“Parasite” Makes Oscars History

The Bong Joon Ho film took home 4 Wins, Including Best Picture and Best Director, while Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” Went 0 for 10.

​Hello, all; welcome back to The Friendly Film Fan, and a very happy Parasite day to all of you reading! Last night was certainly a memorable one in terms of Academy Awards history; Parasite was the big winner of the night in 4 categories, breaking down huge historic barriers by becoming the first Korean film to ever be nominated for and first ever to win Best International Feature, as Bong Joon Ho took home both Original Screenplay and Best Director, with the film itself going on to become the first foreign language film in the 92-year history of the Oscars to be awarded Best Picture of the Year (the most deserving win since Moonlight in 2017, but without all the confusion that clouded that film’s victory). Bong Joon Ho himself paid tribute with his Best Director win to the films of Martin Scorsese and the endorsements of Quentin Tarantino in getting his film to be more widely recognized by the Hollywood community, while also acknowledging that Todd Phillips and Sam Mendes were…there…as well, and that he would like to split the statue five ways because he is just that pure of a person. Laura Dern and Brad Pitt both won their first-ever acting Oscars after being long overdue, yet a second actor has won an Oscar for playing the most infamous Batman villain of all time (Joaquin Phoenix for the Joker), Pixar has taken home its second Oscar for Animated Feature for the same franchise in Toy Story 4, the Sound awards saw an unlikely split between Ford v Ferrari and 1917 (the former for Sound Editing, the latter for Sound Mixing), and for the first time since Gangs of New York in 2003, a Martin Scorsese movie (The Irishman) has officially gone 0 for 10 on Oscar night. Unfortunately, both Little Women and Marriage Story only took home one Oscar each; the aforementioned Laura Dern won for the latter film in Supporting Actress, and the former nabbed a single win in Best Costume Design for now two-time winner Jacqueline Durran. I personally went 19 for 24 in my predictions, and I was more than okay with being wrong in the five that I missed (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Animated Feature, Best Sound Editing, and Best Live-Action Short), so overall, it was a solid ceremony in terms of what actually won. There were some weird moments in the show, though. The opening number by Janelle Monáe started strong but got way too repetitive for its own good, Eminem performed his Oscar-winning song “Lose Yourself” from the film 8 Mile in the middle of the show (18 years after he failed to show up to accept the award) despite the rapper having absolutely nothing to do with movies apart from the one time he was in one, In the Heights (film) and Hamilton (Broadway) star Antony Ramos performed a recap rap to wrap the first half of the show (which was cool but ultimately unnecessary), the In Memoriam segment omitted actors Cameron Boyce, Sid Haig, and Luke Perry (Perry was actually in one of the nominees for Best Picture, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood), Joaquin Phoenix and Renée Zellweger’s speeches dragged on into somewhat weird tangents, and the (I think auto-timed) lights went out on the Parasite cast and crew during their Best Picture acceptance speech, prompting the crowd to chant “up,” in order to let them have their moment (okay, that one’s more pure than weird, but still). Some presenters’ jokes were funny, some were not, and some didn’t have joke at all. Overall, the show itself was fine but uninteresting, although the winners all seemed to land in the right place this time around. And that’s pretty much the recap of all the highlights for the 2020 Oscars! But that’s not all that happened last night, and all the other winners deserve a chance to be shouted out and celebrated along with the big ones, so let’s do one final Oscars list for 2020, shall we? Here at last is the final list of your official winners for the 92nd Annual Academy Awards!

Best Picture: Parasite

Best Director: Bong Joon Ho, Parasite

Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

​Best Actress: Renée Zellweger, Judy  

Best Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood

Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern, Marriage Story

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 4

Best International Feature: Parasite

Best Documentary Feature: American Factory

Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins, 1917

Best Film Editing: Andrew Buckland & Michael McCusker, Ford v Ferrari

Best Production Design: Barbara Ling & Nancy Haigh, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood

Best Costume Design: Jaqueline Durran, Little Women

Best Makeup & Hairstyling: Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan, & Vivian Baker, Bombshell

Best Original Score: Hildur Guðnadóttir, Joker

Best Original Song: “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” Rocketman

Best Adapted Screenplay: Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit

Best Original Screenplay: Bong Joon Ho & Han Jin Won, Parasite

Best Visual Effects: 1917

Best Sound Mixing: 1917

Best Sound Editing: Ford v Ferrari

Best Live-Action Short: The Neighbors’ Window

Best Animated Short: Hair Love

Best Documentary Short: Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)

And that’s a wrap on the 92nd Academy Awards! What did you think of the Academy’s choices this year? Were you excited to see Parasite win those historic Oscars? Let me know in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!
 
- The Friendly Film Fan