Oscars 2024 Recap: All the good stuff

The 2024 Oscar has concluded! This time with no slapping or envelope-related mishaps. Well, we did get a flying envelope on stage at one point but that’s it. 

As everyone had expected, Oppenheimer conquered the stage. It matched last year’s Everything Everywhere All At Once in securing seven wins, including Best Picture.

Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy, and Robert Downey Jr. won for directing, lead acting, and supporting roles, respectively. This is Nolan’s first Oscar win after more than a decade of being one of the most legendary directors of our generation. Kudos also to Cillian Murphy, who will finally be able to leave the purgatory of underrated actors list.

Jennifer Lame, Hoyte van Hoytema, and Ludwig Göransson also deserved the spotlight for their wins for behind-the-scene works of editing, cinematography, and original score respectively. Lame in particular is one of the most versatile editors I’ve seen, having worked on vastly different but equally incredible films like Manchester by the Sea, Hereditary, and Marriage Story. Great to see her work finally recognized. 

Barbie, which for a while seemed like the main competition to Oppenheimer, only snatched a win for Best Songs for Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell. This makes them the youngest two-time winners of the Oscars for best song – they had earlier won for the James Bond theme song “No Time To Die”.

(Credit: The Hollywood Reporter)

Another two wins that seem to be locked in from the start were The Zone of Interest for Best International Films and Da’Vine Joy Randolph for Best Supporting Actress in The Holdover. Both deservingly so. Jonathan Glazer, the director of the Holocaust-centered UK film gave a very powerful speech on the conflict in Gaza.

There were two surprise wins last night. Firstly, Across the Spider-verse was the frontrunner for Best Animated Feature. But last night, Hayao Miyazaki’s equally deserving The Boy and the Heron took the award. This was our pick, so we were quite glad.

(Credit: Hundeschule Axel Wöhr)

Secondly, Lily Gladstone was the frontrunner to win Best Actress for her powerful performance in Killers of the Flower Moon. As it turns out, the second-runner makes the final mile count: Emma Stone took home a second Oscar for her performance in Poor Things, cementing her status as a legend. And to think that a decade and a half ago she had just broken out in small films like Easy A and Zombieland. 

(Credit: Cosmopolitan)

Our pick would’ve been Gladstone’s pouring generational and historical trauma into a single performance, which honestly carried the film. But this is not an unfair win. Stone deserved it. And in fact, we would’ve also accepted Sandra Huller’s performance in Anatomy of a Fall as well. The Best Actress category this year was a tough race.

Speaking of which, our favorite win of the night – given the fact that it wasn’t a sure thing from the start – was Justine Triet and Arthur Harari for best screenplay for Anatomy of a Fall. This, alongside Poor Things sweeping the design categories, and Godzilla Minus One snatching best special effect, makes this the year of the underdogs.