By Diana Cheng
AAP Film & Arts Writer
After sweeping one award show after another, beginning with the Palme d’Or in 2019, the South Korean movie “Parasite” topped it off by winning the Best Picture Oscar, making history at the 92nd Academy Awards Sunday, February 9, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. “Parasite” is the first non-English movie to win the highest Oscar honor.
The genre-bending film about social class conflicts garnered a total of four wins at the Academy Awards. Other than Best Picture, Bong Joon Ho won Best Director, and with his co-writer Jin Won Han, won Best Original Screenplay.
It also claimed the new category Best International Feature Film, a name-change from the previous Best Foreign Language Film, something that Bong said is a welcome change in direction, a statement that echoed his remark at the Golden Globe win when he stated: “Once you overcome the 1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” Looks like the Academy is poised to open its doors to more worthy films from around the world.
After the Best Director win, Bong called out fellow nominee Martin Scorsese whom he said he studied in film school. The audience gave Scorsese a standing ovation. “The Irishman” was nominated for 10 Oscars but did not win any.
To “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood” director Quentin Tarantino , Bong said: “When people in the US were not familiar [with my films], Quentin always put my films on his list,” he said. “Thank you so much. Quentin, I love you.”
Then to “Joker” director Todd Phillips and Sam Mendes for “1917”, Bong said: “Todd and Sam, great directors I admire.” Before knowing what was to come at the end of the awards show, he thought he could now relax, “I will drink until next morning.”
Bong is the second director of Asian descent to win the Best Director Oscar, following Ang Lee’s two-time win with “Brokeback Mountain” (2006) and “Life of Pi” (2013).
Other winners were less of a surprise: Best Actor Joaquin Phoenix for “Joker”, Best Actress Renée Zellweger for “Judy”, both gave heartfelt acceptance speeches. Laura Dern won Best Supporting Actress for “Marriage Story” and Brad Pitt Best Supporting Actor for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”.
For a full list of Oscar 2020 winners, go to the Academy’s official site.
For our review of “Parasite”, Click Here.
Contact Diana Cheng at [email protected] or visit at Twitter @Arti_Ripples or visit her blog Ripple Effects rippleeffects.reviews
