The Oscar for worst-ever awards season goes to… 2021

Now, as an entertainment writer, a movie lover and fan of all things over-the-top, I love awards season. I was super excited about the thought of frivolity and fawning returning at a time when doom and existential crises were the norm.

All I wanted was to briefly stop focusing on health fears and curtailed freedoms and instead place all my attention on what Carey Mulligan would wear on the red carpet.

Sadly, awards season has been a bit of a damp squib.

While naively I thought that seeing couture being modelled on Instagram via rented out hotel rooms and over Zoom, framed by fireplaces in the sitting rooms of mansions, would be enough to sate my need for glamour, it wasn’t enough.

Seeing an otherworldly actor posing artfully in Dior on a grid picture seemed more like an ad than the event of a crowded red carpet, with stars piling up in Marchesa as paparazzi bulbs render everyone temporarily blind. What a rush.

The novelty of Zoom speeches wore off real fast, too. While it was sweet to see people all dolled up in their gaffs, surrounded by loved ones, there was always the dread that somebody would end up with laggy wi-fi or even on mute, as it happened with Daniel Kaluuya painfully accepting a Golden Globe after being silenced.

Then celebs started not caring about even dressing up, with Jason Sudeikis wearing an array of hoodies to the Globes and SAG Awards.

Listen mate, I’m fine with being in my pyjamas with unwashed hair watching a red carpet, but don’t even try to make me feel kinship with you. I am not here for relatability, Sudeikis! I want tuxedos worth more than my rent!

But with the Oscars, an awards show seems even more fruitless. At least at the Emmys and Globes, we’d binge-watched literally every series up for an award, even the technical ones.

But even less of us have seen the majority of the Oscar-nominated films than usual, because it’s literally been illegal to do so. Cinemas have been closed, and bar a few – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Mank and The Trial of the Chicago 7 were all on Netflix – a dodgy streaming link was your only hope. And that ‘you wouldn’t steal a car’ ad still burns viciously inside every millennial’s head, right?

Every year, I’ve tried to see as many of the best picture nominees as possible before Oscar night, rushing to the cinema to see Parasite and signing up for screenings of Jojo Rabbit.

But this year, I’ve only seen three of the eight nominees, and I’m someone who really cares.

It’s hard enough getting non-awards buffs interested in the pomp when they’ve actually been to the cinema to see the films, never mind when the only people to have access to the films are the critics.

Half of the fun of awards season is debating the worthiness of films, pointing out the tone-deaf winners and crying “snub!”, but all many of us have to go on are a few Netflix nights and a rake of reviews. It feels to me like the 2021 Oscars are solely for the filmmakers, and not for the film fans.

Maybe it’s always been like that, and I’ve been blinded by the fashion and the drama.

But until the cinema doors are reopened for us all to enjoy, how can we properly celebrate the art of the movie?

Irish Independent