The 92nd Oscars

By Julian Nowik

The 92nd Oscars took place on Sunday, February 9th 2020 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, CA. Every year the Oscars has memorable moments, but very few years result in a change in the course of film history. It’s hard to say so soon after the event whether this year will be regarded as one of those years, but the night certainly was special. After ninety-two years of an industry dominated by American movies and Hollywood, the best picture was finally given to an international film, Parasite (2019). Going into the Oscars, I thought that Parasite had been the best film I’d seen all year, and trust me, 2019 was an overall great year for film. Parasite was the work of Bong Joon-ho, a South Korean filmmaker who has been making films for years like Snowpiercer (2013) and Okja (2017). Parasite was his 2019 creation that managed to blend the elements of comedy and thriller films so well that it practically created a new genre. The Oscars could not have picked a better international film to win Best Picture for several reasons. South Korea has some of the best foreign films ever, including Oldboy (2003, not the 2013 remake) and Train to Busan (2016), which is one of my favorite films of all time. People often overlook foreign films due to the fact that the themes and emotions being conveyed don't always translate very well to other cultures. While many foreign films struggle with this, Parasite does not. It's clever and inventive way of portraying class struggles and family values is more relevant than ever in modern day America. Parasite won Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best International Film, and the award for Best Director went to Bong Joon-ho. If I haven’t convinced you yet, I will end by saying Parasite is fantastic and and certainly one you should watch, especially if you aren’t familiar with international films. 

While I can’t truthfully say I'd seen all of the films nominated, I saw quite a few of them. Joker (2019) was a terrifying look at the world from the point of Arthur Fleck, a struggling comedian who throughout the film transforms into Batman’s arch nemesis, the clown prince of crime, the Joker. I thought it was an amazing movie with a dark revitalization of superhero films that were just beginning to feel stale after Marvel studios finished phase 3 with Avengers Endgame (2019), which was only nominated for Best Visual Effects but lost to 1917 (2019). It's no surprise that Joaquin Phoenix walked away with the Oscar for Best Actor. Renée Zellweger came out with the Oscar for Best Actress for her star role in Judy (2019). I never saw Judy as it was coming out during a busy time for me with school starting up but i'm sure Zellweger did a phenomenal job portraying Judy Garland. I was a little disappointed that Scarlett Johansson didn’t win Best Actress for Marriage Story (2019) or Best Supporting Actress in Jojo Rabbit (2019) as she was an unforgettable part of both of those Best Picture nominees. 

Quentin Tarrentino is one of the most unique filmmakers in the industry with landmark titles like Pulp Fiction (1994) and the Kill Bill films (2003-2004). His most recent film, Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood (2019) didn’t win Best Picture but he did get Best Production Design and an Oscar for Brad Pitt as Best Supporting Actor. 1917 (2019) was a breath of fresh air for war movies, opting to use a technique to make the entire movie look like it was done in one shot and it came home with Oscars for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Cinematography. Ford v Ferrari (2019) also came out this year and despite one of my friends being upset that it didn’t get Best Picture, it did get Best Film Editing and Best Sound Editing. A few other notable wins include Little Women (2019) which won Best Costume Design, Toy Story 4 (2019) winning Best Animated Feature, but to be fair the pickings for animation this year were slim in comparison to years like 2009 with the phenomenal Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Up (2009), and Coraline (2009), which is another one of my favorite films. Taika Waititi won the well deserved award for Best Adapted Screenplay with Jojo Rabbit (2019). Jojo Rabbit was my personal favorite movie of the year, it had me laughing so hard I was crying but by the end it got so sad that I was just crying. As much as I loved it for its ridiculous premise and heavy hitting moments it was certainly not the best picture of the year. With all the great movies made this year a few of them didn’t get the spotlight they deserved. The Lighthouse (2019) was an inventive film that used it's black and white style, 1:1 framing, and fantastic acting by Willem DaFoe and Robert Pattinson to convey a sense of isolation and the insanity that comes with it. It was nominated for Best Cinematography but lost to 1917, which also rightfully deserved that Oscar. Sadly the Safdie brothers were snubbed and nominated for nothing despite their fantastic, heart-attack inducing film Uncut Gems (2019) that featured Adam Sandler in a role that he masterfully performed, proving that he still had it. Don’t be fooled though, Sandler wasn’t acting for a comedy this time around.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the 92nd Oscars, overall it was a great year for film and the Academy really showed that off. If you should take anything away from the Academy Awards, it's that foreign films deserve as much recognition and respect as anything made in America, and in the case of Parasite, sometimes even more.