Oscars 2020: Still The Best Night In Town

Another year of celluloid excellence has come to a close. The prestigious Academy Awards have been handed out to deserving participants and now we’re allowed a short breather before we start predicting next year’s winners!

A Big Start For A Big Night

The night held a few big surprises, but mostly followed the standard set by other awards shows that precedented the Oscars this year. Janelle Monae kicked the celebrations off with a musical number, which honoured films like Midsommar, Queen & Slim and Us that weren’t nominated. Monae brought a ton of energy on stage, despite an early wardrobe malfunction when one of the buttons on her shirt popped open and the night was off with a bang and this year’s ceremony proved to be one of the best ones in years.

This year’s Oscars were once again hostless, which helped the show retain a brisk pace, but bizarrely enough this year featured presenters presenting other presenters who would then present the actual award. Towards the end of the night, 1917 actor George McKay noted how silly it all was. Anthony Ramos introduced Lin-Manuel Miranda who introduced a tribute montage to movie music, which was followed by a surprise performance by Eminem. The rapper performed his Oscar-winning hit Lose Yourself which he never collected on stage, rectifying the matter 17 years later. Idina Menzel looked confused and Martin Scorsese was half-asleep while Kelly Marie Tran was rapping along, but no one quite understood what Eminem was doing there. Was Phil Collins going to be next?!

The Winners

Most of the night’s winners offered no surprises. The acting categories went exactly as predicted, making them by far the least interesting categories of the night. Joaquin Phoenix delivered another powerful speech about equality, but also spoke of inseminating cows which seemed a little strange on such a prestigious night. A visibly uncomfortable Phoenix finished his speech by quoting lyrics his late brother River wrote, only just being able to hold back tears.

Between the categories, we were treated to the best song nominees performing their songs. A particular highlight was Idina Menzel performing Into The Unknown from Frozen 2. She was joined on stage by women who dub Elsa’s voice in other countries, singing with her in their own language. It was a fresh and ingenious idea, once again highlighting the universal and international nature of films and their audiences. Chrissy Metz performed I’m Standing With You from Breakthrough and Cynthia Erivo belted out the fantastic Stand Up, while Randy Newman played the piano and sang the catchy I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away from Toy Story 4  which picked up Best Animated Feature earlier, proving that Pixar seems to always come out on top at the Oscars. But eventually it was Elton John who won Best Song for his song (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again from Rocketman.

Then we had sound editing and sound mixing, two categories no one seems to know the difference of. Ford v. Ferrari took home Best Sound Editing, the creation and gathering of the sound effects, in this case the hum of the Ford engine or the screeching of the tires. British war film 1917 won Best Sound Mixing, which is exactly what it sounds like; mixing the audio together seamlessly to support dialogue and create the scene, balancing everything just right. In this case, maybe the explosion further away was much quieter than the bullet flying past George McKay’s head in close up.

Ford V. Ferrari also took home Best Editing and Roger Deakins deservedly won his second Oscar for Best Cinematography for his one-shot wonder 1917. 1917 also won Best Visual Effects, proving that the Academy tends to lean towards more subtle effects rather than CGI extravaganzas like Avengers: Endgame. Bombshell collected the golden statue for best Makeup and Hairstyling and deservedly so, they did make Charlize Theron into the spitting image of Megyn Kelly after all.

The Shocking End To The Night

It was the two biggest categories that held the biggest surprises of the night. Bong Joon-Ho prevailed over Sam Mendes and 1917 to win both Best Director and Best Picture, a historical win for both South Korea and international cinema in general. When accepting this Best Director prize, the infinitely classy South Korean auteur took a moment to acknowledge the influence of fellow nominee Martin Scorsese had on his education and career. The entire auditorium them erupted in applause, leading to a massive standing ovation for The Irishman director, clearly much to Scorsese’s surprise. Bong also acknowledged another fellow nominee Quentin Tarantino, a vocal fan of Bong‘s work.

By the time Parasite was announced Best Picture, the show had ran overtime and the producers turned the lights off on the newly crowned winners only what felt like seconds and a few words from the stunned crew, only for Tom Hanks and Charlize Theron to start chanting “UP, UP!” until the rest of the auditorium joined in and the cast and crew of Parasite were afforded extra time. This is the first time a film has picked up both Best International Feature Film and Best Picture, in fact this is the first time a foreign language film has won Best Picture ever.

Oscars 2020 – Back In The Game Or A Waste Of A Good Sleep?

This year featured some of the least controversial winners in years and the night’s ceremony went smoothly and without any major hindrances. The only serious bump seemed to be bringing Utkarsh Ambudkar to perform a recap rap halfway through the show. If your show needs a recap in the middle, it is way too long and you should go back to the drawing board.

But with the nail-biting tension over whether 1917 or Parasite would be crowned the crème de la crème of cinema, Oscars proved they still got it. This was a highly entertaining show, with great production value and with the shocking surprise winner at the end, Oscars made sure they’re still worth tuning in for. The end of the evening had a sense of history to it and Film Inquiry would like to extend their congratulations to all the winners.

The Winners

Best Picture
Parasite

Best Actress
Renee Zellweger – Judy

Best Actor
Joaquin Phoenix – Joker

Best Supporting Actress
Laura Dern – Marriage Story

Best Supporting Actor
Brad Pitt – Once Upon A Time in… Hollywood

Best Director
Bong Joon-ho – Parasite

Best Original Screenplay
Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin Won – Parasite

Best Adapted Screenplay
Taika Waititi – Jojo Rabbit

Best Animated Feature
Toy Story 4

Best Documentary Feature
American Factory

Best International Feature
Parasite

Best Original Song
“I’m Gonna Love Me Again,” Rocketman

Best Original Score
Hildur Guðnadóttir, Joker

Best Cinematography
Roger Deakins, 1917

Best Visual Effects
1917, Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy

Best Editing
Ford v. Ferrari, Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland

Best Sound Editing
Ford v. Ferrari, Donald Sylvester

Best Sound Mixing
1917, Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson

Best Production Design
Once Upon A Time in… Hollywood, Barbara Ling and Nancy Haigh

Best Costume Design
Little Women, Jacqueline Durran

Best Hair and Make-up
Bombshell, Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker

Best Live Action Short
The Neighbors’ Window

Best Animated Short
Hair Love

Best Documentary Short
Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)

Did you think the Academy honoured the right films? Let us know your favourite winners and most outrageous snubs in the comments!