Today I shall break down my personal favorites of the 2019/2020 Academy Award winners. I have ranked my 10 favorites based on how good the movie was in that specific category, and how deserved that win was (both in relation to other nominees as well as in the context of the film itself). I am excluding Parasite's win for Best International Film, as it is too hard to compare to the rest; it was in many ways the most deserved win, but it was so obvious that it didn't have the same effect as the rest of the night's winners (including the three other awards Parasite got).
Oh, and if anyone's interested, I got 12 out of 24 correct on my Oscar predictions! Not the greatest score, but many of the surprises were positive ones, so I don't mind.
Here are my honorable mentions for today's list: 1917 for Best Sound Mixing, Hair Love for Best Animated Short, Joker for Best Music (Original Score), Parasite for Best Directing, Rocketman for Best Music (Original Song).
10. Best Supporting Actor - Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (Brad Pitt)
Brad Pitt is a wonderful actor who worked hard for this one; his role in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is probably the best I've ever seen from him. I personally might have given the award to Al Pacino for The Irishman, yet Pitt comes so close that I really can't complain as he basically deserved it just as much. The work that went into this role, Pitt's impressive overall career as well as the heartfelt acceptance speech he gave made me feel very happy about his win.
9. Best Visual Effects - 1917
The practical visual effects of Sam Mendes's war epic were truly amazing. Not relying on CGI but rather on excessively innovative ways of creating explosions, gunfire and other horrors of war through practical effects, the film combines the old-school art of illusions and tricks as a means of visual effects with modern technology to create a visually unique end product.
8. Best Supporting Actress - Marriage Story (Laura Dern)
Laura Dern, overall one of the best actresses working today, had an especially excellent role performance as the lawyer Nora in Netflix's Marriage Story. Dern was charismatic, realistic, complex and powerful in her supporting role, thus making her win very deserved. It was nice to see Marriage Story, being one of the year's greatest films, winning at least one Oscar!
7. Best Live Action Short - The Neighbor's Window
Do yourself a favor: go on Youtube and spend 21 minutes of your life watching this short film. You will not regret it. While my money was on Brotherhood, I am glad that the award went to The Neighbor's Window instead; both were well-made and poignant, but I found this one to be much more powerful. The film has such an important and beautiful message to it, one that we could all benefit from. You care for the main characters staggeringly much considering how short of a time you spend with them. All in all, this short film was great and thoroughly deserving of its Academy Award.
6. Best Original Screenplay - Parasite (Bong Joon Ho, Han Jin Won)
What an incredibly night it was for Bong Joon Ho. After picking up this award and the one for Best International Film, he surely didn't expect to be back on that stage. Then he surprisingly won Best Director, picking up his third Oscar of the night. And when Best Picture went to Parasite as well, he seemed positively shocked. I respect the Academy for recognizing the achievements of this South Korean piece of art on so many fronts, and the award for Best Screenplay especially went to a deserving recipient.
Parasite isn't written like most movies, at least most Hollywood ones. The story is unexpected with its twists and turns, an unlikely combination with its comedic hijinks balanced with very dark moments, and revolutionary in how it conveys its message. Nothing is black and white, as the film manages to discuss themes of class and inequality without shoving anything down the viewer's throat; everything comes across in a subtle and realistic way. This multi-layered story doesn't give anything to the viewer on a silver platter but rather forces one to think for themselves, and we have the film's clever script to thank for that.
5. Best Makeup And Hairstyling - Bombshell
What a marvelous show of skill this one was! While there are other things Jay Roach's Bombshell did arguably even better, makeup and hairstyling were always going to be its biggest chance in the awards season. I can only imagine the amount of intricate work that went into transforming John Lithgow into such a look-alike of Roger Ailes, as well as giving Charlize Theron the exact look of real-life counterpart Megyn Kelly. The film's makeup department proved to be the year's absolute best in their craft, and I was glad to see this award going to the right address.
4. Best Production Design - Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
While I personally might have felt that 1917 was even a tad more deserving of this award, I really can't be mad about this one; two exceptionally Oscar-worthy movie sets happened to collide on the same year. The production design for Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood was on point, with the crew creating an incredibly vibrant and detailed 1960's Hollywood. Going as far as to create sets with in the sets for scenes where main character Rick Dalton acts in various movies and TV shows, the creativity and complexity of this film's production design was quite like no other. While Tarantino personally didn't win this year for writing or directing, you could see how happy he was for his production design team (as well as Brad Pitt) winning for their work in his film.
3. Best Picture - Parasite
A huge victory for fans of this film, South Korean cinema and overall recognition of international movies, Parasite's historic Best Picture win was a heartwarming surprise. On a purely subjective level, I liked a few of the category's nominees even more and would've been happy to see frontrunner 1917 taking the award home. That being said, I can't say that Parasite didn't deserve this. It is a wonderfully built, unique and impressive film that has a lot to say while also providing entertainment and visual beauty.
Furthermore, Parasite's victory is a symbolic one. The Oscars are criticized for being too white all too often, and the Academy choosing a South Korean film as Best Picture is a good sign for representation and diversity in Hollywood. With nothing against Hollywood, it is awesome to see other movie cultures being celebrated along American film, and hopefully this will boost the success of international films both in the box office and in critical acclaim.
2. Best Lead Actor - Joker (Joaquin Phoenix)
Ahead of the awards season, there were many reasons to believe that Joaquin Phoenix wouldn't win this award: while a majority of movie people saw this as the year's best acting performance, many were concerned whether the Academy would risk their integrity in voting for such a "dangerous" movie or just a comic book movie, especially the same comic book character for a second time (Heath Ledger won for playing a different interpretation of the Joker in 2008/2009). However as the Oscars neared and Phoenix won multiple other awards, the buzz got more real, and surely enough he got his Oscar. This was worth it if for his amazing acceptance speech alone (how can one be so punk rock yet so heartbreakingly emotional at the same time?), but also because this win was so incredibly well-deserved.
Joaquin Phoenix's performance in Joker is bone-chilling and powerful. He gets so deep into character as Arthur Fleck, and makes the viewer wonder with his mix of being frighteningly over-the-top yet frighteningly realistic. His portrayal of mental illness, terrifying laugh and perfect delivery of every single line makes for a pure Oscar-winning performance if I ever saw one. Well done, Mr. Phoenix.
1. Best Cinematography - 1917 (Roger Deakins)
I would have been mad if this award had gone to anyone else. As I mentioned in my Oscar predictions, 1917 has the best cinematography of any film I have ever seen. The complex and impressive camera work of the long takes the film is built on is pitch perfect throughout the film, adding to the riveting experience of watching the end product. Roger Deakins's win was my favorite of the night.
That's all for the Oscar season! Tune in next week for the list of my all-time favorite movie scores!
That's all for the Oscar season! Tune in next week for the list of my all-time favorite movie scores!
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