Foreign Film Contenders
Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days has to be the front-runner for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. No other contender is generating this much buzz or has won Cannes' Palme d'Or prize or is blowing people away quite as much. But I guess I should wait until it screens for the Academy's foreign branch on Friday, November 2nd. You never know with the Academy fuddy-duds.
Screenings have begun already of the 63 entries and continue through 1.12.08. I don't know anything about the hot titles except that (a) Mungiu's film is the stuff of instant legend; (b) Persepolis, France's entry, is looking at an uphill battle because it's' animated and set largely in Iran; and (c) Juan Antonio Bayona's The Orphanage not only deserves to be a total lock but probably will be unless the fuddy-duds go, "Oh, this isn't solemn or meaningful enough because it's just a haunted house movie."
The titles that seem to have good buzz at this stage (emphasis on "seem" and including the already-mentioned titles) are the following:
12 (Russia, director: Nikita Mikhalkov), The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (Brazil, director: Cao Hamburger); The Art of Crying (Denmark, director: Peter Schonau); Persepolis (France, directors: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud); The Edge of Heaven (Germany, director: Fatih Akin); (Mongol, director: Sergei Bodrov).
Plus: Mongol (Kazakhstan, director: Sergei Bodrov); Caramel (Lebanon, director: Nadine Labaki); Silent Light (Mexico, director: Carlos Reygadas); Gone with the Woman (Norway, director: Petter Naess); Katyn (Poland, director: Andrzej Wajda); 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Romania, director: Cristian Mungiu); The Orphanage (Spain, director: J.A. Bayona) and The Unknown Woman (Italy, director: Giuseppe Tornatore).
If I were king I would scratch Israel's Beaufort (director: Joseph Cedar). There doesn't appear to be any question that Beaufort's producers lobbied the Academy's foreign film committee on the 50% foreign-language issue that wound up disqualifying The Band's Visit. Punish the Beaufort team for playing dirty, discourage this kind of thing, etc.
If I'm missing anything (i.e., apparent standouts I haven't heard about), please inform.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on October 25, 2007 at 2:51 PM
comment #1
Josh Massey
says ...
So I'm assuming we'll see the 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days banner ad fairly soon?
Posted by Josh Massey
at October 25, 2007 4:22 PM
comment #2
Edward Havens
says ...
If anything, winning the Palme D'Or will ensure ones film will NOT win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Only five films which have won the Palme D'Or have also won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar: Gate of Hell (1954 Honorary Oscar), Black Orpheus (1960), A Man and a Woman (1966), The Tin Drum (1979) and Pelle the Conquerer (1988).
Posted by Edward Havens
at October 25, 2007 4:51 PM
comment #3
T. Holly
says ...
Josh, your blog is calling you.
I'm surprised how good the titles sound in translation. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The Art of Crying, The Edge of Heaven, Caramel, Silent Light, Gone with the Woman, The Unknown Woman, Gate of Hell, Black Orpheus, A Man and a Woman, The Tin Drum.
Good posters too.
Posted by T. Holly
at October 25, 2007 5:03 PM
comment #4
hanimal
says ...
my five picks:
4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days (abortion, 80s communist)
persepolis (coming of age, iran)
xxy (gender, coming of age)
the edge of heaven (immigration, imprisonment)
but my bet is on this super dark horse:
silent light (remember how the academy LOVED bergman? this is the one that will remind them.)
interesting that they all premiered at cannes this year.
Posted by hanimal
at October 25, 2007 5:04 PM
comment #5
Hallick
says ...
"Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days has to be the front-runner for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar."
Just like "Pan's Labyrinth"?
Posted by Hallick
at October 25, 2007 5:42 PM
comment #6
Hallick
says ...
"I'm surprised how good the titles sound in translation."
South Korea used to be the grandmaster of beautifully odd and poetic English titles. And their posters were pretty too.
Posted by Hallick
at October 25, 2007 5:45 PM
comment #7
Pablo Villaca
says ...
XXY is frustrating film - and not in a good way. Yes, there are great performances (including that from always great Ricardo DarÃn), but it fails to develop its themes and, in the end, we feel the film ends exactly how it begins: nobody learns nothing.
La Sconosciota is a very effective noir and it's a great film until its third act, when it falls apart in an espectacular manner -- and the last shot is offensive in its maniqueism.
The Orphanage is a genre film and a very good one at that. It's also a tragic film; its ending is deeply touching but, again, I could do withouth the second epilogue involving the husband.
About Brazilian's entry: I'm a fan of its director, but not of the film itself. Having said that, I think it's Brazil's best chance of being nominated (and actually winning) in years, considering its themes and its "judaism".
You didn't say anything about "Armin", the Croatian entry, but it's a great film. It has a simple narrative, but it's touching and has a very strong lead performance.
I'll be checking "Caramel" and "Persepolis" in the next few days. But I doubt they'll be able to compete in quality with "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days", which is a masterpiece.
Posted by Pablo Villaca
at October 25, 2007 7:40 PM
comment #8
BurmaShave
says ...
Ricardo Darin has to be one of the three or four best actors starring in film. How is his English? It's really time for him to crossover, as offensive as some of you might find that suggestion. Same with Tony Leung, who speaks English so well he could be from Los Angeles.
Posted by BurmaShave
at October 25, 2007 9:36 PM
comment #9
TKC
says ...
While I'd love to see "4 months..." win, I wouldn't count "Persepolis" out -- it's about Iran, so it feels like a way to make a statement on current events; it's got that triumph-over-adversity thing going on; it's a much, much easier sit than "4 months..."; and it's in French, which helps mitigate any sense that it's "too foreign". (Which isn't a concern I have, but one the Academy seems to.) I wouldn't be entirely surprised to see it nominated in two categories -- both animated and foreign -- provided the distributor plays its cards right.
Posted by TKC
at October 25, 2007 9:37 PM
comment #10
ioncinema.com
says ...
What you might be missing in your short list is Belgium's Ben X (Nic Balthazar)- it has come out late on the film fest circuit and has got plenty of buzz and trophies, if there was no Romanian film at Cannes in the Comp section this year we'd be pointing to Mexico's Silent Light - a beautiful film by Carlos Reygadas (it has a very slim chance) but its Austria's The Counterfeiters that will join the 5 list along with these..
France: Persepolis
Lebanon: Caramel
Romania: 4 months, 3 Weeks...
Spain: The Orphanage
Posted by ioncinema.com
at October 27, 2007 9:58 AM
comment #11
cinemascopian
says ...
I think it'll be down to Austria vs. France at the Oscars.
But wait up, that "Beaufort" comment at the end was a head-scratcher to me. You too with the "they ratted The Band's Visit out" spiel? Do you actually believe that? As someone who's been covering this story since day one I found no indication that Beaufort's camp turned to anyone but the Israeli Academy to plea them to check out the film's status. The Israeli academy refused. But what puzzles me in your "if I were king" graph is this: say Beaufort did rat out TBV to the academy. Does this mean that if they hadn't, or if you or I wouldn't have reported this story as it was developing, nobody at the Oscars would've noticed this and TBV would be qualified? In this case, who ratted Ang Lee out?
Posted by cinemascopian
at October 27, 2007 10:54 AM