The Academy’s Foreign Language Committee has done it again! Last year they failed to include the brilliant 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days on the short list, and this year they’ve blown off Matteo Garrone‘s Gomorrah, which has been honored left and right by critics’ groups and last month won the European Film Award for Best Film of 2008. Committee chief Mark Johnson…what happened, bro? This b.s. wasn’t supposed to repeat itself, and yet here we are. Another embarassment!

I have to leave for an appointment and can’t get into this but here are the films that the foreign-language committee has chosen, short-list-wise:

3 Monkeys (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey) — agreed, excellent film. The Baader Meinhof Complex (Uli Edel, Germany) — tough but very good. The Class (Laurent Cantet, France) — brilliant. Departures (Yojiro Takita, Japan). Everlasting Moments (Jan Troell, Sweden). The Necessities of Life (Benoit Pilon, Canada). Revanche (Gotz Spielmann, Austria). Tear This Heart Out (Roberto Sneider, Mexico). Waltz with Bashir (Ari Folman, Israel) — masterful.