Academy Awards Foreign Language Short-List

[nadine]

No Lore but yay to A Royal Affair.

[Genjuro]

I've never heard anyone say Dogtooth is an audience friendly film.

I was obviously comparing Dogtooth with Beyond the Hills. That's why I used the word "more".

[Elias Subwell]

France won 9 Oscars (Mon oncle - Jacques Tati, Orfeu Negro - Marcel Camus, Les dimanches de Ville d'Avray - Serge Bourguignon, Un homme et une femme - Claude Lelouch, Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie - Luis Buñuel, La nuit américaine - François Truffaut, La vie devant soi - Moshé Mizrahi, Préparez vos mouchoirs - Bertrand Blier, Indochine - Régis Wargnier).

Denmark won 3 Oscars (Babettes gæstebud - Gabriel Axel, Pelle erobreren - Bille August, Hævnen - Susanne Bier).

Switzerland won 2 Oscars (La diagonale du fou - Richard Dembo, Reise der Hoffnung - Xavier Koller).

Austria & Canada won 1 Oscar (Die Fälscher - Stefan Ruzowitzky & Les invasions barbares - Denys Arcand).

Chilie, Iceland, Norway & Romania never won Oscar. Norway was nominated 4 time. Iceland was nominated one time. Chilie & Romania never got nomination.

[erib777]

Winner: The Untouchable

Amour
A royal affair
Kon-Tiki
War witch

[Thomas]

Denmark, France, Canada, Austria and Switzerland it is.
Spoiler: Norway.

I see a pretty open race. Mind you, Amélie did not win this. Haneke is moody. Denmark won recently. Norway has got Weinsteins...

[James]

I'm disappointed that Lore didn't make the shortlist! But Amour, Beyond the Hills and A Royal Affair rank among the best films of the year. I've also seen No and War Witch.

[Meegadeth]

Routing for Sister.

[raguabros]

I'm guessing the commitee selected Beyond the Hills.

1. Amour
2. Intouchables
3. No
4. Beyond the Hills
5. War Witch

[OscarsFan 2.3]

Surprised and disappointed "Barbara" didn't make it.

[Aurelius]

I'm still baffled by people's adoration for the very middle-of-the-road A Royal Affair.

[James]

I'm still baffled by people's adoration for the very middle-of-the-road A Royal Affair.

I thought it was one of the best films of the year. This is what period pieces should be, exquisitely crafted and acted with a strong narrative. Its refreshing for a period piece to be both well made and well conceived like this one.

[Thomas]

I'm still baffled by people's adoration for the very middle-of-the-road A Royal Affair.

I think there's an interest in royals outside of monarchies that those of us within monarchies do not quite understand.


Blame it on Trixie.

[Atonenent.]

I agree that A Royal Affair has its problems with lenght and lack of chemistry between Vikander and Mikkelsen, but it's about as good as a classic royalty film gets.

[tnb]

not surprised Barbara didn't make it, I guess the film is way too cold for AMPAS' taste.
hoping chile will get its first nod with No! maybe Gael can be its lucky charm?

[Cesky]

I found A Royal Affair to be a wonderful meditation on the public will and all its political implications. Oh and madness too. That subtext plus all the aspects of being incredibly well put together and acted puts it towards the top for me.

[Habsburg]

I thought it was one of the best films of the year. This is what period pieces should be, exquisitely crafted and acted with a strong narrative. Its refreshing for a period piece to be both well made and well conceived like this one.

[Atonenent.]

After seeing Kon-Tiki, I think it's in. It's pretty good and well-made, and probably the most accessible one after The Intouchables, which should give it an edge over...basically everything else.

[lenka73]

I'm surprised by LORE's omission and sorry for BWAKAW's

[walkabout]

I've seen all of the finalists except The Deep now. Here's how I would personally rank them:

1. Romania, “Beyond the Hills”
2. Switzerland, “Sister”
3. Chile, “No”
4. Denmark, “A Royal Affair”
5. Austria, “Amour”

6. France, “The Intouchables”
7. Norway, “Kon-Tiki”
8. Canada, “War Witch”
NS. Iceland, “The Deep”

The one who surprised me the most was how annoyingly weak War Witch was. It's basically a misery porn to make Western audiences experience some pity for the subject matter and relief for themselves. I really hope it's not nominated. It's enough shame that it was selected among the finalists over Barbara and many more...

Kon-Tiki is decently made with excellent production elements but weak screenplay and leading man. Lacks originality but the material has some powerful moments. I wouldn't be surprised to see it nominated, but I still think it's not a film good enough to get in.

While Beyond the Hills certainly is. Good enough, I mean. This may be wishful thinking or my personal feelings towards the film may be preventing me from thinking objectively (which I really don't think so, by the way, because I'm almost never like that ) but I believe the Romanian film will be among the final five. Beyond the Hills is not as minimalistic as Mungiu's previous film. On the contrary, it's quite chaotic and crazy. Which is strangely intriguing. And it's superbly, masterfully shot. I believe it will get in.

So... My predicted five are (in order of likeliness):

1. Austria, “Amour”
2. Denmark, “A Royal Affair”
3. Chile, “No”
4. France, “The Intouchables”
5. Romania, “Beyond the Hills”

I think Beyond the Hills and Kon-Tiki will be fighting for the last spot. And while it is totally deserving, Sister will most probably be left out.

That's how I see the race right now.

[erikdean]

That's interesting, one of my friends saw War Witch, gave it an A+ and thinks it will win.