Quest-en-Scène: The 2026 Oscars in Review
Actor in a Leading Role - Michael B. Jordan, Sinners
This was one of my favorite wins of the night! Michael B. Jordan was amazing in Sinners (I mean, there were two of him!! C’mon!!) and I’m so happy to see him finally get recognition after years of great performances. This year’s Best Actor category is the most stacked it’s been in a long time, leaving this award as the one I was most unsure about. I, like many people, assumed for most of the awards season that Timothée Chalamet was a lock, but Jordan winning instead is a welcome upset. Timmy will get his moment one day, but ultimately what’s more in the spirit of Marty Supreme than losing due to your own arrogant hubris?
Actor in a Supporting Role - Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
This was another category where I could’ve imagined it going any way, but this was probably the least interesting outcome. Sean Penn was good, but giving it to the guy who already has two Oscars and didn’t even bother showing up? Boring!
Actress in a Leading Role - Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Jessie Buckley was a lock for this from the moment awards season began, but I’m still happy to see her win. I was personally rooting for Rose Byrne’s harrowing performance in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, but I still appreciate Buckley for being by far the best part of Hamnet and the film’s emotional centerpiece. (Also she’s my last name twin… I have to support my long lost cousin!)
Actress in a Supporting Role - Amy Madigan, Weapons
Congratulations to Reed College Board of Trustees member Amy Madigan on her Oscar! This was another stacked category and I would’ve been happy to see the award go to any of the immensely skilled women nominated. That being said, I’m very pleased that Weapons got at least one award!
Animated Feature Film - KPop Demon Hunters
While perhaps a slightly less inspired win than the historic run of groundbreaking winners in this category the past few years, I’m still happy that the chokehold Disney and Pixar used to have on this category has lessened significantly. Let’s hope the Academy continues the streak of awarding interesting, original movies!
Cinematography - Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Sinners
This was a very exciting win! Sinners was not only beautifully shot and a deserving winner, but Autumn Durald Arkapaw is the first ever woman to win Best Cinematography! That’s a ridiculous statistic after nearly 100 years, but her winning is inspiring and I hope many more talented women win in the future.
Directing - Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
It was extremely satisfying seeing Paul Thomas Anderson, (AFTER 14 OSCAR NOMINATIONS!!) finally get his flowers for years of incredible work. That being said, I really hope someone who isn’t a white guy wins next year. The Oscars are known for being extremely white guy-centric, but I feel like that is most apparent in this category. So many incredibly talented female directors and directors of color are overlooked every year and I would love for that to change.
International Feature Film - Sentimental Value
This was an absolutely incredible year for international film, the lineup of films in this category was extremely strong and I would have been happy to see any of them win! Two out of the five international feature nominations crossing over into the Best Picture category (The Secret Agent being the second) was really cool to see and it shows that the Oscars are continuing to recognize the amazing movies being made outside of the US. However, as Park Chan-wook’s biggest fan, I’m still angry about No Other Choice getting snubbed. To all the members of the Academy who voted against it, I’m holding a large flower pot over my head and it has your name on it…
Music (Original Song) - “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters
“Golden” is a fun song, but this feels like a bit of a safe win. Maybe I’ve grown a bit biased against “Golden” after hearing it nonstop for over six months, or maybe it was Miles Caton’s absolutely incredible live performance of “I’d Lie to You” at the Oscars reminding me of how amazing that song is, but I really think Sinners should’ve taken this.
Writing (Adapted Screenplay) - Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
I will admit that I know very little about Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland so I don’t really know how well this film actually functions as an adaptation, but I think One Battle After Another is a much better written film than anything else nominated in this category. I’ve seen it several times at this point, and every time I’m always impressed by how many different threads there are and how well it comes together in the end. Paul Thomas Anderson is a pretty good writer, who would’ve guessed?
Writing (Original Screenplay) - Ryan Coogler, Sinners
I can’t imagine a more perfect movie to win this award than Sinners. It’s not only incredibly written, but also one of the most original, exciting premises for a film in recent memory. Additionally, as a massive horror movie fan I’m excited to see a horror movie be so heavily recognized for being well written and thematically rich. After years of ignoring them, the past few years show that the Academy seems to finally be realizing that horror films have artistic value. It only took 100 years…
Best Picture - One Battle After Another
This was a rare year where nearly every Best Picture winner was extremely strong, (with one notable exception, I’m looking at you F1…) That being said, I think most people realized pretty early on that things were likely going to come down to either One Battle After Another or Sinners. I love both of these films and struggle to pick a favorite between them so I knew I would be happy either way, but now that I can view the whole award season through a retrospective lens I can’t believe that we were lucky enough to have two clear front runners, which were both good, well made movies. We could’ve had another Emilia Perez situation! Or, god forbid, a Green Book situation! I hope that despite the Oscars' many flaws, this trend continues so I can have another year of watching them without feeling like I’m about to burst a blood vessel due to the sheer levels of stupidity on display.