The Academy Awards don’t necessarily always reward what most people believe to be the most worthy candidate.
As such, throughout the decades, there have been manyOscarwins that have been controversial to some degree.
Sometimes, they might even be great.
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At the 23rd Academy Awards, she beatGloria SwansonforSunset BoulevardandBette DavisforAll About Eve.
Should she have won over her two stronger competitors?
But Holliday’s performance is neverthelessgood enough to call it a well-earned victory.
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It’s a remarkably dark dramabut also one of the most touchingof the era.
While that may certainly be the superior movie,Ordinary Peoplewas still very much not an undeserving winner.
It’s a layered, complex piece of acting that anchors the movie as a whole.
However, many would be surprised to learn that it didn’t dominate the ceremony that year.
Instead, the honor would go to eight-Oscar-winningCabaret, the iconic musical directed byBob Fosse.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night was when Fosse received the Best Directing Oscar instead of Coppola.
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Fosse’s direction is intimate and subtle but also delectably stylish.
Is it better directing than Coppola’s inThe Godfather?
That’s up for debate.
Five lost nominations, to be exact, starting back in 1996 forSense and Sensibility.
So, the solution?
Winslet gives an incredibly bold and tantalizing performance that only she could have delivered so well.
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Winslet’s performance inThe Readeris controversial for two main reasons.
One, just how clear it is that it’s a role manufactured to get Winslet a statuette.
Two, because the movie is such a tone-deaf examination of themes like pedophilia and Nazi regret.
It’s an incredibly bold and tantalizing performance that only she could have delivered so well.
Frankly, though, the win is great for several reasons, particularly two.
In that sense,Claudio Miranda’s work onLife of Piis jaw-dropping.
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Still, its win is really not nearly as undeserved as many make it seem.
The two movies are vastly different in their scope and what they’re trying to achieve.
Few would argue against the statement thatHopkins’s performance inThe Fatherwas the best of 2020.
His work inThe Fatheris beyond amazing, even ifhis Oscar win will probably remain controversial for many yearsto come.
NEXT:The Best Oscar Speeches of the 21st Century, Ranked
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