Helena Gomes ‘27

REPORTER

This year’s Oscars ceremony stood out as it honored multiple great artists, served stunning performances, and left everyone feeling emotional. The Best Actor/Actress winners were Mikey Madison, Zoe Saldaña, Kieran Culkin and Adrien Brody, as they all delivered amazing performances. The Academy awarded the most talented and skilled artists, but a good number of people had contradictory opinions on who left the show with the award in hand.

The honored film for Best Picture was Anora, which took home a total of five Oscar awards. Anora is about a young sex worker whose life takes an unexpected turn when she marries the son of a Russian billionaire, navigating trauma and tragic love. I’m Still Here, which was mentioned before in the earlier Oscar preview article, won the Best International Feature Film category, which marked the first time a Brazilian movie received this honor.

While Anora is a great movie, it just didn’t stand out among the other stronger contenders in this category, such as Conclave, The Brutalist, I’m Still Here, and Dune: Part Two. For Best Supporting Actor, Kieran Culkin won his first Oscar after 30 years of high-quality acting for his performance in A Real Pain, a drama that portrays the complexities of family relationships and personal growth. In my opinion, he had one of the best acceptance speeches of the night as he told a story in which his wife made a promise to give him a fourth baby if he won an Oscar. Zoe Saldaña won Best Supporting Actress, one of the two wins for Emilia Pérez; she also made an insightful speech where she acknowledged the significance of being the first American of Dominican origin to win an Academy Award.

The actress honored as the Best Actress this year was Mikey Madison, becoming the youngest actress to win this category since Jennifer Lawrence 12 years ago. She won this award because of her performance in Anora, where she played the protagonist, Ani.

For the second time after 22 years, Adrien Brody won the award for Best Actor for his outstanding performance in The Brutalist, where he plays a Hungarian Jewish architect who emigrates to the U.S. after World War II. Through his passionate performance, Brody illustrates clearly all the emotions and traumatic experiences that refugees had to go through during that time.

The 2025 Oscars delivered a ceremony full of unforgettable and unexpected moments. It celebrated historic victories, and also reinforced Hollywood to a greater innovation which makes the wait for next year’s ceremony even more exciting!