Opinion: The Oscars 2022 (The Independent)

Donkeys featured prominently in several of this year’s Oscar nominees, which, for those of us who start to feel an Eeyore-like pall descending at the approach of awards season, was somewhat triggering. Not least, perhaps, because none of them seemed destined for happiness, whether it was the finger-swallowing Jenny from The Banshees of Inisherin or the long-suffering star of EO.

There was, as usual, much to be gloomy about. The ceremony, scheduled to run for three hours from 8pm Eastern, didn’t finish till gone 11:30; indeed, half an hour had passed by the time the second award was announced. Though Jimmy Kimmel did a mostly competent job as emcee, the proceedings included some real bum notes, including a clunkily scripted promo for the live action remake of The Little Mermaid (Disney owns ABC, the principal US broadcaster of the Oscars) and a particularly awkward low when Kimmel asked Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai if she thought Harry Styles really spat on Chris Pine.

For the article in full, visit The Independent.