International Feature Race - Part 3: A Dozen Movie Stars

by Nathaniel R

Voting on the finalist list for the Oscar categories that use that system (including Best International Feature Film) concluded last week with the finalist lists to be announced on December 21st. As a final part of our general trivia overview (pt 1 stats & genres / pt 2 directors) we thought we'd look at the famous faces gracing the international contenders this year. Here are eleven of the most familiar movie stars in the mix that Academy voters (and you) might recognize from their own history of awardage not to mention previous classics. We'll take these famous actors alphabetically starting with a multilingual Spanish-German star and ending with a Chinese beauty, both of whom came to fame in the Aughts when they were fresh-faced twentysomethings...

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Review: South Korea's Oscar Hopeful "Decision to Leave"

by Cláudio Alves

© MUBI

A woman stands in a room, alone. Wallpapered motifs encircle her in a swirl of blue-green something. Are they waves or mountaintops, those shapes repeated into infinity? Maybe they're both, maybe neither. Maybe they're everything. 

According to a Confucian proverb, the wise man admires water, the kind man admires mountains. Or maybe it's benevolence and virtue, some other translation across languages. Two complementing sides of the same person, perhaps a binary of human natures, these words reveal more than their scholarly meaning – at least, they do in Park Chan-wook's Decision to Leave. Ideas of duality percolate throughout the work, as does the attempt to understand the unfathomable reality of another person. We try to find order in chaos, logic in that which has none, pursuing an understanding that will always be out of grasp. Every single one of us is a mystery to others, and to try to transcend the impossibility of knowing someone else is a fool's errand, the most beautiful thing in the world, ecstasy holding hands with despair. It's love…

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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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Cannes Gowns, Round 7: Decision to Trend

Previous Cannes 2022 Fashion Polls: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6

Léa Seydoux has multiple films at Cannes which is the norm given how in demand she is both at home in France and abroad. This is the gown she wore to her Crimes of the Future premiere. Brilliant Chinese actress Tang Wei returned to the spotlight with Decision to Leave (which Elisa thinks is THE film of Cannes thus far). If you've been wondering where she's been that three year break was because she recently had her first child with husband director Kim Tae-yong (Late Autumn). Meanwhile the UK's Lashana Lynch and Spain's always memorable Rossy de Palma were right on trend; there have been a lot of metallic and/or disco ball gowns as well as an abundance of brilliant pink on the red carpet of late. 

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Cannes Diary #7: Park and Cronenberg are back with incredible movies

by Elisa Giudici

The masters are back with masterful movies! Seeing Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave followed by David Cronenberg’s Crimes of future with only a 20 minutes break between them seemed almost a waste. These two are among the most (rightfully) hyped movies of the entire year and of this Cannes edition. I really wanted some time after the first especially to think fully on what I had just seen, savoring the first impression instead of deep diving into an equally immersive but radically different film experience. Especially considering that one of the two is a perfect movie, a rare five out of five stars, 10 out of 10, or whatever other token of appreciation you can imagine.

Those two films and a new French movie after the jump...

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