Episode 47: Oscar Debrief 2020

Post Oscars discussion. Sarah Watt, William Chen and Jeremy Downing discuss the 2020 Academy Awards. We begin by discussing our expectations going into the ceremony, our general apathy towards the ceremony in general and our collective surprise as to how things rolled out. The biggest and best surprise was Parasite, the Cinema in Context film of 2019, winning Best Picture. We discuss the Netflix representation in the ceremony, with lack of awards for Marriage Story, The Irishman and Klaus, as well as referencing Roma from last year. Our discussion then moves into the "Oscars so white" and lack of female nominations debates and the representation of not-white people in the ceremony. We then talk about the four acting awards, with Brad Pitt, Laura Dern, Joaquin Phoenix and Renee Zellweger all taking away at award. Our conversation then moves into discussing 1917 and its technical prowess, including the fantastic work of Roger Deakins. We talk about the Best Score award won by Hildur Guðnadóttir for Joker, the Best Song award won by Elton John and Bernie Taupin for Rocketman, which develops into a discussion about Rocketman-director Dexter Fletcher's work on Bohemian Rhapsody, and the thankful non-awarding of Frozen 2. Discussion then moves into the realm of Taika Waititi and his success in winning Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as the way he presented himself at the Oscars, which then moves into a general discussion of his work, both historical and upcoming (including Next Goal Wins, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Time Bandits). We finish with a quick-fire discussion about the other awards and films, including Ford v Ferrari, Little Women, Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood and Hair Love.