'Parasite' wins best picture to Make Oscar history
'Parasite' wins best picture to Make Oscar history

‘Parasite’ wins best picture to Make Oscar history

In amilestone win that instantly expanded the Oscars' horizons, Bong Joon Ho'smasterfully devious class satire "Parasite" became the first non-Englishlanguage film to win best picture in the 92-year history of the Academy Awards.

"Parasite"took Hollywood's top prize on Sunday night, along with awards for bestdirector, best international film and best screenplay. In a year dominated byperiod epics _ "1917," "Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood," "TheIrishman" _ the film academy instead went overseas, to South Korea, to rewarda contemporary and unsettling portrait of social inequality in "Parasite."

All of theacting winners _ Brad Pitt, Renee Zellweger, Joaquin Phoenix and Laura Dern _went as expected. While Pitt, notching his first acting Oscar, had regaledaudiences with one-liners in the run-up to Sunday, he began his comments on apolitical note.

Phoenix,long one of Hollywood's most respected actors, took best actor for his limberbut morose Joker. In his acceptance speech, Phoenix spoke deliberately about ahost of issues, including sexism and racism in the film industry, ecologicaldisaster and vegetarianism.

Coming on arare rainy day in Los Angeles, the ceremony was soggy and song-heavy. Someperformances, like Eminem's performance of "Lose Yourself," were unexpected(and drew a wan response from Scorsese). All of the song nominees performed,including Elton John who won with his longtime songwriting partner BernieTaupin for their "Rocketman" tune.

Netflixdidn't go home empty handed. Aside from Dern's win for "Marriage Story," thestreamer's "American Factory" won best documentary. The film is the firstrelease from Barack and Michelle Obama's Higher Ground Productions.

Disney'sABC, which is broadcasting the show live, hoped a widely watched field ofnominees _ including the $1 billion-grossing "Joker" _ will help viewership.Last year's show garnered 29.6 million viewers, a 12% uptick.

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