A Historic Oscar night! “Parasite” wins Best International Feature Film & Best Picture!

I had hoped, but I really didn’t think it would happen, yet there I was shocked and overjoyed that it did – Bong Joon-ho’s masterpiece, “Parasite”, won both Best Picture AND Best International Feature Film award! History was made twice tonight, since no South Korean film has ever won in the Best International Feature Film category (formally called Best Foreign Language Film) and no winner in that category has ever gone on to win Best Picture in the ninety-two year history of the Oscars! That’s huge! The film also won in two other categories, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director, which was equally great. There were also other surprises and historic wins in a ceremony which once again found viewers weighing the pros and cons of another year without a host.

“Parasite” made Oscar history in a couple other ways tonight as well. The last time a film won Best Picture without receiving any Oscar nominations in acting categories was when Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionare” won in 2008. The last time a director won Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture in the same night was when Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Iñárritu won in 2014. Kudos to Sharon Choi (a filmmaker in her own right), probably one of the hardest working women during the awards season circuit (at least the most visible), who was on hand as Bong Joon-ho’s translator.

Hildur Guðnadóttir wins for her score for “Joker”

However, there were absolutely no surprises or historic wins in the acting categories. Everyone who won, had already won in many of the other awards ceremonies leading up to the Oscars. If there could’ve been any surprise in those categories, it would’ve been Scarlet Johansson winning for “Marriage Story”, but as predicted Renee Zellweger took home her second Oscar (her first was Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Cold Mountain”).  While it wasn’t his career-best performance, Joaquin Phoenix won for his titular role in “Joker”, a movie that had the most nominations (11) and earned one historic win with Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, making her the first solo female composer to win Best Original Score in 23 years.

It was interesting to see “1917” and “Ford v Ferrari” split most of the technical awards. “1917” deservedly won Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects while “Ford v Ferrari” nabbed some worthy wins for Best Sound Editing and Best Film Editing.

Presenter pairs such as Steve Martin & Chris Rock and Maya Rudolph and Kristin Wiig proved that there’s still value in selected a host for Hollywood’s biggest night. While you would think no host would move things along a little quicker, the ABS telecast at the Dolby Theatre was still over three hours. That’s a given every year, so who cares?

The full list of nominees and winners (highlighted) can be found below…

Best Picture
Ford v Ferrari
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
Marriage Story
1917
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite – WINNER

Best Director
Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
Todd Phillips, Joker
Sam Mendes, 1917
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Bong Joon-ho, Parasite – WINNER

Best Actor
Antonio Banderas, Pain & Glory
Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Joaquin Phoenix, Joker – WINNER
Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes

Best Actress
Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Saoirse Ronan, Little Women
Charlize Theron, Bombshell
Renee Zellweger, Judy – WINNER

Best Supporting Actor
Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes
Al Pacino, The Irishman
Joe Pesci, The Irishman
Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – WINNER

Best Supporting Actress
Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell
Laura Dern, Marriage Story – WINNER
Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit
Florence Pugh, Little Women
Margot Robbie, Bombshell

Best Original Screenplay
Knives Out
Marriage Story
1917
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite – WINNER

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit – WINNER
Joker
Little Women
The Two Popes

Best Animated Feature
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
I Lost My Body
Klaus
Missing Link
Toy Story 4 – WINNER

Best International Feature
Corpus Christi
Honeyland
Les Miserables
Pain and Glory
Parasite – WINNER

Best Documentary Feature
American Factory – WINNER
The Cave
The Edge of Democracy
For Sama
Honeyland

Best Documentary Short Subject
In the Absence
Learning to Skateboard In a Warzone (If You’re a Girl) – WINNER
Life Overtakes Me
St. Louis Superman
Walk Run Cha-Cha

Best Live Action Short Subject
Brotherhood
Nefta Football Club
The Neighbors’ Window – WINNER
Saria
A Sister

Best Animated Short
Dcera
Hair Love – WINNER
Kitbull
Memorable
Sister

Best Original Score
Joker – WINNER
Little Women
Marriage Story
1917
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Best Original Song
“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away,” Toy Story 4
“I’m Gonna Love Me Again,” Rocketman – WINNER
“I’m Standing With You,” Breakthrough
“Into the Unknown,” Frozen II
“Stand Up,” Harriet

Best Sound Editing
Ford v Ferrari – WINNER
Joker
1917
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Best Sound Mixing
Ad Astra
Ford v Ferrari
Joker
1917 – WINNER
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Production Design
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
1917
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – WINNER
Parasite

Best Cinematography
The Irishman
Joker
The Lighthouse
1917 – WINNER
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Bombshell – WINNER
Joker
Judy
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
1917

Best Costume Design
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women – WINNER
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Editing
Ford v Ferrari – WINNER
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Parasite

Best Visual Effects
Avengers: Endgame
The Irishman
The Lion King
1917 – WINNER
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker