The 5 Best Moments From The Confusing, Chaotic, Cathartic 2020 Oscars
Like every year, Sunday's 2020 Oscars ceremony was a night of overwhelming highs and abysmal lows. But Parasite is now a four-time Oscar winner, so things are (mostly) right in the world. Because of that, we'll only be counting down the highs of this year's host-less Oscars ceremony, which ran the gamut of emotions from confusing, to chaotic, to cathartic. Here are our highlights of the 92nd Academy Awards.
Janelle Monae is Our New May Queen
In a gonzo opening number that would set the wacky tone for last night's Oscar ceremony, Janelle Monae paid tribute to movies the Academy acknowledged, and the ones they snubbed. Donning a Mr. Rogers sweater to sing a twinkling rendition of his show's famous theme song, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" Monae was soon joined by a host of background dancers dressed in costumes from snubbed films, including Us, Midsommar, Dolemite Is My Name, and more.
As she crowned herself the new May Queen while singing her hit song "Come Alive," Monae made a searing indictment of the Oscars' diversity problem. "It's time to come alive because the Oscars is so white!" she shouted, before getting Cynthia Erivo, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Brie Larson to awkwardly sing along. It was weird, it was tongue-in-cheek, and it was the kind of wild, chaotic energy that would set the tone for the rest of a strange Oscar ceremony.
Attack of the Elsas
The Oscars showed its commitment to its global outreach with a soaring rendition of Frozen 2's flagship song "Into the Unknown," led by star Idina Menzel, who was joined by nine international actresses who had also voiced Elsa. Since the film's November release, Frozen 2 has been translated into 45 other languages, of which 10 were represented at the Oscars during a multilingual rendition of "Into the Unknown." All dressed in icy flowing gowns and singing in different keys (sorry Denmark), the Elsa's joined forces to give us the kind of glamorous, shimmering spectacle that we crave from Hollywood's biggest night.
Every Time Bong Joon-Ho Was Onstage
Parasite director Bong Joon-ho has been a gift for us this awards season, entertaining us with his sick burns and his pure joy at celebrating cinema alongside the auteurs he admires. And he continued to delight every time he was onstage — nay, every time he was on the screen during the 2020 Oscars.
From his adorable giggle as he looked fondly at his Oscar statuette when he and co-writer Han Jin Won won Best Original Screenplay, to frequent jokes about how he was going to "drink until next morning," Bong won the night in every aspect because of his sheer earnestness — which was best exemplified by his acceptance speech for his Best Director trophy. "There was a saying I carved into my heart, which was 'the most personal is the most creative.' That quote was from our great Martin Scorsese," Bong said, urging the audience into giving a standing ovation for Scorsese in a beautiful moment of shared love for cinema which dulled the pain of The Irishman's lack of awards. Bong went on to celebrate his fellow nominees, thanking Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's Quentin Tarantino for spreading awareness of his films, and shouting out 1917's Sam Mendes and Joker's Todd Phillips. Equal turns humble and hilarious, it was the perfect distillation of why Bong won the night — and the entire awards season.
Brad Pitt's Impeachment Hearings Jab
It was no surprise that Brad Pitt took the trophy for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and it was even less of a surprise that his speech was as funny and incisive as the ones he's been giving all awards season (we can thank his funny friends like David Fincher, according to Pitt). And Pitt capped off a great awards run with a topical joke about Donald Trump's impeachment trials, quipping, "They told me I only have 45 seconds to give this speech, which is 45 seconds more than the Senate gave John Bolton this week." The audience applauded his remark, which referred to the decision to not allow witness testimony during the impeachment hearings.
Pitt added, "I'm thinking maybe Quentin does a movie about it and in the end, the adults do the right thing." Boom. Roasted.
Parasite Wins Best Picture
Where were you when Parasite won Best Picture? That's going to be the question on everyone's lips as they tremble with excitement over the fact that we live in a world where Parasite deservedly won the top award at the Oscars. It was a historic night for Bong's masterpiece — the first Oscars for South Korea, the first time a film won both Best International Feature and Best Picture, the first time we all wept openly over an Oscar win. Parasite winning Best Picture is a rare instance when the Oscars actually awarded the best movie of the year, and broke down all sorts of barriers: for the success of non-English language films in Hollywood and for Asian faces winning big at the Academy Awards. And despite Bong's reluctance to speak for a fourth time onstage (he just wants a cocktail and they keep giving him Oscars!) the acceptance speeches of the Parasite producers were inspiring and heartfelt. What a way to end the night.
Best/Worst: Confusion and Chaos Reign
Why was Eminem singing "Lose Yourself" nearly two decades after it won for Best Song? Why did Rebel Wilson and James Corden not sing "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats" when they appeared onstage in their bizarre furry get-up? What had Diane Keaton been drinking when she flirted up a storm with Keanu Reeves? And can we get some of that?
The Oscars went host-less for a second year in a row, and it turns out that two times aren't a charm. The often meandering, frequently confusing ceremony was full of celebrities stepping in front of the camera to introduce even more celebrities, and stand-up bits from presenters that went on so long they became funny in their absurdity. The halfhearted attempts to criticize the nominees' lack of diversity fell flat, but all the other bizarre gimmicks strangely worked — from Eminem emerging on the stage to sing "Lose Yourself" to the mass confusion of the audience (those reactions will give us meme fodder for weeks), to Rebel Wilson and James Corden standing by solemnly, hands folded in their ridiculous furry Cats get-ups. But let's not do this again, Academy, we can only take so many rap recaps.