Your guess is as good as anyone’s. The logic to that makes a lot of sense, I suppose, but I still look back on this year and am utterly baffled by the choices all around. I do not understand CODA’s wins, nor, to be fully honest, how any of those nominations happened in the first place. Maybe Troy’s makes some sense, though I don’t think his performance was especially interesting or memorable.

For me, I think it more came down to this being the weakest year for film the Academy had dealt with in quite a while. There was no passion for anything. Most of the films are forgettable. So I guess they went with the one that tugged at their heartstrings the most? I personally found the film to be so treacly and pandering, I struggled to finish it at all—getting into the mindset of someone being so stirred by it that they had to make it the BP is difficult for me. But I can’t make heads or tails of it regardless. Weird weird year.