Honestly, if you had told me five years ago that a $6 million indie flick about a Brooklyn sex worker and the chaotic son of a Russian oligarch would sweep the Oscars, I probably would’ve laughed you out of the room. But here we are. The 97th Academy Awards just wrapped up at the Dolby Theatre, and the vibe was... different.
Conan O’Brien hosted—finally—and the guy actually kept the energy up even after a brutal season of Los Angeles wildfires that nearly dampened the whole Hollywood spirit. But the real story isn't the host. It’s the fact that the Academy Award winners this year represent a massive, seismic shift in what the "establishment" actually cares about.
Sean Baker’s Anora didn’t just win; it dominated.
The Anora Sweep and Why It Matters
Let’s talk about Sean Baker. The guy shot Tangerine on an iPhone. Now he’s holding four Oscars. He won for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and—this is the nerdy part—Best Film Editing.
It's actually wild.
Baker used his speech as a "battle cry" for the theatrical experience. He wasn't just thanking his agent; he was literally begging people to keep going to movie theaters. He pointed out that we’ve lost nearly 1,000 screens in the U.S. since the pandemic. It felt personal.
Anora is a gritty, loud, heartbreaking, and hilarious movie. It’s the kind of film that usually gets a "cool indie" nod but loses the big trophy to a $200 million historical epic. Not this time.
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Mikey Madison: The New Queen of Hollywood
Mikey Madison taking home Best Actress for Anora was the "holy crap" moment of the night. Look, everyone thought Demi Moore had it in the bag for The Substance. Demi has been around forever, she was incredible in that body-horror nightmare, and she’d been winning the SAG and Golden Globes.
But Mikey Madison? She’s 25. She was the "cult girl" in Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Now she’s an Oscar winner.
Her performance as Ani is a tour de force. She’s screaming, she’s fighting, she’s vulnerable. During his acceptance speech, Sean Baker even thanked Quentin Tarantino for casting her first, saying Anora wouldn't exist without that breakthrough.
The Heavy Hitters and the History Makers
While Anora took the top spots, it wasn't a total shutout for the big-budget films. But even the "expected" wins felt earned.
Adrien Brody won Best Actor for The Brutalist. It’s been 22 years since he won for The Pianist. This time, instead of kissing Halle Berry on stage (though she did grab him for a smooch on the red carpet earlier that night to "pay him back"), he gave a deeply measured speech about the immigrant experience. The Brutalist is a three-and-a-half-hour beast of a movie about an architect, and Brody is the soul of it.
He beat out Timothée Chalamet’s Bob Dylan and Sebastian Stan’s Donald Trump. That’s a tough field.
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Zoe Saldaña’s Big Moment
Zoe Saldaña finally got her flowers. She won Best Supporting Actress for Emilia Pérez. She is now the first American of Dominican descent to win an Oscar.
She was crying. The audience was crying. It was a lot.
Emilia Pérez was actually the most-nominated non-English film ever with 13 nods, though it ended up only taking two (Supporting Actress and Best Original Song for "El Mal"). There was some controversy leading up to the night because of some resurfaced tweets from co-star Karla Sofía Gascón, which some think hurt the film's chances in the Best Picture race.
Supporting Actor: The Culkin Era
Kieran Culkin won Best Supporting Actor for A Real Pain. Basically, he played a version of himself—or at least the version of himself we all love from Succession.
The highlight? He got censored.
He was telling a story about how his wife, Jess, promised him a fourth kid if he won the Oscar because she didn't think he’d actually do it. He said, "Let's get cracking," and the TV censors cut the audio. It was peak Culkin.
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The Technical Wins and Shocks
The Academy Award winners this year also showed that the Academy still loves a good spectacle when it's done right.
- Wicked cleaned up in the "pretty" categories. It won Best Production Design and Best Costume Design. Paul Tazewell, the costume designer, made history as the first Black male to win in that category.
- Dune: Part Two did exactly what we expected. It took home Best Sound and Best Visual Effects. It’s hard to argue with that; the movie literally vibrates your ribcage.
- Flow pulled off a massive upset for Best Animated Feature. It beat Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot. If you haven't seen Flow, it's a dialogue-free movie about a cat surviving a flood. It’s beautiful and proves that Disney/Pixar doesn't have a permanent lease on that trophy.
Academy Award Winners This Year: Full List of Major Categories
If you just want the quick rundown of who took home the gold, here it is:
- Best Picture: Anora
- Best Director: Sean Baker (Anora)
- Best Actor: Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)
- Best Actress: Mikey Madison (Anora)
- Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)
- Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)
- Best Original Screenplay: Anora (Sean Baker)
- Best Adapted Screenplay: Conclave (Peter Straughan)
- Best International Feature: I'm Still Here (Brazil)
- Best Animated Feature: Flow
- Best Documentary Feature: No Other Land
- Best Cinematography: The Brutalist (Lol Crawley)
- Best Original Score: The Brutalist (Daniel Blumberg)
- Best Original Song: "El Mal" (Emilia Pérez)
What This Means for Your Watchlist
So, what do you actually do with this information?
First off, see Anora. It’s available on Prime Video now. It’s not your typical "Oscar bait," which is exactly why it’s so good. It’s messy and human.
Secondly, don't sleep on The Brutalist. Yes, it is very long. Yes, it has an intermission. But Adrien Brody’s performance is career-defining.
Lastly, check out the international and animated winners. I'm Still Here from Brazil is a gut-punch of a political drama, and Flow is quite possibly the most unique animated film you'll see this decade.
The 97th Oscars proved that the "little guys" can still win big if the craft is there. It wasn't a night of blockbusters; it was a night of storytellers.
Next Steps for Film Fans:
- Check your local independent theater listings; many are re-screening Anora and The Brutalist following their big wins.
- Watch Flow on a large screen if possible to appreciate the visual artistry that beat the major studios.
- Listen to the Emilia Pérez soundtrack, specifically "El Mal," to understand why it captured the Academy's attention over more traditional musical fare.