Tag: A Separation

Oscar Predictions: Parallel Tales

Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi is no stranger to awards success. 2011’s A Separation and 2016’s The Salesman both won the International Feature Film prize at the Oscars. 2021’s A Hero was shortlisted in the same competition and took the Grand Prix prize at Cannes. So it’s understandable that his follow-up Parallel Tales, screening at the French festival this week, would be looked at as something the Academy might be friendly to. The drama features Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira (costarring in the buzzy All of a Sudden at Cannes), Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney, Adam Bessa, Catherine Deneuve, and India Hair.

So while its resume looks strong for their consideration, the screenings tell a different story. The vast majority of critics are calling this a major misfire. The Rotten Tomatoes score is 18%. No amount of salesmanship would put this in the mix for the top foreign category in a few months. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

Oscar Watch: A Hero

Oscar voters are already quite familiar with Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi as are the festival goers in Cannes. Ten years ago, A Separation won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (as it was called at the time) and the pic was nominated for Best Original Screenplay. In 2016, The Salesman took the foreign film prize at the Oscars. Both The Salesman and his previous effort Everybody Knows held their debuts in the French Riviera.

Farhadi is back at Cannes with A Hero, his latest drama that looks to be another awards player. That could certainly happen. It stands at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and some posts indicate this is the kind of story that could take the Palme d’Or (the fest’s top honor). On the other hand, some of the thumbs up reviews point out that this isn’t in the league of Farhadi’s most lauded predecessors.

Bottom line: I would expect that Iran will submit A Hero as its selection for Oscar consideration. We will see how the competition plays out, but it definitely stands a decent chance at making the cut (while not being the sure thing that his others were). And there’s even a fair possibility that Farhadi could enter the Best Director conversation. A Palme d’Or victory wouldn’t hurt the cause. My Oscar Watch posts will continue…

Oscar Watch: Everybody Knows

This year’s opening selection for the Cannes Film Festival came with understandable questions about its Oscar possibilities. The Spanish language dramatic thriller Everybody Knows, after all, is from director Asghar Farhadi and he’s made two winners in the Best Foreign Language Film category (2012’s A Separation and last year’s The Salesman). It stars two Academy recipients with real life spouses Javier Bardem (Supporting Actor in 2007 for No Country for Old Men) and Penelope Cruz (2008’s Supporting Actress in Vicky Christina Barcelona).

Yet the buzz out of France likely quashed any notions of Academy recognition. Critics say Knows isn’t in the league of Farhadi’s previous works. Its Rotten Tomatoes score is just 46% as of this writing.

Bottom line: the director is one of the few who’s created more than Foreign Language Oscar winner, but Everybody Knows is in no position to be his third.