{"id":67565,"date":"2020-02-10T02:21:47","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T07:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=67565"},"modified":"2020-02-10T06:20:46","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T11:20:46","slug":"south-korean-film-maker-bong-joon-hos-parasite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=67565","title":{"rendered":"South Korean Film Maker Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” Makes History by Becoming the First Non – English Language Film to Win Prestigious Best Picture Award at Oscars: Also Gets Oscars in Best director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film Categories."},"content":{"rendered":"

By
\nBen Travers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bong Joon Ho saved the Oscars. His smile. His crazy hair. The way he walks, and, yes, the way he talks, but especially the way he directs \u2014 all of these (literally) winning attributes not only contributed to a history-making 92nd Academy Awards ceremony, but kept it from ranking among the worst telecasts of all time. Thanks to \u201cParasite\u2019s\u201d four wins \u2014 especially its dark horse victories for Best Picture and Best Director \u2014 the 2020 Oscars show stands as one of the best ever.<\/p>\n

With any other champion, the post-ceremony conversation would already be focused on what to fix next year \u2014 and anyone in charge should start making a to-do list now: Hiring a host is a must. Cutting the length down from a bloated three-and-a-half hours is, too. Finding a unifying theme, or even a consistent tone, would be the ethereal pursuit for next year\u2019s producers, while they sit in dread of more speeches like this year\u2019s unmemorable crop. So much of what was put forth during the 2020 Oscars simply didn\u2019t work, and it would\u2019ve added up to an ugly failure on all fronts \u2014 if not for our Lord and Savior, Director Bong.<\/p>\n

The \u201cParasite\u201d wins represented everything the Oscars were otherwise lacking, from their element of surprise to the glass ceilings they shattered, but before we all choose to collectively forget the rest of the ceremony, let\u2019s take it one more from the top: By all accounts, the 2020 Oscars looked first looked like a traditional ceremony, opening with a song-and-dance number, a comedic monologue, and a speech from a bonafide movie star. To all the folks wondering why the show\u2019s producers didn\u2019t just name Janelle Mon\u00e1e host, I have no answers for you. She\u2019s young, charismatic, incredibly talented, and they clearly trusted her to kick off the evening right. Plus, she did set the tone of the night \u2014 and it isn\u2019t her fault that said tone was best described as \u201cemotional whiplash.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that the two opening numbers didn\u2019t gel; that part is by design. It\u2019s that the audience didn\u2019t know what to do with either one, a theme that carried over to the rest of the night (except, of course, for all those \u201cParasite\u201d wins, which were met with exactly the right responses). Walking out with a sweet, brief tribute of Mr. Rogers, Mon\u00e1e soon pivoted to a rousing rap\/spoken-word number featuring dancers dressed as Oscar-nominated movies and\u2026 not Oscar-nominated movies? While Mon\u00e1e soldiered on, literally forcing the reticent audience into snapping, singing, and dancing \u2014 save for Rita Wilson, who was into it, bless her soul \u2014 actual soldiers boogied down behind her. All that pizzazz distracted more than it energized, and viewers at home wondered why the Oscars would remind everyone of the movies their voters chose not to honor.<\/p>\n

But that was nothing compared to the confusion sparked by Eminem\u2019s surprise performance of \u201cLose Yourself\u201d halfway through the show. No, he wasn\u2019t nominated; no, 2020 isn\u2019t a significant anniversary for the Oscar-winning 2002 song; no, you didn\u2019t travel back in time 18 years to watch that telecast \u2014 just like the obvious contextual clues in \u201cLittle Women,\u201d you could tell Eminem was taking his one shot in the present day because of his beard. The crowd went along with it as best they could (everyone knows the song), but a surprise performance from a white rapper felt like the strangest addition to an already white ceremony that had used its opening number to emphasize people of color. (After his performance, Eminem tweeted a still-opaque explanation.)<\/p>\n

Much of the evening was equally confounding, in that just about every rewarding high was met by a baffling shrug, if not outright ridicule \u2014 much like Steve Martin and Chris Rock\u2019s shared monologue! Rock going after Jeff Bezos was great, but undercut by an eye-rolling Iowa caucus joke;Martin repeatedly pointing out that he and Rock are not hosting the show is a much-needed acknowledgement since they did host before, but the duo whiffed while trying to acknowledge the lack of women directors. (\u201cI thought there was something missing from the list this year\u2026\u201d \u201cVaginas?\u201d \u201cYeah.\u201d OK, guys, but there\u2019s also something missing from that joke.) These two are always a welcome presence, and yet the show itself matched their hit-and-miss rapport.\u2026,,including the speeches. <\/p>\n

Brad Pitt couldn\u2019t top himself after a season of incredible thank yous and Quentin Tarantino digs; Laura Dern was sweet in thanking her parents Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, but offered little we hadn\u2019t heard in past ceremonies; even Taika Waititi\u2019s typically reliable hilarity was undermined by his apparent surprise. (You were one of two favorites! Come prepared!) Hildur Gu\u00f0nad\u00f3ttir became the first female composer to win in 22 years \u2014 adding to an impressive six-month haul that now includes an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Grammy (both for \u201cChernobyl\u201d) \u2014 and her genuine emotion helped temporarily arrest the audience.<\/p>\n

But then her \u201cJoker\u201d cohort Joaquin Phoenix took the stage for one of two exhausting final speeches that tried to touch on far too many topics. Rather than making a convincing point about one thing, the expected Best Actor winner chose to talk about everything \u2014 taking a stand against gender and racial discrimination, environmental disconnect, and the evil corporations behind milk! Phoenix should\u2019ve taken his own advice to the audience and stopped when he was ahead, and he teed up Renee Zellweger for a rough stint, when the \u201cJudy\u201d star couldn\u2019t wrap her long ode to Judy Garland into one affecting sentiment.<\/p>\n

Add those speeches to redundant, elongating choices by producers \u2014 like having presenters for the presenters (because there was no host to introduce the actors announcing the winners) and then asking them to read each nominee\u2019s name even though the video montage could\u2019ve done that in half the time \u2014 and, any other year, this would\u2019ve been a catastrophic ceremony.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t. It was one of the best telecasts ever. \u201cParasite\u201d and Director Bong made sure of it. First, the \u201cOkja\u201d and \u201cMemories of Murder\u201d helmer became an instant gif icon with his giddy, wordless reaction to winning Best Original Screenplay. Then, during his speech for Best International Feature, he asked the audience to appreciate his \u201cParasite\u201d cast (after they were snubbed for individual honors) before sending everyone scrambling for a ticket to the Neon afterparty by exclaiming, \u201cI\u2019m ready to drink tonight!\u201d He doubled down on the sentiment with his Best Director win, promising to \u201cdrink until next morning\u201d after nearly bringing Martin Scorsese to tears with as earnest a thank you as you\u2019ll ever see at the Oscars.<\/p>\n

At this point, a \u201cParasite\u201d Best Picture win started to feel like a real possibility, and whenever it feels like there\u2019s an upset in the offing, the Oscars come alive. Plenty of prognosticators predicted the Neon release would triumph, but the odds-on favorite remained \u201c1917\u201d up until Jane Fonda announced (after a very dramatic pause) the first foreign-language drama to ever win the Academy Awards\u2019 top prize. (Her announcement is the inverse of \u201cMoonlight\u2019s\u201d victory; then, confusion killed any immediate satisfaction, while Fonda\u2019s composure elevated this moment.) This came after \u201cParasite\u201d became the first South Korean film to ever win Best International Feature, which came after \u201cParasite\u201d became the category\u2019s first South Korean nominee.<\/p>\n

All these firsts are incredibly significant, and yet Bong has preached the ubiquity of film throughout his unprecedented awards run. He\u2019s rightly paid tribute to his home country and the devout audiences who\u2019ve always supported him, while emphasizing the impact his competitors have had on his work and pushing for audiences to embrace film as a universal, unifying medium. The whipsmart writer-director disregarded the uniquely American aspects of artistic competition at every turn, choosing instead to make an eternal awards run feel like what it always claims to be: a celebration of film.<\/p>\n

In other words, he\u2019s lived the words spoken by so many of the winners \u2014 \u201ccommonality,\u201d \u201cinclusivity,\u201d \u201cdoing the right thing\u201d \u2014 and the world got to watch the film community respond to that message Sunday night with thunderous applause and gold statues. The Oscars put their money where their mouth is, walking the walk instead of just talking the talk, and each time \u201cParasite\u201d won, it was a sight to behold.<\/p>\n

At the Golden Globes, when \u201cParasite\u201d won the trophy for Best Foreign-Language Film, Director Bong delivered a quote that resonated throughout this awards season. \u201cOnce you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.\u201d Clearly, the Academy heard his message, and now, they\u2019ve given the rest of America a reason to hurdle their own barriers, as well. For that, we\u2019ll forget everything else. \u201cParasite\u201d won four Academy Awards. Nothing else matters.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:Indiewire<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Ben Travers Bong Joon Ho saved the Oscars. His smile. His crazy hair. The way he walks, and, yes, the way he talks, but especially the way he directs \u2014 all of these (literally) winning attributes not only contributed to a history-making 92nd Academy Awards ceremony, but kept it from ranking among the worst …<\/p>\n

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