Damien wrote:Duet For One -- so fearlessly operatic.
Pity Julie Andrews' ''fearless'' and ''operatic'' performance wasn't nominated.
And Nastassja Kinski (Maria's Lovers), Barbara Hershey (Shy People) and Glenda Jackson (Business As Usual) were all superb in these Golan-Globus productions.
I posted this in the Winners sections, but I'll put it here because I thought it was interesting.
I recently read an article where William Friedkin (the Oscar-winning producer/director of "The French Connection") discussed the Oscars as a race between personal choices, not very subjective at all; and raved about "Baader Meinhof Complex".
"There are some wonderful films being nominated -- and not being nominated. I'll tell you the best film I have seen in many years was The Baader Meinhof Complex (the German film in the best foreign language film category), which is not released here yet. They don't have a distributor here and it is a great, great movie, really a top example of how it is done. Very powerful and very important. I don't see it winning (in its single category) because nobody's seen it, except the 10 guys on the committee who vote for the short list."
Andrei Konchalovsky is Mikhalkov's brother? I had no idea. Runaway Train is a camp classic, but I love Konchalovsky's other Golan-Globus pictures like Maria's Lovers, Shy People and Duet For One -- they are so fearlessly operatic.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
--Damien wrote:Oh God, I despised Burnt By The Sun. What a reactionary, right-wing fantasia. There have been a lot of shitty Foreign Film winners (Black and White In Color, anyone?) but this one may take the cake.
I take it you won't be bothering with the sequel that Mikhalkov is currently shooting.
Sony Pictures Classics seems to be promoting Mikhalkov's Foreign Language Film nominee from last year, 12, pretty well. A trailer was attached to Frost/Nixon. Never seen any of Mikhalkov's directing work, although his brother, Andrei Konchalovsky, did direct what I would say is indisputibly one of the ten or so greatest films of all time in Siberiade. (Mikhalkov acted in it actually.)
Mister Tee wrote:The most prominent case of this was in 1994, when the unreleased-in-U.S. Burnt by the Sun triumphed over a field of fairly well-exposed films (that was the first of Ang Lee's Oscar letdowns -- his Eat Drink Man Woman had grossed a strong-for-then $8 million). A friend and I wondered if the fact that voting was officially limited to those who'd been to Burnt by the Sun screenings had made the difference. (Actually, I liked Burnt by the Sun when I finally saw it, but I liked most of the nominated films that year...one of the rare years I ultimately saw all five nominees).
Oh God, I despised Burnt By The Sun. What a reactionary, right-wing fantasia. There have been a lot of shitty Foreign Film winners (Black and White In Color, anyone?) but this one may take the cake.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
The Original BJ wrote:I realized that it's actually pretty rare for a film NO ONE has seen to win this category. (You'd think it would be the opposite, that the fact that voters have to see everything in the category might produce wins for less-buzzed titles, but it doesn't happen often.)
The most prominent case of this was in 1994, when the unreleased-in-U.S. Burnt by the Sun triumphed over a field of fairly well-exposed films (that was the first of Ang Lee's Oscar letdowns -- his Eat Drink Man Woman had grossed a strong-for-then $8 million). A friend and I wondered if the fact that voting was officially limited to those who'd been to Burnt by the Sun screenings had made the difference. (Actually, I liked Burnt by the Sun when I finally saw it, but I liked most of the nominated films that year...one of the rare years I ultimately saw all five nominees)
Since I haven't been to either Class or Bashir, I've had to judge by trailer-vibe. I thought The Class might appeal on the basis of subject matter, but you make me wonder if the style is off-putting. And I have to say I question whether the Middle East subject of Bashir is an advantage or a debit --does the mere dealing with the issue wins over Jewish voters, or might the director's "both sides should give it up" stance put off some?
Well, since we're rapidly approaching Sunday, might as well get to this, one of the few categories that doesn't provoke a response of "well, guess it'll be Slumdog." (Interesting that no one has yet felt the urge to discuss big tech categories like Cinematography or Editing yet.)
What's interesting to me is that neither of the highly buzzed titles really fit the mold of the traditional winner in this category. The Class is (thankfully) everything that Hollywood student-teacher movies are not. But its non-narrative and fly-on-the-wall aesthetic, however refreshing, don't seem like the kind of traits appealing to those who vote on this category.
Waltz With Bashir has the historical/social issue pull working for it, but its style (flash animation) and form (perhaps you might call it memory-based doc?) make it a unique, one-of-a-kind film. That would excite me to vote for it (even if I think it's not 100 percent successful), but groundbreaking, innovative elements aren't exactly a recipe for a win in this, the most old-fogey category of them all.
Yet while looking at the synopses of other films -- none of which I've seen -- I realized that it's actually pretty rare for a film NO ONE has seen to win this category. (You'd think it would be the opposite, that the fact that voters have to see everything in the category might produce wins for less-buzzed titles, but it doesn't happen often.)
The only recent winners I can think of which weren't widely seen and reviewed by the time of their wins (by foreign film standards, of course) are Nowhere in Africa, which was at least loudly touted by Roger Ebert, and last year's winner, which everyone seemed to have predicted correctly. (Perhaps not coincidentally, these were both Holocaust pictures.)
In other words, while neither The Class nor Waltz seem like super-strong candidates, I'd still ultimately hedge my bets with one of them. I'm thinking the subject matter of Waltz With Bashir ultimately helps it pull through. (Plus, it has had a very strong awards run so far this year.)
I'd love to hear what others think about this category, especially if anyone has seen any of the other three nominees.
