Five Things I've Learned From "The Film Critic & The Common Man"

By Ben Miller

I danced around the idea of hosting my own podcast for quite some time.  There were a thousand reasons to avoid it.  What made me special that anyone would care what I have to say?  I'm just another straight white guy who loves films.  But, I discovered if I talked to someone who doesn't have the same critical approach, we could really be onto something.  Enter my big brother Jake. 

We started a podcast called The Film Critic & The Common Man.  Together, we discuss a film from my critical perspective and from his perspective of a regular guy.  Sometimes we talk about a box office hit that won Best Picture.  Other times, we talk about a dumb comedy.  We record episode 10 this weekend.  Despite our limited time, I've learned a lot from the experience...

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Algeria, Brazil, Bulgaria, and Greece join the Oscar race

by Nathaniel R

MAGNETIC FIELDS is the Greek entry for the Oscars this year

An exciting morning for Best International Feature Film followers. Just after Sweden and Denmark both announced their Oscar finalists list, four more countries have announced their official submissions. (Each country can submit just one film, though not all of the participating company's name finalist lists) The films are as follows.

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Venice at Home – Day 6: (A)Moral Tales

by Cláudio Alves

Good news for Martin McDonagh fans - The Banshees of Inisherin is getting great reviews, marking a potential return to form after Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri proved to be a polarizing picture, regardless of its awards success. The new film reunites the Irish director with two of his favorite thespians, Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell. With another hit on his resume, the latter is having a marvelous year. Maybe that will materialize in Oscar buzz, or maybe not.

In contrast, Koji Fukada and his cast need not worry about such matters. The Japanese auteur rarely registers with voters beyond the festival circuit. Nevertheless, fans should be excited about Love Life, a family drama centering on a returning patriarch who brings with him much pain and guilt. Such aching themes are a constant in Martin McDonagh's cinema, too, featuring prominently in the first collaboration between the director, Farrell, and Gleeson. So let's remember that brilliant black comedy and one of Fukada's offbeat oddities… 

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Venice Diary #5 - L'Immensità, Other People's Children, Padre Pio, Love Life

by Elisa Giudici

Today we have on our menù four movies so different one for the other there's no point in trying to find common ground or a theme. Let’s begin with the surprising and very good Penélope Cruz film... 

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Denmark's 3 Oscar finalists and their strong awards history

by Nathaniel R

If you've been reading the Film Experience for some time you know that your host here is fond of Scandinavian cinema. I'm of partial Danish descent and once lived in Norway and the two combined prompted the interest around the time the Oscars took over my life. When it comes to Oscars' Best International Feature Film category the common wisdom is that France, Italy, an Spain reign but that's only because they have the most in terms of "all time" stats. If you look at more recent history, it's a much different story. For instance, in the 22 years of the 21st century to date, Norway has doubled its meager nomination count and Denmark has more than doubled its previous nomination count. In fact, Denmark is currently tied for #1 in terms of Oscar's favourite foreign country of the 21st century thus far (8 nominations and 2 wins... which Germany also has. Only Sweden, once Oscar's favourite scandinavian country, has been losing momentum.

To make a long story short, Denmark should always be watched closely in the Oscar race. After the jump their three finalists for their 2022 Oscar submission plus their rich Oscar history overall...

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