2020 Oscar Awards

Another Oscars come and gone. This year was an odd mix of really expected moments and big surprises. I definitely had my disappointments, but I had some great happy-dance moments too.

In general, I liked the return of the no-host thing. The opening with Janelle Monáe was audacious but kind of messy. I loved her, and the ensemble of dancers dressed in a mishmash of prominent costumes from the year in Hollywood weirdly worked for me (there were Jokers, some Tethered from Us, Dolemites, WWI soldiers, and I caught at least one Queen from Queen and Slim,) but the number as a whole wasn’t quite a win for me. Steve Martin and Chris Rock tag-teaming the monologue was more fun. I especially liked the joke about Rock loving “the first season of The Irishman” and the remark about Cynthia Erivo being so good as Harriet Tubman “she hid all the Black nominees.” And just generally, I liked not spending as much time on corny host bits, like ordering food for the audience (Ellen) or bringing out a busload of tourists who don’t realize they’re walking onto the Oscar stage (Kimmel.) Even though the show never seems to get any shorter, it feels like things keep moving better when we don’t waste time on those bits.

Instead we got some fun little interludes like an out-of-nowhere performance from Eminem and a mid-ceremony recap rap from Utkarsh Ambudkar(!) I also really liked Taika Waititi giving a land acknowledgement before presenting his bit on the Governors Awards. Presenter banter as usual ranged from delightful to awkward. I don’t know what Diane Keaton and Keanu Reeves were doing, but I enjoyed Brie Larson, Sigourney Weaver, and Gal Gadot sharing their plans for a Hollywood fight club, Penelope Cruz taking Oscar Isaac’s hand and declaring she’s finally “held an Oscar on this stage” (with Isaac adding, “Oscar’s not so white this time!”, and James Corden and Rebel Wilson in Cats costumes admitting that no one knows better than them the importance of good visual effects. One cool Oscar First was the presenting duo of Shia LeBeouf with Zach Gottsagen, who was the first actor with Down Syndrome to present at the Oscars.

Right down the line, all the acting awards went as everyone was predicting they would go: Joaquin Phoenix for Joker, Renée Zellweger for Judy, Brad Pitt for Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, and Laura Dern for Marriage Story. Nothing surprising there, although I was definitely happy for Zellweger and I thought Pitt’s speech felt very genuine and lovely. I liked the little montages they showed before each acting category, giving multiple snippets of each nominee’s performance instead of just one (but it was funny how much obvious thought went into selecting the most #feminist clips for each of the nominated actresses!) Other easily-predicted awards were Best Cinematography for 1917 and Best Makeup and Hairstyling for Bombshell (I loved how effusive one of the winners was in his admiration for Charlize Theron.)

Elsewhere in the night, bigger things were happening. I cheered when the beautiful, precious, heartwarming Hair Love won Best Animated Short, and I was happy for Elton John and Bernie Taupin winning Best Original Song for Rocketman. The award of the night for me was Jojo Rabbit winning Best Adapted Screenplay – so excited! But the biggest news was of course the major victories for Parasite. I was glad to see it win Best Original Screenplay, and when it won Best International Feature, I thought it was probably done for the night (figuring Academy voters would keep it “in its lane” instead of awarding it Best Picture as well.) But then Bong Joon Ho won Best Director, and I was like, “Could it be…?” And it could! Best Picture! Very cool, and I loved how thrilled the how Parasite crew was throughout the night. Bong seemed continually flabbergasted, and I especially loved how during one of his speeches (Best Original Screenplay, I think?), he got the cast to stand up and had everyone applaud them – it had annoyed me that, once again, the #OscarsSoWhite focus was mostly on Black actors when the cast of Parasite was also completely overlooked.

Parasite was probably my second favorite of the nominees, so if Jojo Rabbit couldn’t win – which I never honestly expected it to – I’m glad that the top prize went to Bong and crew. Aside from the cool, historic nature of it (this was the first time South Korea even had a nominee for Best International Feature, and now it became the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture along with it!), it was just so superbly made. Some years, the Best Picture choices leaves me thinking, “Really?” but this is one where I can definitely get behind the Academy’s decision.