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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Japan and Latvia and make their Oscar submissions

Two more official Oscar submissions to report bringing us to a dozen competitors. Only about 80 films to go!  It's starting to feel exciting, isn't it? At least it is for us here at TFE since we love the diversity and eye-opening capabilities of this category. The latest countries to choose their films are Japan and Latvia.

🇯🇵 PLAN 75
Japan (14 nominations, 2 wins, 3 honorary awards, and 1 additional finalist from 69 submissions)

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First 3 International Feature Submissions for the 95th Oscars

by Nathaniel R

The incredible Tang Wei stars in Park Chan-wook's "Decision to Leave"

Finally some news on the Best International Feature Film Oscar race. It's the most exciting for us to track since you really have to play along to be in the know.  Earlier today we told you about the possibilities from Israel (they always select the winner of the Ophir... unless they can't for eligibilty reasons) and we also have our first three official submissions. They are...

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28 Years, 28 Films

by Cláudio Alves

It was on July 17th, 1994, when a most foul thing happened. In Lisbon, a baby was born destined to become an insufferable cinephile full of opinions and costume design trivia swilling around in his chronically depressed mind. That unfortunate creature was me, and today I celebrate my 28th birthday. Inspired by Nathaniel and Tim Brayton, I decided to mark the occasion with a special list that fully displays my movie passions. With a film for each year, this collection comprises titles that mean something to me, for one reason or another. Of course, they're not these years' best cinematic achievements, nor are they my outright favorites. However, I have a special place in my heart, in my memories, for them all. So come explore my life through a personal film odyssey and maybe get to know me better…

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Cannes at Home: Day 1 - 'One Cut of the Dead'

by Cláudio Alves

Last year, I had a lot of fun with the Cannes at Home project. It was meant as a way to dispel FOMO by running a homebound parallel companion to the most prestigious film festival in the world. Since we couldn't screen the new titles on the Croisette, we discussed their directors' past works. In other words: I'm back on my bullshit this year, and you're invited to play along. While this miniseries will focus on the Main Competition and its auteurs, the festivities didn't start with any competing titles. Instead, Michel Hazanavicius' latest film, Final Cut, opened the festival. It's the French remake of a Japanese zombie comedy, and you can read about it in Elisa Giudici's first Cannes Diary.

It only seems appropriate to kick off this parallel project with some thoughts on the original film – Shinichiro Ueda's One Cut of the Dead…

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