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Chile is the latest country to formally join the Best Foreign Language Film race, having selected true-life political drama “Dawson, Island 10″ as their official submission.
To go by the trailer, the film, which tells the story of a group of political prisoners held captive on the titular island after a 1973 military coup in the country, looks suitably large and ennobling. At the very least, that should make it more to the Academy’s taste than last year’s ballsy Chilean selection, the superb black comedy “Tony Manero.”
Catching up on older news, we should also add a trio of Eastern European titles to the mix: Slovenia’s “Landscape No. 2,” Hungary’s “Chameleon” and Bulgaria’s imposingly titled “The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner.” (I bet Tyler Perry’s mad he didn’t think that one up first.)
The Slovenian entry has been doing the festival rounds for the better part of two years now, to fairly warm reviews. Variety called it an “audacious, superbly crafted, contempo horror pic spiced with humorous hardcore action” — in other words, strike it from the contenders list.
“Chameleon” is a reportedly glossy romantic melodrama of sorts, while the Bulgarian entry sounds less eccentric than its title: a gentle, decades-spanning drama about the relationship between a young amnesiac and his grandfather. Again, I’m working with bare facts and a handful of reviews here; as always, any further info or insight is valued.
On a side note, today an American industry friend of mine asked me (only half-jokingly) if the UK was planning to enter Andrea Arnold’s just-released (and critically celebrated) “Fish Tank” in the foreign-language race. “I couldn’t understand a word,” she said.
5 responses so far
1 9-13-2009 at 7:11 pm
leocdc said...
Wow!!! I almost can’t believe it. Chilean actors on the picture and a Chilean movie is the topic of a new of my favourite Oscar’s race web page!!
Kudos to you Guy Lodge. and greeting from Chile, my beloved country =)
(By the way, this week we celebrate our Independence Day… on September 18th) xD
2 9-13-2009 at 8:08 pm
Speaking English said...
***“I couldn’t understand a word,” she said.***
This sounds goofy, but it’s a valid reasoning for something like “Ratcatcher” where not only does it sound like complete gibberish, it’s actually subtitled. Is “Fish Tank” as hard to understand? I can’t imagine it is!
3 9-14-2009 at 2:53 am
Guy Lodge said...
I can’t say I found “Ratcatcher” that hard to understand myself. (My DVD has no subtitles.) And “gibberish” is a little rude.
But to answer your question, the Glaswegian dialect there is a lot thicker than the standard Essex accent in “Fish Tank,” which I deal with on a daily basis.
4 9-14-2009 at 4:58 am
RJNeb2 said...
Hey, anything that helps “Fish Tank”’s chances sounds good to me. Marvellous film. One of the best of the year so far and doubtless heading towards being severely overlooked in much the same criminal way that “Hunger” was last year.
5 9-14-2009 at 12:11 pm
Speaking English said...
Hey, I totally didn’t mean to be rude – not at all. I’m just being completely honest, and I honestly can say I understood maybe two words out of ever 100 in that movie. The Criterion release has subtitles because it’s just that hard to understand… unless you’re used to those accents, obviously.