Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Best Foreign Film?


The 63 submitted foreign films for best foreign language film were narrowed down to nine today. My only question... is this really the best list Oscar voters could come up with? Certainly some directors that are recognizable to the Oscar voters (Arcand, Tornatore, Wajda (!), Mikhalkov) but really...this is it?

Austria, The Counterfeiters, Stefan Ruzowitzky, director
Brazil, The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, Cao Hamburger, director
Canada, Days of Darkness, Denys Arcand, director
Israel, Beaufort, Joseph Cedar, director
Italy, The Unknown, Giuseppe Tornatore, director
Kazakhstan, Mongol, Sergei Bodrov, director
Poland, Katyn, Andrzej Wajda, director
Russia, 12, Nikita Mikhalkov, director
Serbia, The Trap, Srdan Golubovic, director

3 comments:

Brandon Colvin said...

Holy shit.

Persepolis? 12:08 East of Bucharest? The Diving Bell and the Butterly? I Don't Want to Sleep Alone? Lust, Caution? 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days?

James Hansen said...

It's all confusing enough to begin with, but even from the 63 it's crazy what just got cut. Diving Bell and Lust Caution were not submitted by their home countries for various issues, and 12:08 was dropped in favor of 4 Months...none the less, where are 4 Months, Persepolis, Silent Light (long shot I know, and not Academy style, but still...)

Whatever man...just continues the trend of picking the same type of films over and over. I'm rooting for Wajda to get the win based on just about nothing.

Anonymous said...

I've heard of none of these movies (except possibly Katyn, I don't recall). Two of them are available on netflix though. I'm also rooting for Wajda...because I liked Kanal, I guess.