Last night, Hollywood celebrated this past year in movies with the 92nd Academy Awards. Here are some notable moments from the evening:
Parasite Wins Big: Parasite made history as the first film not in the English language to take home the Best Picture Academy Award. Parasite also won Best Original Screenplay, Best International Feature Film (formerly Best Foreign Language Film), and Best Director. Bong Joon-ho, the movie’s director, became well-accustomed to the stage last night, noting “[he] thought [he] was done for the day and was ready to relax.” Bong admiring (one of his) Oscars last night also went viral, with #DirectorBongJoonHo trending on Twitter.
Eminem’s Surprise Performance: Last evening, rapper Marshall Mathers, more commonly known as Eminem, unexpectedly performed his hit “Lose Yourself,” which won Best Original Song in 2003. After the mini-concert, Mathers took to Twitter to express his gratitude to the Academy and his reason for performing. “Sorry it took me 18 years to get here,” he posted, referring to his absence when "Lose Yourself". The audience seemed to be enjoying the act, with celebrities like Gal Gadot and Kelly Marie Tran nodding to the beat. However, during the performance, the camera also found director Martin Scorcese seemingly napping and performer Billie Eilish looking confused. Nevertheless, Eminem’s performance was a definite surprise, although perhaps with mixed reviews.
Joaquin Phoenix’s Acceptance Speech: Joker’s Joaquin Phoenix took home the Academy Award for Best Actor last night. This was a bit of a predicted win, as Phoenix took home both the SAG Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor earlier in the awards season. However, the audience was not expecting such a poignant speech from the actor. He spoke of how “the fight against injustice” was shared across the issues we face as a society–more specifically mentioning homophobia, sexism, racism, and animal cruelty. “We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow, and when she gives birth, we steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then, we take her milk, that’s intended for her calf, and we put it in our coffee and our cereal, and I think we fear the idea of personal change because we think that we have to sacrifice something to give something up,” he said, focusing on the topic of animal cruelty. His speech, both pointed and poignant, was most definitely a highlight of the evening.
Natalie Portman: The Oscars isn’t only the most notable night for the movie industry. It is also one of the biggest nights for fashion, with celebrities draped head-to-toe in the glitz and glamor of Hollywood. Previous Academy Award winner Natalie Portman also served stunning looks as usual at this event, with an elegant Dior dress and cape. However, upon closer inspection, her cape was embroidered with the names of women directors who were not nominated for an award. Among them were Lulu Wang for The Farewell and Greta Gerwig for Little Women. “I wanted to recognize the women who were not recognized for their incredible work in my subtle way,” says actress and director Portman.
Here is a full list of the Academy Award recipients: https://oscar.go.com/winners