Oscar Volleys: Best International Film aka “Emilia Pérez” vs. the World

The Oscar Volleys are back for some post-nomination talks. Today, Eric Blume and Nathaniel Rogers discuss Best International Film...

EMILIA PÉREZ | © Netflix

ERIC:  Nathaniel, what fun to have you all to myself to discuss the nominees for Best International Film (which I sometimes still call Best Foreign Film, because that's been in my brain too long).  I think we have five pretty terrific nominees this year.  Before we get into their Oscar-ability, what is your personal take across the five films?  I wouldn't be mad at a ranking!

NATHANIEL:  I share the same nomenclature waffling but we both were Oscar watching since the 1980s so who can blame us?...

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TIFF '24: "Carnival Is Over" and serving poor man's Shakespeare

by Cláudio Alves

CARNIVAL IS OVER (Photo Credit: Helena Barreto)

You know a film has grand ambitions, mayhap delusions of grandeur, when it opens with two extensive title cards setting up a mythos and cast of characters you'll need to follow to make sense of what's to come. Carnival Is Over wants to ensure the audience understands the century-old Animal Game, a clandestine lottery controlled by the "bicheiros" of Rio de Janeiro. Bask in this sense of legacy, for it's about to be upturned as a crisis of power blossoms within the crime lord's syndicate. It all starts with the return of a prodigal son from abroad, a year after his father's suspicious death. Valério is the heir's name, but you might as well call him Hamlet. Or perhaps Macbeth. Later in the narrative, he'll even play a little Titus Andronicus…

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Three more Best International Film Contenders & Finalist Lists

by Nathaniel R

THREE KILOMETRES TO THE END OF THE WORLD © Vlad Dumitrescu

It's that time of year when countries are regularly announcing their Oscar submission. We started the week with 15 contenders but now we're at 18 and we have three new finalist lists, as well... 

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The Way He Looks @ 10: Unlocking Queer Joy

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Hear ye, gays and allies!

This month marks the tenth anniversary of the Brazilian coming-of-age rom-com The Way He Looks (Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho, lit. Today I Want to Go Back Alone), written and directed by Daniel Ribeiro. Since its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2014, the film - and the short film that it was based on - has attracted warm response from viewers since. Released in Brazil on April 10, the film tells the story of a visually impaired high school student named Leonardo (Ghilherme Lobo) who befriends and later on becomes attracted to his new classmate Gabriel (Fábio Audi). It’s now heralded as one of the modern gems of queer cinema and rightfully so.

Given the event that we’re celebrating, I think this is an opportune time to finally put on the record how I came across this warm hug of a film...

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TIFF '23: "Pictures of Ghosts" Sings a City Symphony

by Cláudio Alves

When I walk around Lisbon, I often pass by places that once were cinemas, temples of art and communion left abandoned or transformed for new commercial purposes. There's a big one that got bought by an Evangelical church years ago, its screening room turned auditorium for religious spectacle. I've witnessed some of these changes, but many had already happened by the time I found myself alone in the city. My parents' memories and souvenirs tell the stories of a metropolis I never knew, invoking ghostly cinemas I wish I had seen. Lisbon is a graveyard for a moribund culture, the moving image surviving in a few palaces that persist, raging against the dying of the light.

While watching Kleber Mendonça Filho's Pictures of Ghosts, I couldn't help but translate its reflections to my beloved Lisbon. I imagine most cinephiles will do the same for their homes. It's an identification that shouldn't betray the Brazilian master's intent, which is deeply personal. But in specificity, the universal resides...

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