The big news coming out of the 92nd Oscars Ceremony this weekend was “Parasite” being the first non-English film to win Best Picture. The film also took home three more awards including Best Director for Bong Joon-ho, Best International Feature and Best Original Screenplay for Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin-won.
Coming into the awards, Sam Mendes’ World War I epic “1917” was deemed the favorite to take home best picture and director. I was glad to see “Parasite” usurp the war film for the Best Picture award. “1917” was surely a spectacle, and Roger Deakins definitely deserved the award for Best Cinematography. But, in terms of a creative story and compelling characters, there was no better film than “Parasite” this year, and the Academy agreed.
Moving down the list, there were no surprises for awards in the acting category. Joaquin Phoenix (“Joker”) won Best Lead Male Actor and Brad Pitt (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”) won the Supporting Male Actor award. Renée Zellweger (“Judy”) walked away with the Best Lead Female Actor award, while Laura Dern won Best Supporting Female Actor for “Marriage Story.”
The Oscar winners for the acting awards were identical to the winners of the Screen Actors Guild Awards a few weeks prior. There was really no question about who would take home the acting awards, especially in Phoenix and Zellweger’s case.
I was happy to see Taika Waititi take the award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his work, “Jojo Rabbit.” This movie was one of my personal favorites of the year but did not make much noise at the awards otherwise.
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I was also pleased to see Barbara Ling and Nancy Haigh win the Production Design award for their stellar, transportive work in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”
Though it was nice to see “Ford v. Ferrari” get some recognition, I think the Best Editing award should have gone to “Parasite,” which had at least two distinct montages that were editing marvels.
As I look back on the weekend, I am not too surprised by any of the winners. I am glad no one movie won the majority of awards, and the film with the most wins was “Parasite.”
