At the Oscars, Parasite Makes Best Picture History

At Sunday’s Oscars, on a night when almost everything went as planned and as usual, the one true surprise came in the biggest moment of all.

For the first time ever, a film in a foreign language won Best Picture when Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, a comedy-drama-thriller about class and secrets, took the big prize. Bong also won the awards for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. He    1     three   warm and generous   speeches,   including one when he won for his directing and thanked fellow nominees (被提名的人) Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino for inspiring him and contributing to the progress of his career,     2    .

And, while he gave most of his speeches in Korean with interpreter Sharon Choi, when he won the first one, he stopped and noted in English: “This is very first Oscar to South Korea.” The affection in the room for the film was    3     every time it was mentioned, as well as in its great competition of award. The evening began three and a half hours earlier with a(n)     4     of the old and the new: the kind of themed singing-dancing number that used to be the    5       Oscars opening, but in the absence of a traditional host, it was performed by the thoroughly modern Janelle Monáe. A version of her own song Come Alive was    6     by dancers dressed in costumes showing respect to black filmmakers. The speech that followed, however, was much more    7     and unpleasant, despite the best efforts of Chris Rock   and Steve Martin, the latter of whom    8     blew the name of best actress nominee Cynthia Erivo.

The awards in general have been heavily criticized for how white the nominees are, the failure to nominate any women directors in a year when several made highly regarded films, and plenty of other lack of inclusivity. The Academy’s    9     with that criticism seemed evident: There may not have been a lot of performers of color among the nominees, but there were a lot among the presenters and speakers and performers. Several presenters made mention of the    10     at issue, which is the kind of thing that happens when people are placed in a situation they don’t want to ignore but also aren’t there to challenge too much.