Parasite wins best picture
O South Korean movie beats Hollywood greats to make Oscar history
DARK South Korean social satire Parasite won the Oscar for best picture on Sunday, making history as the first film not in the English language to win the movie industry’s highest honour.
Parasite, about the gap between rich and poor in modern Seoul, won a total of four Oscars, including best director and screenplay for Bong Joon Ho and best international feature. No film had ever won both international feature and best picture at the Oscars.
It was a remarkable outcome for a film that played with subtitles in the United States, beating movies by major studios and Hollywood veterans such as Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino. The win also came at the end of an awards season that had been criticised for lack of diversity.
Instead, the Oscars stage was crowded with South Korean actors and filmmakers, who mostly spoke to the audience through an interpreter.
“I am speechless,” said Kwak Sin Ae, one of Parasite’s co-producers. “We never imagined this would ever happen. We are so happy. I feel like a very opportune moment in history is happening right now.”
When Bong got his first Oscar of the night – for best original screenplay – he gazed at the golden statuette in amazement.
He later paid tribute to his four fellow director nominees, saying, “I would like to get a Texas chainsaw and split the Oscar into five and share it with all of you.”
Earlier in the evening, the ceremony, held without a host, was peppered with jibes and sarcastic remarks about the exclusion of women from the directing category and just one person of colour in the acting nominations.
“I thought there was something missing this year,” quipped comedian Steve Martin, opening the show with Chris Rock.
“Vaginas?” quipped Rock, to loud applause.
Phoenix gives thanks for second chance
The acting Oscars went as expected. Joaquin Phoenix won best actor for playing a failing clown who finds fame through violence in the dark comic-book tale Joker, and Renee Zellweger was named best actress for her performance as an ageing Judy Garland in the musical biopic Judy.
Phoenix, a strict vegan, gave a long, impassioned acceptance speech about climate change and animal rights but concluded on a personal note.
“I’ve been a scoundrel in my life. I’ve been selfish, cruel at times and hard to work with, and I’m grateful that so many people in this room have given me a second chance,” he said.
World War One movie 1917, from Universal Pictures , had been seen as the film to beat but won just three of its 10 nominations. They came for its stunning “one-shot” feel cinematography, for visual effects and for sound mixing.
Tarantino’s sentimental ode to Tinseltown, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, brought the first acting Oscar for Brad Pitt, who played a supporting role as a laid-back stunt man.
Laura Dern took the supporting actress Oscar, her first Academy Award, for playing a ruthless divorce lawyer in Marriage Story.
But Netflix movie The Irishman a costly Mafia saga directed by Scorsese that had 10 Oscar nominations and starred Hollywood veterans Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, came away empty-handed.
Music played a large part in the ceremony, with a surprise performance by rapper Eminem of his 2003 Oscar winning song Lose Yourself from the movie 8 Mile.
Elton John won best original song for (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again from his biopic Rocketman, which he performed at Sunday night’s ceremony. And American teen Billie Eilish, who won five Grammys last month, sang Yesterday for the in memoriam segment.