The Academy Awards have taken a hit in recent years. Covid restrictions made moviegoing less common, reducing the cultural cachet of Hollywood films. This accelerated the American film industry’s bifurcation into little-seen art films and Marvel-style blockbusters (many of them sequels) — leaving increasingly less in between. With Oscars mostly flowing to the former, the prestige of such awards has faded, and the ceremony itself has lost considerable ratings.
It remains to be seen if any of these trends will be reversed or even meaningfully ameliorated. 2022 had some bright spots, but the American film industry continues to struggle. Which is why it was a pleasant surprise to see Everything Everywhere All at Once, one of 2022’s best films, lead the pack of this year’s Oscar nominations, including those for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and multiple acting nominations (Best Actress for star Michelle Yeoh’s stunning performance, Best Supporting Actor for Ke Huy Quan, and Best Supporting Actress for Stephanie Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis). I quite liked Everything Everywhere All at Once (as have general audiences, who have made this quirky interdimensional action-comedy and existentialist drama studio A24’s highest-grossing film). As I wrote in my review, it defied my ability to liken it to anything else:
Comments