Among the innumerable universes that exist in the All at Once Everywhere multiverse, surely there were many where the Oscars—if any—were exciting and fun. And surely there was even one in which, when the name of Jamie Lee Curtis for best supporting actress came up, Angela Bassett was happy and applauded excitedly. It is possible that in one or two Spielberg smiled without straining his teeth when the presenter, Jimmy Kimmel – in some universe it must still be Billy Cristal – joked that this year “many films had been sequels or franchises, many say that Hollywood has running out of ideas, poor Steven Spielberg had to make a movie about Steven Spielberg”.
In any case, none of this was part of our particular universe last night, in which, however, the Oscars gala did register an improbable fact that singles us out and which Kimmel echoed: both Brendan Fraser and Ke Huy Quan They acted in the 1992 film Encino man (California man), in which brainless students dig in the garden and find… a caveman. Now both in our universe have an Oscar.
The 2023 Hollywood statuette gala had to be the one of salvation, the one of change, after years of losing audiences, and Kimmel, who parachuted onto the stage as if he had descended from a Top Gun plane – in the absence of Tom Cruise–, was moderately amused, allusion to Will Smith’s smack included: “If someone from the theater commits an act of violence at any point in the show, you will automatically be given the Oscar for best actor and a 90-minute speech.” But the politically correct taunts were not enough –nor were the acceptance speeches that left the Goyas in a good place– for a gala with incomprehensible advertorials from the Academy, determined that everyone visit its new Museum of Cinema, which has just broken a rhythm that rarely just flowed.
Of course, there were great moments, including Lady Gaga singing without makeup and in a T-shirt made in Bangladesh the song Hold my hand, for which she was nominated. If the Academy had had to vote after the performances last night, it probably would have outranked the infectious Bollywood beat of Naatu naatu, from the Indian film RRR, which took the elephant overboard.
They also struck a chord with Ke Huy Quan, recalling that his trip to the US began on a ship and that he spent a year in a refugee camp – “this is the American dream” – Jamie Lee Curtis crying the Oscar that they did not achieve their parents, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, and the steely poise of Michelle Yeoh: “Girls, don’t let anyone tell you that your rice has passed” to celebrate her award. There was diversity and the Academy scored a point with the documentary Oscar for Navalny, with the opponent’s wife saying that she dreams of the day when “he is free and our country is free.” Hopefully that won’t just happen in other universes.
