Oscar wins : Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Troy Kotsur), and Best Adapted Screenplay
Why it won: For many months leading up to the Oscars, pundits …
Oscar wins: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Troy Kotsur), and Best Adapted Screenplay Why it won: For many months leading up to the Oscars, pundits predicted Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog would take home Best Picture. Then, a week before Hollywood’s biggest night, CODA— the feel-good coming-of-age movie about a hearing girl and her all-Deaf family — appeared as the front-runner. Some critics who found the film cheesy and formulaic weren’t happy, but it seems after yet another year of doom and gloom, the Academy members were drawn to a movie that made them happy. As CODA director Sian Heder told Decider when the movie was released on Apple TV+ in August: “We’ve just been through a really hard year and a half as a human race. I think everybody is longing to see a movie that’s about connection and family.” Why you should watch: Don’t listen to the haters—just because CODA is a “feel-good movie” doesn’t mean it’s not also a great movie. It’s a sincere, emotional, unabashedly uplifting tale that is guaranteed to make your whole family cry. Oscar-winners Troy Kotsur and Marlee Matlin—the only two Deaf actors to ever win an Academy Award—deliver warm, heartfelt, and genuine performances that will make you fall in love with their crazy on-screen family. And, as a bonus, CODA ‘s run time is under two hours, and it’s streaming free on Apple TV+. Stream CODA on Apple TV+ Oscar wins: Best Supporting Actress (Ariana DeBose) Why it won: The Best Supporting Actress category was, as it usually is, stacked this year, with stand-out performances from Jessie Buckley ( The Lost Daughter), Judi Dench ( Belfast), Kirsten Dunst ( The Power of the Dog), and Aunjanue Ellis ( King Richard). But only one nominee—DeBose quite literally melted her shoes from dancing so vigorously as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s masterful remake of the Broadway musical West Side Story. Anita is arguably the best role in the show—Rita Moreno also won the Oscar for playing her in the 1961 film—and DeBose’s performance was magnetic. She earned this statue. Why you should watch: Like almost everyone, my immediate reaction to the words “Steven Spielberg West Side Story remake” was not favorable. Then I watched the movie, and I did a complete 180. Leonard Bernstein’s iconic score sounds better than ever on these new recordings, the dancing is absolutely off the charts, and the performances will sweep you up in this timeless tale of love and tragedy. Musical theater nerds will be obsessing over it for years to come. Trust me, you want to watch it. Where to watch West Side Story Oscar wins: Best Director Why it won: Despite all the early hype and the 11 nominations, in the end, this brooding Netflix western about cowboys and their feelings went home with just one win. Director Jane Campion, who is the only woman to ever be nominated for Best Director twice, definitely earned this win with her sweeping, meticulous directing in The Power of the Dog, which brings to life Thomas Savage’s semi-autobiographical novel about growing up on a Montana ranch in 1925.
