Oscars Recap With Sam Sanders

0:00I know that's not the Bryan Lair Show theme, that's golden from K-Pop demon hunters, winner of Best Original Song at the Oscars last night. We'll talk to Culture Critics and Sanders in just a minute about the Oscars as a TV show, what he thinks about who won, and maybe even why it might be a good thing that the show is moving to YouTube. But I want to put our little corner of the Oscars that we spotlight on this show right at the top so it doesn't get lost, as it almost always does on the telecast. And that's the feature-length documentaries. As many of you know, we had all five nominated directors this year. The winning documentary was Mr. Nobody Against Putin. So here's the director, David Boranstein, on our show in February, after I asked him what it could mean if he won. On one hand, we think it's important to show what's happening in Russia.

1:03We think it's really important to show the world, especially right now, and we're debating Putin's intention. Just look at what he's saying in the classrooms every single day in Russia, we're training you for a future of warfare. There's absolutely no doubt that he is not going to stop with Ukraine when you just watch this film. And then beyond that, we have what's most interesting to me in many ways is the more universal story about resistance. This is a film that I hope makes people think about their own capacity to affect change in some way, that we all face a moral choice when dealing with authoritarian governments and very dark political decisions. That complicity adds fuel to the fire. And I think right now, when we first started this film, it was like a different America in many ways. And now, with what's happening in Minneapolis and the same kind of liberal forces taking

2:04over this country in many ways, when we see something that almost seems inspired by Putin, now almost the film has a different meaning to me than when I first started it. And I just hope for us having this chance to have this nomination and have a voice that we can create conversations around that as well. David Boenstein, director of Mr. Nobody Against Putin here in February. He has now won the Oscar for Best Feature Late Documentary for that. Now let's bring on Sam Sanders, reporter, radio host, podcaster, and host of the Sam Sanders show on KCRW Southern California's NPR member station. Please Sam, welcome back to WNYC. Hey there, it's so good to be here, thanks for having me. And listeners, who wants to chime in, did you watch the Oscars last night and what if anything stood out to you? Two, one, two, four, three, three, WNYC, four, three, nine, six, nine, two, caller text.

3:05Sam, let's start with what you thought of the ceremony as television. Was it entertaining or interesting as a watch for you and any different from any other year? Yeah, you know, I thought it was a good show. I've spent a lot of time on my show taking hits at the Oscars. I think it can be a bloated, self-aggrandizing thing. But overall, I liked this one. I think Conan is an extremely likable host. His opening number that was spoofing weapons was just hilarious. And I think his tone was pitch-perfect throughout the night. Or sound issues throughout the whole show, but that didn't leave me angry at the Oscars last night. The biggest thing, I had a bunch of friends over to come watch the show, a bunch of moving nerds. And all of them were late because no one knew that the Oscars were beginning an hour earlier this year. And I was so glad they did. I'm glad you mentioned Conan, because to my eye, he also did really well.

4:09And I kind of saw him as trying to walk a line between not being Jimmy Kimmel political, if I can put it that way, but also not ignoring some of the moments the world is in. So I'm going to replay one joke here that's maybe a good example. First time since 2012 that there are no British actors nominated for best actor or best actress. Yeah. British spokesperson said, yeah, well, at least we arrest our pedophiles. So in general, what did you think of, you know, how politics showed up or didn't show up in last night's telecast? It was pretty muted, you know, Conan made jokes about Epstein as we just heard. He joked about Trump, but he didn't name those two men. And the only celebrity who was really vocal on other political issues was Javier Bardem who talked about Palestine, but he seemed to be the only one to say that word out loud

5:09on stage. I was very surprised to see the muted politics in this moment, but it was refreshing to see Conan as a host, Makali would itself, you know, the industry is realing. People aren't going to movie theaters as much as they used to. Big corporate mergers have all creatives in this town scared, and he spoke to that. He mocked the head of Netflix Ted Cerandos. He mocked the billionaire overlords, which I think the room enjoyed, because in spite of the celebration last night, Hollywood and movies as an industry, they are an existential crisis right now. And Conan was able to speak to that and still get folks to laugh at it, which was really hard to do. Here's that Javier Bardem clip you're referring to. Here he is. Go to work on Free Palestine. Jeff in a story, you're on WNYC, hi, Jeff. Hi, good morning.

6:12You know, I actually thought Conan was better last year than this year, but again, it actually just be a personal thing. I also wanted to comment on, I think this was, you know, with one battle after another winning Best Director and Best Picture, really I think that was Hollywood Virtue Signaling. I think like some films in the past that were really just more products of their time or their moments in time, I feel like that's how one battle after another will be remembered, hopefully in five, no more than 10 years. If you look at a film like Sinners, you have the best cinematography, best original screen play, best actor, great music. It's the best film, but Hollywood wanted to send the message, send a signal, as it always tends to want to do, and it chose one battle after another, and possibly also because Paul Thomas Anderson was grossly overdue, much like Martin Scorsese, who has, you know, a tremendous amount of work in film and was late in winning a Best Director

7:19Oscar, you can easily make the same sort of argument with Paul Thomas Anderson in that some of his best work was overlooked, and that this was just an opportunity, as he himself noted, and his acceptance speech boy, you really make a person who work hard for this, so Jeff, I'm going to leave it there to get some other people on, I hear your points, Sam, what do you think? Yeah, you know, I personally loved everything about Sinners and the way in which the Oscar campaign for that movie became this rousing celebration of this entire team of people who really seemed to enjoy working together and working with Ryan Kugler. I was hoping that one would win, but I wasn't angry that one battle did. Paul Thomas Anderson was overdue, and Sinners and one battle both walked away with a bunch of awards. I was really heartened to see Autumn Derald Arcappa win for Best in Photography. She was the first woman to do so, and in her speech,

8:19she had every woman in that room stand. What a beautiful moment. In that same moment, we saw Ryan Kugler bring her son down to the front so he could see his mom give that speech. It was a beautiful moment, so even though Sinners missed the biggest win to see Michael B. Jordan win, to see Autumn win, what a beautiful thing. And Michael B. Jordan, a true California hero after the Oscars, he went to end it out for a burger, and hung out really nice. Yeah, and I actually said on a segment last week that I thought Sinners deserved Best Picture more than one battle over another, partly because of the politics, and partly because I thought it was more ambitious of a film at the level of the direction, you know, the dancing, which they tried to recreate live on stage last night. But it was an awesome attempt at it, and I think for people like me who saw the movie and, you know, I actually went back this weekend and just watch that scene a second time, just soak it in. And I also thought that I would have liked to see

9:27Delroy Lindo who played slim win for Best Supporting Actress. For sure. And instead of, you know, the Mr. Lockjaw, Colonel Lockjaw character, Sean Fendi wasn't even there last night. Who wasn't even there? What, I'll ask you if you know what that was about. But even though maybe he won, because that's a memorable role. The caller said people aren't going to remember one battle five years from now. I think that's one of those classic roles that people are going to look back to, like people in Dr. Strange Love, which I thought there was a parallel two things like that, hilarious and wonderful. But, but I thought it was an easier role to play because it was so cartoonish than the complicated role of slim in Sinners. That's just me. But, but where was Sean Penn? Who knows? He was extremely elusive this entire Oscar campaign season. He really didn't campaign. But this guy is so beloved by the industry and has given so many amazing

10:32performances. I'm not mad at it. I don't think one battle was my favorite film of the year, but I do think Sean Penn doing what he did on that screen in that film will stand a test of time even if the movie does not. I wasn't mad about that when. What I was most upset about though, Brian, you know, we saw K-pop demon hunters win two Oscars last night. By many measures, it was the biggest film of last year. And at both moments when that film won, the winners were played off the stage by the orchestra before they finished. It felt rude to me. And I think if you're Hollywood trying to find a way forward, movies like K-pop demon hunters, movies like Sinners that are bankable, that get real people to watch them over and over again, you should do everything you can to give some shine to those films. So I really think K-pop demon hunters deserved a lot more time on the stage last night. Listen to writes, Miss V. Copeland Dancing was my favorite moment of the Oscars. Nick and Brooklyn has something to say. Nick, you're on WNYC. Hello. Hi, I just want to preface what I'm about to say by the fact that I am a crank when it comes to

11:40the Oscars and my wife knows it and it's that there it is. But when I watched the Oscars and I did last night, it always makes me feel incredibly sad because I love movies. I think of them as great art. And I feel like art and beauty in a contest is a beauty contest. And I feel like it's reprehensible to impose a hierarchical structure. And Nick, I'm going to leave it there. We get the point. Call us again. Sam, you've talked about in this in the past, I believe, right? The absurdity of having great works of art in a competitive environment. And I think you've wondered if the Oscars should even exist. I've totally wondered that. When we look back at the origin of the Oscars, the Academy and the Oscars themselves were a creation of Louis B. Mayer in an attempt to

12:44keep actors, directors, and producers from forming unions. He said, if I give them a nice show and some awards and make them feel important, they won't organize. They won't take collective action. So the origin of the show is pretty fraught. And I do think at so many turns, the Oscars get it wrong and don't award the right film. But one thing about Hollywood is that they love awards. And at this point, the Oscars industrial complex is so big that the campaign season is so long and so much money is spent. If you took the Oscars away, you'd lose thousands of jobs in Southern California. Interesting. We've got under a minute left. On your show, I watched your video podcast last week and you had a guest who thought the move to YouTube off of ABC or any broadcast network for a future Oscar telecast would be a good thing because they could actually make it more entertaining there with fewer traditions that become restrictions. 20 seconds, do you think so too?

13:46I'm very wary. You know, I had film buffs in my life who didn't realize the Oscars began an hour early last night on the network. It's always been on for years. Getting viewers of the Oscars to move to YouTube is going to be really hard to do. So they better start doing press right now to make it happen. I'm not so legit on YouTube being the best home for the Oscars. Classic movie fans aren't looking to YouTube for this kind of show. Interesting. Although everybody has YouTube, I don't know if everybody's going to have ABC or a couple of years with this start. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sam Sanders, Sam Sanders show from KCRW Public Radio in Southern California. Thanks for getting up early and doing this. Since WNYC's first broadcast in 1924, we've been dedicated to creating the kind of content we know the world needs. Since then, New York Public Radio's rigorous journalism has gone on to win a Peabody Award and a Dupont Columbia Award, among others. In addition to this award-winning

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