The Last Human Oscars?

The In Memoriam segment of this year’s Academy Award ceremonies lasted for 15 minutes. On a night when several winners’ speeches were cut short—the songwriting team behind “Golden” was interrupted mid-sentence by its own platinum-plated K-pop earworm—the producers opted to go long in honoring a series of fallen icons, resulting in some distended but spellbinding television. Billy Crystal eulogized his pal and collaborator Rob Reiner (who never won an Oscar of his own). Rachel McAdams waxed rhapsodic about her Family Stone co-star Diane Keaton. And then Barbra Streisand, who hadn’t sung in public since 2019, serenaded the audience in honor of the late Robert Redford with the final verses of “The Way We Were,” sounding every bit of her 83 years in a good way. At that age, to paraphrase George Orwell, you have the voice you deserve.