Our Oscar verdict 2023: did the best films win?

Everything deserves everything – and got it.

There’s probably a parallel universe where Edward Berger’s wildly predictable anti-war drama All Quiet on the Western Front won big (let’s call it the Baftas). How fortunate that in our world, the Daniels’ head- and heart-wrenching multiverse triumphed with seven wins, including Best Picture. Everything Everywhere All at Once is a riot of fanny packs, hot dog fingers and kung fu that revolves around two Chinese immigrants struggling in America’s hostile environment trying to cope with their chronically depressed daughter. Still, it’s first and foremost a crowd-pleasing comedy, which is why it’s so perfect that actor Jamie Lee Curtis is the daughter of Tony Curtis, who starred in one of the greatest comedies of all time, Some Like It Hot, which won a singles Oscar (for the best costume design). Academy voters have overlooked excellence on many occasions. In 2023, let the right people win.

Yeoh has rightly made history

I remember seeing the Malaysian actress in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and thinking, ‘She’s cool. What a pity her character is being sidelined!” I never imagined that at 60, Yeoh would become the first Asian woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress.

Fraser’s Whale should have been harpooned

And the award for Best Hyperactive Eyebrow Wiggle goes to… Brendan Fraser. Poor guy. You can see what he’s capable of as an obese, caged professor in the first 10 minutes of The Whale, but he can’t rise above the cheap plays that follow. Does he deserve to beat Colin Farrell, Austin Butler or Paul Mescal? No he did not. What good does it do viewers that the 54-year-old former heartthrob has a compelling backstory? Both he and EEAAO’s Ke Huy Quan have one of these. But Quan has that narrative IRL after he disappeared from screens after The Goonies, and by playing Waymond Wang he keeps dazzling on screen. We will celebrate Waymond for years to come. The Whale’s Charlie, not so much.

A hoot for the banshees

In case you haven’t noticed, The Banshees of Inisherin and The Quiet Girl got away with nothing. There was much talk of the “great green wave”, but the takeover disappeared into thin air. After mór an wera é. That’s Irish for “rats!”