'One Battle After Another' takes best picture at the Oscars

The darkly comic thriller “OneBattleAfterAnother” wonbestpictureat the Academy Awards, leading a haul of six trophies on a Sunday night when Hollywood handed its top movie honors tounconventional stories.

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

“Let’s have a martini! This is pretty amazing,” director Paul Thomas Anderson said on stageafterhis “OneBattle” was announced the recipient of the top award.

The Warner Bros. movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a one-time revolutionary who becomes a weed-smoking single father of a teenager.

Before this year, Anderson had 11 career Oscar nominations and no wins. In addition toBest Picture, he wonBest DirectorandBest Adapted Screenplay on Sunday.

“I wrote this movie for my kids to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world,” Anderson said while accepting the screenplay honor. “But also with the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency.”

Sean Penn, who plays an obsessed military officer in “OneBattle,” was namedbestsupporting actor. It was the third Oscar for Penn, who frequently skips movie industry awards shows and was not in the Dolby Theatre 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” had entered the ceremony with 16 nominations, more than any other film in the nearly 100-year-old history of theOscars. The movie finished with four awards, including abestactortrophy for Michael B. Jordan, who played the dual roles of twin brothers Smoke and Stack. Set in the Segregation-era U.S. 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 as he named 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 thebestversion of myself.”

Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman and first Black cinematographer to win the cinematography honor for “Sinners.”

Irish actorJessie Buckleylanded thebestactress 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.

The 75-year-old Amy Madigan was namedbestsupporting actress for her role as the wacky Aunt Gladys in horror film “Weapons.” She earned her first Oscar 40 yearsafterher first nomination.

“KPop Demon Hunters,” a Netflixmovie that became a global phenomenon, was namedbestanimated feature. Its catchy song, “Golden,” won the award forbestoriginal song.

Amid the celebration, theOscarstook on a serious toneto honor two major lossesin 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.

“Sentimental Value,” directed by Joachim Trier, won forbestinternational feature film on Sunday, the first Norwegian film to win in this categoryaftersix previous nominations.

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

The glitzy celebration, Hollywood’s most over-the-top gala of the year, took place as the U.S. wages war on Iran.

Security was tight in and around the ceremonyaftera federal warning ofa possible Iranian threat against California.

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 U.S. and overseas, weakening Hollywood’s grip on production.

Warner Bros.,the biggest winner of the nightwith 11Oscars, is in the process of being sold to Paramount Skydancein a deal that will narrow the ranks of major film distributors. A media watchdog group, Free Press, circulated a roving billboard around Hollywood over the weekend airing its opposition to the merger.

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 MotionPictureArts and Sciences.