Austria's "Joy" is out of the Oscar race
Monday, November 11, 2019 at 1:54PM 
by Cláudio Alves
...And then there were 91...
As we predicted back when Nigeria's Oscar submission was disqualified from the Best International Feature race, the same fate has befallen Austria's Joy. Despite some German dialogue, most of the film is in English, due to the fact it tells the story of Nigerian immigrants living in Europe. After all, Nigeria's official language is English. Once again, such news makes us ask ourselves if this is a fair predicament. One thing's for sure – it's ridiculous that the Academy doesn't vet the country's submissions before announcing the list of eligible films. It'd certainly avoid a great deal of scandal.
Even if it's amply justifiable, such disqualification is unfortunate, even a bit sad, because Joy's an achingly poignant triumph. The sort which deserves to be celebrated by the Academy, but seldomly is…
Sudabeh Mortezai, an Austrian-Iranian filmmaker, directs her camera at the overlooked and marginalized of Austria's society, never demonizing anyone or falling into the trap of moralistic binaries. Her characters and their dilemmas are complex and abrasive as well as sympathetic and human, their stories an intersection of disparate, but ever similar, kinds of systematic oppression. Through them, Mortezai shows us a tapestry of abuse and injustice, a reckoning with contemporary sex work's difficult political dimensions and a portrayal of the way in which those that are victimized often victimize others on their search for survival.
The aesthetic of the exercise owes much to a long tradition of European social realism, but the faint stink of exploitation that so often mars these films never makes an appearance. Part of it is a testament to Mortezai's humanist approach, her intelligent script, and modestly sophisticated lensing. Another big component of such success is the cast's deft interpretation of the lacerating story. As a recent immigrant turned reluctant prostitute, Mariam Sanusi may be a bit wooden, but her awkwardness works with the character. Angela Ekeleme Pius is a spectacle of motherly authority turned into poison as a ruthless Madame. As for Anwulika Alphonsus, the film's protagonist, she's a prism of contradicting emotions and quiet shifts of motivation, all threaded together in a brilliantly coherent characterization.
Even if Joy's out of the Oscar race, I'd urge any cinephile to search it out. It's rare to see such an intelligent drama about sex workers, about displaced communities, the limits of sisterhood and the perilous experience of African immigrants in Europe.
Joy’s currently available on Netflix. Don't miss it.
Reader Comments (12)
What if Best International Feature just dropped the foreign language requirement and went 5-10 films like Best Picture? Sure films from England, Canada, Australia (and English language productions from Europe) would claim too many spots but there would be enough left over for small, interesting films. Could actually be a great lineup every year.
I disagree. I think the language requirement is vital.
I support the praise for this film. In another less competitive year, JOY would be a contender.
But I have to take issue with this sentence:
"One thing's for sure – it's ridiculous that the Academy doesn't vet the country's submissions before announcing the list of eligible films. It'd certainly avoid a great deal of scandal."
No way that's" for sure" in my mind. What is happening now IS the vetting process. Your average Joe/Joeline Oscar pundit is not at the level of TFE writers and readers when it comes to awareness of this category, and so the Academy is cleaning up the submissions now before the shortlist (when the real high-publicity happens).
Sometime, when you're very close to the action (as we are here), you believe that every tiny decision is a monumental game-changer. It's not. This is a rap across the knuckles for Austria and Nigeria, and they will just have to learn to bear it and do the right thing next year.
Best International Failure
The category is to serve features not in English. And despite English not being the official language of the United States it remains the dominate language spoken. It sort of irks me that niche categories have these controversies when they're never a threat to compete in the general field elsewhere even when warranted.
I agree. There's too much English everywhere. Let's call it Not in the English Language and move on.
You would think that the people in charge of submitting movies for consideration in this category would have a better understanding of the Academy's rules than internet nobodies like us, but here we are again. It would be one thing if this were one of the occasional arcane rulings around international financing that come in here and there but the 50% not in English rule is pretty easy to wrap one's head around and the submitting committees should know better. If they end up giving people false hope with their submissions that's on them.
http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2019/10/31/101-days-til-oscar-how-will-disneys-fare-fare.html
So many thoughts on this one:
--Countries should know better than to submit majority-English films... I'll give Nigeria a pass since they're new, but Austria has been competing in this category for decades. This rule is clearly not news to them.
--The Academy would indeed save so much face if they disqualified the films before their official press release announcing the number of / the names of the submissions.
--However, Oscar-watchers have seemingly forgotten that the Academy has to screen each of these 90+ films. With 90 films screened two-a-night, that's 45 nights of screenings. The submissions period only ends at the start of October. The screenings must be done by early-to-mid December. Thanksgiving also falls during the screening schedule, as do the Governor's Awards, each necessitating some nights off. Essentially, it's a 50-to-60 day window to do 45 nights' worth of screenings. Because of this, there is minimal time to vet before the submissions announcement goes out and the screenings must begin. I gather that the majority of that vetting time is about determining whether the films have sufficient input of the country that submitted them and whether they screened publicly for seven days. Watching all the films and calculating the percentage of English in some of them would severely delay the process. Unfortunately, what may seem like ideal procedure to us is simply not practical.
--Most importantly... there seems to be this notion that every non-(obviously)English film should have a chance in this category. (I don't mean that Cláudio is saying this, but it's a sentiment that seems to underlie every complaint about this category.) Yet, as any film-lover can attest, not all great films are going to get Oscar consideration. It doesn't happen in any other category-- there are literally dozens of amazing US films each year that never stand a chance at an Oscar nomination-- so why must we expect it to happen in this category?
I assume it's because it's the Academy's rules are narrowing this race, unlike in other categories where lack of buzz is mostly what kills lower-profile films. But for the logistical reasons that I lay out above, this category more than any other requires some narrowing of the pool. The "One film per country" rule and the "Must be majority non-English" rule are great ways to do that... and they're totally objective rules that come with the added benefit of giving this category its unique flavor.
Thank you Evan. And really spot on.
There better be a HUGE controversy for Joy. And Ava DuVernay better speak up and complain about this too. Otherwise the media will confirm what we already know.
It just amazes me that the Academy is unable, or not inquisitive enough, to simply ask any critic/s who has seen the movie at a film festival whether or not said film meets the 50/50 language requirement. This is a problem created by laziness, mismanagement and stupidity.
Here's a solution. Call the category, Best Foreign Film in a Foreign Language. Oh wait! Didn't they already do that? This is idiocy.