Every year, audiences marvel at how Pixar always manages to walk away with at least one award. How many movies did Pixar even put out last year? Like two? Even so, Toy Story 4 took home the award for Best Animated Feature. Some of this year’s winners were predictable, but the 2020 Academy Awards did break from tradition in several categories. 

One victory that was unsurprising for many people was Joaquin Phoenix for Best Actor in a Leading Role in Joker. Phoenix’s performance as the newest incarnation of the classic DC villain disturbed audiences so much that it put an Oscar in his hand. The category did have come stiff competition, including Adam Driver for his role in Marriage Story and Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Nevertheless, Phoenix took home his fourth Oscar.

Winning an Oscar is a pretty good indicator that a film is successful. Winning four Oscars and making Academy Award history is a pretty good indicator that a film is substantially better than its competitors. Parasite, a Korean drama/mystery picture, received the awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Language Film, and is the first non-English language film in Oscar history to win Best Picture. The movie’s director, Bong Joon-ho, won all three of the categories in which he had a nomination. The record breaking doesn’t stop there: Parasite was also the first film from South Korea to be nominated for and win Best Foreign Language Film. 

With some expected victories and well-deserved record breaking, 2020’s Academy Awards are one for the books.