I went into this year’s Academy Awards fully expecting to come out disappointed and heartbroken, however, I came out genuinely happy and only a little upset.
Janelle Monae opened with a musical number that indirectly calls out the stories that weren’t nominated. Dancers were adorned in “Midsommar” dresses and “Us” jumpsuits which were both movies that did not receive any nominations.
The musical number talked about how movies are made for diverse stories, something The Oscars lacked this year.
“I’m so happy to stand here as a black, queer artist,” Monae said.
Chris Rock and Steve Martin gave the opening introduction to the ceremony, where they called out the lack of female directing nominees and people of color nominated for both actor and actress awards.
This left quite a sour taste in my mouth. The Academy has the power to nominate these people and yet, they didn’t. We get these same jokes every year and still, it changes nothing.
The first award to truly make me jump out of my bed was Bong Joon-Ho winning the Original Screenplay award.
Joon-Ho deserved this award, “Parasite” felt organically unique. It’s truly an original screenplay deserving of the award title.
However, my excitement was not carried into the Best Adapted Screenplay category, where “Jojo Rabbit” won.
I felt that the “Little Women” screenplay really excelled and brought a unique take on the source material.
“Little Women” did not go home empty-handed though, as it took home the Costume Design award for Jacqueline Durran’s work on the movie.
The shorts are always the categories that I fall behind in. I can never seem to find time to head to the theater and actually watch them, so I had no real opinion on them. However, I recognize the importance they have on the industry and the stories they tell.
With the supporting actress award, I want to make something very clear, I am a Laura Dern fan first and a human being second. So when Mahershala Ali presented the award and said the words “And the Oscar goes to Laura Dern.” My serotonin levels increased tremendously.
Dern has quickly become one of my favorite actresses in the industry ever since I was first introduced to her in the role of Renata Klein in “Big Little Lies.”
Her performance in “Marriage Story” transcended all her other roles and is one of my favorite roles she has taken on.
While I was upset that “The Lighthouse” didn’t win the Cinematography award, I completely understand why “1917” won.
The ability to make a truly compelling “one-take” movie is not something that many cinematographers can take on and make work. That dedication was shown in the work that cinematographer Roger Deakins put into “1917.”
“Parasite” continued to take home awards in the recently renamed International Film Award. Again, the continued recognition of Bong Joon-ho made me extremely happy and I actually teared up when Joon-ho took the stage again.
This image of Joon-ho looking at his award has now since become my phone background so I can be reminded of the joy of seeing Joon-ho accepting his award.
“Joker” took home the award for Original Score, and it honestly deserved it. The score is intense and adds to the overall tone of the movie.
Plus, Hildur Guðnadottir gave a touching speech and encouraged women to continue working hard.
“To the girls, to the women, to the mothers, to the daughters, who hear the music bubbling within,” Guðnadottir said. “Please speak up, we need to hear your voices.”
“Rocketman” received the Original Song award with Elton John and Bernie Taupin writing the song “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again.”
It was nice to see “Rocketman” take home a well-deserved award for a well-written song.
The Best Actor award went to Joaquin Phoenix for his role as Arthur Fleck/Joker in “The Joker.” Honestly, I expected this one as the nominees in this category were very lackluster this year.
Phoenix gave an impassioned speech about the fight against injustice in the world. It felt refreshing to see an actor use their platform to speak out against what is wrong in the world.
He spoke about animal rights and brought the issue to the front of the public eye.
However, the exact opposite can be true when they cram too much recognition into such a small package and don’t show each issue the respect it deserves.
Renee Zellweger did just this with her acceptance speech for her role as Judy Garland in “Judy.” It seemed that Zellweger was cramming all these buzzwords of people to thank into such a short amount of time. That in turn, made her speech very bland and forgettable.
The night ended on a high-note when Joon-ho took home awards for both Directing and Picture.
This surprised me as I did not expect The Academy to recognize the talent of Joon-ho and the team that worked on “Parasite.”
Joon-ho had probably the most honest speech of the whole night simply for one quote.
“I will drink until next morning,” Joon-ho said.
Here’s to hoping he continues smiling at that Oscar and carries this achievement into his next film.