Best International Feature: Argentina, Canada, Russia
Tuesday, February 2, 2021 at 7:30PM ;)
Last time, our voyage through the Best International Feature Oscar submissions took us to the entries from some of the biggest film industries in the world. Today's countries may not be as prolific in terms of cinematic production, but they are gigantic when it comes to population and landmass. Furthermore, their submissions are united by a common theme – the relationship between mothers and daughters, familial bonds in distress. Without further ado, let's explore the maternal meditations of Argentina, Canada, and Russia…
THE SLEEPWALKERS (Argentina)
During a summery New Year's celebration, the many members of a wealthy Argentinean family congregate at the clan's old holiday home. Paula Hernández's wavering camera isn't too concerned with the majority of these people, preferring to focus on a mother and daughter pair, Erica Rivas' Luisa and Ornella D'Elía's young Ana. Through measured observation, the director unravels the women's relationship, the crumbling nature of their blood bonds, the tensions that run through the family. Between unexpected bouts of sexual innuendo, warm nights lit up by bonfires, and somnambulistic reveries, the film's naturalism slowly works itself up to heightened emotion. By the end, it explodes in a flurry of pain and tears that feel laceratingly earnest, earned too. There's masterful patience to this style of filmmaking, how it allows conflict to bloom from what, at first, feels like lethargic inaction. One should also praise the modest precision of the form, intuitive editing marrying well with hazy cinematography, as well as the lived-in weariness of the performances. The actors' work, especially Rivas' commanding presence, illuminate the lives outside the limited scope of the narrative, breathing complex sentiment into the unseen drama that's been going on off-screen. B
14 DAYS, 12 NIGHTS (Canada)
Jean-Philippe Duval's latest feature is a ghost story in more ways than one. Death looms over the mournful tale, memories of a lost life weighing down on the characters, reminiscence shocking with as much force as a violent apparition. Historical phantasmagoria also works its way into the proceedings, Vietnam's colonial past bringing along its cadre of hauntings. Such ghosts live in the hearts of two mothers, a Canadian oceanographer named Isabelle who, many decades ago, adopted a Vietnamese girl, and that baby's biological progenitor, Thuy. They also inhabit the landscape, both natural and man-made. Hanoi vibrates with collective trauma and rich history, each surface made up of palimpsestic layers of hidden meaning. As for the great lakes of Vietnam, they act like ritual mirrors, their reflective surfaces powerful enough to invoke monstrous guilt, debilitating regret, bruised love, and even the miracles of redemption, forgiveness, the strength to move on. Myriam Poirier's elliptic editing does a great job at infusing the non-linear storytelling with emotional pathos, while the sets of André-Line Beauparlant and Yves Bélanger's lensing make the spaces as important as the characters. Since this is The Film Experience, it would be irresponsible not to mention that 14 Days, 12 Nights is quite the actressexual delight. Anne Dorval is the biggest name in the cast, and she does a remarkable job, but I was even more impressed by Leanna Chea. Their duets of motherly reflection are some of the flick's best moments. B
DEAR COMRADES! (Russia)
In 1962, the town of Novocherkassk was the stage for a massacre when a workers' strike motivated by increased food prices was met by Soviet authority with mercilessness, bullets, and bloodshed. Veteran Russian filmmaker Andrei Konchalovsky restages history with harrowing virtuosity, framing the events in silvery 4:3 monochrome whose lack of sanguine reds does nothing to hide the savagery of the slaughter. The friction between the cold presentation and the messiness of the film's real-life story results in an experience of contrasts. Colliding ideologies are embedded into the very fabric of the film's formalistic idiom. Fittingly, the characters' beliefs and allegiances are themselves a web of contradictions and compromises, communist fealty and socialist values fighting with each other within the cast's souls as much as they do in the pages of Soviet history. Despite never reducing the community's pain to an individual's singular experience, Konchalovsky is wise enough to structure his panoramic analysis of past crimes around a fleshed-out person. Dear Comrades! is a character study on the dilemma of a stoic Stalinist partisan, observing how her worldview is challenged once her daughter's life is on the line. In the main role, the director's regular collaborator Yuliya Vysotskaya delivers an astounding characterization of gradual disillusionment, faith corroded by fear, motherly abrasiveness melting into a wave of despair. The bumbling state cover-up that takes over most of the picture's second half is so inept that it could be comical if its consequences weren't so perfectly embodied in Vysotskaya's galvanizing performance. This feature represents a cinematic triumph of complicated history crystalized on the big screen, an epic sweep balanced by the inane details of day-to-day existence, the closely observed gradations of family strife, the horror of being silent, impotent in the face of systemic evil. A-
Considering the Oscar chances of these three, while The Sleepwalkers and 14 Days, 12 Nights are very accessible and worthy pictures, they feel too low-profile to make it to the shortlist. When it comes to Dear Comrades!, I expect it to do well with AMPAS and am almost sure it will feature among the list of 15 finalists set to be announced later this month. It may make it to the five-wide lineup too, and NEON's campaign could perchance result in a second consecutive win for the distributor of Parasite.
Reader Comments (6)
Thanks again for another great article.
I've yet to watch Argentina and Russia (I'll be able to watch Dear Comrades this weekend) but the Canadian film was pretty good.
Dear Comrades was quite good. Starring a Russian Amy Ryan?
I also believe in the chances of the russian movie in getting on the 15 list. It's my 4th favourite of the 54 I've seen so far out of the 93 long list, but I think it's the second surest bet after Denmark for getting nominated.
I must be in the minority on DEAR COMRADES! I like the first half quite a bit, but when it narrows its focus to the rather trite character arc of the protagonist it rapidly loses interest for me.
Rod -- I'm loving my travel through World Cinema with these nominations. Glad others are enjoying these mini-reviews too.
Kelly Garrett -- I never thought about it, but I can see the similarity.
Kris -- I'd say Denmark is an absolute lock but AMPAS are sometimes weird. Remember when BPM got snubbed?
Jonathan -- I disagree. However, thank you for the perspective and for voicing your own experience with the movie.
Kelly - That's a genius comparison.