The 9 Foreign Language Oscar Finalists Are...
Thursday, December 17, 2015 at 9:57PM Congratulations to the nine films that proceed to the final stage towards an Oscar nomination. Six of these nine films were the top vote-winners from Academy's foreign film committee in Los Angeles (who screened these 80 films) after which the executive committee added three titles to the list (though which titles are which are never revealed to the public). A final committee will now screen these nine films and determine the five nominees to be announced on January 14th. It's an elaborate process that we love to follow each year. Catch up on all our coverage and see the charts!
THE FINALISTS
Links go to past articles on the films if we've written any
Viva has been keeping a low profile but those who've seen it have raved.
- Belgium (7 nominations) The Brand New Testament, Jaco Van Dormael
- Colombia (never nominated) Embrace of the Serpent, Ciro Guerra (opens 2/17)
- Denmark (13 noms | 3 wins) A War, Tobias Lindholm (opens in 2016)
- Finland (1 nomination) The Fencer, Klaus Härö, director
- France (36 noms | 9 wins | 3 honorarys) Mustang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven (now playing)
- Germany (18 noms | 3 wins) Labyrinth of Lies, Giulio Ricciarelli (now playing)
- Hungary (8 noms | 1 win) Son of Saul, László Nemes (opens tomorrow!)
- Ireland (never nominated) Viva, Paddy Breathnach (opens 2/5)
- Jordan (never nominated) Theeb, Naji Abu Nowar (now playing)
Happy Day!
Embrace of the Serpent and Mustang are both sensational pictures that more people need to discover. Go see Mustang quick! Theeb and Labyrinth of Lies are surely leaving theaters soon to so this might be your last week. If Mustang is nominated it will end France's longest drought without a nomination ever. That will be ironic since it's mostly a Turkish film. Though France is the most nominated country of all time, they haven't been honored for the past five years and their last win was 23 years back with the gorgeous Catherine Deneuve epic Indochine (1992).which was popular enough to secure a Best Actress nomination, too.
Unbeatable?
Hungary's Son of Saul has been the expected frontrunner for months
Newbies
Four of the nine finalists are from first time feature directors! That'd be Son of Saul, Mustang, Theeb, and Labyrinth of Lies
Diversity
Only one of the finalists is directed by a woman (Mustang) -- 13 of the 80 films in the running had female directors or co-directors. All of the LGBT films (Thailand, Lithuania, Greece, and The Dominican Republic) were cut but for Ireland's Viva (which is set entirely in Cuba) about a boy who wants to become a drag performer.
Will Finland get their second nomination ever with THE FENCER?
Fourth Time's The Charm?
Finnish director Klaus Härö has been submitted three previous times for Elina: As If I Wasn't There, Mother of Mine, and Letters to Father Jacob, but this is his first time in the finals. Will he finally be nominated?
What's missing?
I mourn for The Second Mother, a film I really enjoyed that had a reasonably high profile, decent arthouse box office and strong reviews. Sweden's brilliant A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence would have probably needed a save from the Executive Committee but they didn't come through. I'm more surprised to see Iceland's Rams missing since it had been generating such positive word of mouth and was reportedly accessible, too. The biggest hit in US theaters from the competing films, Austria's Goodnight Mommy was also not selected. The film critics will surely be angriest to see Taiwan's The Assassin denied.
Which films are you rooting for?
Oscars (15), Viva, foreign films
Reader Comments (28)
Even though I would love for Hong Kong to be near the game. The Assassin is Taiwan's. But man, they continue to make their preference of European films now and clear. I hope Jordan/Columbia can get in to break the monotony (all nine films unseen, but still).
Son of Saul and Labyrinth if Lies are still two of the best films of the year.
I've seen three of the shortlisted films. Son of Saul is my intellectual fave, Mustang is my emotional fave, and both are infinitely more interesting than Labyrinth of Lies.
My predictions: Colombia, France, Germany, Hungary, and Jordan.
I forgot that I've also seen Theeb. It's a beautiful film, though a little sterile. I'd guess it was a pick by the branch at large.
I've seen The Brand New Testament and I am shocked to see it in the shorlist! Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled, because it's quite good and also I was born in Belgium so I'm always happy to see my country recognised... But it's such a weird choice. I don't think it will get the nom.
Congratulations to all nine films! I got 5/9 right so the only real surprise is "Viva" from Cuba....er....Ireland. I think it's a bit out of its league here. So happy for the quirky "The Brand New Testament", which was my favorite film of the year.
Re: The Assassin....It's true that many people LOVE the film and will be angry that it didn't make the shortlist. But even MORE people hate the film (including me) so it's really no surprise that it's not there. It deserves an Oscar for Production Design, sure....but there's no character exposition and the film makes no sense. Another blogger put it best when he said he felt as if he was dropped halfway through a two-part episode in the third season of a Chinese "Game of Thrones"
^Agreed, Dzong. To me, The Assassin recalled a line from American Hustle: "(like) Flowers but with garbage."
The Oscars should just call the Best Foreign Language Film category as the Best European Film and Then Some category. It will be more honest.
Best foreign language film directed by a man, you mean
MUSTANG is directed by a woman, Cal.
As of right now I would be predicting SON OF SAUL, MUSTANG, EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT, THEEB and THE BRAND NEW TESTAMENT. Not for any reasons, although I think THEEB and SERPENT will stand out, although I guess so will MUSTANG since it's at least *set* in Turkey.
Kinda disappointed in this shortlist, actually. Of course, saying that I haven't seen them all, but they (and I'm including the executive committee in this) ignored the winner of the Venice Film Festival *and* the winner of Un Certain Regard from Cannes.
One in nine is not ok.
I think "Son of Saul", "A War" and "Mustang" are safe, with everyone except Ireland fighting for those final two spots. Germany and Finland aren't universally liked.....Belgium is AMAZING but very odd....And the Colombian film might be too "intellectual" for its own good. So, "Theeb" has an excellent chance of getting the fourth slot.
As for #5, it's anybody's guess!! Last year, they dumped the two films with mixed reviews and the two artistically pretentious films, and kept the quirky comedy....So, I'll pick BELGIUM as #5 for now.
The Venice Film Festival winner? Wasn't that "Desde alla"? It won't be eligible to represent Venezuela until next year.
The Oscars should just call the Best Foreign Language Film category the Best European Film and Others category. It would be more honest.
White people are interested in themselves. Controlling the distribution of content and keeping everything outside the realm of whiteness niche.
World Cinema means a bunch of faces they never hire under normal circumstances. When Hollywood types vacation are they going to exotic and remote destinations or are they making a pilgrimage to reinforce their romanticism of Europe?
Usually the latter. While the former does happen and they make awful cautionary movies to discourage Americans from venturing out too far from rationale civilization.
THEEB over THE ASSASSIN and 100 YEN LOVE? Not happy.
WOW - I've actually seen one of the finalists - Theeb.
I've also seen The Club and knew it wouldn't be a finalist. The subject matter would have upset the rightwing conservative members.
I've seen four of the nine -- they booted the others I'd seen *sniffle* and my order of preference is probably like so:
excellent
MUSTANG
EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT
gppd
LABRYINTH OF LIES (i'm not sure why this one has stuck with me so much because when i read about people disliking it i understand their perspective.
A WAR (a bit courtroom dry for me but it's good)
but i'll fix the SON OF SAUL situation this weekend.I don't know how I keep missing it.
Cal -- come on... 1 of 9 in the finals is better than we do with the american side of the equation, you know?
Rooting hard for 'Embrace of the Serpent' and 'Theeb'. 'A War' and 'Labyrinth of Lies' are also good. 'The Fencer' is really average though. I don't understand how it's doing so well in this year's field.
Still have to see 'Son of Saul', 'Mustang' (this weekend), 'Viva' and 'The Brand New Testament'.
Here's my ranking of the 25 submissions I watched: http://letterboxd.com/squasher88/list/ranking-the-2015-foreign-language-oscar-contenders/detail/
Very very disappointed that The Second Mother didn't get in.
Very very happy that Goodnight Mommy didn't get in.
Kinda liked Court from India, didn't like A Pigeon or The Assassin much, but they have their strengths.
The only one I've seen is Labyrinth of Lies, which was better than I thought it would be, but still nowhere near as good as Second Mother. Nowhere.
One down, 8 to go.
I never get a chance to see the Oscar nominated foreign films until after the Oscars. I hope a few of them fall into Netflix Instant like Ida did last year before the ceremony so I can actually have something to say about them.
I've only seen Son of Saul, so I guess I have some catching up to do. I never really expected The Assassin to make it in - I love it, but it's way too arty and withholding for most.
Since people have pitched in with Assassin hate, I just wanted to chip in with some hardcore Assassin love just so the world knows taste hasn't died.
The fact that it keeps popping up on all the end-of-year lists that mean anything is enough for me for now.
I don't have the energy to bitch about the Ampass shortlist - after all, don't they essentially screw it up every year?
So I'll just say yaaay for Embrace of the Serpent - hope its profile rises a bit from this mention, as well as its director's.
I also continue to look forward to seeing Mustang.
And I'm very at peace with Son of Saul winning. I didn't love it but it's certainly moving and interesting - and a Holocaust film hasn't been both of those things at the same time for nearly two decades (I'll never come to terms with the unrestrained Pianist adulation).
Also Geza Rohrig is so effortlessly entrancing. He barely seems to do anything while the narrative takes great pains to keep you at a distance from him. And yet at every moment you're absolutely clear about his internal state as well as each particular point in his emotional apocalypse. One of the year's strongest performances. And in fact the more I think about it the more the entire film keeps rising in my estimation.
Unfortunately, only 4 of the 9 will be released by the end of the year (SAUL opens today in 35mm at the Nuart). LABYRINTH is good, but nothing essential. MUSTANG is superb. One of the best movies of the year. Will see SAUL this weekend.
Surprises? No PIGEON SAT....EXISTENCE, THE SECOND MOTHER or THE ASSASSIN. Surprised that the committee didn't use one of their 'saves' on any of those high profile movies. I wonder which, if any, of these nine were 'saves'?
I'm predicting now that Son of Saul wins this easily in Feb. It just crossed its biggest hurdle.
I know it's a fool's game to call this category at this stage but all the buzzy foreign titles either
1) weren't selected
2) were FAR too divisive
3) didn't make it past this point... except Mustang but I don't think that's winning because it's about a group teenage girls and their problems and the Academy has a (legit good) gritty Holocaust drama as their other option.
Plus, it has lasting power. It debuted in May (Cannes) to a wave of acclaim, barely coming out now and people are still showering praise for the film and its central performance. In the new age of this reformed category, it helps to make a big international splash and uphold expectations throughout the year. I don't see how it loses, frankly.
Joe -- there are always 3 saves (it's thew way the selection process works as the executive committee picks their 3 after the other voting is down... so if something they love was on there, they can rescue something else
. so my guess is it was Embrace of the Serpent (which is wonderful but a little trippy/offputting in sections) and definitely The Brand New Testament plus ?????
I've seen two of these (Mustang and Theeb) and it's funny, because they both screened in competition at the film festival I work in (part of my job was watching these films and writing about them for the website so people would go see them, Mustang was the first one I saw and fell so hard for it I saw it three times, Theeb was also quite lovely and had a really nice chat with its director). I'm hoping to see the rest as soon as they're available to me.
I also saw The Assassin and while it's visually marvelous, I can see why people would dislike it, so its absense here is not at all surprising.
Labyrinth of Lies is a TV movie at best. It's films like this, that pander to all-things-holocaust that give the Foreign Film Academy voters a bad name! It was nothing short of scandalous for Germany to submit this film instead of Phoenix, but of course the artless, simplistic, and unambiguous Labyrinth was chosen for its lowest common denominator storytelling, over the complexity and shattering magnificence of Christian Petzold's pean to Hitchcock's Vertigo.
P.S. I have not seen Son of Saul, and do not want to appear to dismiss it (hopefully it is as good as expected: besides it has Bela Tarr's former protege at the helm so my expectations are high). But as of now I am rooting for Mustang, perhaps the most invigorating film of the 81 submissions. But when I see this shortlist without films like Goodnight Mommy, The Kindergarten Teacher, The Pigeon Who..., Measure of a Man, The Assassin, Far From Men, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Alleluia, Girlhood, The Shrew's Nest, Land of Storms, Tudors Nicole, Hard to be a God, Out of Nature, La Sapienza, Saint Laurent, Aferim, Phoenix, P'tit Quinquin, Diego Star, etc., I can't help but but lament the nonrecognition of the best of World Cinema.