Unlikely Oscar Chances for Brazil and Venezuela with 'The Way He Looks' and 'The Liberator'

Glenn here to take a look at two of this year’s official foreign language film selections from South America. They couldn’t be more different if they tried: from Venezuela we have The Liberator, a historic epic, while Brazil has submitted the rather small-scale gay teenage romance The Way He Looks. The latter is a particularly interesting selection for Brazil, a country that hasn’t been nominated since the one-two punch of 1998-1999, yet it follows in the path of last year’s even more adventurous selection Neighbouring Sounds, which hadn’t a hope in hell, but kudos for that country’s committee choosing quality over what’s perhaps perceived as an easier sell to Oscar voters.

Venezuela would have been wise to do the same. While the exquisite Bad Hair probably wouldn’t have made the Oscar cut even if it had been selected, passing it up in favor of the transparent and flat filmmaking of Alberto Arvelo’s The Liberator disappoints. The cynic in me from my early days of Oscar-watching would have thought this film a shoe-in given its grand war sequences, low-heat romance and exotic vistas, but doesn’t it feel like we’ve somewhat moved away from this sort of film with Oscar voters showing unique bravery in recent years of this category. Maybe the Venezuelan selection committee thought the sight of handsome Édgar Ramirez floating above a swath of flag-waving revolutionaries on the poster would pique AMPAS interest.

VENEZUELA'S THE LIBERATOR
Arvelo’s film is the story of Simon Bolivar, a man whom the opening credits tell us fought in over 100 battles and traversed 70,000 miles, twice the terrain of Alexander the Great. “His army never conquered – it liberated.” An early scene of Bolivar returning to his home in Venezuela with his new wife even shows that the  slaves on his plantation all think of him as a wonderful, noble man and he joins them in a late night dance by a bonfire. He’s basically a perfect human being. A man of the people. That doesn’t exactly make for the most interesting character. Nor does it make for a believable one.

More The Liberator and Brazil's gay romance The Way He Looks after the jump...

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NewFest: "Futuro Beach" and "Gerontophilia"

This double feature review was originally printed in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad

Help, he’s drowning! In good movies so don’t rush to the rescue. Both the opening and closing night films of this week’s satisfying NewFest (July 24th-29th), NYC's annual LGBT film festival in partnership with OutFest, begin with a drowning. Both drownings become romantic catalysts for the lifeguard, but the films couldn’t be more different in tone or purpose so it’s surely a coincidence. NewFest got the order right, opening with the dramatic punch and ending with a sweet drive into the sunset.

In the Brazilian/German film FUTURO BEACH, which opened the annual LGBT film festival Thursday night, two tourists are hit by violent waves. Lifeguards rush in to save them but only one survives. Donato (Wagner Moura) shaken up by losing his first swimmer, seeks out the survivor's friend, a sporty motorbike enthusiast named Konrad (Clemens Schick) to explain the process for dealing with the body. Soon they're angrily rutting, caught up in the disorienting and wrenching drama. Their hookup appears destined to burn bright and die quick due to its emotionally disconnected start and its rapid and frank visual presentation -- English language cinema still lags far behind European cinema in its depictions of sex; the full frontal here is presented as if it’s no big deal.

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The Link World

Gilt City contest to see IF/THEN the wickedly talented one and only Idina Menzel's new Broadway show
The Wire is documenting the Kevin Spacey / Rob Ford feud
Instagram Madonna dresses up as Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons
Coming Soon 3D retrofitting continues for animated films and The Incredibles and Ratatouille are in process
i09 another "Let it Go" cover (they never end) this time using famous Disney cartoon voices 

Cinema Blend rumors circulating that Halle Berry has been cut from X-Men Days of Future Past. Less bad wigs in a movie is always a plus
In Contention Guy Lodge on the winners of the Miami Film Festival includeing the Brazilian thriller A Wolf at the Door. Could it be their Oscar submission this year?
Variety talks to Scarlett Johansson about Woody Allen and like Cate Blanchett she's level-headed about it

Ongoing Controversy
Felicia Day is upset, like we are, about the casting of a white actress as Tiger Lily though I'm linking up to this because even in the pro-ethnic casting majority people keep perpetuating the notion that it would be a risk and no such famous actors exist because they don't get the opportunities and in all of this so few people ever mention the fact that there IS a Native American actress who is beautiful, not completely obscure, and the right age for it who has already carried a movie. How can people have forgotten Q'Orianka Kilcher from The New World this quickly? She is 24 and talented and beautiful and this is ridiculous.  Obviously I missed my calling to be a casting director and slap sense into everyone.

I had already posted this on Twitter but just to remind everyone this is the movie she starred in and this is what she looks like now.

Q'Orianka in The New World (2005) and last year at an Oscar Party

In Development
Variety because there hasn't been enough film and television related to Silence of the Lambs, a new possible biopic of a psychiatrist who treated the man who inspired Buffalo Bill 
Variety casting on Greta Gerwig's sitcom continues. Adorable Nicholas D'Agosto from Masters of Sex on board
Coming Soon it's tough to keep track of Clint Eastwood's projects but after Jersey Boys he's doing American Sniper and it looks like Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller will star as man and wife in the true story about a legendary Navy SEAL.
Empire Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, The Heat) is working on an original film musical !
Cinema Blend Jon Hamm and Zach Galifanakis will headline the comedy Keeping up with the Joneses about a suburban couple whose neighbors are undercover agents. No word yet on the casting of the wives

And FYI... our own Amir Soltani is launching a new podcast called "Hello Cinema" with a focus on Iranian Cinema. Here's the teaser...

Animated Feature Contender: Rio 2096

Tim Brayton will be looking at several of the contenders for Oscar's Animated Feature race. He previously reviewedThe Wind Rises, Ernest & Celestine, Frozen, and Letter to Momo. This week: Rio 2096: A Story of Love and Fury.

At times, one is reminded to despair for the English language. We have before us a certain Rio 2096: A Story of Love and Fury, named in the original Portuguese Uma História de Amor e Fúria, a superior title on two levels. One is that the “Rio 2096” business is an inelegant distraction. The other and more important thing is that in almost every Romantic language, the words for “story” and “history” are the same, and plenty of writers have gotten mileage out of that fact through the years. At any rate, describing Rio 2096 as something that’s both story and history at the same time is merely accurate. Whereas describing it as something that takes place in Rio de Janeiro in 2096 is accurate-ish, though it reeks of marketing to an audience that remembers when “adult animation” and “used-up future” were basically synonymous, back in the 1990s.

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Foreign Oscar Updates: 15 Official Submissions & Much More

Another week, another 10+ submissions for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar race. We're up to 15 official titles now (which means there are about 50 to go). We previously covered Germany's finalist list but they didn't go with the youthful hit comedy Oh Boy after all but with the drama Two Lives, which we highlighted as a strong possibility given its war themes and the presence of Liv Ullman in the cast list.

But the German news is just scratching the surface of what's going on in the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar race.

FINALISTS AND SPECULATION

"Thy Womb"'s Nora Aunor won several Best Actress prizes at festivals

THE PHILIPPINES
They've recently announced a list of 8 finalists although, to make things confusing, they are still willing to look at more films that aren't on the list in case of late arrivals to the cinema. But chances are the film will come from this list: Supremo, Boses, El Presidente, Thy Womb (from the acclaimed Brillante Mendoza), Dance of the Steel Bars (inspired by a true story of prison inmate dancing videos going viral), Pinoy superstar Eugene Domingo (Ploning, The Woman in the Septic Tank) might be representing her country again in Tuhog, and finally director Erik Matti has two opportunities for submission since he has two films on the list On the Job and Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles. You may recall I was bummed that The Phillipines missed last year since I loved their entry Bwakaw. They've yet to be nominated for an Oscar. 

"I Am Yours" might be the submission from Norway

NORWAY 
I was just visiting earlier this summer! Norway has announced their three finalists for Oscar submission. The Norwegian Oscar committee will be choosing between Arild Østin Ommundsen’s It’s Only Make Believe (Eventyrland) about a woman convicted for shooting two people who is released from prison, Erik Skjoldbjærg’s Pioneer about a deep sea diver, and Iram Haq’s I Am Yours (Jeg er din) about a Norwegian Pakistani woman falling in love. The latter starsOla Rapace (the ex Mr. Noomi who was recently in Skyfall) and Amrita Acharia and I'm hoping to see it at TIFF. None of these directors have been submitted in previous years. Norway won't be announcing their official candidate until September 20th. The land of the midnight sun has been nominated for the Oscar fem ganger (most recently last season with Kon-Tiki) but has yet to win the gold.

Fernanda Montenegro in "Time and the Wind"BRAZIL 
Brazil has not released a finalist list or an official submission but longtime fans of this category (and of The Film Experience which has always had a loyal following in Brazil!) should note that it's very possible that Fernanda Montenegro, Best Actress nominated for Central Station (1998), could be back on Academy screens. The 83 year old acting icon co-stars in the lush period drama Time and the Wind. It’s from director Jayme Monjardim, whose film Olga was submitted in its year, and it’s based on a beloved series of historical novels set in the colonial era. 

MEXICO & PORTUGAL
They've both released very long finalists lists of 15 and 16 films respectively. Here is Mexico's list and Portugal's (which is harder to read). Any guesses?

15 ½ OFFICIAL SUBMISSIONS THUS FAR

AUSTRIA The Wall
BULGARIA Colour of the Chameleon
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Who's the Boss?
FINLAND The Disciple
GERMANY Two Lives
GREECE Boy Eating the Bird's Food
HUNGARY The Notebook
LUXEMBOURG Blind Spot
MONTENEGRO Debut Submission! Bad Destiny
NEPAL Soongava: Dance of the Orchids
THE NETHERLANDS Borgman  --Though it's been referred to in some articles here and there as the Dutch Oscar entry, this is not official (yet). Just widely assumed
ROMANIA Child's Pose
SINGAPORE Ilo Ilo
SOUTH KOREA Juvenile Offender
TURKEY The Butterfly's Dream
VENEZUELA Breach in the Silence

Nepal is sending the lesbian romantic drama "SOONGAVA: DANCE OF THE ORCHIDS

MORE (INFO, TRAILERS, POSTERS) @ OUR OSCAR CHARTS
Foreign Film Submissions Pt 1. Albania through Italy
Foreign Film Submissions Pt 2. Kenya through Vietnam

May the best films be nominated, no matter what country they're from! Pass it on to your friends who love subtitles!