All sincerity but no real levity
Everything about this year's Oscars is very earnest. Awards are introduced with sincere descriptions of the work and those involved. Reaction shots are lacking, so we're focused on whoever's at the podium.
People are wearing masks (sort of, in a way, sometimes). So maybe that's why the writers have opted not to include any jokes. At all. In any way.
There's no levity, no opportunities to laugh.
And while I understand that the year has sucked the life out of most of us, how great would it be if the Academy Awards made room for one-liners or the recognition that we're in the middle of a misery marathon — and sometimes we have to make it hilarious?
In fact, most of us have made it this far because we've found ways of laughing at, well, everything. There's room for earnestness and for genuine LOLs. I would love if at any point tonight the Oscars gave us that.
Or even Brad Pitt just riffing, making me even more jealous than I already am about his hair.
Youn Yuh-jung earns supporting actress award for 'Minari'
Youn Yuh-jung just won the best supporting actress prize for her scene-stealing performance as an aging family matriarch in Lee Isaac Chung's "Minari."
Youn, a veteran of the film and television industries in South Korea, is the first Korean actress to win an Oscar.
How Steven Yeun sees 'Minari's' reception
After "Minari," a story about a Korean American family, was placed in the foreign language category at the Golden Globes, audiences were quick to call out what they saw as exclusion. The film's best actor nominee, Steven Yeun, said he's appreciative of the criticism and has high hopes for the Oscars tonight.
For Yeun, the story in "Minari" is intensely personal, and he says he sees Asian America as its own third culture.
"We live in this isolated, liminal space. And that's all right," Yeun told NBC Asian America.
Pixar's first movie with a Black protagonist, 'Soul,' nabs best animated film
Pixar's first movie with a Black protagonist won the Academy Award for best animated feature film. The winning movie, "Soul," centers on an aspiring jazz musician who is hovering between life and death.
Pete Docter won the award alongside Dana Murray. During their acceptance speech, Docter said the movie started as a love letter to jazz but ended up teaching them about life.
Later, inside the Oscars press room, he said: "We were looking for something that would be fun to watch. You don't get into jazz to get rich and famous but because you love it — a noble pursuit! We realized this is relevant to what life is all about — using improvisation to make it beautiful."
A listless audience? This reporter thinks so.
"The people at the tables look like they're listening to a waiter read an endless list of specials," reporter Daniel Arkin said.
Since he got to share everyone else's thoughts at the halfway mark, we couldn't let him slide out of being included.
Here's how we're feeling after 90 minutes
I like the show so far. Don't get me wrong: It's moving a couple beats too slowly for my taste, and I'd like to hear a few more jokes. But the intimate setting inside Union Station is interesting, and I think (most of) the winners so far are deserving.
We asked some folks in our virtual newsroom for their one-sentence reviews now that we're around the halfway mark. Here's what they said:
Amanda Covarrubias, editor: "Appreciate getting rid of the cheesiness and trying something different, but some parts were too slow."
Anne T. Donahue, blogger: "The kindness and messaging and truths are incredible — even the lack of play-off music is a dream. But so help me, if it could only move a touch faster."
Ben Kesslen, reporter: "It's been pretty successful at meeting the moment — minus the 'private island, all tested' vibes — which means it's not too fun."
Kalhan Rosenblatt, reporter: "I've been so pleasantly surprised by the winners and the speeches have been great — especially Daniel Kaluuya's — but overall pretty boring."
Presenters and winners speak in Korean, Chinese
While presenting the nominees for best director, Bong Joon-ho, the 2020 winner for "Parasite," spoke entirely in Korean with a translator at his side.
"Chloé Zhao gave us the experience of shedding the skin of who we think we are and walking in another person's shoes," Bong said in Korean while introducing Zhao, the first woman of color to win best director.
In her acceptance speech, Zhao spoke about growing up in China, memorizing classic poems and texts with her father and reciting them together. She quoted in Chinese of one of her favorite lines, translating it into English for the audience. "'People at birth are inherently good,'" she said.
Presenters also appear to be working to pronounce names correctly this year, including the name of best picture nominee "Minari."
Best short film winner begs viewers: 'Don't be indifferent to our pain'
During his acceptance speech for best short film, Travon Free reminded people that an average of three people are killed by police every day, "which amounts to a thousand people a year."
"Those people happen to disproportionately be Black people," he said. "James Baldwin once said, 'The most despicable thing a person can be is indifferent to other people's pain.' So, I just ask that you please, not to be indifferent, please don't be indifferent to our pain."
Free won for his work in the short film "Two Distant Strangers" alongside Martin Desmond Roe.
The sounds of 'Sound of Metal' win
It probably seems obvious that a movie called "Sound of Metal" would win the Oscar for best sound. But the award for the film, starring Riz Ahmed as a heavy-metal drummer and recovering addict who begins losing his hearing, is richly deserved.
"Sound of Metal" plunges viewers headlong into the disorienting, sometimes downright infuriating experience of losing your hearing. In many respects, that's a credit to the movie's layered and beautifully designed soundscape.
Hollywood to America: Please, please, please go to a movie theater
It is often said that the Oscars is an elaborate commercial for the movie industry itself. You could say the show so far — the pre-show that aired on ABC and the first 40 minutes of the ceremony itself — has doubled as a commercial for beleaguered movie theater chains.
We've heard several people tonight exhort viewers at home to return to brick-and-mortar cinemas, nearly all of which were shuttered during the most dire months of the pandemic. The gist: You can only truly experience the grandeur and majesty of Hollywood inside the walls of your local AMC.
But how many people will leave the comforts of their homes (and their couches) for a night out at the movies? The future of the exhibition industry just may depend on the answer.