The Oscars want to be liked.
It was a year in which the Hollywood Academy was ready for anything, including modifying the structure of the most famous film awards, awarding eight of them outside the gala, which caused the repudiation of the entire profession.
The night will be remembered, however, for the violent outburst of Will Smith, winner of the statuette for best actor in a leading role, who slapped comedian Chris Rock after he made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, suffering from of alopecia: Rock made fun of his hairstyle.
During his acceptance speech, Smith apologized to the Academy and the nominees for slapping Rock: “Denzel has warned me: 'Be careful in your best moments.
It's when the devil comes for you," said the actor, awarded for playing Richard Williams, through tears.
The Williams Method
.
More information
See all the winners of the night
"Richard Williams was a defender of his family," Smith continued in his speech, which he delivered to a thick, awkward silence from those in attendance, who still did not fully understand what they had witnessed.
“I have been called to protect my people.
I know that when we dedicate ourselves to the show you have to put up with insults.
And smile," said the actor.
The Smith incident blew up a gala that sought to raise audience numbers and launch a message of diversity and inclusion after years of criticism from different groups.
Outside of that episode, there were few surprises on the night that crowned
CODA.
, which kept the three categories in which it was nominated.
Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay for its director, Sian Heder, and Best Supporting Actor for Troy Kotsur, who became the second deaf Oscar winner (after Marlee Matlin in 1986, who also appears in the film).
Kotsur plays a deaf fisherman forced to accept his daughter's wish to leave the family business to study music.
The actor gave one of the most emotional speeches of the night: “My father was the best sign language interpreter in my family, until he had an accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down and prevented him from moving his hands.
Dad, I learned a lot from you.
You are my hero,” Kotsur said.
Jessica Chastain, the favorite for the award for best leading actress, confirmed the bets and won the award for
Tammy Faye's eyes,
which left the Spanish Penélope Cruz without a statuette.
CODA
's triumph
has been a silent victory.
The 2,600 people present at the Dolby theater raised their hands to wave them in the air, making the applause of the deaf.
The film had become a major contender in the closing weeks of awards season, which began with
The Power of the Dog.
as a favorite, especially after winning the award from the producers' union a week ago, which usually predicts the most coveted award tonight.
Premiered in January of last year at Sundance, it was bought by Apple TV for 25 million dollars, which then seemed an excessive price but which today seems amortized and makes the apple company climb steps in the industry, which is still seeking to consolidate its position as a flagship studio in Hollywood.
The company already has its first award for best picture, something that continues to be denied to Netflix, which has only achieved three awards from 27 nominations.
The other big favorite was
The Power of the Dog
, which had 12 nominations and has only won the best direction for Jane Campion.
The New Zealander becomes the third filmmaker to win that statuette.
Hollywood exalts her almost 30 years after her candidacy for
The Piano
.
"It's a lap that leaves me very satisfied because it shows you that you can continue to evolve and learn," she told the press.
On the opposite side is
Dune.
Canadian director Denis Villenueve's blockbuster science fiction film won six Oscars, sweeping all technical categories.
Among them, the one with the best original soundtrack, which was won by Hans Zimmer (who was not present) against the Spanish Alberto Iglesias.
It is the second award for Zimmer since
The Lion King
in 1994.
It was also a night of comedy
sketches
and tributes to movies like James Bond, a film brand that turns 60;
50 years of
Cabaret
with Liza Minelli presenting the award for Best Film, and half a century of
The Godfather
.
An octogenarian Francis Ford Coppola took the stage escorted by Al Pacino and Robert Deniro to thank Mario Puzo, the writer who created the raw material for the most important mobster movie in cinema history.
He also had words of thanks for Robert Evans, the legendary producer of his films, with whom he had a strained professional relationship.
His words made it clear that some fights in Hollywood can be overcome.
Will Packer, the producer of the night, weighed in to streamline a three-hour ceremony that opened with the most powerful hook: Beyoncé singing live on the courts of Compton, one of the most vibrant black neighborhoods in Los Angels.
From the boxes of the theater a
DJ
tried to make waiting less tedious.
It was a full speed event.
Eight of the 23 categories were awarded earlier in the previous gala, and were recognizable from home because the winners did not walk on stage, but rather magically appeared on it.
His speeches, even in numerous technical awards teams, were reduced to a 60-second montage added to the live show.
"It felt frivolous to protest about it," the Spanish Alberto Mielgo, winner of the Oscar for best animated short along with his producer, Leo Sánchez, for
The Windshield Wiper
, has confessed about the controversy .
The work, with an impressionistic texture and deep subject matter for its brevity, prevailed among the nominees, achieving the only Spanish victory of the night.
This category was among the eight that were awarded before the ceremony, while the biggest stars walked the red carpet.
The pace of Hollywood was so unrestrained and relentless that it overwhelmed the contemplative Japanese time.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, director of
Drive My Car,
a three-hour film with a deep literary and dramatic sense that managed to sneak into the nominees for Best Picture.
the filmmaker
had only one respite after winning Best International Film.
The musical group pushed him off the stage after only being able to thank their producers and cast.