Thursday, October 14, 2010

Foreign Film Oscars: International Beauty Pageant.

If you'd like to read about the now official Oscar submissions for Best Foreign Language Film,  click away. But because you -- make that we -- can't see most of the films, due to the hideous state of international distribution, let us use this Academy press release as an excuse to take a different view, a sexytime view... a Beauty Break if you will. Let's gawk at the actors and actresses who are in the submitted films. We'll pretend it's like a Miss Universe pageant (how do you say "shallow" in Finnish?). Randomly selected hotties follow (it's not easy to find info/photos.) whether you're into the men, the women or other. Don't judge!

Beauty Knows No Borders
I presume you'll let me know your very favorites in the comments. Do I presume too much?

Handsome Guys...

Left:  Bill Skarsgård a.k.a. Alexander's lil brö (20) for Sweden's Simple Simon.
Right: Oscar Guerrero (age unknown) for Puerto Rico's Miente / Lie.
Oh the imperfections of the web: Guerrero is obviously famous having been in several films and soap operas and yet he has neither a wikipedia page nor any personal information on the IMDb. Weirder still, the IMDb does not even list him as appearing in Miente, a film in which he plays the lead role!


Left: Mark Chao -- or Zhao depending on your info source -- (26) for Taiwan's Monga (see previous post). He also sings.
Right: George Pistereanu (19) for Romania. Some people think he looks like...


Left: Gael García Bernal (31) for Spain in Even the Rain. He's from Mexico and the most familiar face in this year's submission list outside of Javier Bardem, who is from Spain representing Mexico with Biutiful. They've flip-flopped countries, submission-wise. I sat two rows behind them -- they were together so I assume they're friends -- in Toronto for The Sea Inside premiere back in 2004. Memories
Right: Boris Ler (25) for Bosnia Hersegovina in Danis Tanovic's Cirkus Columbia.


Left: Coco Martin (26) who stars in Noy for The Philippines. (see previous post)
Right: Santiago Cabrera (32), who you'll remember from the TV show Heroes (first season only -- the tortured artist) who is the romantic lead of Chile's The Life of Fish. The Chilean actor was born in Venezuela, speaks four languages and lives in London. International!


Left: Pablo Derqui (34) for Costa Rica's Of Love and Other Demons. He was born in Barcelona and is a TV star in Spain.
Right: Asser Yassin (29) for Egypt in Messages From the Sea.


Left: Aarif Lee (23) for Hong Kong's Echoes of the Rainbow. He won the Best Newcomer Award in the Hong Kong Film Awards for this role. He's starring in a Bruce Lee biopic next. Here's more info on the Lee picture.
Right: Mateusz Kościukiewicz (24) for Poland. He stars in the punk rock drama All That I Love. At least one website names him the Polish Robert Pattison !

Gorg' Ladies...


Left: Maria Bonnevie (37) for Norway in Engelen (Angel). See previous post for more on Maria.
Right: Lubna Azabal (age unknown) for Canada in Incendies (it's one to watch for the finalist list, I think). She's from Belgium and of Moroccan descent.


Left: Sibel Kekilli (30) for Germany's award winning When We Leave. We are fond of her.
Right: Blanca Lewin (36) for Chile in the romantic drama The Life of Fish. She's a television star there.


Left: Takako Matsu (33) for Japan in Confessions (see previous post for exciting trailer). She won several best actress awards recently for the melodrama Villon's Wife.
Right: Micaela Ramazzotti (31) for Italy in The First Beautiful Thing. She plays the young mother of two kids in this nostalgic memoir. (The role is shared with award-winning Stefania Sandrelli when the mother gets older). Lotsa photos of Micaela... she currently has darker hair.


Left: Jana Zupančič (age unknown) for Slovenia's 9:06. Like Guerrero up top she's also not listed on the IMDb as part of her submitted film, but she's one of only three actors on the poster. You may remember her from last year's submission Landscape No. 2 (previously reviewed right here).
Right: Mariana Santángelo (34) for Puerto Rico's Miente / Lie. She's from Argentina.


For Specialized Tastes...


Left: Jenny Larrue & Cindy Scrash who play rival transsexual cabaret stars in Portugal's To Die Like a Man.
Right: Various for Hungary in what must be the oddest Oscar submission this side of Uncle Boonmee. It's called Bibliotheque Pascal.
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If you'd like to read more uh... professional and totally official info on the Best Foreign Language Film Submissions, click for whichever country you're interested in. On the charts you'll see posters, official site links for further exploration, distribution status (US based only, sorry) and basic trivia. As always the best way to see any of them is to pay close attention to festival schedules in cities closest to you.
  • Albania to France
    23 films: East West East, Outside the Law, Carancho, La Pivellina, The Precinct, Third Person Singular Number, Illégal, Cirkus Columbia, Lula the Son of Brazil, Eastern Plays, Incendies, The Life of Fish, Aftershock, Crab Trap, Of Love and Other Demons, The Blacks, Kawasaki's Rose, In a Better World, Messages From the Sea, The Temptation of St Tony, The Athlete, Steam of Life, and Of Gods and Men.
  • Georgia to Nicaragua
    21 films: Street Days, When We Leave, Dogtooth, Nuummioq, Echoes of the Rainbow, Bibliotheque Pascal, Mamma Gogo, Peepli Live, How Funny This Country Is, Farewell Baghdad, Son of Babylon, The Human Resources Manager, The First Beautiful Thing, Confessions, Strayed, The Light Thief, Hong Kong Confidential, Mothers, Biutiful, Tirza and La Yuma.
  • Norway to Venezuela
    21 films: Angel, Undertow, Noy, All That I Love, To Die Like a Man, Lie, If I Want to Whistle I Whistle, The Edge, Besa, The Border, 9:06, Life Above All, A Barefoot Dream, Even the Rain, Simple Simon, La Petit Chambre, Monga, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Honey, A Useful Life, and Hermano.

23 comments:

john said...

He He! You really need to be adopt this shallow approach to international cinema more often!

NATHANIEL R said...

i think so too. but i'm not sure anyone else does? no comments today, eh. Guess y'all take foreign films way too seriously to enjoy their more surface pleasures.

I am hearing after publishing this that the younger woman in INCENDIES is breathtaking... but i haven't yet seen the movie and didn't know her name. can't wait to see it though. I'm hearing good things.

eduardo said...

may i suggest to include Manolo Cardona from Peru's Undertow? he's such a cutie too

NATHANIEL R said...

Agreed but i was having trouble finding good pics. thats the problem with a lot of the international actors.

Anonymous said...

This is the first time Greenland has ever made the longlist! We need to see Julie Bertelsen up there, she's really pretty!

- tomo

ñanañanapoer said...

I wish DOGTOOTH win the Oscar. But that's not gonna happen.

Jason H. said...

My god, Takako Matsu, Micaela Ramazzotti, and Jana Zupancic are gorgeous. Must...find...movies...

Same goes for Bill Skarsgard and Asser Yasin. Already love, love, LOVE Gael Garcia Bernal. *sigh*

Jason H. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
NATHANIEL R said...

tomo -- perhaps I will add a few. where is everyone today? weirdness.

jason h -- that's the spirit! maybe i should have thrown up a poll to get people's opinions. is the comment button working today? (Micaela really is something else. There are so many pictures online. Easy to see why she's famous.)

Andrew R. said...

Not bothering with the men, obviously.

Women: All are fairly attractive, except for the Norwegian, whose lips are a bit too big but who is very nice looking otherwise.

I also thought the women of Dogtooth were attractive when they weren't, y'know, licking each other.

Invisible bastard said...

sorry, but portuguese gals are totally the best! Look at that charm and figure in cannes' red carpet! Ahhh the glory!

NATHANIEL R said...

invisible -- if you click on the links for their names you get hot night club performances too of drag queen classics!

Fernando Moss said...

Santiago Cabrera for me!

Invisible bastard said...

I know! I'm portuguese! I've been to that cabaret! It's just great! And altough the film is tough it's not as graphic as is previous one. Did you manage to catch "Mysteries of Lisbon" at NYFF or TIFF? It was my bet has portugal's submission. If you can, go and see it. It's wonderful!

Notas Sobre Creación Cultural e Imaginarios Sociales said...

Watching Derqui get all sweaty and tortured in a priest robe was the only thing that made that movie bearable to me.

Am I the only person who thinks Gael looks are quite average? I've met tons of guys who look like him!

Spartak said...

Among the most weird films of this year,you can easily include Estonian "The Temptation of St. Tony"... Surrealistic b\w film...It's written that it opened in New York on September 17, 2010 and Los Angeles on October 1, 2010...Untill now I have seen 17 films and for me this one is the best (together with Greek "Dogtooth",Chinese "Aftershock" slight behind)...
But I don't think that the first two has a chance for winning or even being nominated (though I won't neglect a chance that "Dogtooth" will make it trough the special committee to January's shortlist.While the countries that has best chances for winning are Germany ("When We Leave"),China ("Afthershock",though some may it too melodramatic in couple of episods) and...Venezuela ("Hermano",but only if political factor won't intervene)...But I still haven't seen non of your predicted films (France,Canada, Iraq,South Africa and Mexico).

Mirko said...

Micaela Ramazzotti is delightful, she also won DAVID DI DONATELLO (italian oscar) as Best Actress for her role in THE FIRST BEAUTIFUL THING, a movie directed by her own husband

NATHANIEL R said...

spartak -- that would be so annoying if ST TONY actually opened in NYC and i didn't know and missed it. ugh. it's just impossible with foreign films. i used to scour newspapers to make sure i missed nothing (newspapers!) but if something is never mentioned online, i don't know about it. :(

Rebecka said...

Lovely eye-candy overall! Mmmmmark Chao...

Alexander's lil brø --- As a big fan of this blog I still feel compelled to nitpick and point out that we don't use the letter "ø" in Sweden ("ö" would be the swedish equivalent) ^_^ Bill is really making a name for himself these days, he's got an other big movie opening here this week and is getting a lot of press over all.

Quantam said...

Christ, why must the Skarsgards ruin it for the rest of us tubby Anglo dudes? My girlfriend already ignores me for the older one.

Spartak said...

Nathaniel,I am quite sure,it seemed strange to me too,when I found it out,but Box-Office Mojo proves it right:
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sttony.htm


and also the trailer (which I find horrible and isn't doing justify to the movie...Don't watch it!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t_reNMqRrc

Vanuatu`s Eldest Emperor said...

Shallow in finnish?
pinnallinen. (Pinta is surface...)
Shallow for water = matala(low)

Download Free Megaupload Megavideo said...

I like Maria Bonnevie, she acted very well in Jerusalem (1996) which is a good movie.