Demi Moore lost the Oscar but she’s still a winner

by Cláudio Alves

THE SUBSTANCE (2024) Coralie Fargeat | © MUBI

Bedecked in a silvery Armani Privé number and Chopard diamonds, Demi Moore arrived at the 97th Academy Awards like a winner. She left a winner, too, despite the lack of a little golden man complementing her crushed ice glamour. Saying such things may seem like a pity party or a way for fans to cope with their idol's losses, but it rings true here. Though she lost the Oscar, Demi Moore effectively changed the narrative of her career and forced both the industry and the public to reassess her worth as a performer, her history, her legacy. From "popcorn actress" to respected thespian, this is a reinvention of miraculous proportions and deeply deserved, too.

In many ways, these things are bigger than AMPAS' golden trophy, and may even have a bigger impact. After this season, nobody will look at The Substance star the same way ever again. At least, I won't…

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A History of Sex Workers and Oscar Wins

by Nathaniel R

Mikey Madison, Best Actress winner for "ANORA"With Mikey Madison's much buzzed about semi-surprising Best Actress win for Anora (2024) and Madison and her writer/director Sean Baker both paying tribute to sex workers in their speeches, let's talk sexworkers and the Oscars. It is a myth that playing a sex worker will get you an Oscar but it is also not wholly false that these roles are of great interest to Hollywood. Many actresses have been celebrated for playing women of ill repute whether they're traditional prostitutes, strippers, sex therapists, or it happens to be a character detail that they used to trade sex for money, or whatnot. What this says about Hollywood and the public's taste in entertainment is... well, it says many things... but they do call it 'the oldest profession' for a reason.

Male actors are not nominated for this sort of role (which also says a lot about society and Hollywood) even when they deserve to be...

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Almost There: Marianne Jean-Baptiste in "Hard Truths"

by Cláudio Alves

This year's Academy Awards saw Mikey Madison's work in Anora become the 100th performance to take the Best Actress Oscar. There's much to say about this race, good and bad, and I'm currently preparing some stuff on Demi Moore and Fernanda Torres. But today, I would like to reflect on the category beyond the five women AMPAS chose to recognize. Because, in my opinion, the year's best performance bar none, as well as the film which contains it, was absent from the Oscars altogether. For the season's last Almost There, I invite you to take a trip into Mike Leigh's cinema, a world of deep character work and improvisation, collaborative writing and ensemble dynamics, tonal whiplash and social observation. Let's talk Marianne Jean-Baptiste in Hard Truths…

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Oscar Volleys: Best Actress is a bloodbath

The Oscar Volleys are almost over. Today, Cláudio Alves, Elisa Giudici and Nathaniel Rogers discuss the Best Actress race...

CLÁUDIO: Say what you want about the merits of Best Director or Best Picture's intrinsic importance, but we all know that Best Actress is where it's at. Certainly here, at The Film Experience, where a love for actressing and a love of cinema are often inextricable. And this year, we have one hell of a race, a good old-fashioned nail-biter that will only be resolved once that envelope's opened.

Will it be a rare triumph for horror and a legitimization of an oft-dismissed talent? Will it be a newcomer's moment to shine, riding the wave of love for her frontrunner film? Will it be an international goddess whose Golden Globe win remains one of the season's biggest and most delightful shockers, breaking decades of Oscar precedent? And what about the persona non grata among us? How will the room react to her glorification as a nominee, even if a win seems out of the question? So many mysteries…

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Robert Altman @ 100: Susannah York was Almost There

by Cláudio Alves

For the second part of the Robert Altman tribute, consider a crossover with the Almost There series. Throughout his career, the director proved to be one of the best at working with actors within the New Hollywood state of play, whether his movies were tightly focused psychodramas or the more sprawling fare that we tend to associate with Altman. It's no surprise, then, that many of his performers received some buzz, often figuring in the awards season, whether or not they got an Oscar nomination at the end of it all. Today, let's look at Susannah York in the second of Altman's portraits of women on the verge of madness. After That Cold Day in the Park, there was 1972's Images…

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