Most award shows are incredibly self-serious affairs, where they (understandably) reward what their voting members consider the best or most “important” movies of the year. Of course, this makes it incredibly amusing where said important films are deemed to be those made not by established filmmakers with a body of serious and lauded work, or even by newcomers who nevertheless managed to make that same type of film, but by filmmakers who made their own type of weird little movies that happened to be universally liked and lauded until they get awards.
Something similar happened when Jordan Peele got nominated for an Oscar for his work on “Get Out.” While the recognition was great and the movie was definitely among the best of the year, it is hilarious that most voters likely only knew the director as the guy from the sketch-comedy show, “Key and Peele.” So while acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (who, sure, had made weird movies, but was also already nominated for “Pan’s Labyrinth”) ended up winning Best Director, only Peele (who still won Best Original Screenplay) can say he played Meegan and Wendell Sanders in “Key and Peele.”
Peele may not have gone back to make sketch comedy since he started making feature films, but he has only increased the weirdness of his work since then. Let’s hope that if “Everything Everywhere All At Once” ends up taking some awards home, Daniels continue to prove that you can make acclaimed (and financially successful!) movies that win awards yet also feature sausage fingers and Raccacoonie.