Tag: Sunset

Oscar Watch: Capernaum

I recently did an Oscar Watch post for Shoplifters, the Japanese drama that won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It stands an excellent shot at a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars.

So, too, does the Cannes winner for the Jury Prize and that is Capernaum. This Lebanese tearjerker from director Nadine Labaki is said to be an audience favorite. It recently played at the Toronto Film Festival and buzz continued to increase. The Jury Prize recipient in 2017 was Russia’s Loveless and it went on to score an Academy nod.

The category is beginning to look crowded with such titles as Roma, Cold War, Shoplifters, and Sunset (among others) as contenders. If Capernaum makes it in, it would be only the second picture from Lebanon to do so. Yet it would also be two in a row as last year’s The Insult was the first.

Bottom line: Capernaum stands a solid shot among the five movies to be recognized in the Foreign Language Film race.

My Oscar Watch posts will continue…

Oscar Watch: Shoplifters

Back in May, the Japanese family drama Shoplifters took Cannes by storm and won the Palme d’Or (the festival’s top prize). It comes from director Hirokazu Kore’eda and five years earlier, his pic Like Father, Like Son won the jury prize at the same festival.

Japan has unsurprisingly picked Shoplifters as its official selection for Academy consideration. Based on the Cannes love, it stands an excellent shot at making the final five. It’s likely to face serious competition from Roma (the odds on favorite), Cold War, Sunset, and others which will be discussed on here in short order.

Bottom line: pencil Shoplifters in for inclusion come nominations time. My Oscar Watch posts will continue…

Oscar Watch: Sunset

In 2016, Hungarian director Laszlo Nemes took awards season by storm with his film Son of Saul. The Holocaust drama won Best Foreign Language Film at both the Oscars and the Golden Globes. Therefore, it was no surprise that his follow-up Sunset (set in pre World War I Budapest) was one of the more eagerly titles screening at the Venice Film Festival over the weekend.

Critical reaction is out and it’s decidedly more mixed than the director’s previous effort. Both Roma and Cold War also debuted at Venice and each stand far better chances at recognition than this.

Bottom line: early buzz suggests Sunset will not match the acclaim that allowed Saul to triumph. Its inclusion in the Foreign Language Film race is very much a question mark.

My Oscar Watch posts will continue…