OVP: Best Foreign Language Film (2006)
The Nominees Were...
After the Wedding, Denmark
Days of Glory, Algeria
The Lives of Others, Germany
Pan's Labyrinth, Mexico
Water, Canada
My Thoughts: After a few weeks off for a sabbatical (as I've mentioned, real life has gotten in the way a bit in the past few weeks, but we are hoping to resume at least something of our normal writing cadence on the blog in the coming weeks, though I will admit I've got at least one trip planned in August so it might not be perfect!), we are not just back to the blog but we're starting back up the 2006 OVP. For those unfamiliar, twice a week we write articles profiling a past Oscar race, going through one year at a time. If you are catching up, there's tons of links to both our most recent run of 2006 races below, as well as all of our past Foreign Language Film (now called International Feature Film) races from previous years.
Today we're going to start out with Pan's Labyrinth, the movie we've discussed the most so far since it's the only film today that was nominated in another category. Pan's Labyrinth is still, despite many films since, the only Guillermo del Toro movie I truly love. I adore a fairy tale, and this is a particularly macabre one, one that shocks the audience with its frank violence combined against the innocence of a child's youth. The costuming, makeup, art direction-it's all first-rate, and while the acting is never quite as good as the film's motif, that doesn't really matter-films don't require stupendous acting to be excellent, and del Toro smartly focuses on his plot rather than trying to give the actors big moments, to sell this tale.
The Lives of Others, Pan's chief Oscar rival, is a film that does put great acting center stage. Ulrich Muhe is fantastic in the lead role as a spy watching the life of a playwright suspected of Communist activity. The Lives of Others is the best kind of historical thriller-set in a real world setting, but based on an original story, it genuinely keeps you guessing as to the motives of the main characters and where they will land. No one in the film is quite up to Muhe's range as a lead performer, but I get why this was such a sleeper hit with the Academy-it's tense, taught, and the kind of movie that will keep you glued to your seat the whole time.
After the Wedding is one of the myriad films in the past decade that Mads Mikkelsen has led in this category. Mikkelsen is solid in the lead here, though unlike Muhe in The Lives of Others, that isn't quite enough to elevate it because the script meanders too much. The story of deception, money, and the titular wedding has a lot of soap opera-esque turns, and toward the end of the movie it takes one too many detours, with us having learned a lesson about money that doesn't feel quite right. Still, it's a compelling film that will keep you intrigued by Mikkelsen's complicated Jacob, and it's not the worst that the Academy came up with in 2006.
That would be Water, a film that Salma Hayek wasn't excited about (if you know, you know), and after seeing it, neither am I. Water is one of those movies where the central plight of the main characters is so sad that it functions less as a tale of bitterness & woe, and more as a type of tragedy porn, not giving us any sort of connection to the central figures other than to watch them suffer. The film is not helped by the fact that the leads were clearly hired more as gorgeous figureheads than as proper actors (the performances are not strong in Water), but it's the script that sinks this-it is so intent on showing us the suffering of the people in the film that it forgets to give us any actual plot, and as a result it feels empty.
It's not the Foreign Film category if we don't get at least one movie about World War II, and that's what happens here with Algeria's Days of Glory. The movie deals with an army troop of North African soldiers who are fighting for the French Free Forces in 1943. The movie itself is fine-there's some interesting conversations about discrimination, and how it impacted the war (particularly when the person you're prejudiced against is on your side), but it's not what you'd call a memorable film. None of the cast stand out in a significant way, and as the film wears on you get traditional story beats with characters that run into wartime cliche. It's well-lensed, and I liked the costuming, but this isn't an overtly special film.
Other Precursor Contenders: Awards ceremonies like the Goyas and the Cesars aren't good representatives here since they're typically honoring the main films of a specific country, so I only count the Globes among the awards bodies we check-in with for Foreign Language film. They went with Letters from Iwo Jima for Best Picture (it wasn't eligible at the Oscars), over Apocalypto, The Lives of Others, Pan's Labyrinth, and Volver.
Films I Would Have Nominated: I don't see enough of the contenders to have a cohesive opinion here, but I will say that I would have found a way to include the gaudy grandeur of Curse of the Golden Flower somewhere in this lineup, as well as Pedro Almodovar's Volver.
Oscar’s Choice: Late-breaking momentum got The Lives of Others the win over the top box office numbers of Pan's Labyrinth.
My Choice: I see what Oscar's point was here (Lives is a genuinely good movie), but I prefer the distinct fantasy of Pan's. At the bronze I'll do After the Wedding, followed by Days of Glory and finally Water.
Those are my thoughts-what about you? Are you with me that this should have gone to Guillermo, or are you sticking with the more traditional Lives of Others? Why did Oscar overlook the more publicly-seen Volver and Curse of the Golden Flower (both of which were submitted by their respective countries)? And am I the only person who still laughs hysterically watching the video of Salma Hayek saying "and from Canada, Water"? Share your thoughts below!
No comments:
Post a Comment