List of submissions to the 94th Academy Awards for Best International Film

[anonymous1980]

Yellow Cat, Kazakhstan (Adilkhan Yerzhanov) 7/10 - An ex-con who loves Alain Delon and the film La Samourai in particular wants to escape his life of crime and build a movie theater in the mountains. This is a deadpan black comedy that is sort of in the tone of a Roy Andersson film although there's a more conventional narrative through line going on. It is often funny and it's also a strange, quirky love letter to film as well. It does not always work. There's a hit and miss quality to it. Plus I could see some people not exactly jiving with the film's wavelength. But when it hits, it really hits. This is Kazakhstan's entry to the Best International Feature Film Oscar category this year.

Can it get in? The love letter to film angle can appeal to a lot of voters but it's slow, quirky tone is not for everyone. It's a longshot for the shortlist, I would say.

[anonymous1980]

Zero to Hero, Hong Kong (Wan Chi-man) 6.5/10 - This is a sports biopic about So Wai Wai, afflicted with cerebral palsy at birth, he grows up, with the help and support of his determined mom, to become a gold-medal winning, record-breaking Paralympian. This is pretty much your standard sports biopic. It hits all the narrative tropes you've come to expect from it. But, goshdarnit, it's tough not to get genuinely swept up and get inspired and touched by this undeniably inspirational story. It helps that the two lead performances from Sandra Ng and Leung Chung-Hang are pretty great. That said, it doesn't really do anything new or outstanding with the premise so it's just fine. Sometimes, you need "fine" every now and then. This is Hong Kong's International Feature Oscar submission.

Will it get in? I would say if it was still the 1990's, it was possible but now? I doubt it.

[rolotomasi99]

First entry reviewed out of the gate:

Titane, France (Julia Ducournau) 9.5/10 - A young girl gets into a car accident has a metal plate grafted onto her skull. She grows up into a dancer who has a....let's just say a thing for cars. Then it becomes really dark, disturbing, weird and totally fucked up from there. This is France's surprising pick for their International Feature Film Oscar entry and the winner of this year's Palme D'or. It is a body horror film from writer-director Julia Ducournau who fulfills her promise from her previous film, Raw. What she come up with is a truly astonishingly original piece of transgressive cinema which can be too much for a lot of people but rewarding for others who stick with it. The film is very violent, very unpleasant to watch in parts but it also has moments of wicked humor and it is unexpectedly moving and sweet (yes, you read that right). The leads of this film give committed and outstanding performances. I have to say, there were a couple of moments where I turned away from the screen but I actually wouldn't mind seeing this again. This is one of the best films of the year so far.

Can it get in? If Dogtooth can make it..... I suppose it's very possible. I would also nominate this for Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actress, Supporting Actor and Makeup & Hairstyling.

Cronenberg’s Crash is probably the worst and the most sickening film I have ever seen. Titane seems like the same type of film so I guess I will give it a pass.

I have not seen CRASH, but I have seen TITANE and it was garbage. Obviously there is a strong love for this film, but I felt like someone had played a joke on me as the end credits were rolling. How did this win the Palme d'Or? Then again, so did WILD AT HEART and I loathe that movie as well. I would say if you love CRASH or WILD AT HEART, you will probably like TITANE. Maybe it will find enough support in the Academy for an International Film nomination, but I think even the edgelord crowd that slobbered all over JOKER would find this movie obnoxiously mean spirited.

[mlrg]

First entry reviewed out of the gate:

Titane, France (Julia Ducournau) 9.5/10 - A young girl gets into a car accident has a metal plate grafted onto her skull. She grows up into a dancer who has a....let's just say a thing for cars. Then it becomes really dark, disturbing, weird and totally fucked up from there. This is France's surprising pick for their International Feature Film Oscar entry and the winner of this year's Palme D'or. It is a body horror film from writer-director Julia Ducournau who fulfills her promise from her previous film, Raw. What she come up with is a truly astonishingly original piece of transgressive cinema which can be too much for a lot of people but rewarding for others who stick with it. The film is very violent, very unpleasant to watch in parts but it also has moments of wicked humor and it is unexpectedly moving and sweet (yes, you read that right). The leads of this film give committed and outstanding performances. I have to say, there were a couple of moments where I turned away from the screen but I actually wouldn't mind seeing this again. This is one of the best films of the year so far.

Can it get in? If Dogtooth can make it..... I suppose it's very possible. I would also nominate this for Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actress, Supporting Actor and Makeup & Hairstyling.

Cronenberg’s Crash is probably the worst and the most sickening film I have ever seen. Titane seems like the same type of film so I guess I will give it a pass.

[anonymous1980]

First entry reviewed out of the gate:

Titane, France (Julia Ducournau) 9.5/10 - A young girl gets into a car accident has a metal plate grafted onto her skull. She grows up into a dancer who has a....let's just say a thing for cars. Then it becomes really dark, disturbing, weird and totally fucked up from there. This is France's surprising pick for their International Feature Film Oscar entry and the winner of this year's Palme D'or. It is a body horror film from writer-director Julia Ducournau who fulfills her promise from her previous film, Raw. What she come up with is a truly astonishingly original piece of transgressive cinema which can be too much for a lot of people but rewarding for others who stick with it. The film is very violent, very unpleasant to watch in parts but it also has moments of wicked humor and it is unexpectedly moving and sweet (yes, you read that right). The leads of this film give committed and outstanding performances. I have to say, there were a couple of moments where I turned away from the screen but I actually wouldn't mind seeing this again. This is one of the best films of the year so far.

Can it get in? If Dogtooth can make it..... I suppose it's very possible. I would also nominate this for Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actress, Supporting Actor and Makeup & Hairstyling.

[rolotomasi99]

Titane is France's submission. Wow.

Ugh! I have a high tolerance for the strange and even uncomfortable, but that movie was just vindictively unpleasant. The directing style was like Michael Bay meets David Cronenberg, leaving us with a movie that was loud, incoherent, and cruel. For once I hope the more milquetoast tastes of the Academy voters prevail to keep this film from being nominated.

[anonymous1980]

Titane is France's submission. Wow.

[anonymous1980]

France has narrowed down its possible Oscar International Feature entry to three: Happening, Titane and, surprise, Bac Nord and not Petite Maman.

[Reza]

Well he was submitted last time so only fair some other director should get a chance. Spread the wealth amongst your country's directors. Don't favor any one.

As CalWilliam noted that with active campaigning Parallel Mother can be pushed in the categories of Best Picture, Lead Actress, Director & Screenplay.

[Okri]

I do wonder. We talk about 2002, but in 2004, Spain chose The Sea Inside over Bad Education and that was the right awards play. 2006 was admittedly a car crash of a category that was basically six-into-five and Volver was dropped. Between Volver and Pain and Glory, he was only submitted once and personal feelings aside, it's hard to say any single film SHOULD have been submitted.

[Mister Tee]

This is of course the pitfall we discussed in the International Film thread -- the one-country, one-film rule means there will always be conflict between the desire to share the wealth, and the reality that often a country will have one filmmaker far more widely known than any other...as Kurosawa was for Japan, and Bergman for Sweden. Back in the day, their respective countries opted for playing the big favorites, but these days I'm sure there's more push for giving someone else a chance. Pedro could easily have the most nominations in this category, but the tenor of the times works against him.

[CalWilliam]

Spain submits Fernando León de Aranoa’s The Good Boss, starring Javier Bardem. This is 2002 situation all over again, when they sent Fernando León de Aranoa’s Mondays in the Sun (starring Javier Bardem) instead of Almodóvar’s Talk to Her, and we all know how that ended up. All I hear and read here in Spain are excellent reviews for Bardem’s new movie, but the strategy of the Spanish Academy is unsurprisingly kind of self-boycotting again. Maybe this will propel Parallel Mother’s Oscar campaign with nods for Penélope Cruz and for Almodóvar in writing or/and directing. Let’s see. After all he won best Original Screenplay the last time this happened.

https://deadline.com/2021/10/internatio ... 234849840/

[anonymous1980]

An updated list of announced submissions so far:

Albania: Three Lions Heading To Venice (dir. Jonid Jorgji)
Cambodia: White Building (dir. Kavich Neang)
Colombia: Memoria (dir. Apitchatpong Weerasetkathul)
Ecuador: Sumergible (dir. Alfredo Leon Leon)
Germany: I’m Your Man (dir. Maria Schrader)
Ireland: Shelter (dir. Sean Breathnach)
Kosovo: Hive (dir. Blerta Basholli)
Kyrgyzstan: Shambala (dir. Artykpai Suyundukov)
Morocco: Casablanca Beats (dir. Nabil Ayouch)
Poland: Leave No Traces (dir. Jan P. Matuszynski)
Serbia: Oasis (dir. Ivan Ikic)
Slovenia: Sanremo (dir. Miroslav Mandic)
Switzerland: Olga (dir. Elie Grappe)
Ukraine: Bad Roads (dir. Natalia Vorozhbyt)

EDIT: Memoria is being submitted by Colombia. To anyone who has seen it, will it be DQ'd for too much English?

[anonymous1980]

And so it begins...

Poland picks Leave No Traces for its Best International Film Oscar entry.

Is it just or does Poland seem to be one of the earliest to announce lately?