Foreign Language Film Short-List

anonymous1980
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Re: Foreign Language Film Short-List

Post by anonymous1980 »

I think what has happened in the past week and a half could push The Salesman to a win.
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Re: Foreign Language Film Short-List

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Sonic Youth wrote:I know it's dangerous to make definitive statements (I did say "13th" was going to win Best Documentary) but it sure looks like it's Toni Erdmann from this point on. Which would only be sweet justice, considering how shabbily Cannes treated it.

(Now watch it lose.)
Toni Erdmann seems a little too shaggy a film to feel like an Oscar shoo-in, but if its run here in Chicago is any indication (maybe it's not!), it's been a big hit, playing well to a slightly scandalized crowd that skews older, white - like the Academy.
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Re: Foreign Language Film Short-List

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Precious Doll wrote:Actually the last time Spain made the shortlist was for 2010 with Even the Rain:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_S ... guage_Film

Spain has had a number of pretty respectable films submitted since Volver.
You're right about that. I forgot about Even the Rain.
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Re: Foreign Language Film Short-List

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Actually the last time Spain made the shortlist was for 2010 with Even the Rain:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_S ... guage_Film

Spain has had a number of pretty respectable films submitted since Volver.

The best being Black Bread, set during the Spanish Civil War directed by Agusti Villaronga, however it was probably a bit to strong and even shocking for their tastes. Blancanieves, Even the Rain & Flowers were also good recent selections by Spain.

The Orphanage being a genre film never had a hope (and didn't deserve consideration anyway). The only other one I have seen is Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed which was rather well regarded though not to my liking.

Anyway I would much rather have seen Julieta make the shortlist in spite of it faults than the Xavier Dolan train wreck.
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Re: Foreign Language Film Short-List

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ITALIANO wrote:
Haven't seen Neruda, but Julieta is Almodovar almost at his worst.
Yeah, it's so... bland, so generic. I wonder how Spain sent it as their submission - though it's true that sometimes a director's reputation can be enough here. (Italy didn't have a much more brilliant idea when it chose a documentary - but at least it was a good one).[/quote]

There was a much better option available for submitting here in Spain: ''La novia'', directed by Paula Ortiz, a very arty, sophisticated and gripping adaptation of Lorca's ''Bodas de sangre''. Nevertheless, Pedro's work was sometimes left out here, sending other films instead for the sake of visibility, I presume, that never stood a chance. I think of The Skin I Live In or Talk to Her, for instance, which were not submitted but could have very possibly made the cut. Actually, the last time Spain made the short list was when The Sea Inside won, so for the last twelve years it's been a kind of struggle as to what to send to the Oscars. This year, I'd say that Almodóvar's prestige was the easy factor, though I wouldn't consider Julieta a bad movie either, but it definitely lacks a much needed significance. Likewise, I'd say that critics and the Spanish Academy (taking a look at its major nominations) consider Julieta his best effort since Volver.
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Re: Foreign Language Film Short-List

Post by ITALIANO »

The Original BJ wrote:
ITALIANO wrote:
The Original BJ wrote:Neruda and Julieta are also fairly high-profile omissions as well.
Haven't seen Neruda, but Julieta is Almodovar almost at his worst.
After now having seen Julieta, I totally agree with you -- it's one of Pedro's weakest movies, and didn't remotely merit a nomination here.
Yeah, it's so... bland, so generic. I wonder how Spain sent it as their submission - though it's true that sometimes a director's reputation can be enough here. (Italy didn't have a much more brilliant idea when it chose a documentary - but at least it is a good one).
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Re: Foreign Language Film Short-List

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ITALIANO wrote:
The Original BJ wrote:Neruda and Julieta are also fairly high-profile omissions as well.
Haven't seen Neruda, but Julieta is Almodovar almost at his worst.
After now having seen Julieta, I totally agree with you -- it's one of Pedro's weakest movies, and didn't remotely merit a nomination here.
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Re: Foreign Language Film Short-List

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The Original BJ wrote:Neruda and Julieta are also fairly high-profile omissions as well.
Haven't seen Neruda, but Julieta is Almodovar almost at his worst.
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Re: Foreign Language Film Short-List

Post by Sabin »

Both of my parents separately (they got divorced this year) watched A Man Called Ove and cannot stop raving to me about it. IMDB tells me:

"Ove, an ill-tempered, isolated retiree who spends his days enforcing block association rules and visiting his wife's grave, has finally given up on life just as an unlikely friendship develops with his boisterous new neighbors."

Sounds like that could be a spoiler as well.
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Re: Foreign Language Film Short-List

Post by anonymous1980 »

If My Life as a Zucchini gets in both Best Animated Feature and Best Foreign Language Film, it would be the very first film to do so. Few films have qualified for both and two got in for one or the other but not both. Waltz with Bashir got in for Foreign Language Film but not Animated Feature. Persepolis got in for Animated Feature but not Foreign Language Film. I think the Academy is now more willing to nominate more artsy/foreign efforts so I'm predicting it will get in both.
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Re: Foreign Language Film Short-List

Post by Precious Doll »

I guessed 3/9. I was almost going to include the Canadian turkey but thought surely they can't have such poor judgement.

Of the selected films I've seen five: Land of Mine, Toni Erdmann, It's Only the End of the World, Tanna & The Salesman.

Though easily the best of the five, Toni Erdmann is far from a shoe-in and if the Academy actually watches the films Land of Mine is going to be the spoiler.

First impression predictions of the five final (which will be way off I'm sure as all my predictions are from Western Europe and that isn't going to happen) are:

Denmark, “Land of Mine,” Martin Zandvliet, director;
Germany, “Toni Erdmann,” Maren Ade, director;
Norway, “The King’s Choice,” Erik Poppe, director;
Sweden, “A Man Called Ove,” Hannes Holm, director;
Switzerland, “My Life as a Zucchini,” Claude Barras, director.

My Life as a Zucchini, an animated feature is apparently very good and it's reviews at Cannes were pretty much up their with Toni Erdmann, Elle & Paterson.
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Re: Foreign Language Film Short-List

Post by Precious Doll »

The Original BJ wrote:Neruda and Julieta are also fairly high-profile omissions as well.
Completely understandable as they are lesser works by directors capable of so much better.
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Re: Foreign Language Film Short-List

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I know it's dangerous to make definitive statements (I did say "13th" was going to win Best Documentary) but it sure looks like it's Toni Erdmann from this point on. Which would only be sweet justice, considering how shabbily Cannes treated it.

(Now watch it lose.)
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Re: Foreign Language Film Short-List

Post by Mister Tee »

The tendency in the last few years, with the new "everybody included" voting, has been for the critical favorite like The Great Beauty or Son of Saul to win. Do we think Toni Erdmann fits that criteria, or will there be resistance to it? (I'm thinking back to how it was shut out at Cannes.)

It's as if the foreign-language auditors think they did their bit by Pedro with All About My Mother and Talk to Her, and they don't ever plan to nominate hm again.
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Re: Foreign Language Film Short-List

Post by The Original BJ »

Neruda and Julieta are also fairly high-profile omissions as well.
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