The 2020 Oscar nominations were announced Monday morning, and they gave us one of the most frustrating lists of honorees on public record in recent history. But on the other hand, you might be happy to learn that South Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s magnificent film Parasite has managed to clear any foreign language barriers and reigns as one of the most nominated films of the year. So, as the Bible says, the Academy giveth, and it taketh away.
Let’s unpack it all.
4 | ON TO SOME GOOD NEWS: PARASITE CONTINUES TO BE AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE.
There was a whole lot of talk about Parasite potentially going the route of Roma (a completely different film that just so happens to also be in a non-English language) last year, in that it would pick up a lot of steam ahead of the Oscars and not clench Best Picture. But after winning almost every award it’s been nominated for, and almost unanimously topping people’s favorite film of 2019 lists, it would be an embarrassment to not bestow Bong’s modern classic with Hollywood’s top prize (the first for a Korean film). It’s also rightly nominated in the original screenplay, editing, director, international film, and production design categories. Parasite is a slick genre-defying film with timeless “eat the rich” appeal, celebrated by some of the most pretentious, affluent (white) people in the world. I love to see it.
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