Foreign Language Submissions

[Okri]

Harry, you really must see The Great Beauty. It has this really enthralling mix of the sacred and the profane.

BJ, I actually think that the changes made to how this category reaches its nominees actually favours those films we've heard about already. I mean, take a gander at a year like 1999 - I'd argue only All About My Mother had any real profile before the nomination (though Tango was released domestically in 1999). Whereas, a decade later (under the new system) - we have the Palme D'Or, the runner-up and the winner from Berlin. I'd argue that Dogtooth owes it's nomination to it's high festival profile.

On the other hand, the new system means we get some startling snubs too (Volver anyone?)

Harry, Two Days, One Night is the most recent Dardenne Bros film - and I'd argue that they are the most acclaimed filmmakers currently working.

[ITALIANO]

I'm not a fan of ANY Italian movie...

You obviously mean this year... right?

By the way, In your opinion, is Il Capitale Umano the best film Italia could have send this year? I see it even beat La Grande Belleza at the David di Donatello awards (and we know how enthusiastic you have been about Sorrentino's film, which, I'm sorry, I STILL haven't seen)... What is your favorite Italian film from this year?

Oh, what I meant was that I am not a fan of every single movie made in Italy... but it's not a secret that I believe that Italian cinema, from 1945 to, say, 1980 was the best, absolutely the best. Especially if one considers that this is such a small country, and that we speak a language which is only spoken here...

I haven't seen many Italian movies this year, and yes, Il Capitale Umano is the one I would have sent, too. There was another commercial hit called Fasten Your Seatbelts - by prolific director Ferzan Ozpetek - and some talked about it as a possible Oscar entry, but it's not a good movie (just a conventional tearjerker) so I guess they made the right choice.

[HarryGoldfarb]

I'm not a fan of ANY Italian movie...

You obviously mean this year... right?

By the way, In your opinion, is Il Capitale Umano the best film Italia could have send this year? I see it even beat La Grande Belleza at the David di Donatello awards (and we know how enthusiastic you have been about Sorrentino's film, which, I'm sorry, I STILL haven't seen)... What is your favorite Italian film from this year?

[The Original BJ]

Also, while highly likely that some of those buzzed-about contenders will make the Final 5, Foreign Language Film is definitely NOT a category where all of the most obvious candidates in October make the cut. There's always one or two nominees with an extremely quiet pre-Oscar nom profile. (I mean, the fact that I've heard of every movie in that top five makes it seem like a virtually impossible slate to me.)

[OscarGuy]

That's rather interesting since I've applied for the BFCA and was turned down because I don't have enough traffic (or some other nonsense). Clayton barely reviews any movies at all. He might have site traffic, but lord knows he's not as prolific. I'll bet if my site was still "The Oscar Guy," they would have added me in an instant.

[Mister Tee]

Clayton has become a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association where he votes and attends the kick off to awards season show, The Critics Choice Awards.

This by itself disqualifies him from serious consideration.

[ITALIANO]

Well, the Turkish entry has just opened in Italy - to reports of several innocent viewers attemping suicide while watching it. It's probably a masterpiece - the reviews are great - but honestly, from what I have heard from the survivors it doesn't seem exactly like the kind of movie the Academy falls in love with. A nomination is always possible - reputation often helps - but no, I wouldn't rank it at number 2, really. Plus - I'm not a fan of ANY Italian movie, but The Human Capital should be in the list - not in the top 5 maybe, but in the top 10 or 15...

[OscarGuy]

Awards Circuit has multiple contributors. I believe Clayton is just the EIC.

[Big Magilla]

[quote="HarryGoldfarb"]There's a site called awardscircuit... Do not know who these guys may be, but they rank their predictions according to some probability (once again, no idea how they do this).{/quote]

I think "these guys" is one guy.

His bio on the site reads:

Clayton Davis started to write professionally in his sophomore year of college when Johnny Alba, the editor and owner of the old Oscar prediction site, The Oscar Igloo, had an opening for staff writers. Clayton wrote for The Igloo for nearly four years before being appointed editor and revamping and renaming The Oscar Igloo into the now popular mega-site, The Awards Circuit. Since then, Clayton has become a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association where he votes and attends the kick off to awards season show, The Critics Choice Awards. Most recently, Clayton is a now an active member of the International Press Academy, which hosts the popular Satellite Awards as well as the newly integrated Broadcast Television Journalists Association, which hosts the Critics Choice Television Awards. In June 2014 he became the year's first accepted member to New York Film Critics Online. He has been quoted in various outlets (CNN.com, Bloomberg.com, TheWrap.com, AceShowbiz.com, SlashFilm.com, ScottFeinberg.com) and continues to raise the bar for film-talking enthusiasts around the globe.

[HarryGoldfarb]

There's a site called awardscircuit... Do not know who these guys may be, but they rank their predictions according to some probability (once again, no idea how they do this). According tot hem the predicted nominees in this category are:

1. Leviathan (Russia).
2. Winter Sleep (Turkey).
3. Mommy (canada).
4. Two Days, One Night (belgium). I must say I haven't even heard about this film before!
5. Ida (Poland).

The next ranked films are:
6. Wild Tales (Argentina). Really? Over White God and Beloved Sisters? I am talking based only on critical reception...
7. White God (Hungary).
8. Beloved Sisters (Germany).
9. Timbuktu (mauritania).
10. The Dark Valley (Austria).

Interesting enough, The Liberator is ranked at 11...

The only other film I've seen out of the submitted ones is Brasil's The Way He Looks (Hoje eu quero voltar sozinho), a nice coming of age story, maybe too light to make an impact.

[HarryGoldfarb]

Venezuela’s The Liberator is an impressive film in terms of scale and technical qualities. Directed by Alberto Arvelo (one of my favorite local directors), the film is an epic free story-telling of Simón Bolívar’s life. It stars Edgar Ramírez, the Venezuelan actor known for playing Carlos in the French miniseries of the same name. As I said, from a technical point of view the film is very impressive: a very fine score provided by Venezuelan composer Gustavo Dudamel, currently Music Director of both the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a superb cinematography by Xavi Giménez (the cinematographer of Amenabar’s Agora), a tight editing work by Tariq Anwar (Oscar nominated editor whose films include American Beauty and The King’s Speech), and costumes designed by Sonia Grande (Midnight in Paris, Talk to Her)… despite all these feats the film suffers from a very conventional narrative and a lack of depth in its focus. Sadly, the final third is incomprehensibly rushed, considering the film’s short length and is a missed opportunity to watch a more human and conflicted Bolívar, facing the collapse of his dream. It is hard to consider this an “indie” project as it is a $50 million dollars production, probably the most expensive Latin-American film (actually, it was mostly funded by Spain). It was premiered last year at TIFF, with very good reviews. Ramírez work as Bolívar is truly remarkable, as he constructs a familiar but at the same distant character with lots of charisma, with a lot of… shall I say bravura? The screenplay is penned by “Children of Men” writer Timothy J. Sexton (another Oscar nominee). A lot of people here have a very strong opinion about the historical liberties Sexton took in order to create the drama shown on the film but I do not care about it… the film is a very solid one, sadly not deep enough. The campaign has been ridiculously intense, to the point of securing an L.A. release to try to compete in main categories. Dudamel’s shot has been the center of the campaign (to understand how aggressive this has been, catch on the Academy’s own YouTube channel an interview on film scores with JOHN WILLIAMS, GUSTAVO SANTAOLALLA AND Dudamel! Here in Venezuela, it has been a smashing hit, but from what I read so far it seems the L.A. release may be hurting the film’s chance of getting a nod instead of helping it.

Maybe its best antecedent is Kazakhstan’ Mongol (2007), a film that was a technical feast with little substance but that eventually managed to grab a nod. However, this year seems already crowded to expect a thing like that may happen again.

[Okri]

As Tee asserted, my comment has less to do with the quality than using box office gross as a measure of one's response. For a foreign language effort, crossing the million dollar barrier these days is an actual achievement. But beyond that, Ida has played surprisingly well throughout this year.

.

Yes, Okri, but sorry - the fact that The Great Beauty, and maybe, at this time of the year, even A Separation and Amour (I have no idea, honestly), had been lesser hits at the American box office than Ida shows exactly that that doesn't mean much when it comes to the Best Foreign Film Oscar!

It's obvious that right now Ida is the most famous of the submitted foreign films, and the most commercially successful in the US. My point was that DESPITE THAT I'm not sure it will win. It's a personal opinion, it may turn out to be a wrong one, but I expressed it because I knew of its success, otherwise why would I have talked about Ida at all? I hope I've been clear now

Fair enough. I still find Ida's success somewhat surprising. I would also be surprised if it won, but I also have no idea what's going to win anything this year. I never do

[ITALIANO]

As Tee asserted, my comment has less to do with the quality than using box office gross as a measure of one's response. For a foreign language effort, crossing the million dollar barrier these days is an actual achievement. But beyond that, Ida has played surprisingly well throughout this year.

.

Yes, Okri, but sorry - the fact that The Great Beauty, and maybe, at this time of the year, even A Separation and Amour (I have no idea, honestly), had been lesser hits at the American box office than Ida shows exactly that that doesn't mean much when it comes to the Best Foreign Film Oscar!

It's obvious that right now Ida is the most famous of the submitted foreign films, and the most commercially successful in the US. My point was that DESPITE THAT I'm not sure it will win. It's a personal opinion, it may turn out to be a wrong one, but I expressed it because I knew of its success, otherwise why would I have talked about Ida at all? I hope I've been clear now

[Okri]

As Tee asserted, my comment has less to do with the quality than using box office gross as a measure of one's response. For a foreign language effort, crossing the million dollar barrier these days is an actual achievement. But beyond that, Ida has played surprisingly well throughout this year.

As you say, there's no real standout - certainly not to the level of Amour or A Separation.

[Precious Doll]

I'm surprised there is no entry from China.

China does appear to have a submission. Simply wasn't updated on Wikipedia when I copied the list. Ditto Ireland & Cuba.

I have updated the list below.