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.
8 | KNIVES OUT HOLDS IT DOWN AS THE ONLY TRUE GENRE FILM TO BE RECOGNIZED—IN THE SAME YEAR THAT US HAPPENED.
It’s no secret that the Academy has a huge bias against acknowledging genre films (the recent recognition for Get Out was evidently a fluke). But deciding to honor writer/director Rian Johnson’s Agatha Christie–adjacent mystery for best original screenplay and not the flawed-yet-superior Us or any of these horror genre gems is a head-scratcher.
Claire Folger
