You can’t win ‘em all!
Or, in A Star is Born’s case, you can’t win more than one, apparently.
Though the 2019 Academy Awards were widely regarded as one of the best ceremonies in years, there were, as always, a few snubs that left fans feeling a little bitter.
A Star is Born, which stars Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, quickly amassed a cult following after its October release. It was one of the first films of the year to generate Oscar buzz, and was subsequently nominated in eight categories, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress. Though A Star is Born was considered the film to beat going into Sunday night, the only win it took home was for Best Original Song. Gaga and Cooper performed a mesmerizing rendition of the winning song, Shallow, at the show, which you can watch below.
Another upset, particularly for fans of The Wife and it’s star Glenn Close, was that the veteran film star lost the award for Best Actress to The Favourite’s Olivia Coleman. This loss makes Close the most nominated living actor to never actually win an Oscar. She has been nominated seven times throughout her career.
There has also been quite a bit of backlash surrounding Green Book’s Best Picture victory. While some fans and critics praise the movie for so truthfully depicting racial discrimination in America in the 1960s, others feel that the film wasn’t completely deserving of the win. Many viewers believe pictures like Roma and, of course, A Star is Born, were actually better all-around films than Green Book. Some people were even further upset with the win after learning of director Peter Farrelly’s less-than-professional behavior on past film sets.
And finally, despite the fact that the Best Live Action Short Film category is annually one of the least cared about at the Oscars, this year’s winner left some viewers feeling uneasy. The short piece tells the story of a white man who, soon after brutally beating a black man in a parking lot, is kidnapped and and covered in tattoos, making him unrecognizable. Numerous people who watched the film have called it racist, vulgar, and ridiculous. Critics and film fans alike have openly discussed their distaste for the movie and confusion over its win.
Though there were a handful of disappointments at the 2019 Academy Awards, many viewers actually considered the show to be one of the most entertaining and most inclusive in recent years. You can read more about that here.