Riff About the Big Oscar Winners in Chinese With These Terms and Phrases
South Korean director Bong Joon-ho (奉俊昊 fèng jùn hào) famously said “I need a shot to calm down" after winning his (and South Korea's) first Palme d'Or (戛纳金棕榈大奖 gānà jīn zōnglǘ dàjiǎng) at Cannes Film Festival (戛纳电影节 gānà diànyǐng jié) back in May. After winning Best Picture at the Oscars on Sunday night for the same film, his black comic thriller Parasite, it's likely that Bong has since drunk the bar dry.
As the awards ceremony (颁奖典礼 bānjiǎng diǎnlǐ) began, this year’s Oscars (奥斯卡 àosīkǎ) looked as depressingly familiar as usual, with the nomination list (提名名单 tímíng míngdān) noticeably devoid of female directors and actors from minorities (少数族裔 shǎoshù zú yì). To the casual observer, it also looked like the final list of winners (获奖名单 huòjiǎng míngdān) would turn out to be rather predictable. However, those who are used to climbing over the "one-inch subtitle (字幕 zìmù) barrier" – a remark made by Bong after winning Best Director at this year's Golden Globes to refer to the fact that many viewers and major awards snub foreign movies – already knew that history was in the making.
Bong's previous works include The Host (汉江怪物 hànjiāng guàiwù), Memories of Murder (杀人回忆 shārén huíyì), and Snowpiercer (雪国列车 xuěguó lièchē), which helped establish him as one of Korea's leading directors as well as someone who understands Hollywood's idiosyncratic means of operating. Yet, Bong was able to maintain his trenchant vision and cut through the dross, making clever, humorous, and self-reflective indie flicks (独立电影 dúlì diànyǐng).
In Parasite (寄生虫 jìshēng chóng) Bong yet again turned his focus to the extremes of wealth and poverty, the haves and the have-nots, within South Korean society, following one impoverished family's climb to the top of the social pecking order via cunning and ingenuity. As the name suggests, Bong does not shy away from showing the sneaky, quick-thinking side of the lower class family, yet by pitting them against the indifference and snobbery of an upper-class family, and indeed, society at large, which treats poor people like cockroaches, he poses the question: who is to blame for these "parasites." Despite the heavy social critique, Bong utilizes his talents in black humor (黑色幽默 hēisè yōumò) to present the story with sarcasm and drama in equal measure.
Of course, Parasite wasn't the only win making waves at the ceremony. For many, Joaquin Phoenix’s (凤凰叔 fènghuáng shū, as he is nicknamed in China) first win for Best Actor (最佳男演员 zuì jiā nán yǎnyuán) was well-deserved for his performance as the Joker (小丑 xiǎochǒu), the evil, cruel criminal genius who demonstrated how an extremely bad day can turn an ordinary person into a lunatic.
Finally, besides the big "And the Oscars goes to…" moments, the awards ceremony has always been an audio and visual feast (视听盛宴 shìtīng shèngyàn). Led by Elton John (埃尔顿·约翰 āi ěr dùn yuēhàn) who performed the theme song “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from his biographical movie Rocketman (火箭人 huǒjiàn rén), various artists took to the stage to perform music from the night's award-winning movies.
In case you didn't catch the full ceremony, you can browse the nominee and winner list here, complete with Chinese translations.
READ: Jing-ify Your Oscar Party With These Beijing-Style, Oscar-Inspired Cocktails
Images: Digital Spy, IMDb, Deadline
