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The Academy Awards was certainly a night to remember. Rare is it that the Academy is brave enough to not only nominate, but also actually present the grand prize to the proper recipients. My favorite of course was Charlie Kaufma n, winning best screenplay. He seemed very humbled and appreciative, thanking the community for embracing a film that is not inherently marketable.

There was a lot of love for Che that night. Soderbergh received Oscars for best director and cinematography. His only thank you for the latter award was to his Red camera, while he seemed to be a little more appreciative to the greater community on receiving the former award, in a surprise upset over Andrew Stanton. Benicio Del Toro walked away as the expected favorite for Che, as did Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky.

The most memorable acceptance speech was the funniest. Heath Ledger riffing on front row favorite, and former Joker, Jack Nicholson. Priceless.

My favorite part of the show was the performance of Little Person from Synecdoche, New York. The song beat Bruce Springsteen’s ballad from The Wrestler, which was the presumed favorite.

The rest of the show went more or less as expected. Wall-E picked up best sound mixing, and Samantha Morton went home with best supporting actress. And even though he received every precursor award, Werner Herzog did not fail to entertain, picking up his award for best documentary for his film Encounters at the End of the World.

Unfortunately I fell asleep before they announced best picture, and I have not bothered to look up who won. I’m sure the Academy chose the right film.

-Jason Bardin