While I do not think that something as edgy or unusual as Giorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth (David’s Review) will make the ‘final five’ short list, but kudos to Greece for throwing it out there. Perhaps something like Tetsuya Nakashima’s Confessions (Bob’s Review) will make the cut despite its similarly unsettling subject matter. Either way, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did put out a big release yesterday with all of their Foreign Language film submissions, 65 of them in total even Greenland, from various countries:
Albania, East West East, Gjergj Xhuvani
Algeria, Hors la Loi (“Outside the Law”), Rachid Bouchareb
Argentina, Carancho, Pablo Trapero
Austria, La Pivellina, Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel
Azerbaijan, The Precinct, Ilgar Safat
Bangladesh, Third Person Singular Number, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki
Belgium, Illegal, Olivier Masset-Depasse
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Circus Columbia, Danis Tanovic
Brazil, Lula the Son of Brazil, Fabio Barreto
Bulgaria, Eastern Plays, Kamen Kalev
Canada, Incendies, Denis Villeneuve
Chile, The Life of Fish, Matias Bize
China, Aftershock, Feng Xiaogang
Colombia, Crab Trap, Oscar Ruiz Navia
Costa Rica, Of Love and Other Demons, Hilda Hidalgo
Croatia, The Blacks, Goran Devic and Zvonimir Juric
Czech Republic, Kawasaki’s Rose, Jan Hrebejk
Denmark, In a Better World, Susanne Bier
Egypt, Messages from the Sea, Daoud Abdel Sayed
Estonia, The Temptation of St. Tony, Veiko Ounpuu
Ethiopia, The Athlete, Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew
Finland, Steam of Life, Joonas Berghall and Mika Hotakainen
France, Of Gods and Men, Xavier Beauvois
Georgia, Street Days, Levan Koguashvili
Germany, When We Leave, Feo Aladag
Greece, Dogtooth, Yorgos Lanthimos
Greenland, Nuummioq, Otto Rosing and Torben Bech
Hong Kong, Echoes of the Rainbow, Alex Law
Hungary, Bibliotheque, Pascal Szabolcs Hajdu
Iceland, Mamma Gogo, Fridrik Thor Fridriksson
India, Peepli [Live], Anusha Rizvi
Indonesia, How Funny (Our Country Is), Deddy Mizwar
Iran, Farewell Baghdad, Mehdi Naderi
Iraq, Son of Babylon, Mohamed Al-Daradji
Israel, The Human Resources Manager, Eran Riklis
Italy, La Prima Cosa Bella (“The First Beautiful Thing”), Paolo Virzi
Japan, Confessions, Tetsuya Nakashima
Kazakhstan, Strayed, Akan Satayev
Korea, A Barefoot Dream, Tae-kyun Kim
Kyrgyzstan, The Light Thief, Aktan Arym Kubat
Latvia, Hong Kong Confidential, Maris Martinsons
Macedonia, Mothers, Milcho Manchevski
Mexico, Biutiful, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Netherlands, Tirza, Rudolf van den Berg
Nicaragua, La Yuma, Florence Jaugey
Norway, The Angel, Margreth Olin
Peru, Undertow (“Contracorriente”), Javier Fuentes-Leon
Philippines, Noy, Dondon S. Santos and Rodel Nacianceno
Poland, All That I Love, Jacek Borcuch
Portugal, To Die Like a Man, Joao Pedro Rodrigues
Puerto Rico, Miente (“Lie”), Rafael Mercado
Romania, If I Want to Whistle I Whistle, Florin Serban
Russia, The Edge, Alexey Uchitel
Serbia, Besa Srdjan, Karanovic
Slovakia, Hranica (“The Border”), Jaroslav Vojtek
Slovenia, 9:06, Igor Sterk
South Africa, Life above All, Oliver Schmitz
Spain, Tambien la Lluvia (“Even the Rain”), Iciar Bollain
Sweden, Simple Simon, Andreas Ohman
Switzerland, La Petite Chambre, Stephanie Chuat and Veronique Reymond
Taiwan, Monga, Chen-zer Niu
Thailand, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Turkey, Bal (“Honey”), Semih Kaplanoglu
Uruguay, La Vida, Util Federico Veiroj
Venezuela, Hermano, Marcel Rasquin
I can almost see the short list now. I’ve seen a few of the titles on the list (wow!) but once the finals are nominated, the winner should be obvious (unless they surprise us – again).
And wow, Iceland had more than one movie to pick from?
excerts from my breakdown of this list last on my facebook.
I reckon Outside the Law (Algeria) with a good nom chance, as is Austria’s La Pivellina, former winner Danis Tanovic has Circus Columbia from Bosnia, the Brazilian film is getting a lot of talk, Lula o filho do Brazil. Saw the epic, forgettable Chinese entry Aftershock (7/10) which won’t be nominated, could have seen The Blacks from Croatia, saw Kawasaki’s Rose which will be nominated, very unique doco-drama, a bit overrated (7/10), from Czech Rep.
Denmark has previous nominee Susanne Bier’s new film which will probably be shortlisted, will be getting to the Estonian entry, The Temptation of St. Tony, seemingly too experimental, a virtual lock is the French entry Of Gods & Men which was my 3rd fav from Cannes(9/10), brilliantly shoot, subtlety political, Germany has a no name, though we all know Greece’s Dogtooth (6.5/10) that will at least make the shortlist, for me its not top five here, Haneke/Korine esce but not visually interesting or particularly insightful.
Hungary have my fav entry i’ve seen, Bibliotheque Pascal (9.5/10) which is part of their new wave, a visua…l splendor with a great structure and full of exceptional scenes and music, it will be shortlisted at the least. I’ve also seen the Indian entry Peepi Live (6.5/10) which is a media-savvy comedy from outside the Bollywood system, either it or the Iran/Italy entries will make it, as for Iraq, which has the solid child-in-war drama Son Babylon (8/10) expect that as the token middle-east finalist,… though well worth it.
Would like to get to Japanese entry as well this calendar year, also saw Mexico’s Buitiful (6/10), a film that could ride off a short-listing and a possible nod for Bardem in lead, but won’t make the five because it is lesser Inarritu and rather blunt in themes. Wouldn’t overlook Peru & Romania for short-listings, though i don’t suspect that Portugal’s To Dike Like a Man (7.5/10), a mediati…ve piece of playful-existential transvestites will crossover. Really wanna see Korea’s Barefoot Dream and a film I know a little more about, Spain’s Even the Rain by ceremony time. Thailand have a shoe-in for once with the Palme D’or winner Uncle Boonmee by Jo (7/10), his best film for me, more a sum of its parts, could lose to a lesser film, though Euro entries are good. I’ve also… seen Turkey’s Honey (7.5/10), another visionary tale of a illiterate young-boy, has its slow-pace and charm. That’s about it, look forward to seeing Russian’s The Edge as well. Note: I Am Love with the surprise Italiano snub, would rather have seen On Tour from France, my fav of Cannes. By the end of the year I’ll have see Confessions at CIFF, maybe the Blacks & Incendies, missed Most Beautiful Thing at last weeks Italian FIlm Fest here in Melbourne (my friend prefered I Am Love), could see The Edge as well at Russian Revolution Fest. I’ve actaully seen the Norweigan entry as well, The Angel (3/10) the worst narrated, cheesy drug film, Down to the Bone is similar and way better (just watched DTTB), Mothers ain’t playing our Macedonian Fest, also saw Street Days (6/10) at MIFF which was a decent drug-class drama but had a piffy ending.
Guess at the shortlist of 9:
OF GODS & MEN – France OSCAR-WINNER (obvious, but good choice)
UNCLE BOONMEE – Thailand NOM
DOGTOOTH – Greece
OUTSIDE THE LAW – Algeria NOM
SON OF BABYLON – Iraq NOM
LULO O FILHO DO BRAZIL – Brazil
KAWASAKI’S ROSE – Czech NOM
BIBLIOTHEQUE PASCAL – Hungary
BUITIFUL – Mexico
EVEN THE RAIN – Spain
also seen The Border (7/10) the Solvakian entry which has no dialogue and a Phillip Glass-esce score, very good actually.
As mentioned in a previous post, I still think Life Above All is in with a good chance. It’s very much an ‘Oscar-friendly’ film.
The Russian Entry, THE EDGE, is pretty solid Oscar-y type filmmaking, and as a bonus, it has an epic Nude Lady Fight in a Bathhouse that you simply do not see every day. Not quite EASTERN PROMISES level mayhem, but still, nude lady catfight.
I’ve only seen four of the films listed so far; my quick $0.02 on them:
Aftershock – I thought this was quite terrible actually. Way too melodramatic. Also, they have one white guy in the film and they pick the worst actor ever recorded on film; I actually laughed out loud in the theatre he was so horrible. Probably the second or third worst film I saw at VIFF.
Of Love and Other Demons – Beautiful to look at, but I thought it actually should have been a bt longer to properly develop the relationship between the priest and the girl. It almost felt incomplete.
Biutiful – Depressing, but pretty amazing. I quite liked this film and would be happy with it winning if it gets that far (I have a good feeling it will). Amazing stuff from Bardem here.
If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle – Decent, but a little unhinged. Some of the scenes were fantastic and powerful, but certain parts made no sense to me. I liked it, but leaving the theatre I did not feel as if I had watched anything that really stood out or was memorable. All of the other films above I will remember for certain reasons, but this is one I can see fading from memory.
I agree with your take on Whistle Keith. I loved the performance and liked bits of the film though it’s not one I’ll remember next year. I did like the lead quite a bit – he was solid.
I didn’t see Aftershock but a friend that did see it compared it to Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbour. He hated it. That, along with the running time, killed it for me.
I’m wondering if anyone’s seen Karamay? It also sounded great but the 356 min running time scared me off.
Thanks for taking your time to put this list together! Being a big fan of foreign cinema, I will be checking out some of the movies mentioned here.
“Denmark, In a Better World, Susanne Bier”
Gogo ^^
She got the nomination for AFTER THE WEDDING, maybe she’ll repeat here.
have got I Want to Whistle, just watched Carancho from Argentina, again with the legendary Ricardo Darin, playing a rep for car-crash injured clients, is a bare-bones hand-held , no-score street drama that is worth watching but given its style still is sensationalist and predicable, has neither the moral ambiguity or tension of something like Secret in Thier Eyes.
son of babylon for sure will be on the last five list…no doubt
abut it ..its a jem!!!