Family, movies and love: How the “Oscars with Mom and Dad” are my real award race

As almost always happens with really important things, it all started in the most unexpected way possible.. The Academy was distributing its first statuettes to the beautiful ‘La Forma dell’Acqua’ when, mid-morning, I received a message from my mother via WhatsApp: “Are you watching? I thought ‘Three Billboards Outside’ was going to win it all”. At that moment, as well as spotting an incalculable smile on my face, I immediately started talking to her about the gala and, of course, the way the Oscars had been handed out since that distant March of 2018. Her favorite, shared with my father, was ‘The Pentagon Files’, but both felt there wasn’t much of a chance for the magnificent film directed by Steven Spielberg to win. However, and although she was the only one who remained awake until the last second of the ceremony, they both lived that prize race with the same amount of interest and emotion. It should be noted that, up until then, we’d go together to see each year’s winner days after she won, but that all changed after that middle-of-the-night text exchange. There, when there was no caffeine and it was better not to look at the clock, the Oscar was born with mum and dad. There, right there, a tradition began that has grown into something enormously special.

Based on the fact that it is impossible for the three of us to see the gala, my father’s eyelids do not accept a challenge of this level of demand, the (wonderful) option that remained was, once the candidates were known, to go to the cinema from enjoy (or suffer) with each of them in order, then, that both he and she ordered them as if they were a ballot to vote in the Academy. Ah, if anyone has any doubts, I’m obviously more interested in the Oscar winner with Mom and Dad than the one who ultimately takes home the best picture award.

Thus, once the rules of a game have been established, which is nothing more than a pretext to spend more time with them, I have observed in recent years how they have coincided in their dedication to films such as ‘The Vice of Power’, ‘ Nomadland’, ‘The Power of the Dog’, ‘The Irishman’ or, above all, a ‘Parasite’ that made them vibrate in the cinema like it hasn’t happened for years. I still remember in detail how my mother and I celebrated that Best Picture Oscar as if we were relatives of Bong Joon-ho himself. On the other side of the scale, that of disappointments, works such as ‘Drive my car’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Black Panther’ or ‘Marriage Story’, have not penetrated their hearts in any way. As for the funniest part, the surprises, there was everything. From my mother’s absolute crush on proposals that, a priori, were light years away from her tastes, or what I believed were her tastes, such as ‘Dune’ or ‘Joker’, almost nothing, to total detachment from my father with hypothetical favorites (his) like ‘Rome’ or ‘1917’ along with his crush, as unexpected as absolute, with ‘La favourite’, ‘Mank’ or ‘The alley of lost souls’. Blowing pools, another trademark of the house “Oscar with mum and dad”.

The Oscars with mom and dad 2023

I propose a game. Before I tell you about the big winners and losers of this edition, think about which ones you think are my mother’s and father’s favorites. And it’s not so much about knowing them or not, but about what one, pulling out clichés and clichés, could intuit the cinematic tastes of two people who are over sixty years old. Already? Now? Okay, let’s go there. A few days before the 95th Oscar ceremony, my mother’s final ranking is led by “Avatar: The Sense of Water”. I have already told you that it is a tradition full of surprises. His reasons, yes, are indisputable: he had never seen a 3D film or experienced such a great immersion in front of the screen, so he particularly appreciates the illusion of having experienced something new in a room when he hardly expected it anymore . The rest of his lineup follows more ‘predictable’ paths with ‘They speak’, ‘Inisherin’s banshee’, ‘All quiet on the front’ and ‘Tár’ rounding out his core quintet. As for the lower end of the chart, we find an ‘Elvis’ that didn’t wow at all, as evidenced by its penultimate place in my father’s chart, which has ‘No news in the front’ as its undisputed winner, accompanied by ” They speak” in second place, “The Fabelmans” in third and “Almas en torment de Inisherin” and “All at once everywhere” in fourth and fifth. In short, a shared passion for Sarah Polley, Cate Blanchett, Martin McDonagh and the Netflix anti-war film.

Anyway, All of this is just the result of the emotions that the experience of plunging into a completely different story every week has awakened in both of them. In recent months they have traveled the multiverse, bathed in Pandora’s seas, drank a few pints in silence in the middle of a beautiful Irish town, felt intimidated by the gaze of a prestigious orchestra conductor, trembled in amidst the nonsense of war, felt nauseous on a luxury yacht, hummed the songs of the King of Rock, reflected in the dim light of a barn, tapped to the rhythm of Tom Cruise’s charisma and, of course, smiled, accomplices in observing those Fabelmans who take their son to the cinema for the first time. In those opening bars of Spielberg’s latest jewel lies much of the essence of the Oscar with mom and dad. In observing each seat next to you and finding their gaze fixed on the screen. In chatting for hours about what each film has awakened. The return home between laughter, discussions and memories which, recently acquired, are already perceived as eternal. In celebrating cinema and love. Taking advantage of every second with him and her. In sharing that passion and feeling that no matter what, they will always be there to listen, talk and accompany. Three places, one screen and almost fifty films watched, commented and ordered. It started as a game, but it is deeply exciting to see how, on social networks or in meetings with friends and acquaintances, Year after year I meet people who love Oscar with mom and dad or better yet, started this same tradition in the family. Meanwhile, my mom and dad laugh in disbelief when they find out there’s someone interested in their opinion on movies besides their passionate (and slightly annoying) son. The humility of giants, you know. Finally, I was recently asked on Twitter to never stop doing the Oscars with mom and dad.

I smiled and noticed at the same time how a small lump formed in my throat. And I’ve come to the conclusion that no matter what, yes, I will always play the Oscars with mom and dad. Three places. A screen. A whole life.