

• All Quiet on the Western Front, by Edward Berger

Best Actor

• Brendan Fraser in “The Whale”

Best Actres

• Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Supporting Actor

• Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Supporting Actres

• Jamie Lee Curtis in Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Visual Effects

• Avatar 2, by James Cameron, visual effects by Dan Cox, Jeo Letteri, J.D. Schwalm, Stephen E. Rivkin and John Refoua

Best Editing

• Everything Everywhere All at Once, by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

Best Makeup and Hair Style

• The Whale, by Darren Aronofsky, makeup and hairstyle by Adrien Morot

Best Costumes

• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, by Ryan Coogler, costumes by Ruth E. Carter

Best Animated Film

• Pinocchio, by Guillermo del Toro

Best Sound

• Top Gun: Maverick, by Joseph Kosinski, sound by Mark Taylor

Best Soundtrack

• All Quiet on the Western Front, Edward Berger, music by Volker Bertelmann

Miglior Canzone Originale

• Naatu Naatu, by Maraghda Mani and Chandrabose, soundtrack of film “RRR, Rise Roar Revolt”

Best Documentary

• Navalny, by Daniel Roher

Best Short Film

• An Irish Goodbye, by Ross White and Tom Berkeley

Best Short Film Documentary

• The Elephant Wishisperer, by Kartiki Gonsalves

Best Animated Short Film

• The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, by Peter Bayton and Charlie Mackesy

Impossible to emeber them all, but it’s important to keep in mind how few the cathegories are and how many people worked in each production that tried to be shortlisted. Cinema is not only actors and directors, or gossip: it’s a balanced cooperation that allows to enjoy a multilevel artwork.

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