Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

Finally caught up with Spain's first foreign film Oscar winner - "Volver a empezar". Johann Pachelbel's "Canon in D Major" & Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine" are both to this film what "Lara's Theme" is to Dr Zhivago. Was it the music that won over Academy members because the film is such a minor piece of fluff? And deathly slow. Jarring comic scenes clash with the warm but bittersweet sequences depicting an old man's return to his hometown after years as he connects with an old flame and an old buddy. Antonio Ferrandis as the old man is extremely good though.

I haven't seen three of the other nominees for that year (1982) but the french entry - Bertrand Tavernier's "Coup de Torchon" - is a way better film with wonderful performances by Philippe Noiret, Isabelle Huppert and Stéphane Audran.

Precious Doll wrote:Koto (Twin Sisters of Kyoto)

Available on YouTube with English subtitles.

Precious Doll wrote:Tlayucan

It's available on YouTube but in Portugese. No English subtitles.

Movie Detective has two more foreign language nominated films available. However, they are not on the website and you will need to email to request them for which you receive a PayPal invoice. The films are:

Koto (Twin Sisters of Kyoto)
Tlayucan

Movie detective has just listed three more hard to see Foreign Language nominees:

The Important Man
The Ninth Circle
Los Tarantos

Movie Detective have just listed another hard to see Foreign Language Film nominee on their site: The Year Long Road which is better known as The Road a Year Long.

Movie Detective have just listed My Dearest Señorita on DVD for sale on their site. This is a very difficult title to track down and no doubt it is from the Spanish DVD with the English subtitles added.

Going back to Reza's original list, since edited (updated) multiple times, and sticking to my favorites and/or favorite rarities from among those: MovieDetective.net has Harry and the Butler (I just ordered this and don't know if the movie is any good), Blood on the Land (where Mary Chronopoulou is strong in a supporting role), Pharaoh (search at the website = Faraon to avoid an English misspelling), The Boys of Paul Street, and Adalen '31 (search = widerberg 31). Also Live for Life (search = vivre pour vivre), which I almost quit watching, but then the eventual musical theme was good, as was the performance by Annie Girardot once her character became more developed, starting in both cases I think at the footbridge scene. MovieDetective.net also has The Flight of the Eagle, but J4HI.com (Just 4 the Hell of It), for several more dollars, supplies a case with nice cover art to go with the DVD-R. Close to Eden is best watched on the VHS if one can find it, because import DVDs of the movie from Russia and South Korea, even if one can find them, have Russian dubbed over the original Mongolian dialect, which is not at all good. The eleven YouTube installments for Close to Eden only have English subtitles (the CC button near the bottom right of the rectangular video) for the first two installments, but even so are worth a glance because they offer a hint of just how excellent the movie is. Daens so far is only on VHS, and hard to find. The DVD for A Place in the World is increasingly scarce, but if you can find it, be aware that it doesn't have chapters. There's also a VHS. The movie got yanked from the nominations, being credited instead to Argentina and disqualifying the Uruguayan submission. After the Wedding and Elling are both on normal DVD and are very dramatic and funny, respectively. Sandakan No. 8 and The Truce, one could find DVD-Rs for a while back on iOffer.com, but not currently. There's a normally available DVD for Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, but a Google (search = sophie scholl white fortitude 1:55:51) will bring up a free YouTube. The DVD for White Bim Black Ear is a Russian import and hard to find anymore, but fortunately there's a pair of YouTubes, with clickable subtitles (the CC button), found by a Google (search = white bim black ear english subtitles). For The Glass Cell, another Google (search = die glaserne zelle eng subs) will likewise bring up a free YouTube. Divided We Fall is good, and there's a normal DVD for it. Beyond Silence, pretty good, and ditto on the DVD. Under the Sun appears to have gotten both rare and very expensive on normal DVD, but it looks like, on ebay, there's a South Korean import DVD (eBay searchbox search = under the sun lassgard). The issue there being that I haven't ordered it and don't know if the import DVD quality is any good.

Turns out the Criterion release will be the original Swedish full length versions.

The American versions (i.e. shorter & dubbed) will not be included with this release.

The Original BJ wrote:Well, well, well...

Today the Criterion Collection announced it will be releasing both a DVD and Blu-Ray box set of The Emigrants and The New Land.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

BJ, you just beat me to this. The running times are not stated but I couldn't imagine anything less than the Swedish television versions.

Criterion are also releasing Death by Hanging DVD & Blu Ray. I haven't been buying much from them lately but February will be a best line-up in ages. Can't wait.

Hopefully more Oshima to follow (i.e. Boy, The Ceremony, etc).

Well, well, well...

Today the Criterion Collection announced it will be releasing both a DVD and Blu-Ray box set of The Emigrants and The New Land.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

I have corrected my post. It should read The New Land - that it was I purchased from Movie Detective. However, I suspect that The Emigrants is also the full Swedish TV version.

I have only ever seen the U.S. dubbed cut version of The Emigrants. I really should purchase the version at Movie Detective but I'm hoping for a rumoured Criterion release.

The U.S. release was cut by 40 minutes, but the Warner Home Video release was the full movie.

The Emigrants is available on Comcast/Xfinity On Demand for TV viewing, but is not available on-line.

The New Land from Movie Detective is the Swedish Television version and has been taken from a Swedish DVD. I imagine the The Emigrants is the same. Funny watching The New Land for the first time a couple of months ago (the day after I got back from the Melbourne Film Festival with a shocking head cold) in that I could get some of the scenes which I imagine would have been cut out of the international cinema release.

There has been talk for sometime now of Criterion releasing these so the discs from Movie Detective will suffice until proper releases find there way.

Actually, I may have watched it on TV now that I think about it.