Award Season Recap: Absolute Dominance

The 2020 Grammys and Academy Awards have come and passed after months of speculation and predictions. These awards are increasingly becoming less popular, as television ratings have been consistently decreasing for them over the past few years, but they are still interesting to analyze, especially in such a unique year. In both ceremonies this year there were many records broken, and there was absolute dominance which I was happy to see. Let’s break it down.

Billie Eilish has taken the pop music genre by storm over the past year and a half, accumulating a loyal fanbase after the release of her 2019 debut album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?. Her competition going into the Grammys was stiff this year, facing off against celebrated artists such as Ariana Grande and Lizzo among many others. Despite this, Billie Eilish and her producer brother Finneas walked away from the ceremony with a combined total of 10 Grammys, an absolutely astonishing feat for such a young artist. I was very happy that Billie did as well as she did after enjoying her debut album as much as I did and still do to this day. I was also delighted that Tyler, The Creator won in the Best Rap Album category for IGOR, but I agree with his sentiment that he should be included in the pop category instead of being pigeonholed into a less competitive field.

I was very pleased with the results of the 2020 Academy Awards as well, as a lot of my predictions came true. Bong Joon-ho and Parasite altogether were absolutely dominant, winning Best Picture, Directing, Editing, and Original Screenplay. By winning the biggest award of the night, Parasite became the first foreign film to ever win Best Picture at the Oscars, which it absolutely deserved. Most of the other awards went my way, too, with the films I enjoyed most beating their competition in their respective categories.

I don’t let what I enjoy rely and depend on what wins at award shows. This year, however, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the music and cinema I enjoyed so much in the past year receive the praise it deserved in such an incredibly dominant fashion. Here’s hoping that 2020 brings just as much enjoyable media as 2019 did.

Movie Review: Parasite

After months of hearing about how good Bong Joon-ho’s newest film Parasite was, I was ecstatic to see that it was finally coming to Amazon Prime Video for streaming. As soon as I had a chance, I sat down and decided to watch what’s looking more and more like a Best Picture contender for the upcoming Academy Awards. Upon watching, I wasn’t disappointed to say the least. I really can’t stop thinking about this film.

Bong Joon-ho is masterful at crafting compelling, character-driven stories. His acceptance speech at the Golden Globes explaining how overcoming the 2-inch barrier of subtitles opens a whole world of cinema is absolutely right, and this movie is a perfect example of that. Not even five minutes into the film and I completely forgot I was watching a film in another language. The story is wildly compelling, causing this film’s 132 minute runtime to fly by.

This film is both a psychological thriller, social commentary, and at times, a comedy. Parasite creates an atmosphere of both familiarity and uncomfortability, and because of that, is unlike most films I’ve ever seen. Its story is very straightforward, but there are still plenty of twists and unexpected plot points that keep this movie from becoming predictable.

The direction is incredible and propels an exceptionally written screenplay. Each performance is unique and adds something important to the movie as a whole. I was on the edge of my seat for the back half of the film, and moved by its socially conscious albeit somewhat unrealistic conclusion. Not only will this film entertain you, but it will stick with you and make you think after it ends.

I highly recommend checking out Parasite before the Oscars next month. Having seen all of the frontrunners for Best Picture, I could easily see Parasite taking home that prestigious reward. It would be highly deserved.

Score: 10/10