Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

Does everyone realise that if Amour, The Intouchables & Sister make the final 5 it will be the 1st time that 3 films which are also spoken in the same language are nomination. Though like Amour, Sister does have a little English spoken in it.

Or 1931, eh?

Lincoln and Les Miz may as well be 1961.

The Artist and The King's Speech are more retro than1981.

The Artist, The King's Speech and The Artist suggest it may still be 1981.

Big Magilla wrote:

ITALIANO wrote: I think that all those critics' awards for Amour are not only deserved but also show that Americans can understand and even appreciate Haneke's unsentimental, uncompromising universe. Still, it's not a movie for the Academy - it's not On Golden Pond.

It's not 1981 anymore either. This year's equivalent of On Golden Pond would be Trouble With the Curve which isn't going to get any Oscar nominations.

And Amour IS going to win.

ITALIANO wrote: I think that all those critics' awards for Amour are not only deserved but also show that Americans can understand and even appreciate Haneke's unsentimental, uncompromising universe. Still, it's not a movie for the Academy - it's not On Golden Pond.

It's not 1981 anymore either. This year's equivalent of On Golden Pond would be Trouble With the Curve which isn't going to get any Oscar nominations.

Haven't seen The Intouchables. I don't need to - I knew the moment France chose it that it would win Best Foreign Film. It's exactly THAT kind of movie. I think that all those critics' awards for Amour are not only deserved but also show that Americans can understand and even appreciate Haneke's unsentimental, uncompromising universe. Still, it's not a movie for the Academy - it's not On Golden Pond.

I've only seen Amour and The Intouchables.

The Intouchables has a premise that is virtually a parody of a Best Foreign Language Film winner, and pretty skillfully pushes every button in that book.

Amour was even rougher than I'd anticipated -- not in terms of quality, but just in terms of how painful the story is to watch. I imagine it'll alienate even more voters than The White Ribbon.

So...The Intouchables wins. At least we got A Separation last year, guys.

Something else that might help No is the presence of Gael Garcia Bernal.

My parents adore The Intouchables so that's probably a good sign that it's going to win. It looks pretty intolerable to me.

dws1982 wrote:I'd guess that our nominees are
Amour
War Witch
A Royal Affair
The Intouchables
Kon-Tiki

And that The Intouchables takes it. That must-see-all-five rule will sink Amour, like it has sunk so many other Best Foreign Film frontrunners over the years, and The Intouchables is a crowdpleaser (although it never really crossed over in the States) in a way that Amour simply isn't.

I pretty much concur with dws predictions with the most likely spoiler being The Deep replacing Kon-Tiki.

I read a simply awful review of Kon-Tiki earlier this week which happened to coincide with an invitation to a screening of the film next month which I declined. I'll wait for it's general release.

Baltasar Kormákur has a good track record of quality commercial filmmaking and has worked in the U.S. so may help his film The Deep, take one of the final five places. I would expect the film to be at least as worthwhile as the best of his earlier films made in Iceland.

No, directed by Pabalo Larrain is the last part of his trilogy (which includes the earlier Tony Manero & Post Mortem) that look at Chile from the time of the coup in 1973 until the fall of Pinochet. Whilst Tony Manero & Post Mortem are about as Academy unfriendly you can get, apparently No is much more accessible so based on what I know of the film it would appear to have a small chance of breaking into the film five.

I tend to think Beyond the Hills and Sister have very little to no chance.

Beyond the Hills is a long and hard going haul to sit through and though it does have a great payoff it lacks the power and narrative force of Mungiu's outstanding debut 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days, whose lack of nomination a few years back led to a change in the voting of this category.

Sister, impressive as it is, is very much in the vein of the Dardenne Brothers work and not Academy friendly. I'd love to see it make receive a nomination and it certainly deserves a place over The Intouchables and A Royal Affair which most people, including myself, fully expect to make the final five.

This is the first time in I don't remember how long that an Asian film wasn't in the mix for a nomination.

I'd guess that our nominees are
Amour
War Witch
A Royal Affair
The Intouchables
Kon-Tiki

And that The Intouchables takes it. That must-see-all-five rule will sink Amour, like it has sunk so many other Best Foreign Film frontrunners over the years, and The Intouchables is a crowdpleaser (although it never really crossed over in the States) in a way that Amour simply isn't.

The Top 9 semi-finalists:

Austria, “Amour,” Michael Haneke, director
Canada, “War Witch,” Kim Nguyen, director
Chile, “No,” Pablo Larraín, director
Denmark, “A Royal Affair,” Nikolaj Arcel, director
France, “The Intouchables,” Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, directors
Iceland, “The Deep,” Baltasar Kormákur, director
Norway, “Kon-Tiki,” Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, directors
Romania, “Beyond the Hills,” Cristian Mungiu, director
Switzerland, “Sister,” Ursula Meier, director

ITALIANO wrote:
It's interesting, by the way, that you have seen Reality already: in Italy it will only open tomorrow, which is the last possible weekend for a movie to be selected as a Foreign Film candidate - which shows, of course, how they felt that a nomination was very, very possible.

There is currently an Italian Film Festival playing in my part of the world at the moment (as is the case every September/October). My regret with this years line-up is we didn't get the new Bellocchio or Bertolucci. Maybe next year.