Shannon Yvonne Moreau

Wow, I am still a little traumatized by the flub at the Oscars last night. Maybe if they’d spent less time on all the bits and more care on the actual presentations of the awards, they’d have gotten the announcement of Best Picture right and La La Land wouldn’t have had to go through all that disappointment and embarrassment and we all would have fully enjoyed the Moonlight win as we should have.

(And too bad Kimmel didn’t just stick to the political jokes because that was the only part that was funny.)

I wouldn’t have been mad if La La Land had won, or, I wasn’t mad when it was incorrectly announced that it had won, because I loved La La Land. I walked out of that theater after seeing it and did a little soft shoe to my car in the parking lot and didn’t care who saw. (And any movie that tells a contemporary audience how great jazz music is gets mega points from me.) I also give props to the La La Land people for how well they handled the realization they hadn’t actually won. That guy who said “this is not a joke, get up here,” and held up the card for the world to see, he was grace and equanimity under pressure.

I just wish I could have enjoyed Barry Jenkins’ and all’s reaction to their win, instead of being befuddled and wondering what the hell happened.

Anyway, enough of that. I’ve moved past it.

(Obviously, I haven’t.)

What I want to talk about is how vindicated I now feel that Moonlight got Best Picture.

I had been waiting for weeks for Moonlight to hit Albuquerque, after reading all the rave reviews online. When it finally opened here, I texted my usual movie going gang. But they were all too busy or indifferent. So I went to see it on opening night, all by myself. When I first entered the theater, it was empty. I was so irate about that I started a live blog post as soon as I sat down in my primo seat.

Come on. I’m the only person in the theater again?  WTF, people. Why aren’t the peeps of Albuquerque turning out for the black movies? Why?!

Okay about ten more people showed up. All older white people. Hey, Cathy! Told you those white-hairs at O’Neill’s were white liberals, not Trump supporters.

— My live blog post draft from November 11, 2016

But then other people trickled in, so instead I just tweeted “where the black people at?” because I was the only person of color in that theater.

After the movie, and after I, along with everyone else, recovered from sitting in stunned silence at that final image on the screen, I went and had eats and drinks at a nearby pub. I sat there at my little table, ignoring the game playing on the television screens overhead, and read everything I could on my phone about this movie.

Now I look back on my little lone self and think, wow. I was watching an Oscar Best Picture winner, and didn’t even know it.

I bet people flock to see this movie now.

I’m also so happy Viola Davis finally won her Oscar.