The cast of 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' (Facebook)

To paraphrase, ‘Ladies, never let anyone tell you that you’re past your prime!’ And with that little nugget of wisdom, Michelle Yeoh proudly received her Oscar Best Actress award for Everything Everywhere All At Once. Michelle started off with how this win was for all the little girls and boys who look like her, reminding them to always dream big. With co-star Jamie Lee Curtis snapping up the Best Supporting Actress statuette for the same film, this was a true Hollywood story on so many levels. Both Curtis and Malaysian-born Yeoh are in their 60’s (Yeoh is 62, Curtis 64); so that statement about past your prime is a very relevant one. Curtis is the daughter of Hollywood legends Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, so that’s another Hollywood angle that people will love to talk about. Brendan Fraser taking the Best Actor award for The Whale is in itself film industry pixie dust-encrusted. If you told most people that an actor best known for George of the Jungle and The Mummy franchise in the 1990s and early 2000s, then sort of faded from the scene, would pick up a Best Actor Oscar for what has to be considered something of a comeback film, most would call that a fairy tale. But fairy tales do come true, and thanks to the Darren Aronofsky film, and how Fraser put on an acting class from underneath the body suit and tons of prosthetics, he now has an Oscar to place on his mantelpiece. With EEAAO also taking home the Best Picture, Best Director for the Daniels, Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Ke Huy Quan, that’s seven Oscars for this indie film that dared take on the multiverse, and sprinkle their storytelling with themes of family, of relationships, and of identity, with weirdness, fantasy, and a Looney Tunes approach. In short, it was the most original multiverse treatment shot in live action, and defied conventional storytelling while still being entertaining and finding an audience. Good recognition by the Academy for how this ‘small’ film overachieved. As for Vietnamese-American Ke Huy Quan, who’s now 51 years of age, we best remember him as a young boy, acting as the sidekick to Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom, and as a gang member in The Goonies. Quitting acting after, because he felt there weren’t substantial film roles for Asians, Quan didn’t return to acting until EEAAO. For this actor whose journey started in a refugee boat as a child, this Oscar was quite literally the ‘American Dream’. Can I just say that I loved how Naatu Naatu from the Indian film RRR picked up an Oscar for Originak Song, besting the likes of Lady Gaga for the Top Gun theme sing, and Rihanna for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever tune. Good showing for India, Malaysia, and Vietnam to have picked up Oscars this year. Last week, I made my own Oscar predictions on 22 of the categories, and I’m proud to say I managed to correctly prognosticate on 17 of the 22. I really didn’t see the Actress awards, as I thought Cate Blanchett would take it for TÅR, and that Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu would cancel each their out. I did get both Writing awards - to the Daniels for Original Screeplay, and to Sarah Polley for Adapted Screenplay and her Women Talking. The Actors, Directing, and Best Picture I got, so better luck for me next year. So I’m just waiting to see if with Angela Bassett missing out on the Best Supporting Actress many thought she’d win, if there’ll be some grumbling and bickering from the African-American front. That would be ironic, given how, if it’s the name of inclusivity, there are so many Asian winners this year!