2020 Academy Awards Recap- History is Made as Bong Joon-ho Pave the Way For The New Wave of Storytellers

The 2020 Academy Awards closed the door on the last 10 years of cinema by honoring some of the most diverse movies in recent history. However, and more importantly, it is who is leading the way that marks a massive change for the Academy. Here is a quick round-up; Once again the Oscars goes hostless, but the dynamic between each duo presenter was excellent enough that you did not notice. The standouts, of course, were the hilarious duo of Christ Rock and Steve Marting who singlehandedly stole the show.

Making the wait between commercials bearable were the funny/ awkward M&M commercials, pretty much reflecting what we are all thinking.

On to the awards, despite getting the most nominations of the night with a stunning 11 nomination including best movie, director, and score, Joker only managed to walk away with 2 awards (best original score, best actor). That’s right in one of the most obvious decisions of the night Joaquin Phoenix won Best Leading Actor his first Oscar. Joining him with his first Oscar for acting was Brad Pitt winning Best Supporting Actor, for Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. Best Actress in a Leading Role was a whole different battlefield with powerful performances from Cynthia Erivo for Harriet, Scarlett Johansson for Marriage Story, Saoirse Ronan for Little Women, and Charlize Theron for Bombshell all bringing their A-game. However, it was Renee Zellweger who won for her role as Jude Garland for Judy.

Laura Dern won Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Marriage Story. Once again, the Academy played it safe by giving the award for Best Animated Film to Toy Story 4, despite the popularity that Klaus and I lost My Body (Both Netflix Original) have gained. Taika Waititi also won his first Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Jojo Rabbit (The first Maori to do so). The biggest winner of the night was yet to come. Outside of Joker, no other film had as much buzz going into the award as Parasite, directed by Bong Joon-Ho this psychological thriller won 4 awards, the most of any movie of the night, with 1917 coming in second with three awards. Despite the amount of buzz, Parasite was seen as the underdog, being a Korean film, with Korean actors, and no trace of English insight. It was clear that the Academy was going to awards the film best International Film (Previously know as Best Foreign Language Film) and call it a day. Then it happened. Parasite walked away with four awards, Best Original Screenplay, Best International Film, Best Director, and Best Film.

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This is s historic moment as not only is this the first time a Korean director won an award for Best Director and Best Film. This is also the first time that a movie that won Best International Film (Formally Best Foreign Language Film) also won Best Picture. Last year’s Roma was also seen as the movie that would accomplish this, but better late than never. Parasite marks a historic step forward for the Academy, as now the sky is the limit to who can earn the prestigious award. Despite being the 92 Academy, the night could not end without a small accident as the curtain-call started to appear in the middle of Parasite‘s acceptance speech. The audience started to yell, “Up!” causing the crew to lift the curtains and allow Miky Lee to give a well-earned acceptance speech.

  Here are other notable awards:

Best Documentary Film

• American Factory- Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert, and Jeff Reichert– winner
• The Cave- Fera Fayyad, Kristine Barfod, and Sigrid Dyekjaer
• The Edge of Democracy- Petra Costa, Joanna Natasegara, Shane Boris, and Tiago Pavan
• For Sama- Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts
• Honeyland0 Ljubomir Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska, and Alanas Georgiev

Best Live Action Short Film

• The Neighbors’ Window- Mashall Curry– winner
• Brotherhood- Meryam Joobeur and Maria Gracia Turgeon
• Nefta Football Club- Yves Piat and Damien Megherbi
• Saria- Bryan Buckley and Matt Lefebvre
• A Sister- Delphine Girad

Best Film Editing

• Ford v Ferrari- Andrew Buckland and Michael McCusker– winner
• Jojo Rabbit- Tom Eagles
• Joker- Jeff Groth
• Parasite- Yang Jin-mo

Best Cinematography

• 1917- Roger Deakins– winner
• The Irishman- Rodrigo Prieto
• Joker- Lawrence Sher
• The Lighthouse- Jarin Blaschke
• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood- Robert Richardson

Best Animated Short Film

• Hair Love- Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver– winner
• Dcera (Daughter)- Daria Kashcheeva
• Kitbull- Rosana Sullivan and Kathryn Hendrickson
• Memorable- Bruno Collet and Jean- Francois Le Corre
• Sister- Siqi Song

For the official list of all the nominees and winners visit the official site: https://oscar.go.com/news/winners/oscar-winners-2020-see-the-full-list