The 92nd Academy Awards has awarded the Oscars to the winning movies of 2020. Here are the 5 most exciting winners:
1. Best Motion Picture
“Parasite”
What makes this win so exciting is that it is the first foreign-language film to win an Oscar.
The Oscar voters are now more open to international films and diversity, especially since the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite became viral and started a social movement to change the Academy’s membership to include more women and people of color.
“Parasite” was definitely an underdog for the award, when you look at the films and directors it was up against. Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman”, Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and Sam Mendes’ “1917”.
There was more to the Oscar win than openness to diversity on the part of the Academy voters. “Parasite” won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, the Screen Actors Guild’s ensemble award, and many critics group prizes, and was successful in the mainstream box-office.
2. Best Director
Bong Joon Ho, “Parasite”
“1917” was considered the director frontrunner, because of director and drama wins at the Golden Globes, and top prizes from the producers and directors guilds.
The director of “Parasite”, Bong Joon Ho beat out a very strong director field that included Mendes, Scorsese and Tarantino.
Bong even expressed how he was inspired by Scorsese’s quote about what is the most personal is the most creative when Bong was young and studying cinema.
3. Best Actor in a Leading Role
Joaquin Phoenix, “Joker”
His amazing physical transformation from troubled comedian into the supervillain Joker earned Phoenix the Oscar.
But the actor himself proved to be quite a character when it comes to acceptance speeches, and people look forward to his unpredictable performances as Joaquin Phoenix.
He used his acceptance speech at the Oscars as a chance to deliver a message touching on themes of inclusion, animal rights and environmentalism.
Part of this speech had him choking up as he mentioned his late brother River, and part of his speech spoke of his own shortcomings and his redemption from being a self-proclaimed scoundrel who was given a second chance.
4. Best Supporting Actress
Laura Dern, “Marriage Story”
Dern is an acting veteran who had two Oscar nominations in the past, one in 2014 and one all the way back in 1991. And 2020 is the year where she finally won.
5. Best Supporting Actor
Brad Pitt, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
Brad Pitt used his Oscar acceptance speech to make a political point, by saying that the 45 seconds he had allotted for his Oscar speech was 45 seconds more than were given to John Bolton by the Senate at the impeachment trial of Donald Trump.
These were some of the major categories of the Academy Awards. The competition was tough, and it was exciting to see who won.
In addition to the fun of seeing who won, who was there and what they were wearing, there was the additional entertainment of the acceptance speeches!
