The 96th Academy Awards ceremony was held on Sunday, March 10th, in Los Angeles at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. And, of course, the “In Memoriam” is always a notable section, known for producing tears but also jeers at all the omissions that seem to occur each year.
Andrea Bocelli and Matteo Bocelli delivered this year’s Oscars In Memoriam performance singing “Time to Say Good-Bye (Con Te Partirò),” perhaps awkwardly more well-known to many these days as the song Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly preposterously performed at the end of Adam McKay’s wacky film, “Step Brothers” as the duo Prestige Worldwide.
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We digress. The memorial tribute began with a video clip of recently passed Russian political dissident Alexei Navalny, who died mysteriously in a Russian prison last month, causing outcry among various humanitarian and political factions around the world. The clip was taken from the doc “Navalny,” which won the Best Documentary Feature at the 95th Academy Awards and brought worldwide attention to his plight and fight against Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
Featured in the In Memoriam section were singer/actor Harry Belafonte, the recently passed filmmaker Norman Jewison (“Moonstruck”), legendary actor Alan Arkin (“Little Miss Sunshine”), performer and activist, and Chita Rivera, filmmaker William Friedkin, actor Andre Braugher (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”), Michael Gambon (the ‘Harry Potter’ film series), comedian Richard Lewis, Matthew Perry, Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman), Ryan O’Neal (“Love Story”), Tom Wilkinson (“Michael Clayton”) Richard Roundtree (“Shaft”), Carl Weathers (“Rocky”), composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, singer/actor Tina Turner and dozens more.
Of course, as is usually the case, there is often outcry and backlash to all the beloved names that appear to be omitted or snubbed each year, and last night was no different, unfortunately.
The “In Memoriam” segment was criticized on social media for being all over the place with camera angles obscuring names and faces, seemingly more concerned with focusing on the performance going on stage than the dearly departed. As you might expect, that came with some bizarre choices, like a list of names neglected from the central portion, as spotted by many. Those forgotten or ignored names included Treat Williams, Lance Reddick, Norman Lear, Burt Young, Lance Reddick, Ron Cephas Jones, Suzanne Somers, celebrated screenwriter and producer Norman Lear, and legendary British filmmaker Terence Davies. Sadly, “Euphoria” young actor Angus Cloud was also one of the missing names.
The 96th Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, aired live on ABC from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California. You can read our Best and Worst coverage here.