This past Sunday was the 92nd Academy Awards (or Oscars), also known as the most exciting and disappointing time for movie fans. What once was one of the most important and renowned shows in the industry has recently just become a shell of its former self, focusing less on the overall quality of the film and more on the amount of money the production companies spend in campaigns to get the film nominated in the first place. I, and many other movie fans, have been consistently disappointed with the show. This year I went in with low expectations, expecting the films that I would never in a million years consider to win to take home everything. I must say, for once, I was pleasantly surprised.
As always, the awards are for the actors, actresses and technical aspects of the films, which all build up to the best director and the best picture. The nominees this year were quite deserving of the awards. Films such as “Once Upon a Time In Hollywood,” “Ford v Ferarri,” “Parasite” and “Marriage Story” were some of the best films not only of the year, but I would dare to say of the decade. One of the more controversial picks this year was DC Comics “Joker,” a more mature and gritty take on the classic Batman character. The film (which was well received by fans) was nominated for ELEVEN awards, including best picture. Going in, I was curious to see how many, if any, awards it would take home, but the film I was most excited to see win was Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” A South Korean film nominated for six awards and my personal favorite film of the year.
The show started off very rough, with a musical number that went on for far too long, but thankfully afterward they jumped right into the awards. This is the second year that the show has had no host, and I honestly prefer it. In the past, many of the hosts tended to do “comedy” bits that I felt killed the pace and were usually not actually very funny. Now, we get the chance to see more awards being handed out and less time in the middle making fun of a dumb tweet someone made. Before the show began, I wrote down on my phone a list of the nominees that I wanted to win. Surprisingly, each of the picks I made ended up actually winning. This made me very happy and actually excited to see each award. For once, I genuinely cared about who would be picked.
Between each award, there is usually a performance by one of the nominees for best original song. Some of the standouts this year were Elton John’s performance of a song from “Rocketman” and a performance of the main song from “Frozen 2” sung by the different voice actresses for Elsa from around the world. The biggest surprise during the performances was when Eminem appeared on stage out of nowhere and performed “Lose Yourself.” No one watching the show expected it, and it was one of the most memorable parts of the evening.
The one thing I was worried about the whole night though was the “best picture” category, the one category that I was sure the show would screw up. But when the show got to the “best director” award, something unexpected happened. Bong Joon-Ho (the director of “Parasite”) won. Usually, the best director and best picture category go hand in hand, so I began to think, “Is “Parasite,” the movie that I was sure wouldn’t win, actually going to win this year?” Sure enough, when best picture was announced, “Parasite” won. Not only was this an incredibly awesome moment for me, finally having the movie I wanted to win, win, but also a historic moment for the awards as a whole because “Parasite” is the first foreign film to win best picture. So the night came to a close with many viewers incredibly satisfied with the results.
I’ve said many times that the show this year was surprising. I think that is mainly because it seems like many filmgoers care less about the actual film and more about the circumstances surrounding it. For the past few years, I believed The Academy Awards was heading down the same path, but then this year they make history. This shows to me at least that even if a film doesn’t have the notoriety that other films might have, if it comes from the heart, it is still just as important. Just like 2020’s best director Bong Joon-Ho himself said, “The most personal is the most creative.”