Oscar Recap: A Night for Parasite

Well, that didn’t suck.” Bernie Taupin’s first words as he accepted his Oscar for Best Original Song kinda summed up the whole Oscar evening. It wasn’t terrible, but it was not the best I have ever seen. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Parasite made history last night by being the first film not in English to win Best Picture. That was the biggest surprise last night. In another surprising move, director Bong Joon Ho took home the prize for Best Director. Both of these awards were predicted to go to 1917. Parasite also won awards for Best International Film and Best Original Screenplay. The joy in the Dolby Theater was palpable. Bong Joon Ho told the crowd he would be celebrating by drinking all night. He also had a lot of fun playing with his new toys, as you can see from the photo above.

Actors Oscar — Joaquin Phoenix, Renee Zellweger, and Brad Pitt

Other than the big surprises in the Best Picture and Best Director categories, the rest of the awards were pretty predictable. As our team predicted on Saturday, Joaquin Phoenix (Joker), Renée Zellweger (Judy), Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood), and Laura Dern (Marriage Story) took home the acting awards. Phoenix and Pitt both got a bit political: Phoenix talked about how we all champion for cases of injustice, while Pitt made a quick joke about John Bolton not being allowed to testify at President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. Dern thanked her parents, actors Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern (who happened to be in Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood), and said that they were her heroes. Phoenix quoted a lyric that his late brother (and one-time Oscar nominee), River wrote.

The show itself also had highs and lows. Janelle Monae opened the show with a beautiful rendition of “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”, followed by a weird montage of dancing Midsommer princesses, Jokers World War I soldiers. She then mentioned that women directors and people of color needed to be represented at the Oscars, which was a major theme of the evening.

Even though the show was hostless, former hosts Steve Martin and Chris Rock came on stage to make everyone laugh before the first awards were handed out. Then newer actors were on hand to introduce the presenters. It was really odd. “Here, let this pseudo-famous person introduce this REALLY famous person!” Randomly, Eminem showed up to perform his Oscar wining original song “Lose Yourself” from 2002. Eminem did not perform at that Oscar ceremony, as he didn’t think he would win, so he didn’t come. Eighteen years later he got the chance to do it. While it was a rousing performance, it was really odd to shoehorn that into the show, apropos of nothing. However, the weirdest moment award goes to James Cordon and Rebel Wilson for coming on stage in full Cats costumes and presenting an award while grooming and playing with a microphone. It just creeped me out.

What did you think of the Oscars? Were you surprised by Parasite‘s win? Were you as weirded out as I was with James Cordon and Rebel Wilson? Let us know in the comments below!

-Ariadne Ansbro

Full list of winners below: