05 March 2018 - 90th Academy Awards
'The Shape of Water' wins best picture at the 90th Academy Awards
Josh Rottenberg (Los Angeles Times, 04/03/2018)
Bringing an end to one of the most wide open best picture races in years, "The Shape of Water" — a fantastical fable about a mute woman who falls in love with an aquatic creature — claimed the top prize Sunday night at the 90th Academy Awards, beating out a strong field of eight rivals that included box office hits like "Dunkirk" and "Get Out" as well as smaller, more intimate fare such as "Call Me By Your Name" and "Lady Bird."
Marking a moment of redemption for the Academy Awards themselves, the award was presented by Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, central players in last year's shocking mix-up, in which the musical "La La Land" was mistakenly named best picture over the actual winner, "Moonlight." ("This year, when you hear your name called, don't get up right away," returning host Jimmy Kimmel joked in one of several nods to the bungle throughout the night. "Give us a minute. We don't want another thing.")
In contrast to last year's chaos, this year's wins proceeded in an orderly fashion, with many awards going to first-timers.
Inclusivity Reigned at the Oscars. Except When It Didn't
Daniel D'Addario (Time Magazine, 05/03/2018)
These days, no matter how hard one may try to keep politics out of an evening, they have a way of seeping in.
That’s how it was at the 90th Academy Awards on Sunday night, when The Shape of Water took the Best Picture award at the end of an evening that was studiously not about the issues that have dominated Hollywood over the course of the past few months—except when it was. That film, a love letter to classic cinema’s romances and creature features—that is or is not a statement on divisions in contemporary society, depending on the light through which one sees it—seemed like the perfect winner for a ceremony that felt at odds with itself. After all, at times this year’s Oscars seemed a tribute to an imagined past Oscars of the mind, and then at times they seemed something radical and new.
A battle cry for inclusion: The Shape of Water triumphs in Oscars of seismic change
Roray Carroll (The Guardian, 05/03/2018)
The Shape of Water, a romantic fable about a janitor who falls in love with a sea creature, has swept top honours at the Oscars in a ceremony that turned into a battle cry for inclusion and female empowerment.
Guillermo del Toro’s cold war-era fantasy about the triumph of outcasts fended off the satirical horror Get Out and the drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, to take best picture and director, continuing a winning streak for Mexican film-makers in Hollywood.
The 90th Academy Awards turned Sunday night’s ceremony in Los Angeles into a celebration and exhortation of representation and inclusion, after a year marked by seismic cultural change in Hollywood that rippled across the world.
At the Oscars, Some Self-Examination Among the Self-Celebration
James Poniewozik (The New York Times, 04/03/2018)
This year’s Academy Awards needed to address two things: the last few minutes of the previous Oscarcast and the last — oh, let’s just call it forever — of men’s behavior in the movie industry.
The host, Jimmy Kimmel, began his monologue by referencing the first: last year’s fiasco, when a logistical foul-up for the ages led Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty to mistakenly announce “La La Land” as the best picture winner instead of “Moonlight.” “This year, when you hear your name called,” he told potential award winners, “don’t get up right away.”
The second, more momentous matter: These Oscars were the first since the sexual misconduct revelations that took down Harvey Weinstein — the producer who loomed over awards season for years — and a host of other men in Hollywood and beyond.