The US president’s tirade against Parasite’s best picture Oscar, preferring Sunset Boulevard and Gone With the Wind, masks his own frustration at being cold-shouldered by Tinseltown
The only real surprise was what took him so long. Nearly two weeks after Parasite became the first foreign-language film to win the Oscar for best picture,
Donald Trump lashed out at a rally in
Colorado on Thursday night. “How bad were the
Academy Awards this year?” He asked, a propos of nothing. “The winner is a movie from South Korea, what the hell was that all about?”
Trump admitted he hadn’t actually seen Parasite: “Was it good? I don’t know.” Clearly he is less concerned about the movie’s quality than its provenance. Here he is, trying to make America great again, and a foreign movie takes Hollywood’s top prize, on his watch. “We got enough problems with
South Korea with trade and on top of it, they give them the best movie of the year,” he complained. Let’s hope he doesn’t find out about any other foreigners winning Oscars. In the past decade, best director has been won by directors from
Britain,
France, Taiwan and, on five occasions, Mexico.