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DarkImbecile wrote: Fri Dec 17, 2021 2:20 am Paul Schrader’s top 10 of the year, with the #1 you’d expect and one really disappointing choice

I felt validated when he posted about his experience with Memoria on Facebook, which was near identical to mine in not finding Weerasethakul impactful until now. So of course it's the one film of his that will be near impossible for either of us to see again! But yeah, I really thought I could count on him of all people to share a distaste for Belfast's transparent sham...

World famous Netflix producer with his yearly list

Strange that 'Clifford' or 'The Kissing Booth 3' aren't on this list.

Cine21, South Korea's main (weekly!) film magazine, has released its two annual best-of lists. It adheres to Korean release dates, so there's a couple of older movies on the foreign films list that didn't open there until 2021.

Korean films:

1. In Front of Your Face (Hong Sangsoo)
2. Introduction (Hong Sangsoo)
3. Escape from Mogadishu (Ryoo Seung-wan)
4. A Leave (Lee Ran-hee)
5. Winter's Night (Jang Woo-jin)
6. The Book of Fish (Lee Joon-ik)
7. Short Vacation (Kwon Min-pyo)
8. Space Sweepers (Jo Sung-hee)
9. Three Sisters (Lee Seungwon)
10. Gull (Kim Mi-jo)/Coming to You (Byun Gyu-ri)

Foreign films:

1. First Cow (Kelly Reichardt)
2. Wife of a Spy (Kurosawa Kiyoshi)
3. The Green Knight (David Lowery)
4. Phoenix (Christian Petzold)
5. Bacurau (Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles)
6. Annette (Leos Carax)
7. Undine (Christian Petzold)
8. Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)
9. Zama (Lucrecia Martel)/Petit maman (Céline Sciamma)/All Hands on Deck (Guillaume Brac)

Memoria tops Film Comment's annual critics poll.

The Academy has announced shortlists for a bunch of categories, the biggies being Documentary Feature and International Feature. Nothing leaps out as surprising about the former, but the International Feature shortlist is the usual mix of the predictable and the totally unexpected, including a couple films that I personally haven't heard anything about. The big exclusion is Titane, validating all those who thought France had a better chance with Happening.

International Feature:

• Austria, Great Freedom
• Belgium, Playground
• Bhutan, Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
• Denmark, Flee
• Finland, Compartment No. 6
• Germany, I'm Your Man
• Iceland, Lamb
• Iran, A Hero
• Italy, The Hand of God
• Japan, Drive My Car
• Kosovo, Hive
• Mexico, Prayers for the Stolen
• Norway, The Worst Person in the World
• Panama, Plaza Catedral
• Spain, The Good Boss

Documentary Feature:

• Ascension
• Attica
• Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry
• Faya Dayi
• The First Wave
• Flee
• In the Same Breath
• Julia
• President
• Procession
• The Rescue
• Simple as Water
• Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
• The Velvet Underground
• Writing with Fire

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote: Tue Dec 21, 2021 10:59 pmThe big exclusion is Titane, validating all those who thought France had a better chance with Happening.

There’s a decent chance this gets a lone Best Director nod anyways, and the snub may help not hurt that chance

Uggh, now I feel somewhat obligated to was the Eilish doc.

I'm not sure it has even come up on this board but I can't recommend Ascension highly enough.

With a score by Dan Deacon, I see

domino harvey wrote: Tue Dec 21, 2021 11:14 pm

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote: Tue Dec 21, 2021 10:59 pmThe big exclusion is Titane, validating all those who thought France had a better chance with Happening.

There’s a decent chance this gets a lone Best Director nod anyways, and the snub may help not hurt that chance

Has that ever happened for a non-English-language film that didn't win the Best International Feature category (let alone failed to be nominated)? I feel like Ruben Östlund knew the score here (from 3:41): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYTWqLmnjt0

Woman in the Dunes was technically not nominated for Best Foreign Film the year it was nominated for Best Director

Red was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Director for Kieślowski. It was also selected as the Swiss entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 67th Academy Awards, but was disqualified for not being a majority-Swiss production.

Having Miramax's infamous marketing machine behind it probably helped.

Divorce Italian Style was nommed for Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Writing (which it won) but not Best Foreign Film

I would not say this is the movie to pull off that trick for a variety of reasons, namely that Almodovar who’s pulled off that trick before for Talk to Her finds himself in the same situation with a far more acclaimed film. Ultimately it was a film that was not well reviewed by most places (including the New York Times) that disappointed at the box office - and the Foreign voting is the only category in the entire ceremony where the initial round of voting is not by ranked preference but rating individual titles, which doomed a movie that so many people would feel obligated to check out when its so… unsavory to many who would go to check it out. For Vinterberg, Almodovar, Kieslowski, Haneke, etc. these came late in career after the person had achieved significant international renown, particularly among the extremely white, male, European section of the director’s branch that forms a third of the voting body. I personally have felt this film never had any serious chance of being shortlisted and am confused by the narrative it is somehow a snub that the trades have run with.

They’re running with it because it won big at Cannes and the last movie to do so won Best Picture

Plus Neon just doesn’t have anything else to really through it’s weight behind. Pig’s probably their next best bet to put things in perspective.

knives wrote: Wed Dec 22, 2021 2:19 am Plus Neon just doesn’t have anything else to really through it’s weight behind. Pig’s probably their next best bet to put things in perspective.

I disagree- they should be campaigning hard for Spencer, which has a ton of categories worthy of wins, especially with Stewart who should be a shoe-in for actress with a strong campaign (which is the main reason Gaga threatens to take the statue on a perf ostensibly comprised of full-tilt ham). The Worst Person in the World is a film that is going to resonate with American audiences far more than anyone's prepared for- and while sadly the main actress and supporting actor are never gonna get nominated, it's the best possible contender to beat Drive My Car for International Film. Pig and Titane are great movies, and I'd love to see a Cage actor nom or a Ducournau director nom, but those first two films are stronger bets to put effort into for awards season.

Completely forgot about Spencer. Mea culpa

Having said that, while NEON is the last distribution company whose marketing team I would put faith in to promote their films, for countless reasons already discussed pertaining to release models, advertising flubs, etc., if they managed to successfully push for a Cage nomination, I'd be beyond thrilled

I think the international film with the best chances of getting noms in other categories is Drive My Car — the critics wins are very impressive, and the awards precedent of LAFCA + NYFCC fully works in its favor. It can get in Director or Adapted Screenplay (few other big contenders there), or in an ideal world Best Picture, as there's a wide open tenth slot.

therewillbeblus wrote: Wed Dec 22, 2021 2:39 am

knives wrote: Wed Dec 22, 2021 2:19 am Plus Neon just doesn’t have anything else to really through it’s weight behind. Pig’s probably their next best bet to put things in perspective.

I disagree- they should be campaigning hard for Spencer, which has a ton of categories worthy of wins, especially with Stewart who should be a shoe-in for actress with a strong campaign (which is the main reason Gaga threatens to take the statue on a perf ostensibly comprised of full-tilt ham). The Worst Person in the World is a film that is going to resonate with American audiences far more than anyone's prepared for- and while sadly the main actress and supporting actor are never gonna get nominated, it's the best possible contender to beat Drive My Car for International Film. Pig and Titane are great movies, and I'd love to see a Cage actor nom or a Ducournau director nom, but those first two films are stronger bets to put effort into for awards season.

I'm rooting for Stewart in Spencer, she's magnificent (as is the film) and it would go some way to finally shut up the naysayers but Gaga has being banging on about how much she sacrificed for her craft in interview after interview, they may well be heading it to her.

Since no stars wanted to come and no network wanted to air it, the Golden Globes will hold a private ceremony for their members

National Society of Film Critics:

Best Picture: DRIVE MY CAR (48 points)
Runners-up: PETITE MAMAN (25 points); THE POWER OF THE DOG (23 points)

Best Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, DRIVE MY CAR and WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY (46 points)
Runners-up: Jane Campion, THE POWER OF THE DOG (36 points); Céline Sciamma, PETITE MAMAN (28 points)

Best Screenplay: Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe, DRIVE MY CAR (46 points)
Runners-up: Pedro Almodóvar, PARALLEL MOTHERS (22 points); Paul Thomas Anderson, LICORICE PIZZA (20 points)

Best Actress: Penélope Cruz, PARALLEL MOTHERS (55 points)
Runners-up: Renate Reinsve, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (42 points); Alana Haim, LICORICE PIZZA (32 points)

Best Actor: Hidetoshi Nishijima, DRIVE MY CAR (63 points)
Runners-up: Benedict Cumberbatch, THE POWER OF THE DOG (44 points); Simon Rex, RED ROCKET (30 points)

Best Supporting Actress: Ruth Negga, PASSING (46 points)
Runners-up: Ariana DeBose, WEST SIDE STORY (22 points); Jessie Buckley, THE LOST DAUGHTER (21 points)

Best Supporting Actor: Anders Danielsen Lie, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (54 points)
Runners-up: Vincent Lindon, TITANE (33 points); Mike Faist, WEST SIDE STORY, and Kodi Smit-McPhee, THE POWER OF THE DOG (26 points)

Best Nonfiction Film: FLEE (41 points)
Runners-up: PROCESSION and THE VELVET UNDERGROUND (28 points)

Best Cinematography: Andrew Droz Palermo, THE GREEN KNIGHT (52 points)
Runners-up: Ari Wegner, THE POWER OF THE DOG (40 points); Sayombu Mukdeeprom, MEMORIA (35 points)