Posted by Travis Keune in Academy Awards, Foreign | 8 comments
Academy Announces 9 Foreign Film Nominees
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has narrowed it’s list of films down from 65 to 9 in competition for the Best Foreign Film Award. I always find this to be such an interesting category because the range of films competing for a single golden naked dude is always so vast. Here’s the list…
- Revanche (Austria; Gotz Spielmann, director)
- The Necessities of Life (Canada; Benoit Pilon, director)
- The Class (France; Laurent Cantet, director)
- The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany; Uli Edel, director
- Waltz with Bashir (Israel; Ari Folman, director)
- Departures (Japan; Yojiro Takita, director)
- Tear This Heart Out (Mexico; Roberto Sneider, director)
- Everlasting Moments (Sweden; Jan Troell, director)
- 3 Monkeys (Turkey; Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director)
So, you may (or may not) be asking yourself “why does he have a photo from Let the Right One In attached to this post?” Here’s why… I think it thoroughly sucks that LTROI did not make the semi-final cut! Sure, I know it won’t win… I’m not THAT naive. But, it was a great film and original, but the Academy traditionally is not fond of “horror” movies. Of course, the award is likely to go to ‘Waltz With Bashir’ which is fine, because it’s apparently the coolest thing since sliced jalapenos. In fact, it would be really awesome if it raked in both the Best Foreign Film and Best Documentary Awards. With that said, I am still disappointed that it won’t get the glitz of being one of the five films listed before the big envelope opening occurs. What do you think? Do you like this list so far? Which foreign films did not make the list that you feel got the shaft? Let us know by leaving your comments.
[source: RottenTomatoes.com]
To clear up any confusion about “Let the Right One In†once and for all, IT WAS NOT ELIGIBLE. While it was a great film, Sweden submitted “Everlasting Moments,†a film chronicling the life of one of the country’s national treasures.
The real travesty this year is the Academy’s Foreign Language Committee screw up once again. Last year they failed to include the brilliant 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days on the short list, and this year they’ve blown off Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah, which has been honored left and right by critics’ groups and last month won the European Film Award for Best Film of 2008.
With all the rule changes, this wasn’t supposed to happen again.
Add to the fact that the Calendar year for foreign films is September to September. “Let The Right One In” was released in October in Sweden…..guess they could possibly enter it next year.
Okay, there needs to be a complete overhaul on these friggin’ rules. Stuff gets snubbed left and right just because it doesn’t fit just perfectly into the Academy’s perfect, little box. I’m so fed up with it all.
I’ll still be watching Oscar night with baited breath, though.
Of course we’ll all be watching, Jeremy….we’re all a buncha Oscar-whores…LOL
But the biggest blunder of the day is the outrageous Gomorrah snub!!
Gommorrah is a snub, especially considering how virtually every list out there had had Waltz With Bashir and Gommorrah in their highest rankings. But, who are WE to argue with the Academy?
What do you mean “who are WE”? We Are Movie Geeks, dammit!
Wow, you really ally ooped me that one, Trav.
It is really too bad that “Let the ROne In” was not submitted. It was absolutley a stunning movie.