Courtesy of Polygon
Live from the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, the 92nd Academy Awards kicked off their festivities the evening of Sunday, Feb. 9. After last year’s controversy surrounding Kevin Hart’s homophobic past, ABC confirmed in January that the broadcast would again go without a host. The 2019 ceremony was, in fact, the first to not have a host since 1989.
Despite efforts to avoid a repeat of the negative press of yesteryear, the awards once again stirred up some controversy before the ceremony even occurred. Although the Oscars have been in existence for 92 years, there have only been a total of five women nominated for the Best Director award and only one has ever won. Despite the many directorial contributions women in film made in the past year, the Academy chose to only nominate men. Many talented female directors were overlooked, including Greta Gerwig for her direction of “Little Women” and Lulu Wang for “The Farewell.”
Going into the night with the most nominations was Todd Phillips’ “Joker” with 11, including a Best Actor nomination for Joaquin Phoenix. “The Irishman,” “1917” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” each received 10 nominations.
Janelle Monáe opened the show with a medley performance paying homage to many of the past year’s films alongside Billy Porter. Best Supporting Actor went to Brad Pitt for his role in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and Laura Dern went on to win Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Marriage Story.” Renee Zellweger won Best Lead Actress for her eponymous role in “Judy,” which critics cited as arguably the best performance of her career. Joaquin Phoenix won Best Lead Actor for his role as Arthur Fleck in “Joker” and chose to use his speech to encourage everyone to come together on human rights issues, expanding on his recent speech at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards.
Accompanying the In Memoriam, Billie Eilish and Finneas performed a slow, somber rendition of “Yesterday” by The Beatles. Notably missing from those shown were actors Cameron Boyce and Luke Perry, both of whom appeared on small and big screens during their lifetimes. Perry was last seen in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”
Both winners in the screenplay categories made history this year. Taika Waititi won Best Adapted Screenplay for “Jojo Rabbit” and became the first indigenous filmmaker to win an Academy Award. He proceeded to dedicate his win to “all the indigenous kids all over the world.” Bong Joon-ho took home the award for Best Original Screenplay for “Parasite,” making it the first South Korean film to win an Oscar. Bong and “Parasite” went on to have some of the largest and most delightful shocks of the night, taking home awards for Best International Feature, Best Director and Best Picture. “Parasite” is the first film in a foreign language to ever take home the award show’s greatest honor. Upon accepting the award, producer Kwak Sin-ae stated, “We never imagined this to ever happen. We are so happy. I feel like a very opportune moment in history is happening right now.”
Jane Fonda closed the night, reminding everyone of the importance of being open-minded. Reflecting this idea, it was refreshing to see such diversity rewarded throughout the broadcast, but there is clearly much more that needs to be done for the Academy to catch up with the times.
