Tuesday
13Jan2009
Nine Left Standing for Best Foreign Language Film
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 4:17PM
Before we get into the editorializing, here are the nine films in the running for the race. This short list will be reduced to five films in the next eight days, with the Academy Award nominations to be announced on January 21st.
Canada - The Necessities of Life
France - The Class
Germany - The Baader Meinhof Complex
Israel - Waltz with Bashir
Japan - Departures
Mexico - Tear This Heart Out
Sweden - Everlasting Moments
Turkey - 3 Monkeys First, what's missing? Clearly, Let the Right One In, Gomorra, and The Edge of Heaven stand out as omissions. I'd be royally pissed about Let the Right One In except that Sweden submitted another film instead. Is Everlasting Moments a better movie? No idea, but I can't imagine it's much better. Plus, where's the heat on that movie? Let the Right One In is one of the biggest success stories in international film over the past 12 months. But this one's not Oscar's fault. The clear lead dog in this race is Waltz With Bashir, and you can't forget about The Class, which won Cannes back in May. I also hear great things about Baader Meinhof. As for the other head scratchers, I'm not sure. The committee that screens the potential nominees in this category may have just prefered Revanche and 3 Monkeys over the more headline-worthy titles. But this category has long offered the best and worst of the Academy Awards. My own position on awarding films financed with foreign money even though they're in English is well-documented. Something like In Bruges would have a whale of a time competing in the Best Picture race, but if there was an International Film Oscar, its chances would be greatly improved. So because it's in English, it has to go up against all the other multi-million dollar marketing campaigns. I wonder how it's fair. My take: Who cares if it's subtitled? Honor the best films from foreign countries, not in foreign languages. On the flip side, this has always been a fairly good proving ground for quality filmmaking. Remember when Amelie lost to No Man's Land? I would've gone with Amelie, but Danis Tanovic's brilliant war movie probably benefitted more from the Oscar than Amelie would have. The same goes for The Lives of Others, which beat Pan's Labyrinth two years ago, and is, all things considered, a better, more complete film. In fact, it probably would've been my number one movie of 2007 if I could've included it in that category. And again, it's a film that could have gained more of an audience with the win. So maybe that explains Sweden's decision to not submit Let the Right One In. But I still think the golden opportunity here is to allow filmmakers in English-speaking countries that face the same distribution and film production obstacles as their contemporaries in non-English-speaking nations to compete for the only Academy Award that's supposed to represent the diversity of other cultures.
Canada - The Necessities of Life
France - The Class
Germany - The Baader Meinhof Complex
Israel - Waltz with Bashir
Japan - Departures
Mexico - Tear This Heart Out
Sweden - Everlasting Moments
Turkey - 3 Monkeys First, what's missing? Clearly, Let the Right One In, Gomorra, and The Edge of Heaven stand out as omissions. I'd be royally pissed about Let the Right One In except that Sweden submitted another film instead. Is Everlasting Moments a better movie? No idea, but I can't imagine it's much better. Plus, where's the heat on that movie? Let the Right One In is one of the biggest success stories in international film over the past 12 months. But this one's not Oscar's fault. The clear lead dog in this race is Waltz With Bashir, and you can't forget about The Class, which won Cannes back in May. I also hear great things about Baader Meinhof. As for the other head scratchers, I'm not sure. The committee that screens the potential nominees in this category may have just prefered Revanche and 3 Monkeys over the more headline-worthy titles. But this category has long offered the best and worst of the Academy Awards. My own position on awarding films financed with foreign money even though they're in English is well-documented. Something like In Bruges would have a whale of a time competing in the Best Picture race, but if there was an International Film Oscar, its chances would be greatly improved. So because it's in English, it has to go up against all the other multi-million dollar marketing campaigns. I wonder how it's fair. My take: Who cares if it's subtitled? Honor the best films from foreign countries, not in foreign languages. On the flip side, this has always been a fairly good proving ground for quality filmmaking. Remember when Amelie lost to No Man's Land? I would've gone with Amelie, but Danis Tanovic's brilliant war movie probably benefitted more from the Oscar than Amelie would have. The same goes for The Lives of Others, which beat Pan's Labyrinth two years ago, and is, all things considered, a better, more complete film. In fact, it probably would've been my number one movie of 2007 if I could've included it in that category. And again, it's a film that could have gained more of an audience with the win. So maybe that explains Sweden's decision to not submit Let the Right One In. But I still think the golden opportunity here is to allow filmmakers in English-speaking countries that face the same distribution and film production obstacles as their contemporaries in non-English-speaking nations to compete for the only Academy Award that's supposed to represent the diversity of other cultures.
Reader Comments (3)
From my understanding, Let the right one in could not actually be the Swedish contribution to the Oscars this year, because it was released after the cut-off date which apparently is the first of October.
Unfortunately, I doubt that means it will be sent as the contribution next year either. Which is a shame, while "Everlasting moments" is a good movie, one cannot deny the fact that LTROI has been insanely succesful in the US for a Swedish movie. One just have to glance at the votes on IMDB: Over 10k for LTROI, some 170 votes for "Everlasting". LTROI would have had a decent chance at winning, Everlasting moments doesn't really. I'm going to be surprised if it does win. Very surprised.
It played a film festival in Sweden last January. Why the hell would they travel it all over the world only to miss its best chance for free publicity?
I looked at the release dates and you're right; it came out in Sweden October 24th. The Oscar rule is it has to play in the country of origin prior to October 1st. Perhaps they thought the film festival exhibition counted, and I would think that it would, too. Either way, what a slip up on someone's part.
Thanks for the info.
I doubt that Let the Right One In was done with Oscars in mind, thereby the silly release date blunder.
Still missing out on Oscars is publicity too. Besides few people care for the Foreign Language category.