It was finally an exciting year again at the Oscars and I think that is because many of the films being celebrated were unique, charming, compelling and actually made you feel good – not a sombre line-up of slow, heavy and serious dramas that actually do nothing but put us to sleep.

There are often two films racing through the ceremony, picking up awards on the way to the big one: Best Picture. This year saw two worthy films, namely Hugo and The Artist go head to head – Hugo with 11 nominations and The Artist with 10. Both came out with five by the end of the night. The Artist took home the big one though: the first silent film to win a Best Picture Oscar since 1929 and, happily, Uggie the dog was also there to accept the award.

The acting awards were predictable, but deserving for the most part. Although disappointed that Gary Oldman did not win Best Actor, I was still happy to see the award go to Jean Dujardin for his outstanding performance in The Artist. I was absolutely delighted to see Christopher Plummer win an Oscar – making him the oldest actor to win the award – and although I do not know Octavia Spencer’s work and have not seen The Help I loved that she was so delighted to have her award presented to her by Christian Bale, that she exclaimed “thank you, Academy, for putting me with the hottest guy in the room”. As for Best Actress, I am not a fan of Meryl Streep and was not happy seeing her take the accolade, wishing instead that it had gone to Michelle Williams. Another worthy win, however, was Woody Allen for Best Original Screenplay.

I really cannot remember the last time I was so pleased with the results on Oscar night and altogether it was a fantastic year with the winners, in a twist of beautiful irony, being films that celebrate the magic of cinema.

And the Oscar goes to:

Best Picture: The Artist
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
Best Actor: Jean Dujardin for The Artist
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer for Beginners
Best Actress: Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer for The Help
Best Animated Film: Rango
Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash for The Descendants
Best Original Screenplay: Woody Allan for Midnight in Paris
Best Art Direction: Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo for Hugo
Best Cinematography: Robert Richardson for Hugo
Best Costume Design: Mark Bridges for The Artist
Best Documentary Feature: Undefeated
Best Documentary Short: Saving Face
Best Film Editing: Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation (Iran)
Best Make-Up: Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland for The Iron Lady
Best Original Score: Ludovic Bource for The Artist
Best Original Song: Bret McKenzie for Man or Muppet from The Muppets
Best Animated Short: William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg for The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
Best Live Short: Terry George and Oorlagh George for The Shore
Best Sound Editing: Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty for Hugo
Best Sound Mixing: Tom Fleischman and John Midgley for Hugo
Best Visual Effects: Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning for Hugo

Originally published on Dinner and a Movie

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