Oscars 2019 LIVE: Green Book wins Best Picture - The Sydney Morning Herald

Can Roma or Black Panther make history by winning best picture? Join us for all the action from the 91st Academy Awards.

Did Green Book Deserve To Win?

By Garry Maddox

Ordinary People beat Raging Bull, Crash beat Brokeback Mountain and now Green Book has beaten Roma

Hollywood resentment about a film made for streaming service Netflix has clearly contributed to an upset for best picture. Green Book is a crowdpleaser - both funny and moving - with a racially-charged story. But Oscar voters seem to have been reluctant to recognise a film made largely to be watched at home on television, a film that some US cinema chains refused to screen because they were offered only three weeks exclusivity instead of three months, and a film that would have been the first foreign-language film to win the top prize at the Oscars. So when it comes to best picture, it was arrivederci Roma.

Cue the outrage

By Karl Quinn

You can expect this win to be compared to 1990, when Driving Miss Daisy won best picture while Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing – a film that tackled the race divide with not a hint of the velvet glove approach – was not even nominated. Given the competition, you can expect the outrage to come from multiple quarters.

It must be love

By Karl Quinn

Peter Farrelly tells us "the whole story is about love", and so it is. But then again he might have said much the same about Dumb and Dumber and There's Something About Mary, from his earlier days as a master director of gross-out comedies with brother Bobby.

There's no doubting the good intentions of Green Book, a story about a working-class Italian-American driver and an educated African-American classical pianist who overcome their differences and find their way towards an unlikely friendship as they drive through the American south in the 1960s. But in a year in which some of the contenders seriously pushed the boundaries in terms of what you might broadly call "diverse" storytelling, it was a resoundingly safe option.

Surprise winner

By Karl Quinn

No way. Green Book is best picture? Once more, I say no way. Could it be another Moonlight/La La Land moment? Here's hoping.

The Oscar goes to ...

Best Picture

Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
Roma
A Star is Born
Vice

Winner: Green Book

'They’re not sending their best people'

By Garry Maddox

Alfonso Cuaron's win for best director is a remarkable fifth Mexican victory in six years – adding to his own previous win for Gravity, Guillermo del Toro's triumph for The Shape of Water and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's wins for Birdman and The Revenant.

Best actress boilover becomes a highlight

By Garry Maddox

From working as a cleaner to a best actress Oscar! Olivia Colman's upset win is one of the highlights of these Oscars. "Any little girl who's perhaps practising their speech on the telly, you never know," she says.

Yas, Kween

By Karl Quinn

"Oooh, it's genuinely quite stressful," Olivia Colman starts, breathlessly. Hers is clearly going to be a rathe rambling, free-form speech. "If I forget anybody I'm going to find you later and give you a massive snog," she promises, and I don't doubt her for a second.

She thanks her co-stars, of course, "Emily and Rachel, the two loveliest women in the world to fall in love with and go to work with every day." And she thanks her children, "who are at home watching at home. And if they're not, well done. But I hope so. This is not going to happen again."

As she rambles on delightfully, she gets the wind up sign. In response, she offers what just might be the first ever raspberry blown at the Oscars. All bow to Olivia Colman. She rules.

The Oscar goes to ...

Directing

BlacKkKlansman - Spike Lee
Cold War - Pawel Pawlikowski
The Favourite - Yorgos Lanthimos
Roma - Alfonso Cuaron
Vice - Adam McKay

Winner: Roma - Alfonso Cuaron

That’s one to chew over

By Karl Quinn

There's no doubting Rami Malek is a popular choice even if he should really be sharing the award with his false teeth. "This is a monumental moment," he says. "I may not have been the obvious choice but I guess it worked out. Thank you Queen for allowing me to be the tiniest part of your phenomenal, extraordinary legacy. I am forever in your debt."

He does at least thank his make-up crew, though he doesn't mention the dental prosthetist. "I could never have been here without you," he says. He acknowledges the importance of Freddie Mercury’s story, his struggle to carve an identity amid confusion about his sexuality. And he makes his own little nudge to the diversity topic.

"I am the son of immigrants from Egypt, I'm a first-generation American and part of my story is being written right now," he says. "I could not be more grateful to each and every one of you who believed in me." Finally, he pays tribute to his partner, Lucy Boynton, whom he met on the film (she plays Freddie's sometime partner, Mary Austin). "You are the heart of this film," he says. "You have captured my heart. Thank you so much."