LOS ANGELES (REUTERS)

The darkly comic thriller “One Battle After Another” won best picture at the Academy Awards, leading a haul of six trophies on a Sunday night when Hollywood’s top honours went to unconventional fare.

The offbeat tale of political resistance traded wins with the vampire story “Sinners,” setting up a fight to the end at the Dolby Theater.

"This is pretty amazing," director Paul Thomas Anderson said on stage after his "One Battle" was announced the recipient of the top award.

The Warner Bros movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a one-time revolutionary who grows up to become ⁠the single father of a teenager.


Before this year Anderson had 11 career Oscar nominations and no wins. In addition to best picture, Anderson has best director and best adapted screenplay on Sunday.

“One Battle” star Sean Penn was named best supporting actor for his role as an obsessed military officer. It was the third Oscar for Penn, who frequently skips movie industry awards shows and was not in the Dolby Theater audience.

“Sean Penn couldn't be here, or didn't want to, so I'll accept the award on his behalf,” said presenter Kieran Culkin, last year's supporting actor winner.

“Sinners” finished with four awards including a best actor trophy for Michael B. Jordan, who played the dual roles of twin brothers Smoke and Stack. Set in the Segregation-era US South, the movie was a celebration of blues and Black culture told with a supernatural twist.

“I stand here because of the people that came before me,” Jordan said before naming previous Black Oscar winners including Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington and Halle Berry. "I'm going to keep stepping up and I'm going to keep being the best version of myself."

Irish actor Jessie Buckley landed the best actress accolade for playing William Shakespeare's wife, Agnes Hathaway, in “Hamnet.” The movie explores how the couple navigates the death of their 11-year-old son “Hamnet.”

“I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother's heart,” Buckley said. “We all come from a lineage of women who continue to create against all odds.”

The 75-year-old Amy Madigan was named best supporting actress for her role as the wacky Aunt Gladys in horror film “Weapons." She earned her first Oscar 40 years after her first Oscar nomination.

“KPop Demon Hunters,” a Netflix movie that became a global phenomenon, was named best animated feature. Its catchy song, “Golden,” won the award for best original song.

In Memoriam

Amid the celebration, the show took on a serious tone to honour two major losses in the film world - the deaths of directors Robert Redford and Rob Reiner.

Billy Crystal, star of “When Harry Met Sally,” said Reiner’s films including “A Few Good Men” and “This Is Spinal Tap” would “last for lifetimes.” He was joined on stage by Demi Moore, Meg Ryan, and other cast members from Reiner classics.

Barbra Streisand, who played opposite Redford in “The Way We Were,” called Redford a “brilliant, subtle actor” ​and an “intellectual cowboy.” She finished her remarks by singing a few lines ‌from ⁠the movie's well-known title song.

Host Conan O'Brien opened the festivities by joking that he was honoUred to be "the last human host" of the awards at a time when Hollywood was worried about artificial intelligence taking over jobs.

The festivities masked the unease in the film business over where movies are being made as studios chase tax incentives and lower costs elsewhere in the US and overseas, weakening Hollywood's grip on production.

Warner Bros., the studio behind “One Battle” and “Sinners,” is in the process of being sold to Paramount Skydance in a deal that will narrow the ranks of major film distributors.

Winners of the gold Oscar statuettes are chosen by the roughly 10,000 actors, producers, directors, and film craftspeople who make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.