Many hoped it would happen, butfew thought it actually would. FilmmakerBong Joon-ho’s masterpieceParasitesteamrolledthe Oscars last night, winning Best Original Screenplay, Best International Feature, Best Director, and of course Best Picture. It became the first-ever foreign language film to take the top Oscars prize, and flew in the face of statistics and precursor awards that had pegged1917the safe bet to take Best Picture and Best Director. So how did this happen? How did the best film of the year actuallywinBest Picture at the Oscars?
The simple answer isParasiteis a great movie that was easy to love. This masterfully crafted story of social immobility and wealth disparity plays more like a darkly comic thriller than a dramatic lecture, and it’s this meticulous command of genre that makes Bong one of the best directors working today.Parasiteis no one-off—he’s been threading social commentary into entertaining, even spectacle-driven films likeThe HostandSnowpiercerfor years. ButParasiteis his most assured effort yet, and one that Academy voters enthusiastically recommended to one another throughout the season.
Last year’sRomawas used as an example of whyParasitecouldn’t win Best Picture, but these are two very different kinds of films. Similar only in that neither one is in English.Alfonso Cuaron’sRomais a slow-burn, muted drama. It’s emotionally powerful, but it’s a sit. I still wonder how many Oscar voters actually saw Cuaron’s Spanish-language drama last year, and indeed while Cuaron won Best Director, last year’s top prize went to a more traditionally crafted film (we’ll get to that one in a minute).
Parasite, meanwhile, is a complete and total blast. The first half of the film plays like a con artist comedy almost, roping the audience into the enthralling maneuverings of the Kim family. Twists and turns abound, and while the film remains entertaining throughout, Bong threads emotional devastation into the final act to drill down class divisions and the myth of social mobility. It’s hauntingly beautiful, and somehow feels right in step with the rest of the movie. And it’s this easy handle on tone, and “entertainment” factor, that I think spurred many Oscar voters to actually watch this one. Which they clearly ultimately enjoyed.
But again, like,howdid this film win Best Picture? Only last year, the top prize went toGreen Book, a problematic dramedy about race in America as told from the point of view of a white, racist driver. It seemed to signal that despite efforts to diversify its voting body, the Academy was still predominantly white, old, and male. In effect, that shockingMoonlightwin in 2016? It was a fluke.
Except maybe it wasn’t. MaybeGreen Bookwas the fluke.Parasiteupended pretty much every statistic that Oscar prognosticators use to predict what’s going to win Best Picture. 11 of the last 13 winners of the PGA award have gone on to score Best Picture at the Oscars.1917took that this year. 17 of the last 18 winners of the DGA award have gone on to win Best Director at the Oscars—it’s considered one of the most reliable predictors every year—and yetSam Mendestook the DGA this year, but Bong Joon-ho won the Best Director Oscar. If you followed the stats this year, you were dead wrong.
Moonlightsimilarly upended what your traditional Best Picture winner looks like, not just because it was a small-budget coming-of-age story of a gay black man, but because it too was the underdog heading into Oscars night.La La Landhad won the PGA and was considered the frontrunner.Moonlightended up winning Best Picture with only two other prizes, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay.Parasitewent one better, scoring four Oscars in total, but it’s another sign that the days of a movie likeReturn of the KingorTitanicwinning double-digit Oscars are likely over.
The 8,469 individuals who make up the Academy prove that it’s not a monolith, and efforts to diversify the voting body may have made it unlike any other voting body out there. Which would explain why the PGAs, DGAs, and even the Golden Globes seem to be clinging to the more traditional movies—in this year’s case, the solid World War I dramatic thriller1917—while the Academy had the guts to go forParasite.
I’ll be curious to see what happens next year. Will I write another one of these convincing myselfParasiteandMoonlightactually were flukes all along? Will the Academy go back to making safe picks, or are all bets off in terms of prognostications? Honestly, right now I don’t really care.Parasite’s wins were genuinely historical, Bong and his cast and crew could not have been more gracious, and it’s nice to see a legitimate masterpiece win Best Picture once in a while.
