Saturday, September 19, 2009

Sprecken Zie Link?

IndieWire Precious takes the audience prize at Toronto. Could this season be another like the Slumdog last when everything was a foregone conclusion before the big night. If so, zzz and uh-oh. The buzz is so deafening now it might sadly become one of those movies where everyone's opinions are pre-formed and no one's can fully be trusted. Hate it when that happens (but I am totally dying to see the film. Very soon. very soon)
Quiet Earth Concept art for Mute, the follow up to Duncan Jones Moon
Pop Culture Nerd wonders if you'll go to the Harry Potter theme park. My god, not me. I'll be so relieved in 2011 when it's all finally over. NEXT!


Cinema Styles has a fascinating take on Francis Ford Coppola's One From the Heart. I love reading modern takes on this movie
NY Times Robert De Niro and Spike Lee are developing a Showtime series about NYC's Alphabet City in the 80s. That's the creatively fertile time / place that brought us Keith Haring, David Wojnarowicz (where are their biopics?) and Madonna among other artistic luminaries
First Showing on Leaves of Grass starring Edward Norton. I've heard from two readers who wondered why there aren't more reviews of this on the web so maybe you're interested, too? I've become agnostic on Norton over the years but sure did think he was back in form for The Painted Veil

Finally, there's yet more updates and posters added to the Oscar Foreign Language Film pages over at the original site...
I've also done a little bit of restructuring and digging to see which countries have been most popular with voters over the past 20 years and which stars are "good luck charms" for their films. Bet you didn't know that Russia's Oleg Menshikov held the first place position if my calculations are correct. Two of the world's most beautiful women (Gong Li and Penélope Cruz) are just behind him as foreign film rabbit's feet. Click on the following link to see more. There's even links to program your own international film festival at home.
But back to 2009. Brazil (Salve General), Serbia (Here and There ...starring Cyndi Lauper!!!) and France (Un Prophète -- don't bet against that one) have announced. Israel, Spain and Mexico are about to. Canada will announce on Tuesday. Do you think they'll pick I Killed My Mother (see previous post)?
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13 comments:

J.L said...

Please, everyone reading this watch Everlasting Moments from Sweden. It's a wonderful film experience.

The movie makes you proud to be swedish.

Danny King said...

I would definitely agree that there are times when positive early word on a film has an effect on subsequent reviews. It's an interesting thing to consider, but there is really nothing to fix it.

Pop Culture Nerd said...

I sure hope Oscar winners aren't pre-ordained this year. Where's the fun? Having 10 Best Picture nominees is supposed to make winners harder to predict.

Have you seen Bright Star? It's exquisite and should be a contender for a few awards. Abbie Cornish is mesmerizing and I think people will stop labeling her as just Ryan Philippe's girlfriend after seeing her in this.

Bill_the_Bear said...

A couple of notes on the Foreign Language Film Oscar:

Austria's "Ein Augenblick Freiheit" must have a Canadian distributor, since I saw a French-language trailer for it today at a cinema here in Montréal. (Incidentally, the film I saw was "La Fille du RER," a French film about an emotionally disturbed young woman who fakes an anti-Semitic attack on herself [even though she's not Jewish] which becomes a cause célèbre. The plot was fairly muddy, but it had Catherine Deneuve in it as the girl's mother, and I always like watching Deneuve; the actor playing the girl's boyfriend was also quietly cute.)

Also, I don't know that Bernard Émond's "La Donation" would be eligible for Canada's choice, since it's not scheduled to be released in Québec until November 6th, and AMPAS rules say that the film has to have been released in the home country by September 30th. (Of course, they could get around that by releasing it somewhere in Canada for a week in late September, which is what they did last year with Denys Arcand's "L'Âge des ténèbres.")

I would not be surprised if "J'ai tué ma mère" were the Canadian nominee, since it's got the momentum, but I personally think that "Polytechnique" was a better film, and more deserving of the nomination.

Jorge Rodrigues said...

I, for one, am sad about the Portuguese submission.

«Doomed Love» is a good film but it's yet another one of those incomprehensible dramas that we keep sending for the Foreign Film Oscar submission.

If it has not worked before (and we have TONS of submissions and 0 nominations - I think we hold the record...) then we should try to send a different type of film...

That said, «Doomed Love» is one of the best portuguese dramas produced recently... I leave you with the link to its trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJdnppI3CoE (English subtitles)

Ryan Ray said...

I know you aren't the biggest Harry Potter fan (neither am I, really), but by just looking at that artwork, how could you not think it looks amazing? The town and castle look pretty stunning.

Anonymous said...

Well, No Country for Old Men was the same way, it basically steamrolled the competition.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Nate but, Potter>>>>Twilight. I really don't see how anyone can complain about Potter when Twilight is around.

NATHANIEL R said...

anon 12:20 to quote Meryl Streep in Postcards from the Edge

"These are my choices?"

.

i 225% agree that Potter (so-so to occasionally fun) is superior to Twilight (mega dull and whiny). That doesn't mean I am crazy for wanting a break from the boy wizard after 8 years of pop culture dominance.

Glenn said...

Portugal in the foreign language film stakes sounds exactly like Portugal in Eurovision!

Jorge Rodrigues said...

I agree Glenn. But unlike in the Foreign Film category, in Eurovision we should have already won...

evermoon said...

No official word yet from the Film Academy of the Philippines, but various web sources are reporting that Soxy Topacio's indie comedy Ded Na Si Lolo (literal translation: Grandfather is Dead) has been selected as the entry of the Philippines to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 82nd Academy Awards.

Bill_the_Bear said...

Update: Canada did choose "J'ai tué ma mère" as its picture for the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar race.