Oscars 2023: no slap hindered the triumphal march of “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Mission accomplished: an Oscars ceremony without a slap. As in a factory where, at the end of each day, the number of days without work accidents is noted on a table, presenter Jimmy Kimmel noted, leaving the stage of the Dolby Theater on Sunday March 12: “1 ceremony without incident. » Will Smith was banned, after his gesture against comedian Chris Rock last year, and everyone behaved well in Hollywood – despite the show’s always excessive length (over 3:30).

Nothing therefore came to disturb the unchallenged triumph ofEverything Everywhere All at Once : best film, best director and original screenplay for Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, best actress for Michelle Yeoh, best supporting roles for Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan, best editing. Seven awards for eleven nominations.

Voters were not put off by the original and confusing construction of the feature film, which traces the immigrant experience in an unprecedented way through the story of Evelyn Wang, the washed-up boss of a laundromat. And they’ve taken a giant leap forward for Asian representation in Hollywood (Parasite certainly won the Oscar in 2020, but it was a South Korean film): so far, only four actors or actresses of Asian origin had been awarded. Michelle Yeoh did not fail to thank the Academy for “all the little boys and girls who look like me and are watching tonight. It is a signal of hope and possibility”.

But the success ofEverything Everywhere All at Once also allowed the Oscars to salute genre film figures often ignored by the Academy. Jamie Lee Curtis, first, who cut his teeth in horror (Halloween) and comedy (True Lies) and made no mistake about it: “To all the people who have supported the genre films that I have made for all these years, these thousands, these hundreds of thousands of people. We just won an Oscar together! » But also Michelle Yeoh, superstar of the action movie (Tiger and Dragon). Both were nominated for the first time, aged over 60 – “Ladies, don’t let anyone tell you you’re not fresh anymore”commented Michelle Yeoh.

“This is the American dream”

Representation, then, but also redemption for fallen comedy star Brendan Fraser – “I have long chosen the easy way”he admitted -, who broke his long crossing of the desert with The Whale by Darren Aronofsky and an Oscar for Best Actor. The film did not receive a good reception from critics, but its interpreter touched the voters.

To complete this Hollywood ceremony, all that was missing was the American dream, that of Ke Huy Quan, a child in IndianaJones and the Goonies, who had abandoned the trays. The Vietnamese-born actor recalled that his “Journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp and I find myself here on the biggest stage in Hollywood. They say stories like this only happen in movies. I can’t believe this is happening to me. That’s the American dream.”

In summary, Hollywood has made Hollywood, even if it means forgetting Steven Spielberg and his Fabelmans who leave empty-handed, like Cate Blanchett and Tar. Sarah Polley gets the prize for best adaptation for Women Talkingbut alone In the west, nothing is new, of Edward Berger, managed to exist in the face of the tornado Everything… with four awards, including Best Foreign Film. Netflix suddenly saves face behind the independent studio A24 (which produced Everything Everywhere All at Once And The Whalenine awards in total), and won a total of six awards.

And the ceremony? “At this stage of the show, we miss the slaps a little”, recognized his presenter two-thirds of the way through. A lot of seriousness, like Lady Gaga in a simple t-shirt and black ripped jeans to interpret the song of Top Gun. maverick. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was denied an intervention, but the documentary on Russian opponent Alexei Navalny won an award, prompting calls for peace.

The only fantasy came, again, from Asia, thanks to the irruption on the scene of Bollywood, or rather Tollywood (the Indian film industry in the Telugu language). The interpretation of the song Naatu Naatu from the movie RRR took the assistance before delighting the Oscar to Rihanna and Lady Gaga, therefore. Their authors found it hard to believe. But that’s also the American dream.