Oscar Nominees 2016: Part 9 of 11 (Best Foreign Language Film)

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5. Part 6. Part 7. Part 8. Part 9. Part 10. Part 11.

Saul Fia (Son of Saul)

1 Nomination

• Foreign Language Film: Hungary (Hanussen, Colonel Redl, Revolt of Job, Mephisto, Confidence, Hungarians, Catsplay, The Boys of Paul Street)

Director: László Nemes

Cast: Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rechn, Todd Charmont, Jerzy Walczak, Sándor Zsótér, Marcin Czarnik, Levente Orbán, Uwe Lauer, Christian Harting, Mihály Kormos

This was my favorite movie of the year, and for me it is basically perfect. I realize that this isn't in wide release, and that not a lot of people have seen it (I saw it in West Los Angeles when it was playing in only one theatre in the U.S.). The movie is hard to watch – it's about the lives of those imprisoned at Auschwitz and so it is a film about genocide – but it is a powerful, exciting movie from start to finish with not even a little fat in it. And Géza Röhrig gives one of the best performances of the year by any actor. [Side note, I was voting in a kind of mock-ballot the other day for Best Actor and I looked at these ridiculous names – Damon, DiCaprio, Cranston – and thought, wow the Academy really laid an egg in that category this year. What a silly list.] In any case, I want also to say that Hungary is not often nominated in this category; they don't often choose a film to which Academy members will respond. Last year's selection was the dog-revenge movie White God that is my second favorite movie of 2015. But it is easy to see why Oscar didn't jump for joy. It's basically a horror film. But this year all that is off the table. Son of Saul is going to win this Oscar. It is just so damn good.

Will Win: Foreign Language Film

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #1 out of 67

Mustang

1 Nomination

• Foreign Language Film: France (A Prophet, The Class, Joyeux Noël, Les Choristes, Amélie, The Taste of Others, East-West, Ridicule, Indochine, Cyrano de Bergerac, Camille Claudel, Au Revoir les Enfants, Betty Blue, Three Men and a Cradle, Entre Nous, Clean Slate, The Last Metro, A Simple Story, Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, Madame Rosa, Cousin Cousine, Lacombe Lucien, Day for Night, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Bamboo Incident, My Night at Maud's, Stolen Kisses, Live for Life, A Man and a Woman, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Sundays and Cybele, The Truth, Black Orpheus, Mon Oncle, The Gates of Paris, Gervaise, Forbidden Games, The Walls of Malapaga, Monsieur Vincent)

Director: Deniz Gamze Ergüven

Cast: Günes Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan, Ilayda Akdogan, Ayberk Pekcan, Nihal G. Koldas, Bahar Kerimoglu, Burak Yigit, Erol Afsin, Enes Sürüm

This is an excellent, gorgeous film, and another of my top ten for this year. In fact, I managed to see Mustang and Son of Saul back to back, catching Mustang after Christmas dinner with my sister and son. We were all emotional wrecks. It's a beautiful, hopeful, but very powerful movie about the strength of women and the ways that women's lives are controlled by religion. Mustang is a film by Turkish-French director Deniz Gamze Ergüven, and it is set in Türkiye, but you might notice that it has been submitted by France. The French committee has been cleverer and cleverer these days about what they submit to the Academy, submitting movies that deal with important contemporary social issues rather than films about the past. I find this laudable. I should also note that their submission last year, Saint Laurent, is another one of my favorite films for 2015. Unlike Son of Saul, which I know is not for everyone, I am happy to recommend Mustang to anyone who will listen to me. You will love it. It's beautifully performed, it's as exciting as any action movie, and it has an excellent score. In another year it would've won the Oscar, but its competition here is too fierce.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: Foreign Language Film
My Rating: #4 out of 67

El Abrazo de la Serpiente (Embrace of the Serpent)

1 Nomination

• Foreign Language Film: Colombia

Director: Ciro Guerra

Cast: Nilbio Torres, Antonio Bolivar, Jan Bijvoet, Brionne Davis, Yauenkü Migue, Nicolas Cancino, Luigi Sciamanna

And now we have reached the first of two films that I haven't been able to see this year. Embrace of the Serpent is in theatres right now; well, some theatres. But the trailer for this is incredible. It looks like another gorgeous Malick-inspired movie, something of which you know I approve. This nomination is a very cool surprise. There were plenty of foreign language films with important distributors that did not get nominated, but the Academy went with Colombia this year, giving that country its first nomination. Colombia often submits Ciro Guerra's movies (La Sombra del Caminante and The Wind Journeys), so this is a very cool moment of validation for a hardworking director. Embrace of the Serpent is obviously his most visually ambitious film, too, so this is a cool nomination. I am very excited to see this movie.
Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: Unranked (2016 Release)

Krigen (A War)

1 Nomination

• Foreign Language Film: Denmark (The Hunt, A Royal Affair, In a Better World, After the Wedding, Waltzing Regitze, Pelle the Conqueror, Babette's Feast, Harry and the Butler, Paw, Qivitoq)

Director: Tobias Lindholm

Cast: Pilou Asbæk, Tuva Novotny, Dar Salim, Søren Malling, Charlotte Munck, Dufi Al-Jabouri, Alex Høgh Andersen, Phillip Sem Dambæk, Jakob Frølund

I haven't seen A War either, and I hate it. But the Academy loves Denmark; they've basically been nominated every other year in this category. The films are always excellent, and often they end up remade by American directors. Should I pause at this current moment and complain about the fact that each of these films only got nominated for Best Foreign Language Film? Every year this seems to happen. My top ten films of the year always include several films from foreign countries in foreign languages, and I am always surprised that people don't watch more of them. It's just simple logic – only the best films from other countries are going to be imported to the U.S., so the likelihood that you're gonna get an excellent movie goes way way up. Back to Denmark, though: A War is about a soldier in the war in Afghanistan and the story of him attempting to balance his ability to protect his men, care for his family, and protect the civilians he charged with protecting. This is a Danish film, so its perspective on the war in Afghanistan will likely be very interesting.
Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: Unranked (2016 Release)

Theeb (Wolf) (ذيب‎)

1 Nomination

• Foreign Language Film: Jordan

Director: Naji Abu Nowar

Cast: Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat, Hussein Salameh Al-Sweilhiyeen, Hassan Mutlag Al-Maraiyeh, Jack Fox

I am still so surprised this got nominated. It's a fine movie as far as it goes, but it is no great shakes, in all honesty. Theeb is, perhaps, a strange little movie, in that the film's plot is not always clear, and the director introduces several strands that aren't really tied up by the end. Theeb is maybe about the railroad and the way that World War I and the introduction of weapons technologies and transportation technologies influenced the people who lived in the Jordanian desert during the Great War, but because the story is told through the eyes of a child (the Academy loves a story told through the eyes of a small boy), it didn't really resonate with me. Even the nostalgia in the film seems misplaced. Still, this isn't a bad movie by any means, but its nomination feels strange to me. Germany's Labyrinth of Lies, Ireland's Viva, Finland's The Fencer, and Belgium's The Brand New Testament all made the December shortlist, and I felt sure that one of them would get this slot. In any case, it is Jordan's first nomination, so that is cool, but don't run out and rent Theeb.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #38 out of 67

More 2015 Films. Awards-Season Edition. Part 2.

Adam McKay's The Big Short is funny and smart and moves quickly.

It is also filled with delightful, interesting characters, and a whole bunch of total morons. The Big Short is about how the housing bubble burst in late 2007, and it follows a group of guys who bet against the housing market and therefore made a profit off of the collapse of the economy of most of the world. In other words, it is kind of about guys who profited off of everyone else's bad luck.

But it is a tribute to Adam McKay that this film keeps its characters in perspective enough that they are mostly likable guys. The film's much bigger challenge is explaining the complicated financial situation that really occurred back in 2007. This is definitely a tough row to hoe for a comedy, but The Big Short takes a very clever, Brechtian approach. Instead of trying to tell us all of the things we need to know in some kind of expository way where the information is embedded in dialogue that the characters would never actually say (à la CSI), The Big Short's narrator simply stops the film, addresses the audience, and tells us that "now chef Anthony Bourdain will explain what you need to know". The Big Short is the most Brechtian of this year's films, and it had a true Brechtian effect: getting its audience emotional about information. My sisters and I left the theatre pissed; the mortgage crisis affected all of us very much.

The Big Short is also filled with some pretty excellent performances: Steve Carrell and Christian Bale are particularly good, but the film boasts great performances by Finn Wittrock, Ryan Gosling, Hamish Linklater, Adepero Oduye, Rafe Spall, Jeremy Strong, John Magaro, and Brad Pitt. Oh my god, and Melissa Leo has a hilarious cameo. Again, let me underline that this is a hilarious movie about the mortgage crisis and the collapse of the world economy. It is also a film that explains this crisis to its audience, and points out why it happened, who was responsible, and who was affected by the actions of these criminals, none of whom was ever indicted.

Oscar possibilities for The Big Short: Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay seem the most likely. To my mind Picture is a long shot and Screenplay is a lock, but who knows. If people see it, they will respond favorably.

* * *

France's entry this year for the Best Foreign Language Film award is called Mustang, and it is directed by the Turkish-French director Deniz Gamze Ergüven. Mustang is a powerhouse of a film and one of the absolute best of the year.

Mustang follows five sisters living in a small town about an hour from Istanbul. The girls have almost all hit puberty, but are all very much still girls. Early in the film, a crazy village lady accuses the girls of being whores, and their grandmother and uncle, who are raising them, basically lose their minds, lock the girls in the house, stop sending them to school, and begin marrying them off one by one.

The film is made like a suspense-movie, and Mustang is packed with surprises and peripities that you will not see coming at all. It's a story of religious extremism and the ways that religions attempt to control the bodies of women and work to destroy them.

I cannot recommend this enough. It's enjoyable, exciting, and packs an emotional punch. I loved the young women in the film in the extreme. Ergüven's work is extraordinary, and she fills Mustang with lighthearted moments as well as dangerous ones, so that even amid the strict control of the religious nutjobs in the movie, the possibilities for freedom and pleasure shine through. These girls' personalities are bright and beautiful, and they cannot be completely contained by the rules and strictness placed upon them.

Oscar possibilities for Mustang: this film will be nominated for Best Foreign Language picture for sure. No question. It's one of the best movies of the year.

* * *

This is, perhaps, going to seem a little crazy, but Hungary's entry for Best Foreign Language picture is even better. László Nemes's Son of Saul is my favorite film for 2015. 

Son of Saul is a film about Auschwitz, so it isn't going to be for everyone, and it is at times very very difficult to watch. This is a movie about horror, and there isn't any hope to be found in it. Nemes has designed his picture so that it attempts to communicate this as best as it can. It is, to my mind, basically a perfect film, with one of the best central performances of the year, by Géza Röhrig.

I don't want to spoil the movie, but the main character Saul works for one of the Sonderkommandos in the camp. He gets rid of the bodies of Jews that have been gassed, he burns corpses, he shovels ashes into a river, he rifles through the belongings of people murdered by the Nazis in order to pay off guards. This is a portrait of the Final Solution that is like nothing you've ever seen. And the filmmaking is so exquisitely good, that it is organized so that we see every aspect of the camps: the doctor's surgery rooms, the ovens, the yard, the officers dining halls, and the showers. It's absolutely fucking harrowing. And it does not let up. This is not a film that is designed to let up. Nemes wants to show us genocide without the bullshit peddled to us by films like Life Is Beautiful or The Book Thief.

Central to the plot of Son of Saul is the main character's quest to find a rabbi to say Kaddish for a small boy who has been killed in the gas chambers. Early on in the movie he says to one of his companions that he wants to do this: to find a rabbi who can say the prayer for the dead correctly, to mourn for this boy. His companion says "we do say Kaddish for them", and Saul replies simply It isn't enough. To put this another way, the central thrust of Son of Saul is an attempt to mourn correctly for the genocide of European Jews. But this is a task that is already doomed to failure. It isn't enough. It cannot be enough.

Son of Saul had me by the scruff of my neck for its entire running time. It's never boring, not for one second, and it is mostly simply terrifying. Death is around the corner for this man at every instant in this film, and I found this more exciting than any action movie this year. I sat in my seat willing Saul to find a rabbi, to say this prayer, to be successful at mourning. I guess it won't spoil anything for me to say to you that things do not end well for Saul, whether or not he is able to mourn for the boy. The camps were a closed system of power and destruction, designed to destroy as many Jewish lives as possible, and there is no hope to be taken from a story that bears witness to this destruction with any accuracy.

Oscar possibilities for Son of Saul: It's going to win the Oscar for Foreign Language. Done and done.