There were two possibilities for the 86th Academy Awards, joked host Ellen DeGeneres, either ‘12 Years a Slave wins the best picture Oscar … [or] you’re all racists.’ Luckily for the hall, things went the right way. Handwringing trumped artistic merit, 12 Years a Slave nabbing the top gong of best picture. The most cinematically thrilling movie, Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, had to settle for the best director prize and several back-end awards.
As expected Cate Blanchett won best actress for her turn as a disintegrating society wife in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine and Matthew McConaughey took best actor for his acclaimed depiction of Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club.
It was nice to see the short on the pianist Alice Herz-Sommer – who died last month at the age of 108 – The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life, picking up the best short documentary prize. Paolo Sorrentino’s satire on Berlusconi-era Italy La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) won best foreign film – and Pier Silvio Berlusconi (Silvio’s son), whose production company Italian Medusa Film financed the movie, was there to soak up the irony.
There were two upsets. Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing (subject: Indonesian mass murder) lost out to 20 Feet from Stardom (subject: backing singers). And American Hustle, a film so closely associated with its impressive 70s hairdos that everyone calls it ‘The Hair Film’, didn’t win best hair. (Insanely, it wasn’t even nominated.)
American Hustle, Philomena, Captain Phillips, Nebraska and Wolf of Wall Street – all films tipped for big prizes – went away empty handed.
By common consensus, the unofficial prize for best dress went to Lupita Nyong’o (who also won best supporting actress):
WINNERS AND LOSERS: THE FULL LIST
(Winners in bold)
Best Picture
12 Years a Slave – Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner,Steve McQueen, and Anthony Kataga
American Hustle – Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, and Jonathan Gordon
Captain Phillips – Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, and Michael De Luca
Dallas Buyers Club – Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter
Gravity – Alfonso Cuarón and David Heyman
Her – Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze, and Vincent Landay
Nebraska – Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa
Philomena – Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, and Tracey Seaward
The Wolf of Wall Street – Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio,Joey McFarland, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff
Best Director
Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity
David O.
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