Oscars: Parasite wins best picture

Lifestyle Monday 10/February/2020 10:01 AM
By: Times News Service
Oscars: Parasite wins best picture

South Korean dark comic thriller Parasite has won four Academy Awards, including best picture, becoming the first movie not in English to do so, following controversy over a lack of diversity among the nominees.

The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, took place on Sunday night in Los Angeles, with South Korean dark comic thriller Parasite winning four awards, including best picture.

The night also saw a first acting award for Brad Pitt for Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood and a writing win for New Zealander Taika Waititi for Nazi-era comedy Jojo Rabbit.

Laura Dern picked up the award for supporting actress for her role in Netflix's Marriage Story while Parasite's Bong Joon-Ho also won best directing, as well as original screenplay and international feature film.

Joaquin Phoenix won best actor for Joker, delivering an emotional speech, and Renee Zellweger won best actress for Judy Garland biopic Judy.

Pitt previously won as a producer of 12 Years a Slave but this is his first acting win. Other winners include costume design for Little Women and animated feature film for Toy Story 4.

1917 picked up wins for sound mixing, cinematography and visual effects.

Laura Dern wins Best Supporting Actress Oscar

For the second year in a row, the ceremony was hostless. Dark comic thriller Joker led the nominations with 11, while Martin Scorsese's The Irishman, World War I epic 1917 and Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood all had 10 nods. The Irishman failed to win a single award.

Controversy over lack of representation

The awards were presented amid ongoing controversy around the lack of representation of women and people of color.

Greta Gerwig's Little Women was the only movie directed by a woman that received a nomination for best picture, although Gerwig was snubbed in the all-male best director category.

Actress Natalie Portman arrived in a dress embroidered with the names of female directors not nominated while opening singer Janelle Monae called out the lack of female representation during her song.

Meanwhile, actor Chris Rock was quick to point out that only one person of color had been nominated in any of the four acting categories — Cynthia Erivo for Harriet.

Animated short Hair Love, which features a young black girl's father learning how to do her hair, picked up an award, with creators Matthew Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver taking the opportunity to say "representation matters."

Full list of winners:

Actor in a supporting role — Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood

Animated feature film — Toy Story 4

Animated short film — Hair Love

Original screenplay — Bong Joon-ho, Parasite

Adapted screenplay — Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit

Live action short film — The Neighbor's Window

Production design — Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood

Costume design — Little Women

Documentary feature — American Factory

Documentary short subject — Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl)

Actress in a supporting role — Laura Dern, Marriage Story

Sound editing — Ford v Ferrari

Sound mixing — 1917

Cinematography — 1917

Film editing — Ford v Ferrari

Visual effects — 1917

Makeup and hairstyling — Bombshell

International feature film — Parasite

Original score — Joker

Original song — I'm Gonna Love Me Again, Rocket Man

Best directing — Bong Joon-Ho, Parasite

Actor in a leading role — Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

Actor in a leading role — Renee Zellweger, Judy

Best motion picture — Parasite