OVP: Best Foreign Language Film
The Nominees Were...
My Thoughts: Once again, we've been to a number of these films on the blog previously, but it's important to rehash and re-dissect, because as I've learned in these write-ups, a little distance also alters perspective. Spoilers of all five films to come.
Bullhead, for example, continues to just get better and better. As you may recall, I liked, but did not love, the film the first time I saw it, but it grows on you as it simmers in the head. The movie, a tale of betrayal and aggression in the world of cattle supply and small-time mafia, is also about two men coming to terms with a savage beating one endured during childhood. Matthias Schoenaerts performance of a man who gave up on life years and years earlier is such a different contrast than what you usually see in tormented onscreen souls. I compared him to Tom Hardy and Mickey Rourke upon first reflection, but in contrast to Rourke's strong work in The Wrestler, Schoenaerts doesn't really care what happens to him. His testosterone and base instincts cause him to fight for his life, but he's well aware that it's not a life that he cares if it gets extinguished. It's that lack of motive that makes his character so fascinating. As I mentioned previously, the film is deeply provocative and not always easy to view, but at the core of the film is a character you rarely see in a film-someone without a purpose, and one who never really finds one, and that's a great thing for the filmgoer.
A film like Monsieur Lazhar, on the other hand, has a main character with a purpose, though it's highly formulaic in the one dud amongst these five nominees. Monsieur Lazhar tells the tale of a man who is hired as an interim teacher after a teacher commits suicide. We slowly see the children deal with the grief of losing such a vibrant figure in their lives in varied ways, but as is true of any film about teaching, they react to this new presence with the exact same reaction you'd expect-first anger and trepidation, and by the end of the film, admiration and respect. The film has a subplot about M. Lazhar's background involving his wife's death by the government in response to a book she wrote that was critical of the Algerian government, but this is a paint-by-numbers movie that attempts to tug at the heartstrings, and occasionally succeeds, but is far too formulaic and filled with teaching film staples to have anything interesting to say.
Footnote is the sort of film that should also fall into this trap of cliches and routine stories, but there's so much depth and unexpected truth in the relationship between the two lead characters, you don't really care about the obvious turns the film is making. The story of a man who has mistakenly won an award intended for his son, and how the son agrees to the charade without the father's knowledge (to save face), shows us a lot of truths about the competiveness between fathers and sons-the film tellingly gives us the obvious impression that, despite the son's knee-jerk reaction to defend his father, the son has definitely outdone his father, and the son knows this, and toward the end of the film, after fracturing their relationship beyond repair for the sake of a trophy, the father realizes it as well. It's a telling argument that we are willing to sacrifice everything that "matters" due to tunnel vision surrounding our life's goals.
On paper, In Darkness is the film that most screams "Oscar!" A film about the German occupation of Poland during World War II, and one man's quest to keep a dozen Jews stay alive in the midst of the Holocaust is the sort of thing this category is always drawn toward. And yet, I feel like there were things I haven't seen in this film, even though its story is familiar, and even though I have seen Schindler's List (the film it's oftentimes compared with) several times. The thing that still sticks out, as I mentioned in my previous review, was the claustrophobia of the film. The film shoots from corners and awkward angles to get across the "uninhabitable" nature of what these people had to endure, living in the sewers of this city for over a year, and it shows the lack of knowledge of what will happen next with a freshness that you rarely see from a historical film where the audience knows the outcome. All-in-all, it's an epic, and deeply affective, traditional, war film.
A Separation, one of the most lauded films of last year, is our final nominee. I know that I already issued a spoiler alert, but I'm going to say one again-if you haven't seen A Separation (and you should), stop reading right now as this is one of the twistiest films I've ever had the pleasure of encountering. Though it's plot is not the setting of a traditional thriller (a man and woman are divorcing, and they are fighting over custody of their child, before the man is accused of a horrible and confusing crime). The film works on so many levels-a family drama, a thrilling mystery, a social commentary on the state of a modernizing Iran-it's hard to put into words exactly how many reasons there are to love the movie (at some point, I'll probably do a review proper for the project, rather than just this paragraph). However, the point is that few films of the past year, foreign language or not, attempted to accomplish as much as A Separation.
Bullhead, for example, continues to just get better and better. As you may recall, I liked, but did not love, the film the first time I saw it, but it grows on you as it simmers in the head. The movie, a tale of betrayal and aggression in the world of cattle supply and small-time mafia, is also about two men coming to terms with a savage beating one endured during childhood. Matthias Schoenaerts performance of a man who gave up on life years and years earlier is such a different contrast than what you usually see in tormented onscreen souls. I compared him to Tom Hardy and Mickey Rourke upon first reflection, but in contrast to Rourke's strong work in The Wrestler, Schoenaerts doesn't really care what happens to him. His testosterone and base instincts cause him to fight for his life, but he's well aware that it's not a life that he cares if it gets extinguished. It's that lack of motive that makes his character so fascinating. As I mentioned previously, the film is deeply provocative and not always easy to view, but at the core of the film is a character you rarely see in a film-someone without a purpose, and one who never really finds one, and that's a great thing for the filmgoer.
A film like Monsieur Lazhar, on the other hand, has a main character with a purpose, though it's highly formulaic in the one dud amongst these five nominees. Monsieur Lazhar tells the tale of a man who is hired as an interim teacher after a teacher commits suicide. We slowly see the children deal with the grief of losing such a vibrant figure in their lives in varied ways, but as is true of any film about teaching, they react to this new presence with the exact same reaction you'd expect-first anger and trepidation, and by the end of the film, admiration and respect. The film has a subplot about M. Lazhar's background involving his wife's death by the government in response to a book she wrote that was critical of the Algerian government, but this is a paint-by-numbers movie that attempts to tug at the heartstrings, and occasionally succeeds, but is far too formulaic and filled with teaching film staples to have anything interesting to say.
Footnote is the sort of film that should also fall into this trap of cliches and routine stories, but there's so much depth and unexpected truth in the relationship between the two lead characters, you don't really care about the obvious turns the film is making. The story of a man who has mistakenly won an award intended for his son, and how the son agrees to the charade without the father's knowledge (to save face), shows us a lot of truths about the competiveness between fathers and sons-the film tellingly gives us the obvious impression that, despite the son's knee-jerk reaction to defend his father, the son has definitely outdone his father, and the son knows this, and toward the end of the film, after fracturing their relationship beyond repair for the sake of a trophy, the father realizes it as well. It's a telling argument that we are willing to sacrifice everything that "matters" due to tunnel vision surrounding our life's goals.
On paper, In Darkness is the film that most screams "Oscar!" A film about the German occupation of Poland during World War II, and one man's quest to keep a dozen Jews stay alive in the midst of the Holocaust is the sort of thing this category is always drawn toward. And yet, I feel like there were things I haven't seen in this film, even though its story is familiar, and even though I have seen Schindler's List (the film it's oftentimes compared with) several times. The thing that still sticks out, as I mentioned in my previous review, was the claustrophobia of the film. The film shoots from corners and awkward angles to get across the "uninhabitable" nature of what these people had to endure, living in the sewers of this city for over a year, and it shows the lack of knowledge of what will happen next with a freshness that you rarely see from a historical film where the audience knows the outcome. All-in-all, it's an epic, and deeply affective, traditional, war film.
A Separation, one of the most lauded films of last year, is our final nominee. I know that I already issued a spoiler alert, but I'm going to say one again-if you haven't seen A Separation (and you should), stop reading right now as this is one of the twistiest films I've ever had the pleasure of encountering. Though it's plot is not the setting of a traditional thriller (a man and woman are divorcing, and they are fighting over custody of their child, before the man is accused of a horrible and confusing crime). The film works on so many levels-a family drama, a thrilling mystery, a social commentary on the state of a modernizing Iran-it's hard to put into words exactly how many reasons there are to love the movie (at some point, I'll probably do a review proper for the project, rather than just this paragraph). However, the point is that few films of the past year, foreign language or not, attempted to accomplish as much as A Separation.
Other Precursor Contenders: I could go through the Cesars, the Davids, and any number of top prizes from various countries, but that's not really an apples-to-oranges situation. Instead, I'll stick to the Golden Globes, which again, isn't entirely comparable, but it's close enough for the sake of this paragraph. The HFPA, which tends to favor more commercial fare than Oscar in this race, only matched up on A Separation (which won), instead going for The Skin I Live In, The Kid with a Bike, In the Land of Blood and Honey, and The Flowers of War. I've seen the Pedro and the Oscar nominee, but I haven't seen any of the other three-which would be my best bet?
Films I Would Have Nominated: This is a moot point, because of the rules of the race, but I should mention that I adored the French-film Certified Copy last year, and occasionally wish that this category was better able to bend the rules to "assist" each country's film selection so that it's truly their best effort.
Oscar's Choice: Oscar resisted the opportunity to go with In Darkness and Footnote (probably closer to winning than you'd think, considering the more traditional winners in this category), and instead went with the groundbreaking Iranian masterpiece.
My Choice: No question-A Separation towers over a strong lineup for this category. Coming in second is In Darkness, followed by Bullhead, Footnote, and finally Monsieur Lazhar.
My Choice: No question-A Separation towers over a strong lineup for this category. Coming in second is In Darkness, followed by Bullhead, Footnote, and finally Monsieur Lazhar.
And there you have the Foreign Language Film race-of the five films, what movie deserved the trophy? What films should have been nominated? And of all films in 2011, which was truly the Best Foreign Language Film?
Also in 2011: Animated Feature, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, 2011 Recap
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