Strong Contenders from Iceland, Denmark, and Lebanon

by Nathaniel R

We're now up to 67 entries for Oscar's Best Foreign Language Film category. We're about two weeks away from the official announcement from the Academy which is typically about 90 films long. The latest announcements:

• Bulgaria - Omnipresent 
  Drama about a man spying on neighbors and employees with hidden cameras. No US distribution yet.
• Canada - Watch Dog 
  This drama stars French-Canadian actor Théodore Pellerin, who has a romantic scene with Lucas Hedges in Boy Erased. This is a very different performance as he's playing a violent troubled young criminal here. No US distribution yet but playing at Chicago Film Festival next month.
• Denmark - The Guilty
  A crime drama about a kidnapped woman and a police office. Opens in the US on October 18th.
• France - Memoir of War
  Sad news for the very passionate fans of French family drama Custody. They went with this WW II drama instead. The film stars Melanie Thierry and Benoît Magimel. In limited release in US theaters now.
• Iceland - Woman at War 
  You already know I love this oddball environmental activist movie! It's from Benedict Erlingsson, a former actor, who with his second film, confirms that he's Iceland's most exciting new director. Magnolia Pictures will release in the US...date TBA
• Lebanon - Capernaum
  This is widely expected to be Oscar-nominated. But a word of caution always with the foreign category: there are regularly surprises. Nadine Labaki's previous Lebanese submission Where Do We Go Now? was expected to be Oscar-nominated after winning prizes at Cannes and TIFF's People's Choice Award in 2011...but had to settle for a Critics Choice nomination only when the mainstream awards season hit. Opens in the US on December 14th
• Macedonia - Secret Ingredient
  Dramedy about a man who makes his father a pot cake and soon has neighbors and criminals after him. I believe this is available on HBO Go but will have to double check.
• Nepal - Panchayat
  Panchayat refers to an old style of local political systems in South Asian countries in which five elders would settle disputes between individuals and villages. No US distribution yet.
• South Africa - Sew the Winter to my Skin
  An "existentialist-adventure" set in the 1950s about a Robin Hood like outlaw who steals from white settlers and becomes a hero to the indigenous population. No US distributor yet.

If patterns from past years hold we'll see one switcheroo with a different title than was previously announced and one other title will be mysteriously missing due to disqualification or whatnot. So these charts are accurate from press announcements until they're not should unforseen circumstances occur.

FOREIGN PREDICTIONS
Submissions pt 1 - Austria through Estonia
Submissions pt 2 - Finland through Montenegro
Submissions pt 3 - The Netherlands through Venezuela

TIFF 2018 Finale. Jury of One: Nathaniel

OKAY WRAPPING UP TIFF NOW. Unless you are on an actual jury at a festival, you see a different set of films than everyone else attending (with a handful of crossovers) so I couldn't corral votes with my festival roomies (Nick, Joe, and Chris -- instead we did a podcast). So I thought it might be fun to share my favorites from the festival in 'nominee' Oscar style. These are not, of course, Oscar predictions or even Film Bitch ballots because not all of the films are guaranteed eligibility this year and we've had 8 months of good movies before these and we'll have 3 months of hopefully good movies afterwards that they'll have to compete with. But here's the achievements within traditional awards categories that thrilled me most at TIFF during that 29 film screening marathon.

They're listed in alpha order (by film) except the actors (by name) and links go to our festival reviews if we managed one -- a few more reviews are half written but we need to wrap up TIFF so expect more on A Star is Born, Beautiful Boy, Border, and more soon as they'll be in theaters within the next few weeks.

TEN BEST FILMS I SAW AT TIFF

"Roma" is rich with endless details and emotional punch

• Border (Sweden)
• First Man (US)
• Museo (Mexico)
• The River (Kazakshtan)
• Roma (Mexico)
• A Star is Born (US)
• Transit (Germany)
• Widows (US)
• Wildlife (US)
• Woman at War (Iceland)

Runners up: Cold War (Poland)

Lots more after the jump including best performances, best visuals, best dogs (yes, really), best original songs and more...

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Best Lead Actor - New Oscar Chart

by Nathaniel R

If current predictions hold we're looking at quite an exciting Best Actor shortlist: Bradley Cooper, Willem Dafoe, Ryan Gosling, Ethan Hawke, and Viggo Mortensen. They've all been nominated multiple times for their acting but have yet to win. Since they're all hugely talented, it's basically a win-win scenario on Oscar night no matter who wins, really!  At least that's how it feels at this current moment looking at the grid.

Of course it's only September and things could definitely change. Things could definitely change in the name of Christian Bale as Vice Dick Cheney. Check out the revised chart with new photos, new ranking, new text. Thoughts?

If Beale Street Could Talk & First Man

by Nathaniel R

Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy are a dream together in "First Man"

Festival season is a relentless sprint. NYFF screenings are already underway and Middleburg is right after that so herewith a few quick notes on two TIFF movies whose directors are coming off of their most successful film yet two years ago and an Oscar year where they competed against each other quite famously though both left with Oscars (Barry Jenkins for writing Moonlight and Damien Chazelle for directing La La Land). I personally loved both of those movies but I think Barry Jenkins won the first round and Damien Chazelle takes the second . I realize they're not actually competing with each other. They're friends. Prizes for everyone! Yay for talent. We just like talking awards. It's a sickness. Okay, quick takes here we go...

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TIFF: Alfonso Cuarón's "Roma" Triumph

by Nathaniel R

Alfonso Cuarón's jaw-dropping Roma is inspired by his childhood in Mexico but it's no traditional memoir. Rather than focusing on his own life, he spins a slow-burn fictional memoir, imagining the emotional space occupied by the live-in maid/nanny who helped raise him...

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