As 2019 awards season comes to a close, wrapping up another quality decade of cinema, I thought it would be fun to look at each of the Academy Award winners of the past ten years and declare an ultimate winner in each major category. What films, performances, scripts, and more will endure the test of time from the 2010’s?

(Nominees listed in order of personal preference.)

Best Supporting Actor

We’re kicking things off with by far the easiest award of the bunch. If we took all forty acting nominees and bundled them all together, then threw in all the honorable mentions of people who were snubbed, I still might give the award to J.K. Simmons for my favorite film of the decade, Whiplash. He is utterly terrifying on-screen, not only because he screams and curses a lot, but because he demonstrates such a range of manipulative behaviors so that we can never predict which way he’ll go next. He single-handedly sets the pace in a film that is all about pacing (“not quite my tempo!”), and for that he earns my vote.

WINNER: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash (2014)

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis, Fences (2016) Allison Janney, I, Tonya (2017) Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave (2013) Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables (2012) Laura Dern, Marriage Story (2019) Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) Melissa Leo, The Fighter (2010) Patricia Arquette, Boyhood (2014) Octavia Spencer, The Help (2011) Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl (2015)

As far as “supporting” performances go, Viola Davis is clearly on another level as these other ladies. I could complain that this isn’t a supporting role in the film, but you could make that argument for a lot of the supporting guys and gals this decade so I can’t hold that against her. She’s also drawn criticism for already playing the same role on Broadway before this, but why is that a strike against the performance? It just means she had the preparation down pat and was able to put everything she had into the nuances of the role in translating it to the screen. And it’s truly spectacular to watch; she puts everything into this performance and dominates the screen whenever she appears, often overshadowing Denzel Washington (no easy feat!). Nyong’o and Janney have a case, but to me this is clear as day.

WINNER: Viola Davis, Fences (2016)

Best Original Screenplay

Parasite (2019) – Bong Joon-ho & Han Jin-won Manchester by the Sea (2016) – Kenneth Lonergan Her (2013) – Spike Jonze Birdman (2014) – Armando Bo, Alexander Dinelaris Jr., Nicolas Giacobone & Alejandro Iñárritu Django Unchained (2012) – Quentin Tarantino The King’s Speech (2010) – David Seidler Get Out (2017) – Jordan Peele Midnight in Paris (2011) – Woody Allen Spotlight (2015) – Tom McCarthy & Josh Singer Green Book (2018) – Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly, and Nick Vallelonga

Pretty bummed that Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler didn’t win the Oscar in 2014, since that is my favorite original screenplay of the entire decade (even if his follow-up work wasn’t as stellar). It was a pretty strong decade for original scripts, and I’m happy with a lot of the selections this decade. But I have to give it up to Parasite for its insane genre-bending story that would have folded under less steady screenwriting hands. It’s by far one of the most unpredictable and rewarding experiences of the decade when it comes to storytelling, and I’m so glad it performed so well this year! Special shoutout to Kenneth Lonergan’s brilliant Manchester by the Sea, a cleverly-woven tale of guilt and redemption that WOULD have won this award if not for the #BongHive.

WINNER: Parasite (Bong Joon-ho & Han Jin-won, 2019)

Best Adapted Screenplay

This is a pretty easy one: The Social Network is among my favorite films (and scripts) of all-time. Aaron Sorkin’s masterpiece is pretty unreal…a dry courtroom drama that is somehow just as captivating and thrilling as any action caper. I would give honorable mentions to Moonlight, The Big Short and Call Me By Your Name, all of which I’ve written extensively about as they are also brilliant scripts. However, those also get by on the strength of their visuals, acting, and other elements while Social Network would not have worked in a million years without the wizardry of Sorkin.

WINNER: The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin, 2010)

Best Actor

Joaquin Phoenix, Joker (2019) Colin Firth, The King’s Speech (2010) Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea (2016) Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln (2012) Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant (2015) Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club (2013) Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour (2017) Jean Dujardin, The Artist (2011) Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything (2014) Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

There are some strong contenders here. Daniel Day-Lewis is masterful as Lincoln and Colin Firth is spellbinding as a stammering king – even if neither film resonated with me emotionally. Jake Gyllenhaal was snubbed for Nightcrawler and would have been high in the conversation as well if he was present here. Similarly, if Joaquin Phoenix was here for The Master instead he would win in a landslide, but even for Joker I think he narrowly edges out the competition. The physicality he brings to the role is unlike any other actor in his class, and the film simply doesn’t work without what he brings to the table. He is my favorite actor of the entire decade, and I’m thrilled that he managed to cap it off with an Oscar.

WINNER: Joaquin Phoenix, Joker (2019)

Best Actress

Natalie Portman, Black Swan (2010) Olivia Colman, The Favourite (2018) Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine (2013) Brie Larson, Room (2015) Emma Stone, La La Land (2016) Julianne Moore, Still Alice (2014) Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady (2011) Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook (2012) Renee Zellweger, Judy (2019)

This is an odd category…a hodgepodge of career awards for older actresses and “new queen of Hollywood” awards for younger ones. I personally prefer when awards go to the most deserving performances, but whatever. For me it’s close between Frances McDormand, Olivia Colman, and Natalie Portman, but I have to give the nod to Natalie, who so brilliantly portrayed the descent into madness and transformed from the White Swan into the Black Swan before our eyes (literally and figuratively). If there’s anyone I wish had been here, I would give a shout-out to Sally Hawkins for her fantastic lead performance in The Shape of Water and of course Toni Collette in Hereditary.

WINNER: Natalie Portman, Black Swan (2010)

Best Director

Bong Joon-ho, Parasite (2019) Alfonso Cuarón, Roma (2018) Damien Chazelle, La La Land (2016) Alejandro Iñárritu, Birdman (2014) Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity (2013) Alejandro Iñárritu, The Revenant (2015) Ang Lee, Life of Pi (2012) Guillermo Del Toro, The Shape of Water (2017) Michael Hazanavicius, The Artist (2011) Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech (2010)

It’s remarkable how much the non-American directors have dominated the directing category this decade. Three Mexicans (five times), two Europeans, and two Asians…with only one American! I was fully prepared to give this to Alfonso Cuarón, one of my favorite working directors, until Director Bong swooped in at the last second to steal my heart away. As much as I can respect a technical marvel like many of these filmmakers created this decade, to me a well-directed film constitutes a total command over genre, tone, and emotion. And Bong easily accomplished this with his wild and inventive Parasite! My only lament is that David Fincher and Christopher Nolan are not present here, despite being leading contenders for my favorite-directed films of the decade…f@#! you, Tom Hooper!

WINNER: Bong Joon-ho, Parasite (2019)

Best Picture

Moonlight (2016) Parasite (2019) Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) 12 Years a Slave (2013) The King’s Speech (2010) Green Book (2018) Spotlight (2015) The Shape of Water (2017) The Artist (2011) Argo (2012)

I’m not that enthused by most of the films on this list, with the exception of two: both Moonlight and Parasite appear in my Top 5 Films of the Decade. As for a winner between the two, the answer to me is clear: Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight is a masterpiece deserving of way more love than it’s currently receiving. It’s so much more than a film about homosexuality: it tackles toxic masculinity and societal expectation in a way that makes its impact universal, such that I can connect with Chiron as a straight white male more than with many straight while male protagonists of the decade. I’m still sour at the online discourse surrounding this film as a social statement that stole Best Picture from La La Land, but rest assured that the better film did win. History will smile upon this film, and decades from now the Oscar flub will be forgotten and only the film’s powerful resonance will remain.

WINNER: Moonlight (2016)

BONUS: Below-the-line Categories

Thanks for reading! What are your picks for the best performances and films of the decade? Which awards did the Oscars get right? Wrong?

Stay tuned for a new segment on this blog that I will continue throughout all of 2020: a retrospective on every Best Picture winner in Oscar history, broken up by decade! And in continuing my celebration of the past decade, I will start with the 2010’s! Hope to see you again soon.

-Austin Daniel

All image rights belong to AMPAS and the films’ respective distributors.