Foreign Oscar Tracking: South Korea

Korean cinema has really been a hotspot this past decade, what with Kim Ki-Duk (Time, 3-Iron, Spring Summer...), Bong Joon-ho (The Host, Mother, Memories of Murder), Park Chan-wook (Thirst, Oldboy... the upcoming Stoker) and Lee Chang-dong (Poetry, Oasis, Peppermint Candy) winning over critics and Asian film fans quite regularly. South Korea's steady stream of great performances by actresses isn't hurting their rep either... especially not with The Film Experience ;) Just the other day I was skimming over The Housemaid again and, gah, actressy heaven. All four female players were totally working those roles.

The Front Line, Sunny, and Poonsang

So we're curious as to what they'll submit this year.  The Korean Film Commission has narrowed it down to six titles so one of these will be your Oscar contender:

• Poonsan (Juhn Jai-hong) is a romantic drama about a South Korean messenger and his pick-up from North Korea that he's to smuggle across the border. 
• The Yellow Sea (Na Hong-Jin) is about a gambling addict taxi driver who takes an assassination job to pay off his debts. Trouble follows, naturally.
• The Front Line (Jang Hoon) The director used to be an assistant director to the great Kim Ki-Duk. Apparently there is now friction between the two of them in regards to the goings on of the Korean film industry. This is a big budgeted war drama taking place in 1951. 
• Sunny (Kang Hyeong-cheol), is the year's biggest hit in Korea. And -- actress alert! -- it's about a group of girlfriends from school who reunite 25 years later to reminisce. 
• The Day He Arrives (Hong Sang-soo) is a black and white picture about a man wandering around Seoul, running into friends and ex girlfriends and the like. It played at Cannes.
• Hanji (or Scooping Up the Moonlight) (Im Kwon-taek) a government employee is assigned to revive the Hanji paper industry and he falls in love with it. Kwon-taek has been submitted once before with Chunhyang (2000)

It's tough to say what the Film Council will go for as there are a wide variety of factors in play from homefield success, through international auteur reps, to which films might appeal to AMPAS's sensibility. But the sad truth is that, whatever they choose, it's an uphill battle. Oscar has yet to nominate a Korean film... despite recent submissions as hugely acclaimed and well loved as Oasis (2002), Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring (2003), Secret Sunshine (2007) and Mother (2009).

Have you caught up with recent Korean successes like Mother, Poetry (my review), The Host or The Housemaid? 

Oscar Pages for Foreign Film Submission Lists

"What are you running away from?"

A question that's always worth asking.

NYFF Overflows with Fascinating Auteurs & Oscar Contenders

Gael Garcia Bernal gets licked at the New York Film FestivalSince I'm not doing Toronto this year (I hope to convince a few volunteers to do coverage for the site. If you're going and you're a reader/writer...) I plan to go full hog on the NYFF. I will also be enlisting at least one extra member of the Film Experience team to join me so that we have more for you. Below you'll find the final lineup culled from the official site but I've divvied it up for you into categories.  Please do let us know in the comments which films you're most interested in hearing about, or, if you're in NYC, which films you plan to see.

Buzzy Indies
Martha Marcy May Marlene, in which Elizabeth Olsen leaves a cult in time for her Oscar campaign, directed by Sean Durkin (USA)
A Separation, a tense family drama that keeps winning awards, directed by Asghar Farhadi (Iran)
Shame, directed by Steve McQueen, in which sister Carey Mulligan visits her sex addict brother Michael Fassbender. From the director of Hunger so therefore MUST-SEE... even if constant Michael Fassbender sex scenes weren't enough (UK)

Will Their Countries Submit Them For Oscar's 'Best Foreign Language Film'?
The Kid With A Bike, directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, is about an abandoned 11 year old. It won prizes at Cannes because it's a rule that all Dardenne Brothers films do, don'cha know. (Belgium) 
Le Havre, directed by Aki Kaurismäki (Finland)

Miss Bala in danger

Miss Bala, directed by Gerardo Naranjo, in which a beauty pageant contestant runs into trouble with a drug cartel. I'm curious about this one. (Mexico)
Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan -- I've never really understood the cinephile adoration -- it's a crime drama about the search for a missing body(Turkey) 
The Student, directed by Santiago Mitre, a political thriller about a student who falls for a radical organizer (Argentina) 

Oscar Players... Maybe
The Artist, directed by Michel Hazanavicius, an homage to Old Hollywood (France)
Carnage, directed by Roman Polanski, an adaptation of the hit play (see previous posts) (France/Germany/Poland)
The Descendants, directed by Alexander Payne, in which George Clooney has multiple crises (USA)
My Week With Marilyn, directed by Simon Curtis, about a week in Marilyn's life during the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl (see previous posts) (UK)

Auteur Mania... (I don't make a habit of missing films by these men)
A Dangerous Method, directed by David Cronenberg, about Freud (Viggo Mortensen), Jung (Michael Fassbender) and their crazy subject (Keira Knightley), (UK/Canada/Germany)
 Melancholia, directed by Lars von Trier, in which Kirsten Dunst's wedding plans are plagued by the impending apocalypse. (see previous posts) (Denmark)
The Skin I Live In, directed by Pedro Almodóvar, in which the director finally reunites with Antonio Banderas for a gruesome tale of revenge involving a plastic surgeon. (previous posts) (Spain)

Miscellania
4:44: Last Day On Earth, directed by Abel Ferrara, bills itself as an "apocalypse trance film". Starring Willem Dafoe. (USA)
Corpo Celeste, directed by Alice Rohrwacher, is about a young girl struggling with religion. (Italy)
George Harrison: Living In The Material World, music documentary directed by Martin Scorsese (USA)
Goodbye First Love, directed by Mia Hansen-Løve, tracks a first love over eight years (France/Germany)
Pina, directed by Wim Wenders, which is a 3D dance film and tribute to Pina Bausch (Germany/France/UK)
Play, directed by Ruben Östlund, which is a provocative movie about African immigrants taking advantage of Swedish peacefulness (Sweden)
Policeman, directed by Nadav Lapid, which includes wealthy anarchists and anti-terrorist police (Israel/France)
Sleeping Sickness, directed by Ulrich Köhler who won Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival. It involved doctors combating an epidemic of, well, the title (Germany/France/Netherlands)
The Loneliest Planet, directed by Julia Loktev, is an English language drama about a couple falling apart. Starring Gael Garcia Bernal. Yay. (USA/Germany)
The Turin Horse, a meditation "on the interconnectedness of things", directed by Béla Tarr and Agnes Hranitzky (Hungary/France/Germany/Switzerland/USA)
This Is Not A Film, directed by Jafar Panahi who is currently appealing his prison sentence in Iran, and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb (Iran)

Have at it in the comments!

Academy Mixer? Nat! Liz! Audrey!

I can't even remember where or how I found this photo -- I think it was during the rush of web activity mourning Elizabeth Taylor's passing. And I think it must be from 61/62? But how insane is this?

Elizabeth Taylor and Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn all awkwardly dancing with their men friends within bumping distance of each other? It's so "It Movie Stars of the 60s". CrazyHotNostalgia. That'd be like if you could find a candid shot of Meryl, Kathleen & Michelle dirty dancin' in the 80s or Faye, Jane & Diane boogieing in the 70s or Kate and Cate and Nicole letting loose in the 00s or, ah, ... well, you could play this game for hours. Gah! Wonderment.

Best New Favorite Old Picture of Infinity!

Anne Hathaway, a 'Hotsy-Totsy Bitch From Jersey'

Last night on Conan O'Brien, Anne Hathaway decided she needed to react to all that Catwoman mania on the web, much of it not positive due to the Batgirl like motorcycle photos, and composed a rap.

This is 95% my favorite part

Don't act so hotsy-totsy bitch I know that you from Jersey.

The other 5% is where she admits that she's a needy ham (which I just realized is cut from the clip below). Conclusion: The Princess Diaries (2001) is a terrible movie but I'm so glad it exists and brought Anne Hathaway into our (film) world.

Here's the clip.