I'm Just Ken, Poor Things, and other Oscars highlights

Last night, Hollywood's best and brightest congregated in the Dolby Theatre for the 96th Academy Awards. 

Oppenheimer sweeped at the Oscars, picking up seven awards. The biopic on infamous physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer took home best picture, best director, best actor, best supporting actor, best original score, best film editing and best cinematography. 

First-time nominee Cillian Murphy won best actor and Robert Downey Jr won best supporting actor. 

Other big winners include Emma Stone — who won best actress for her performance in the black comedy Poor Things — beating out fan favourite and projected winner Lily Gladstone, who would have been the first Indigenous woman to win an Oscar. 

Poor Things took home four awards, trailing behind Oppenheimer in second place. Barbie, although receiving seven nominations, was shut out of the acting and production categories, only winning best original song, for Billie Eilish and Finneas' What Was I Made For?

Towards the end of the telecast, Ryan Gosling — along with his Barbie co-stars and 65 male backup dancers — performed I'm Just Ken. The performance parodied Marilyn Monroe's music video for Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes).

To unpack more Oscars highlights and talk about the most snubbed performances, Eli Glasner, Johnnie Jae and Rachel Ho join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud on Commotion.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast on your favourite podcast player.

LISTEN | Today's episode on YouTube:

Elamin: Even knowing that it is coming. I was on my feet in my house watching Ryan Gosling making the nation proud, performing I'm just Ken from the Barbie movie. Eli, you were in L.A. covering the Oscars. What was it like in the room when Ryan Gosling performed I'm just Ken?  

Eli: Relief, excitement, exhilaration. Our own Kathleen Newman-Bremang was there. Inside the Dolby Theatre people were rushing back to their seats because the I'm Just Ken performance was coming.

I've heard from various people as I've been here covering the Academy Awards that Gosling is a great sport but that he was kind of done with it all. But bless his plastic hand heart, he went out there and for me it was the joy, working the crowd and seeing Greta Gerwig belting it out. In a reaction shot at the end before they cut to the break, she was just ecstatic. It was gold.

Elamin: Rachel, it felt like the energy completely changed the minute that he started performing. I'm just Ken was nominated for best original song at the Oscars. It did not win. That award went to Billie Eilish who was nominated for What was I Made For. But you were rooting for I'm just Ken. How did you feel watching that performance? 

Rachel: It was amazing. It was such a perfectly timed production as well, to put it closer to the end, because everything's leading up to it, we all know. Also, Billie Eilish's performance was really beautiful as well. I loved the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes reference.

Elamin: For the first time since 2009, the Oscars had these former acting award winners presenting the current nominees for each category. So instead introducing the nominees with rolling tape, you had past actors who have won the award come out and introduce each of the nominees. Did that work for you? Did that dynamic add anything to the show? 

Johnnie: I thought it was a little awkward because you could really tell which entertainers took that job seriously and made an effort. When it came to the best actors for the night, I actually have a video clip of my reaction because I was filming and I was cracking up afterwards because when Jennifer Lawrence was the one to introduce Lily Gladstone, she made no effort at all. 

It was one of the most soulless introductions of the entire night. She didn't even make an effort to even bring up any of Lily's past work or give her any real compliment. And her expression was just blank. And it was kind of disappointing, especially because Lily lost. 

Elamin: One that stood out for me, Rachel, was Lupita Nyong'o introducing Da'vine Joy Randolph, who would go on to win the best supporting actress. As Johnnie was saying there, some of them worked. Nicolas Cage doing an introduction was great. But with Jennifer Lawrence, it felt like she was delivering a speech. What about you, Rachel? What was your reaction to that dynamic? 

Rachel: I liked the format. It should be more personable. If you choose the right people to do it. I did notice that Jennifer was a little stale. I love Nicolas Cage. I've been watching that over and over again, but I think it's kind of awkward at times too. I agree with Johnnie because they're clearly reading off of a teleprompter, but they're also trying to look at the person at the same time, so it can be a bit awkward. 

Elamin: Emma Stone accepting the award for actress in a leading role. That is Emma Stone's second win. Last one was for La La Land in 2017. Poor Things also won costume design, makeup and hairstyling and production design. Rachel, do these wins make sense for you? 

Rachel: Emma's performance for me was probably my favourite. I have to say. I really enjoyed it. I thought it was fun, but I really wanted Lily to win it because I thought her performance was just as good, if not better. It's like the two of them were truly neck and neck. I was disappointed for Lily. I was really, really disappointed for her. But at the same time, I have to admit I'm not necessarily upset that Emma won. 

Elamin: Eli, I'll come to you in a moment on this. But, Johnnie, what's your view on Emma's win? 

Johnnie: Well, being a disabled activist, I made it 15 minutes into Poor Things and the ableism just had me. I was checked out. So I was a little disappointed but also not surprised because when it comes to ableism in the entertainment industry, it's always going to be rewarded. So Poor Things being a big winner, just much like what we saw with Forrest Gump. You know, it was kind of predictable. But I was actually, really glad because I love Emma Stone.

Elamin: Eli, Jonathan Glazer was the only person to directly mention the current ongoing Israel-hamas War. What did you make of Jonathan Glazer's speech and the way that it was responded to? 

Eli: This is a remarkable film about witnessing horror and the choice to speak out or to stay mute. And what happens when you witness horror happening in front of you, is just as present today as it was then, which is what makes the film so timely. I am not surprised that Glazer took that moment but I'm surprised we didn't hear more of that at the show. 

In fact, like here in Los Angeles, as we were reporting, there were protests just a few blocks away, and they were trying to carefully control them. There was a pro-Palestine protest there — people had to get out of their limos and walk. And so they're very much trying to keep all that turmoil out of the Oscars. But there is a tradition of activism at the Oscars, and I think there was a place for those kinds of voices to be heard in the show. And so I applaud Glazer. And you can hear the reaction when he said it, and it wasn't awkward. People appreciated this. So I think that that was a very powerful moment. 

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Amelia Eqbal