30 Greatest Best Picture Oscar Nominees Of The Last Ten Years
1. Parasite
Parasite is that seemingly impossible thing: a virtually perfect movie.
Every performance is a masterclass, every shot is a work of art, every single scene is written and crafted to perfection.
It tells a potent, haunting story about class division, it delivers one razor-sharp plot twist after another, it manages to be hilarious, terrifying, exhilarating and heart-breaking all at the same time and you know how some movie scenes are so perfect you just want to stand up and crowd-surf? Well, Parasite has a scene like that every 20 minutes. And no, that's not an exaggeration.
For once, the Academy really handed the Best Picture prize to the very finest film of the year and Parasite's victory over the former front-runner 1917, a good but gimmicky WWI drama, was perhaps the most pleasantly surprising shock in Oscar history.
Overall, with heartfelt apologies to films like Casablanca, All About Eve, The Apartment, Lawrence of Arabia, the first two Godfather films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Schindler's List, The Return of the King, No Country for Old Men and Birdman, Parasite is arguably the greatest Best Picture winner EVER.
Yes, the Oscars have made many inexplicable decisions over the years, but them giving the top prize to this masterpiece is enough to make one forgive quite a few of those mistakes. It's unlikely a better nominee than Parasite will come along any time soon.