Foreign Film Short List

[Hustler]

I´m sad for the argentinian snub: XXY.

[abcinyvr]

Are these people choosing these films just by watching the trailers?! This just extends the joke that this process is for one more year.
The Counterfeiters is a very good film and I don't doubt for a second that it will win the statue seeing as all the real competition has been passed over. There is no way any of these people sat through Persepolis or '4 Months' - which gets a whole lot better after it's slow beginning.
The Canadian film has only played in Quebec, unlike Les Invasions Barbares, it's predecessor, which had played all across the country by the time the Oscars happened.
The only other movie I've seen is Beaufort (and it is very good as well), Israel's replacement for The Band's Visit which could have given The Counterfeiters a run.

[rain Bard]

Echoing, Eric's point, I have not yet seen any of these potentialities yet. Nor the three films that seem to be getting the most outrage from their 'snub' status. But there is something these three films share, along with the pair of films I personally was rooting for.

(That would be Korea's SECRET SUNSHINE and Mexico's SILENT LIGHT, though I honestly would have been surprised to see the latter make it in due to its intentionally distancing aesthetic approach. SECRET SUNSHINE on the other hand is not particularly aesthetically alienating, and though it deals with a tough subject I really thought its high level of accomplishment would be too much for the Academy to ignore. But the Foreign Film branch of the Academy has been notoriously resistant to East Asian films; none have been shortlisted since the new winnowing system has been put in place, and only three have been nominated since the death of Akira Kurosawa in 1998, all period action films: TWILIGHT SAMURAI, HERO and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON.)

THE ORPHANAGE, PERSEPOLIS, 4 MONTHS..., SECRET SUNSHINE and SILENT LIGHT all were selections at Cannes. As was exactly one of the shortlisted selections: the one directed by Academy perennial Denys Arcand. A couple of the others played the Cannes market, but that's not the same as getting the Gilles Jacob seal of approval.

Last year three of the nine shortlist films were Cannes selections (PAN'S LABYRINTH, DAYS OF GLORY and VOLVER), and two of the three were nominated. This year there will be a maximum of one Cannes selection nominated in this category.

In the face of shrinking theatrical foreign film audiences in this country, I wonder if the people on this committee feel a mandate to create an interest in films that have bypassed the near-automatic critical attention and distributor consideration that accompanies Cannes selections and winners? As kind of a 'helping hand' for films that need a boost?



Edited By rain Bard on 1200459866

[Okri]

it sounds like only 30 people are being allowed to pick the five nominees from this list. am i reading this correctly? i always knew the foreign film selection process was accused of being exclusive, but 30 people is pretty ridiculous.

yep. rolo, this is something they started last year. They released the nine "semi finalists" and then a special panel (last year it had only 21 people, if I recall correctly) votes on the top five (I don't believe it's a simple ballot though - I think it's more like a critics , award, where there is discussion first).

Frankly, this is ridiculous.

I've seen the Brazillian entry (nothing special, nothing unwatchable. It's inoffensive but weightless.)

[Eric]

The sorry state of foreign film distribution in America always gets highlighted for me when the foreign film committee does their annual thing and leaves this board's American members scratching their heads or perhaps throwing things ... and then the board's non-American participants casually list off which of the films in the lineup they've already seen (even after allowing for the movies that would be domestic releases such as the Giuseppe Tornatore for Marco).

[rolotomasi99]

After all, how often do Holocaust films NOT win if they're nominated?

THE PIANIST...but you probably meant just in the foreign language category.



Edited By rolotomasi99 on 1200450219

[Sonic Youth]

But if this indeed the list, I guarantee The Coutnerfeiters is nommed and will probably win. After all, it's about Jews during World War II.

It's primarily about a Nazi crime scheme during WWII. From everything I've read, there are no Jews given the saintly, sanctimonious treatment in this film.



Edited By Sonic Youth on 1200450108

[Hustler]

My predictions are now up in my Hopefuls thread, but yes, cam, there is a holocaust film nominated. The Counterfeiters is about some Jews who survived because they agreed to help the Germans counterfeit money.

Now that I see it as one of the nine, I'm fairly confident it will win. After all, how often do Holocaust films NOT win if they're nominated?

And, by the way, is a very good film.



Edited By Hustler on 1200449846

[matthew]

But Four Months, Three Weeks, Two Days - not, I admit, an Oscar-friendly movie - should have been at least nominated. It's very good.

I was very surprised by that exclusion, as well, Marco, because I thought that the year MIGHT go by without a film like this: it is, after not all, not a Holocaust one, but the next best thing, Communism.
And those of you in the know: are there any Holocaust films ( or short films) this year?

I was thirteen when I saw my first holocaust film. It was so terrifying that I hoped to never see another, and have mainly avoided them.
NOT because I am NOT AWARE. I am, very. BUT: I go to films to escape. I don't want to have , as one reviewer said about this film a "depression hangover" when I come out of the theatre.

However I am surprised it has been ignored by AMPAS,with not only its credentials, but I thought it would be right up their alley.

Perhaps more on their minds wasn't the fact that it was a 'Communism' film but an 'Abortion' film...

[OscarGuy]

My predictions are now up in my Hopefuls thread, but yes, cam, there is a holocaust film nominated. The Counterfeiters is about some Jews who survived because they agreed to help the Germans counterfeit money.

Now that I see it as one of the nine, I'm fairly confident it will win. After all, how often do Holocaust films NOT win if they're nominated?

[cam]

But Four Months, Three Weeks, Two Days - not, I admit, an Oscar-friendly movie - should have been at least nominated. It's very good.

I was very surprised by that exclusion, as well, Marco, because I thought that the year MIGHT go by without a film like this: it is, after not all, not a Holocaust one, but the next best thing, Communism.
And those of you in the know: are there any Holocaust films ( or short films) this year?

I was thirteen when I saw my first holocaust film. It was so terrifying that I hoped to never see another, and have mainly avoided them.
NOT because I am NOT AWARE. I am, very. BUT: I go to films to escape. I don't want to have , as one reviewer said about this film a "depression hangover" when I come out of the theatre.

However I am surprised it has been ignored by AMPAS,with not only its credentials, but I thought it would be right up their alley.

[ITALIANO]

Don't Tell

Oh, you saw it! Well, The Unknown is even worse. Yet I can't deny that the Italian Foreign Film committee - while always choosing movies which I'd never even remotely pick - is probably smarter than me: Don't Tell was nominated and now this one could be, too.

I haven't seen the other films, but I've heard good things about the Serbian one and the Austrian one. Russia's "12", which was shown at Venice, is inspired by Lumet's Twelve Angry Men.

But Four Months, Three Weeks, Two Days - not, I admit, an Oscar-friendly movie - should have been at least nominated. It's very good.

[The Original BJ]

Great, now instead of having to sit through TWO pieces of crap, I'll have to sit through whatever FIVE hunks of junk this stone-age branch finds worthy.

Do you watch all the nominees in all the categories? If so, I praise your stamina, if not your good sense.

Oh, trust me, I know it's a masochistic endeavor that I keep telling myself I will stop doing. Last year I had to sit through Click and Poseidon, though I maintain that the annual deluge of liberal guilt schmaltz-fests that usually fill the foreign film category is usually the most unbearable to get through. At least the crappy visual effects and makeup nominees are dumb enough to be watchable.

The Orphanage is not on par artistically with 4 Months and Persepolis -- both of which are among the best films of the year -- but I rather enjoyed it. It's a cleverly structured mystery with a lot of scares and a surprising amount of emotional oomph. It's not deep, but it's a lot of fun.

I haven't seen any of the shortlisted foreign films, but I can guarantee that, given the unwatchable garbage they've nominated over recent years (Everybody's Famous, Zus & Zo, Don't Tell, Joyeux Noel, The Chorus, and that's just getting started) a couple of them are going to be unbearable.

[Hustler]

lucky you!

[OscarGuy]

I've seen The Orphanage and it's magnificent.