“Oscar.” Artwork courtesy of Rachel Park.
*Contains spoilers for the 2020 Oscars*
The 92nd Oscars premiered Sunday, February 9th. I imagine that I was not the only person completely dumbfounded at almost every category winner. So, here are some of the most shocking and worthiest winners at the Oscars.
The most shocking award of the night for me was the “Best Song” category, which was given to “I’m Gonna Love Me Again” from Rocketman. I might have to ask my dad about that one, because that was one of the worst songs I’ve ever listened to. Cynthia Erivo, the actress from Harriet, who is amazingly talented in both acting and singing, was passed over for two awards. If you’ve ever heard “Stand Up,” one of her songs from the film, which has so many important messages complemented by amazing vocals, you may also be shocked that this song lost to a song that sounds like the only aspect that changes throughout is the lyrics. I almost fell asleep listening to it while making my predictions before the Oscars.
Arguably the most important and anticipated award of the Oscars “Best Picture” went to Parasite, a Korean film that breaks all expectations and delivers a great performance of class discrimination while also being a mystery. This is the first time that a non-English film has won the most prestigious award, “Best Picture.” Parasite also won “Original Screenplay,” “Directing,” and “Best International Film of the Year.” If the fact that Parasite won “Best Picture of the Year” isn’t enough to make you give it a watch, its other three awards should help.
How about the “Best Actor/Actress” categories? For leading roles, the Best Actor was Joaquin Phoenix in Joker and the Best Actress was Renée Zellweger in Judy. In supporting roles, awards were won by Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Laura Dern in Marriage Story. Joaquin Phoenix absolutely deserved to be awarded the title of Best Actor, despite the controversy that the film Joker created, as many films that break boundaries do. For the 99% of college students who have Netflix, give Marriage Story a watch if you’re into romantic dramas that don’t just follow typical movie tropes.
If you want to watch some of the Oscar winners or runners-up, here are some films available to watch on Netflix, from most to least critically acclaimed: Marriage Story, I Lost My Body, The Irishman, The Two Popes, and Klaus. I would specifically recommend The Irishman, not because it is the best out of those on Netflix, but because how can a film be nominated for ten awards and win none? That gives me a chuckle. So, despite how much of a disappointment you feel for not acing your stats exam, at least you weren’t nominated for ten awards and watched one by one as each award was given to someone else.
The Oscars can help college students find quality films to watch during study breaks or over the weekend (because when you’re in college, you can only give away your free time to so many activities). Why waste that time on a film such as Cats, which is argued to be one of the worst films of the year? I mean, maybe you enjoyed Cats, and that’s fine. My favorite Disney film of all time is The Odd Life of Timothy Green, which is never talked about and barely known even by anyone who claims to be a Disney fanatic. The Oscars are a great way to find films that are supposedly award-worthy to see if you agree. Maybe it will help you find your new favorite movie, or maybe you’ll figure out that 2019 was a really bad year for movies. Either way, see you next year for another well-anticipated Oscars ceremony. •
