“Joker” Leaves Oscar Night With Only Two Awards

The 2020 Oscars went by relatively quiet, in a year where little controversy arose surrounding  this year’s winners (not so much the nominations). Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” was the runaway favorite for many of the night’s awards understandably. 

Other movies had lots of nominations that did not win many awards. One such movie was Todd Philip’s “Joker,” which garnered eleven nominations, but came away with only two victories. The nominations included: best sound editing, best editing, best makeup/hair, best costume design, best sound mixing, best cinematography, best adapted screenplay, as well as best director and best picture. 

The two awards the movie managed to take home were for Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir winning best original score, and Joaquin Phoenix for best lead actor. 

Hildur is the first woman since 1997 to win the award, and just the third to do so. When delivering her acceptance speech, she declared, “To the girls, to the women, to the mothers, to the daughters, who hear the music bubbling within, please speak up. We need to hear your voices.” 

Hildur, at just 37 years old, is now a Tony award away from achieving EGOT status. She worked on HBO’s award-winning show “Chernobyl,” for which she won an Emmy and an Oscar for her work. In a five month span, she has achieved what most people don’t in a lifetime. She will probably become a very sought-out composer for future projects, and considering the ways in which she helped set up the dark tones of “Joker” makes her a very qualified candidate.

Joaquin Phoenix winning best lead actor came as a surprise to nobody, as multiple outlets projected him to be the winner. This was his fourth Oscar nomination and the first win of his career. His portrayal was as mesmerizing as it was disturbing. He allowed himself to get into the mind of the famed psychotic DC villain to pull off an incredible performance. 

One of the things that stood out within his performance was the ability to laugh and cry at the same time, showing off the pain his character, Arthur Fleck. He is also now the second actor to win an Oscar for portraying Joker, which Heather Ledger did back in 2009 for “The Dark Knight.”

This comic book adaption has shown itself to be a growing sign that the genre is evolving into best picture type material, as Marvel Studio’s “Black Panther” was nominated last year for best picture as well. 

“Joker” was also one of nine movies to cross the $1 billion mark. Seven out of the nine movies were produced and released by Disney, and became Warner Brothers big ticket movie of the year. 

“Joker’s” box office performance is continuing proof that comic book movies are still a hot commodity to movie goers this day and age. It’s award accumulation this season has proved that Comic movies can become serious pieces of cinema with many fans claiming that “Joker” was much more than comic-book movie.