AFI Threw a Classy Awards Luncheon, and Al Pacino Hijacked It
into the party, upending a sedate and classy event with a rambling, ramshackle and uproarious speech that eventually got around to him telling the story of his trip to the Oscars in 1974.What exactly it had to do with the best filmed entertainment of 2022 was unclear, but it was Al Pacino and he has the right – and most certainly the ability – to hijack any event he wants in the most entertaining of ways. The AFI’s annual luncheon, which hadn’t taken place in person for three years because of the pandemic, is an easygoing ritual that AFI President and CEO Bob Gazzale described as “no envelopes, no speeches, no sweat.” In other words, the awards have already been announced and all the creators have to do is show up, mingle, have lunch and watch some artfully assembled film clips that make a good case for the honorees.(The “rationales” that describe why each work is being honored are, to be honest, a little florid, but so was Pacino and everybody loved him.)For 2022, the television honorees were “Abbott Elementary,” “The Bear,” “Better Call Saul,” “Hacks,” “Mo,” “Pachinko,” “Reservation Dogs,” “Severance,” “Somebody Somewhere” and “The White Lotus,” while the film awards went to “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Elvis,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “The Fabelmans,” “Nope,” “She Said,” “Tár,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” “The Woman King” and “Women Talking,” plus a special award for the otherwise-ineligible (because it’s not a U.S.