Academy Awards 2021 Reactions

In what was a fittingly underwhelming 2021 Academy Awards telecast for a fittingly underwhelming year, here are our reactions to the show.

The intros and speeches went so long and were so stilted. While there were some historic diverse wins, they felt undermined by choices the Academy Awards telecast producers made. We were also deeply uncomfortable seeing most people without masks but some still wearing them (we honestly think everyone should have just worn them).

We’re overjoyed for Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson who became the first Black women to be nominated and win in Makeup and Hairstyling. Yuh-Jung Youn was as entertaining and delightful as ever in her acceptance speech. Chloé Zhao broke some barriers but had the more joyful moments robbed from her by the decision to move Best Picture to 3rd to last category. 

It seemed like adding more diverse voters to the Academy Awards voting body is starting to slowly pay off, but we’re still in a place where we find ourselves questioning whether or not some of these wins are “token” wins to make the old time Oscars voters feel better about themselves. Until the show can rid itself of that stigma, it will still feel performative. 

Winners in bold are 2021 Academy Awards we predicted correctly.

Original Screenplay

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, Written by Emerald Fennell

Glad to see she won this award (though we would have been equally happy if Minari had won). It became pretty clear she wasn’t going to win directing so this was a nice consolation.

Adapted Screenplay

THE FATHER, Screenplay by Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller

Even though we had this as our pick we were still a little surprised to see it beat Nomadland. This actually probably should have been foreshadowing for later surprises in the show. 

International Feature

ANOTHER ROUND (Denmark) 

By the third award the length of speeches was really starting to grate. 

Actor in a Supporting Role

Daniel Kaluuya, JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH

As much as we love Laura Dern who presented this award, we felt like this was the point in the show where we went to ourselves “Oh they are really going out of their way to try to thank Black performers and nominees. Any time work gets called “important” (even if it is) our automatic reaction is to roll our eyes back into our head. 

At least Kaluuya’s win and speech made up for the awkwardness of the intro by managing to out awkward it by referencing his conception. 

credit: Todd Wawrychuk / A.M.P.A.S.

Makeup and Hairstyling

MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson

The Black winners are really not letting people off the hook in their thank you speeches at this point. Very happy for Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson who as we mentioned were the first Black women to be nominated in the category, let alone win. We also appreciate them acknowledging the impact their win will have for other groups of color and diverse groups. This is actually the first speech we got choked up at. 

Costume Design

MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, Ann Roth

Didn’t show up, fair enough, when you’re 89 years old as Roth is, it does seem like an unnecessary to-do to attend.

Directing

NOMADLAND, Chloé Zhao

IT’S ABOUT TIME. Zhao is only the second woman EVER to win in this category, and the first Asian woman. 

Sound 

SOUND OF METAL, Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michellee Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh

Having Riz Ahmed (who starred in Sound of Metal) present this category seemed like it was setting up for extreme embarrassment if the film didn’t win, lucky for all of them it did.

Live Action Short

TWO DISTANT STRANGERS, Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe

Talk about using your speech time wisely, again the Black winners were using their time to highlight the ongoing issues in the world.

Animated Short

IF ANYTHING HAPPENS I LOVE YOU, Will McCormack and Michael Govier

Sure.

Animated Feature Film

SOUL, Pete Docter and Dana Murray

Very happy for our friends at Pixar.

Documentary Short Subject

COLETTE, Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard

Fun fact: this Documentary Short was actually produced by Facebook for the Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond video game. We’re actually shocked the Oscars honored something with roots not deep in traditional mediums for them.

Documentary Feature

MY OCTOPUS TEACHER, Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster

Sure, this is a thing. 

Visual Effects

TENET, Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher

Actress in a Supporting Role

Yuh-Jung Youn, MINARI

An international treasure, her speech was of course a highlight. We do wish presenter Brad Pitt had bothered to learn how to pronounce her and fellow nominee Maria Bakalova’s names correctly. Seems like the bare minimum level of respect to pay your acting peers.

Production Design

MANK

Production Design: Donald Graham Burt

Set Decoration: Jan Pascale

Like we said, the Academy Awards love films about Hollywood.

Cinematography

MANK, Erik Messerschmidt

Apparently so much so they gave Mank this award as well. 

Film Editing

SOUND OF METAL, Mikkel E. G. Nielsen

We were surprised by this one, usually best Film Editing correlates to the Best Picture winner so we started bracing for surprises. 

Original Score

SOUL, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste

Delighted to see Batiste and Reznor and Ross win. Whether Batiste would be eligible based on antiquated bylaws was a question earlier in the awards season. 

Original Song

FIGHT FOR YOU, from Judas and the Black Messiah; Music by H.E.R. and Dernst Emile II; Lyric by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas

We didn’t have strong feelings on the category but appreciated the speech.

Best Picture

NOMADLAND, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloé Zhao

Here’s where things got weird. The telecast usually ends with this category and moving it up BEFORE the lead actors seemed to signal that they were potentially preparing for a big Boseman finish. The “upset” at the end meant that the show ended on a very abrupt note and rather deprived the Nomadland team of a big celebratory ending.

Actress in a Leading Role

Frances McDormand, NOMADLAND

Like we said, from the moment we saw Nomadland we figured Frances McDormand was going to win an Academy Award for sh*tting in a bucket.

Actor in a Leading Role

Anthony Hopkins, THE FATHER

This was the one true surprise of the evening. As much as we love and respect Boseman, we do think Hopkins gave a better performance. We actually also would have been happy with Riz Ahmed or Steven Yeun. The fact that Hopkins wasn’t there to accept (again he’s in his 80s it’s probably better he didn’t travel) just served to highlight how muted this year was. 

Forcing an in person 2021 Academy Awards feels like a deep foreshadowing of how bizarre the return to “real life” may be.