My Alternative Oscar Picks

Unbelievably, this year’s Oscars actually got a lot right this year - and ALMOST made up for voting for Green Book as Best Picture in 2019. Parasite was a groundbreaking and thoroughly deserving winner of the top prize, but now that the dust has settled on the ceremony, here’s my alternative list of winners for the other awards.

All were eligible for inclusion, and made it onto the Academy’s longlist, but none of these picks were even nominated in their respective categories - clearly illustrating that the we still have a way to go before the Oscars truly represent the diversity of filmmaking around the world.

Best Director
Greta Gerwig, Little Women

Best Actress
Lupita Nyong'o, Us

Best Actor
Zack Gottsagen, The Peanut Butter Falcon

Best Supporting Actress
Jamie Lee Curtis, Knives Out

Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe, The Lighthouse

Best Film Editing
Uncut Gems

Best Original Song
“I Punched Keanu Reeves” Randall Park & Dan the Automator from Always be My Maybe

Best Animated Feature
Weathering with You

Best Documentary
Diego Maradona

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Farewell

Best Original Screenplay
Booksmart

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The Lighthouse (2019)

After his wholly original and deeply unsettling debut feature film The Witch (2015), those in the know have been waiting with bated breath to see what director Robert Eggers was going to come up with next. It’s safe to say that The Lighthouse will not leave them disappointed. Summarised by the filmmaker himself as “Nothing good happens when two men are left alone in a giant phallus”, The Lighthouse tells the story of a grizzled world weary lighthouse keeper (Willem Dafoe) who must induct relative newbie (Robert Pattinson) into the job, on a remote and desolate rock off the coast of Maine circa 1890. The pair immediately clash, and things rapidly descend as it becomes clear that an unexpected storm means they are trapped on the island for longer than anticipated. As their water runs out, and with only moonshine for hydration, time seems to become inconsequential in a haze of dehydration and desperation, with Willem Dafoe’s character asking of his second in command (and p...

Roma (2018)

Having tackled a dystopian fertility crisis (Children of Men, 2006), and deep space existentialism (Gravity, 2013) and even a Harry Potter movie, acclaimed Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón turns his masterful cinematic gaze inward for his latest, the Netflix produced Roma - a meditative and epic reimagining of the director's upbringing in 70s Mexico City, told through the lens of the family's maid Cleo (played by newcomer Yalitza Aparicio). The movie has a suitably Gabriel García Márquez esque narrative, taking a family and showing us the broad sweep of their collective story - with underlying societal and political developments merely providing the backdrop to this domestic drama. Cuarón dedicates the film to 'Libo' the real life maid of his comfortably middle class family growing up, and the director himself is portrayed as the young boy 'Paco' on screen. The sense of place in the film is stunning - no doubt in part due to the face that Cuarón insis...

Parasite (2019)

How to write a review of the film that shall not be spoken about? Director Bong Joon Ho has made no secret of the fact that he believes the less you know about Parasite the better, a campaign which extended to one of the most well constructed and spoiler free trailers in recent memory. Suffice it to say here, that the film follows the story of the Kim family who we see living a relatively precarious existence in a semi basement flat in downtown Seoul. Their search for a way out of this world, leads them to cross paths with the Parks, a wealthy and glamorous family who live in a palatial residence across the city, designed by a renowned Korean architect. Events subsequently escalate, to at times an almost unbelievable extent, but the narrative is so intelligently structured that you are unquestionably carried along for the ride. The film has much to say on issues surrounding class relations and wealth inequality, and asks the fundamental question of the audience - who are th...

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