KPop Demon Hunters fans screamed with glee, Adrien Brody grossed out the audience and Timothée Chalamet broke all the rules. The Guardian’s film critic on a gobsmackingly glamorous ceremony

• Key takeaways from Oscars 2026: horror wins, tech loses and politics is hard to ignore

These were the Oscars for a life during wartime. President Trump’s still-to-be-explained attack on Iran meant warnings of a possible retaliatory drone attack from Tehran on the target-rich environment of downtown Los Angeles. The glittering Dolby Theatre was reportedly in the crosshairs.

It didn’t happen. But this was a ceremony aware of the distant politics of threat, and the politics of a nation that is rich enough to afford war and peace at the same time.

KPop Demon Hunters fans screamed with glee, Adrien Brody grossed out the audience and Timothée Chalamet broke all the rules. The Guardian’s film critic on a gobsmackingly glamorous ceremony

• Key takeaways from Oscars 2026: horror wins, tech loses and politics is hard to ignore

These were the Oscars for a life during wartime. President Trump’s still-to-be-explained attack on Iran meant warnings of a possible retaliatory drone attack from Tehran on the target-rich environment of downtown Los Angeles. The glittering Dolby Theatre was reportedly in the crosshairs.

It didn’t happen. But this was a ceremony aware of the distant politics of threat, and the politics of a nation that is rich enough to afford war and peace at the same time.

KPop Demon Hunters fans screamed with glee, Adrien Brody grossed out the audience and Timothée Chalamet broke all the rules. The Guardian’s film critic on a gobsmackingly glamorous ceremony

• Key takeaways from Oscars 2026: horror wins, tech loses and politics is hard to ignore

These were the Oscars for a life during wartime. President Trump’s still-to-be-explained attack on Iran meant warnings of a possible retaliatory drone attack from Tehran on the target-rich environment of downtown Los Angeles. The glittering Dolby Theatre was reportedly in the crosshairs.

It didn’t happen. But this was a ceremony aware of the distant politics of threat, and the politics of a nation that is rich enough to afford war and peace at the same time.