Let’s Talk About the 2022 Oscars
No, not THAT. What ELSE happened?
Issue #41
By Pamela Hillard Owens
I am the first to admit that I am not a “movie person.” I probably see maybe 1-3 movies a year, and there are a lot of movies that I should have seen but never did.
That’s also probably why I almost never watch the Academy Awards shows: I probably didn’t see the movies nominated.
By now, everyone’s heard of (and commented on!) “the slap heard ‘round the world,” so this article will talk about many of the other firsts and exciting outcomes.
Please scroll to the end to see all of the important information about this article. Thanks!
Let’s start with the all-Black team that actually produced the show. The production team was led by one of the top Black film producers, Will Packer, who is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and a graduate of the famous HBCU Florida A&M University (FAMU). Packer was an engineering student at FAMU when he and his frat brother decided to make a film about a young coming of age at an HBCU. None of the traditional studios wanted to touch the movie, called “Chocolate City,” so Packer and Hardy did all of the marketing and distribution tasks themselves, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The Oscars’ co-producer Shayla Cowan is the chief of staff for Will Packer Productions. Even Wolfgang Puck, who has catered the Governors Ball after-party for more than 25 years, teamed up with the Bronx-based Black-owned culinary collective called Ghetto Gastro for the event.
Oscar Winners of Interest
Best Picture: “CODA” My undergraduate degree is in special education, so this movie (which I have not yet seen) generated interest for me. Summary: As a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family's fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her passion at Berklee College of Music and her fear of abandoning her parents. I am definitely going to catch this film on Netflix!
Best Actor: Will Smith as Richard Williams in “King Richard” I did see this excellent film, and Will definitely earned this Oscar. I do also want to see Denzel in “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” “Malcolm” doing Shakespeare? A must-see!
Best Directing: Jane Campion for “The Power of the Dog” She is only the third woman ever to win for best director in the 92-year-old history of the Oscars!
MY FAVORITE! Best Documentary Feature: “Summer of Soul” by Questlove In 1969, the same year as “Woodstock,” the Harlem Cultural Festival was held over six weekends in what is now called Marcus Garvey Park. Even though there were huge crowds each week, and some of the featured artists included Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone, The 5th Dimension, The Staple Singers, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Sly and the Family Stone, the then-current pop culture thought the festival was “obscure” (read: too Black).
Fortunately, 40 hours of the festival were filmed, but the tapes sat in someone’s basement for over 50 years, before being found and digitized. Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson served as musical director for the film, which won the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentaries at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. The film is currently being live-streamed on several outlets, including Hulu and YouTube. It is a MUST SEE.
Best Animated Feature Film: “Encanto” This is another movie I saw on Netflix on a lazy Sunday afternoon and I LOVED it. Without giving away the movie, I’ll say that it is heavily based on Colombian culture and explores generations of family dynamics, and takes place in the early 20th-century. Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Hamilton”) was one of the writers for the movie and also wrote and produced a lot of the soundtrack. The movie took five years from idea through its film debut, but it was definitely worth it. It is another MUST SEE and I am issuing a “tissue alert.”
Best Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose as “Anita” in “West Side Story” Well, I am going to have to watch this movie. I’m not a fan of “remakes” and the original “West Side Story” is one of my all-time favorite movies. I was also skeptical of anyone stepping into the shoes of the great EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) award winners, the G.O.A.T. Rita Moreno, who won the Oscar for the same role in 1962. Ariana, who identifies as Puerto Rican, Black, Italian, and gay, also appeared in “Hamilton” and played Donna Summer and Mary Wilson on Broadway.
OK. Thus ends this foray into my heretofore non-existent career as a movie critic.
Did you see any of the nominated or award-winning movies?
What did you think?
