Kam Williams' 2013 Oscar Recap

By Kam Williams    

Argo Wins Best Picture While Life of Pi Lands the Most Awards

Ben Affleck got the last laugh after being snubbed by the Academy in the Best Director category when his film, Argo, won the award for Best Picture. However, Ang Lee's Life of Pi landed the most Oscars overall, four, including an upset of Spielberg for director.

The only other major surprise arrived at the outset of the telecast when Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor (Django Unchained) in a race thought to be between Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook) and (Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln). As for this critic's prognostications, I got 15 of 21 correct, including Argo.

Much of the pre-Oscar buzz had been about Seth MacFarlane's hosting the Oscars, and how his irreverent brand of humor would be received by the crowd. Although he didn't take many potshots at Hollywood royalty, his monologue, performances and banter did reflect a disappointing coarsening of the culture.

Whether invoking the name of porn star Ron Jeremy or doing a song and dance celebrating nude scenes "We Saw Your Boobs", MacFarlane frequently resorted to racy material inappropriate for children. He also took a few jabs at Jews, implying that claiming to be at least half-Jewish or a big supporter of Israel was a prerequisite to making it in show business.

But he leveled the lion's share of his acerbic barbs at African-Americans. For example, in a skit inspired by Denzel Washington's film Flight, he had a black, hand puppet drinking alcohol and snorting coke,

Then there was his shockingly-pedophilic sexualizing of 9 year-old Best Actress nominee Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) by speculating about when she'd be too old to date George Clooney. And he made light of domestic abuse when he suggested that Chris Brown and Rihanna considered Django Unchained a date movie because it was about a man trying to get back a woman who's been subjected to unspeakable violence.

Seth also quipped that it's okay for Quentin Tarantino to use the N-word "because he thinks he's black," and he wondered whether Daniel Day-Lewis might've tried to free Don Cheadle had he bumped into him on the studio lot while still in character.

The offensive fare revolving around race was ultimately offset somewhat when they had First Lady Michelle Obama open the envelope for Best Picture from the White House. Still, this Oscar show was anything but a family affair.

Complete List of Oscar Winners:

BEST PICTURE
Argo

BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

BEST ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

BEST DIRECTOR
Ang Lee (Life of Pi)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Argo

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Django Unchained

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Brave

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Amour

BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
"Skyfall" (Skyfall)

BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Life of Pi

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Lincoln

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Life of Pi

BEST DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
Searching for Sugar Man

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Life of Pi

BEST MAKEUP
Les Miserables

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Anna Karenina

BEST FILM EDITING
Argo

BEST SOUND EDITING
Tie: Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty

BEST SOUND MIXING
Les Miserables

BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
Paperman

BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
Curfew

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
Inocente

Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who writes for 100+ publications. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Online, the African-American Film Critics Association, and the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee. Contact him through NewsBlaze. Read more reviews by Kam Williams.