Emmys: We’re bored to death by the Limited Series

by Cláudio Alves

With 16 overall nominations, BEEF’s second season is our likely frontrunner. But who cares?

It’s over, finished. The TV Academy has broken us – Eric, Nathaniel and I – with the dullest Limited or Anthology Series race in eons. Make that races, for even the acting categories leave something to be desired, with rampant category fraud and some egregious snubs. How did Jamie Bell miss out for Half Man? How in hell did every one of Beef’s leads get a nod except the season’s MVP? And did Jason Bateman really need to double dip with Black Rabbit and DTF St. Louis? Not even Oscar Isaac’s hotness or the possibility of a history-making victory for Matthew Rhys are enough to energize this sorry lot.

Apologies for the grumpiness, but here we go…

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Best Actress in WWII: An Alternative History

by Cláudio Alves

Greer Garson earned herself five consecutive Oscar nominations during WWII. For BLOSSMONS IN THE DUST (1941), MRS. MINIVER (1942), MADAME CURIE (1944), MRS. PARKINGTON (1944), and THE VALLEY OF DECISION (1945). She won the Best Actress trophy in 1942 for William Wyler's first Best Picture champion.

TIFF is almost upon us, so my Alternative Oscar History series will have to take a break. In the meantime, in this last post for a while, let’s look at the period between 1940 and 1945, the war Oscars and the actressing they should’ve honored.

After all, these are my picks, not the Academy’s, so don’t expect an avalanche of Greer Garson in the incoming ballots. The English star found an American home at MGM in the late 30s, just as WWII was breaking out in Europe with Hitler’s invasion of Poland, and was AMPAS’ most beloved star with five nominations and a victory to her name. In this, she edged out Bette Davis’ four nods in the same time span. Then again, though it’s impossible to talk about Hollywood in WWII without acknowledging Davis’ work in initiatives like the Hollywood Canteen, her relationship with the Academy was a rocky one. Famously, she became its first female president in January 1941, before resigning in March. I promise I won’t hold that against her in my votes. It might actually help her case, considering how little I tend to agree with Oscar’s choices…

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The Philippines delay Oscar submission! What gives?

By Juan Carlos Ojano

FILIPIÑANA has the potential to break the Philippines’ Oscar-less streak… if it gets submitted.

The Film Academy of the Philippines was set to announce the country's official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards last September 4. However, a statement was issued instead, postponing the whole thing to give way for further deliberations.

This comes after the Filipino theatrical release as well as the US theatrical release of the supposed frontrunner, Rafael Manuel's dark comedy Filipiñana, which depicts a day at a luxury resort where the difference between classes is starkly illustrated. Think of it as an arthouse White Lotus, if Mike White gave creative authority to some formalist-minded director or an anti-colonial auteur like Lav Diaz. Executive produced by Jia Zhangke and distributed by Kino Lorber (North America) and BFI Distribution (UK and Ireland), the film is enjoying a healthy run in international circles, while maintaining well-attended screenings in limited release in its home country.

And yet, there's trouble afoot with the matter of its selection as the nation's Best International Oscar submission...

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Emmys: Can “The Pitt” be stopped in the Drama races?

by Cláudio Alves

THE PITT is the year’s most nominated program, with 25 nods under its belt.

If there’s still some suspense in the Comedy Emmy races, with Hacks and Widow’s Bay battling out for supremacy, nothing seems able to stop a The Pitt sweep in Drama. Perhaps Pluribus could do it, having scored nominations in the double digits, yet its strongest bet seems to be Best Actress, and that’s about it. Not that the chance to finally see Rhea Seehorn with an Emmy after years upon years of stellar work in Better Call Saul isn’t a treat on its own. Still, sweeps are boring, and here, at The Film Experience, we yearn for variety and surprises. Can the TV Academy deliver on that front?

Eric Blume, Nathaniel R, and I don’t have much faith in them…

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Venice: Lee Chang-dong's Oscar submission "Possible Love"

Elisa Giudici reporting from Venice

POSSIBLE LOVE

It took Lee Chang-dong more than ten years to write Possible Love, after the horrifying police repression of laid-off SsangYong Motor workers in 2009 made him want to tackle the way inequality in Korean society is built around work, and around the pride or shame attached to having or losing a good job. After seeing the result, it is difficult not to marvel that it took him only ten years to write one of the most flawless and powerful films of the last decade. Every scene across its 164-minute running time works like an instrument in a concert, sometimes with almost diabolical precision, and as an homage to Kieślowski’s Dekalog (to which it is dedicated) and similarly intent on encompassing both the moral dilemmas of ordinary life and the capitalist structures surrounding them...

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