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It is with a notable silence that Yojiro Takita’s “Departures” – best known to many of you as that film that beat “Waltz With Bashir” to the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar – slipped onto U.S. screens last week. Of course, there are various reasons for the lack of hoop-la surrounding its release.
The film itself is a decidedly unassuming, low-key effort. The critical reception has been, if hardly hostile, slightly soft. (Sure, Ebert gave it four stars, but what does that mean these days?) Meanwhile, more than three months after Oscar night, it’s likely most people barely remember the film’s victory at all. (Probably a good release strategy, given the dismay with which the win was greeted in many quarters.)
The less charitable explanation, of course, is that the film isn’t terribly good. Pleasant, certainly, and executed with commendable sincerity, but swaddled in the kind of safe, maudlin cinematic cotton-wool that never threatens any real danger, despite the potentially macabre directions the material could go in. It’s a cozy piece of work that doesn’t dare approach “Waltz With Bashir” for formal invention or “The Class” for storytelling verve.
As such, it’s a textbook illustration of the Academy’s voting tendencies in this category, which repeatedly favor the safe ahead of the searing: the movie you’d take home to meet Mom rather than the one you’d run away to Paris with. This decade alone, we’ve seen such competent, amiable and relentlessly middlebrow fare as “Nowhere in Africa,” “Tsotsi” and “The Counterfeiters” triumph over infinitely more innovative competition – -or, all too often, films that didn’t even make the nominee list. It’s a situation that inspires annual grumbling, on these pages and innumerable others.
But it’s not all bad. The running-joke status of the foreign-language award tends to obscure the fact that the Academy has rewarded a number of stone-cold classics in their time too –- never more so than in the earliest days of the award, when titans of film history like Kurosawa, De Sica and Fellini made it to the winners’ podium. And even these days, a gem like “The Lives of Others” can still manages to fight its way to the surface.
Today’s list seeks to at least partially rehabilitate the reputation of this beleaguered (albeit deservedly so) award, reflecting on the most adventurous –- or simply most resonant -– selections in the 62-year history (including the days when it was merely an honorary citation) of the Best Foreign Language Film award.
10. “Rashomon” (Akira Kurosawa, 1951)
If you don’t know why this film is sitting on the “most influential” poll to your left, chances are you haven’t seen it. Fix that. (And then vote for it, while you’re about it.) Kurosawa’s intricate unravelling of a grim rape-murder through the eyes of four involved parties may creak ever so faintly today, but it remains a riveting study of darkest human nature that turned conventions of cinematic perspective and narrative structure on its head. Singled out before a competitive foreign-language award existed, it seems unlikely the Academy would reward anything so bold these days.
9. “Z” (Costa-Gavras, 1969)
One of a scant handful of films to score dual nominations in the Best Foreign Language Film and Best Picture categories, and handily the best of them, Costa-Gavras’ brilliant political thriller stands, four decades on, as a remarkably urgent and edgy piece of protest cinema. A thinly veiled take on the real-life assassination of a prominent Greek politician, “Z’s” balance of black humor, vicious polemic and breathless suspense (it won a second well-deserved Oscar for its editing) makes it an essential reference point for much subsequent U.S. cinema, from Spielberg’s “Munich” to assorted works by Oliver Stone.
8. “The Tin Drum” (Volker Schlondorff, 1979)
A further example to prove that voters in this category used to demonstrate considerable balls on occasion, Schlondorff’s startling adaptation of Gunter Grass’s absurdist fantasy novel fits into the Academy’s favourite sub-genre, the Holocaust movie, only in the most superficial terms. (Hell, the film was even banned in some states on grounds of obscenity.) Following a young boy who – quite literally – refuses to grow up in the face of Nazism’s rise, expressing himself solely through the eponymous instrument, it’s a nightmarish, symbolically heady allegory a million miles away from safer Holocaust-themed winners like of “The Counterfeiters.”
7. “Forbidden Games” (Rene Clement, 1952)
As different a reflection on WW2 youth from “The Tin Drum” as you could hope to find, Clement’s gentle, pitch-perfect story of a 5 year-old girl taken in by a peasant family after being orphaned in a Nazi air raid is perhaps the most compassionate and unsentimental examination of childhood trauma ever put on screen. It is perhaps best remembered for two larger sequences that bookend the film, including a closing crane shot that is one of the most devastating in all cinema, but it’s the intimacy of the scenes in which our young heroine and the older peasant boy she befriends form a private language that really haunt you.
6. “My Uncle” (Jacques Tati, 1958)
Perhaps more recognized by younger cinephiles today for its poster than the actual film, Tati’s sophomore outing for his ingenious Monsieur Hulot persona (and his first film in color) deserves a lasting place in the canon. A spry, meringue-light confection of balletic physical comedy, peppered with standard-bearing sight gags (the fountain scene alone makes the film one for the ages), it offers, like all Tati’s best work, razor-sharp social critique amid the genial fun. It’s rare for the Academy to acknowledge comedy this broad and stylized – Chaplin and Keaton certainly never got their due – which makes this rather unusual win all the more satisfying.
5. “All About My Mother” (Pedro Almodovar, 1999)
That this is not even Almodovar’s best film reveals both the depth and daring of his oeuvre. “All About My Mother” may have become an awards giant in 1999 because it was his warmest, most accessible work to date, and he had been (rather miraculously) nominated before, but the film still represented a bit of a leap for the Academy’s stodgier votership – death, sexuality, religion and transvestitism make for a rich thematic stew, even when leavened with the auteur’s trademark candy colors and off-the-wall humor. In the end, Almodovar’s inarguable humanity steered voters through his more eccentric flourishes.
4. “Fanny and Alexander” (Ingmar Bergman, 1983)
We should be grateful for this win not only because it’s a deserved reward for a glorious career-capper, but because it rescued the Academy from a rather curious state of affairs whereby “Through a Glass Darkly” and “The Virgin Spring” (fine films both, but duller jewels on his resume) were his only Oscar-winners. A vast, visually resplendent family saga drawing heavily on the filmmaker’s own childhood and shot through with atypical bursts of humor and even sentimentality, it was comfortably the most Oscar-friendly film of his career, and no lesser an achievement for it – four statuettes (a foreign-language film record equalled only by “Crouching Tiger” in 2000) confirmed the fact.
3. “8½” (Federico Fellini, 1963)
Fellini stands tall as the Academy’s all-time favourite international auteur, with four foreign-language Oscar winners to his name, any one of which (“La Strada,” “The Night of Cabiria,” “Amarcord”) could slot in happily on this list. If pressed to pick one, however, I’d have to go with his most personal and idiosyncratic work, a labyrinthine, self-reflexive essay on his own creative impulses and shortcomings that has been referenced countless times since, from “All That Jazz” to this year’s upcoming “Nine.” Alternately maddening and hypnotic, it has actually aged better than Fellini’s other widescreen fantasia, “La Dolce Vita,” and remains a commendably bold choice from the Academy.
2. “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” (Luis Bunuel, 1972)
Not quite as bold, however, as this one. Whatever voters were inhaling when they handed Bunuel’s deliciously perverse surrealist satire the gold (ahead of the companion piece to one of that year’s Best Picture nominees to boot), I wish they’d light up more often. Ostensibly a conversational piece revolving around a dinner party with an absent host, the film moves enigmatically in and out of the dream worlds of multiple participants, taking blazing potshots at the church, the state and the army along the way. A rare instance of the Academy rewarding a true maverick for one of his most adventurous works.
1. “The Bicycle Thief” (Vittorio De Sica, 1949)
Like two other films on this list, this win goes back to the days before a competitive foreign-language award existed – proof, perhaps, that the politics and technicalities of the voting system too often obscure true standout work. This selection is truly a no-brainer: there’s little to be said about De Sica’s masterclass in elevating skeletal character drama to resonant human tragedy that hasn’t been written already, though it’s with sadness that I suspect it’s a film more people claim to have seen than have actually watched. A blueprint of sorts for multiple future generations of Italian cinema, it remains one of the greatest films in any language to grab a little gold man.
When do you think the Academy has got it right in the foreign-language race? Have your say in the comments section below.
31 responses so far
1 6-02-2009 at 1:45 pm
Seany P said...
I’m gonna catch shit for this, but I have a vote for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Just too enjoyable or well made to ignore.
Another fun category might be foreign films that weren’t even nominated. I could think of two this year: Gomorrah and Let the Right One In.
2 6-02-2009 at 1:55 pm
Chad Hartigan said...
“competent, amiable and relentlessly middlebrow ” is exactly how I would describe The Lives of Others as well.
3 6-02-2009 at 1:58 pm
Mr. Milich said...
8 1/2 should be #1.
4 6-02-2009 at 2:28 pm
El Rocho said...
Great list. No arguments here. Personally, I’d have put The Lives of Others on, and put 81/2 as #1, but that’s just a personal stipulation. Great list!! But I must say I am extremely shocked at your comment: “Sure, Ebert gave it four stars, but what does that mean these days?”. What excatly are you saying here? Ebert has been, and always will be, the best film critic this side of Pauline Kael and Vincent Canby. Let us not forget he won the Pulitzer for his reviews. Granted it was a long time ago (early 70s I think), but he has not lost his edge nor his intelligence over the years. Only on two occassions have I ever disagreed with his reviews. He has a sharp eye and an ever sharper wit and I certainly hope you are not saying he’s lost his gift as of late or in some way has become a leser critic. There is no critic living today whom I put more stock into than Ebert.
5 6-02-2009 at 2:36 pm
André said...
I agree with Mr. Milich… and I wouldn’t put “All About My Mother” above “Rashomon” in a million years, but then, Almodovar has never been quite my cup of tea… “The Lives Of Others” and “Crouching Tiger…” deserve a place here too, as should (much MUCH more so than these two) “The Virgin Spring”. “The Barbarian Invasions” is also very nice. So is “Dersu Uzala”. And “Through A Glass Darkly”. And “Amarcord”. And “Day For Night”. And “A Man And A Woman”. And “Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion”.
Hell, it’s hard to keep it to just ten! hahahahaha
6 6-02-2009 at 2:59 pm
Bing147 said...
Seany P, you could without too much trouble make a list of 10 great foreign films that weren’t nominated for every single year, let alone for all time. That’s a large chunk of cinema and far too broad to make a top 10 of mean much.
7 6-02-2009 at 3:12 pm
Patryk said...
Too bad Polanski didn’t win for “Knife in the Water.” Still creepy. See it back-to-back with “Repulsion.”
8 6-02-2009 at 3:49 pm
AmericanRequiem said...
If Pans Labyrinth had won do we think it owuld make it on this list
9 6-02-2009 at 4:37 pm
Speaking English said...
Great, great list. I would add “Pelle the Conqueror,” seriously such an underrated film.
Love the inclusion of “Forbidden Games.” That’s one of my favorites.
10 6-02-2009 at 5:22 pm
Guy Lodge said...
SeanyP: What Bing147 said. A list of great unnominated foreign films would essentially amount to a partial list of my favorite films of all time! And that’s something for another day.
El Rocho: I like Ebert too (though I think there are, and have been) better critics out there. But there’s no denying he’s been a lot more lenient with his star ratings of late.
Andre: See? When you start listing them, it’s a much better selection than you’d think! It was hard to choose. (And that goes for “Pelle the Conqueror” too.)
Patryk: “Knife in the Water” lost to “8 1/2.” Oh, if only we had such choices in the category these days.
American Requiem: No. Not even close. I do like “Pan’s Labyrinth,” though. (But I still prefer “The Lives of Others.”)
11 6-02-2009 at 6:03 pm
Lev Lewis said...
I desperately need to see ‘Forbidden Games’, but ‘Bicycle Thieves’ is one of the greatest films of all time. Easily on my top ten. Nice job.
12 6-02-2009 at 7:03 pm
N8 said...
I just knew you’d put “The Bicycle Thief” at #1. What other option is there?
As an aside, I too liked “The Lives of Others”, but am in the camp of people who thought “Pan’s Labyrinth” was robbed big-time!
13 6-02-2009 at 11:37 pm
Vito said...
Life is Beautiful, anyone? Il Cinema Paradiso?
I’m Italian and clearly biased. Haha.
14 6-02-2009 at 11:39 pm
Vito said...
Oops, I forgot the word Nuovo. Nuovo Cinema Paradiso.
15 6-02-2009 at 11:40 pm
Glenn said...
I’m not a fan of Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” or “La Strada” but think “8 1/2″ is heaven so I’m glad you went with that. And I’m loving the inclusion of Almodovar. I hadn’t even seen it at that time and I knew the win was kinda special since I’d read it was about transvestites and HIV+ nuns. Not a fan of “Mon Oncle” though, I must say. Too… precious for my liking.
I’d also throw in votes for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “The Shop on Main Street”, “Rashomon”, “Fanny and Alexander” and – perhaps my very favourite, even if it is a little guiltily – “Babette’s Feast”. That film is so sumptuous and goes down like a beautiful glass of wine.
Sadly, I haven’t seen enough of the winners to do justice though. I’m glad “Waltz with Bashir” didn’t win. I was not a fan. The best foreign language doco (if you can even call “Bashir” that) was “Up the Yangtze”.
16 6-02-2009 at 11:42 pm
Glenn said...
Oh, and if there was any may to make a trivial and strangely uninteresting movie about the Holocause then “The Counterfeiters” somehow managed it. It’s like there wasn’t even a war going on in that movie.
17 6-03-2009 at 1:15 am
Guy Lodge said...
Glenn: I’m so with you on The Counterfeiters. And while I’m not all that keen on Waltz With Bashir either, I still think it would’ve made a better winner than Departures. (The Class rules all, though.)
For what it’s worth, my nearest runner-up for this list was Closely Watched Trains. Actually put it in at first, but then I realized it might be one WW2 childhood story too many.
18 6-03-2009 at 3:23 am
Aleksis said...
I still can’t believe Farewell My Concubine didn’t win.
19 6-03-2009 at 4:24 am
Jim said...
Guy, which do you consider Almodovar’s best? I guess it’s between High Heels and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown?
20 6-03-2009 at 8:12 am
Guy Lodge said...
Nope. “Talk to Her.”
21 6-03-2009 at 12:05 pm
red_wine said...
Séraphine US Trailer
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?sid=86724561&sdm=web&pt=rd
(right click…save as…)
The trailer shows that the French can get sentimental too.
22 6-03-2009 at 12:39 pm
Amir F said...
Hey Guy, lovely list with lovely write-ups there.
But tell me, how do you rate Black Orpheus? I saw it for the first time only last week (but, alas, it was on the big screen) – and I just haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. Truly spellbinding.
Did you have it as a close runner-up on your list?
23 6-03-2009 at 1:53 pm
rosengje said...
Sorry to do this, but isn’t it “Bicycle Thieves” not “The Bicycle Thief?” Pet peeve.
Love that it tops the list, though. I always go back on forth on my favorite De Sica film, with “Bicycle Thieves” and “Umberto D.” alternating depending on my mood.
24 6-03-2009 at 2:25 pm
Guy Lodge said...
Amir: “Black Orpheus” is a beauty, for sure. If I was doing a Top 20, it’d be in. Like I said, the Academy did a pretty good job in the early days of the award.
Rosengje: The title issue is a regional one, I think. US translations have it as “Thief,” UK ones as “Thieves.” (Or the other way round, I can’t remember.) And some drop the definite article from the title … all very confusing. Anyway, suffice to say, both answers are correct ;)
25 6-03-2009 at 3:52 pm
John said...
In my opinion, “Departures” is the not only the worst film to win Best Foreign Film, but argueably the worst ever to be nominated. With it’s “3 Stooges” style of acting, maudlin film score (which seems plagerized), to the ridiculous , “Three’s Company” influenced sub-plots, this film’s win should be considered scandalous!
26 6-03-2009 at 4:14 pm
Chris said...
“Patryk: “Knife in the Water” lost to “8 1/2.” Oh, if only we had such choices in the category these days.”
If we only had such choices in any category these days.
27 6-03-2009 at 10:29 pm
Frank Lee said...
Speaking of Almodovar: it’s funny, but as much as I enjoyed “Talk to Her” when I first saw it, when I watched it again more recently it seemed to have lost its punch. On the other hand, the Almodovar movie that gets better with each viewing is “Bad Education.”
28 6-04-2009 at 12:17 am
Ken L. said...
I first saw “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” when I was about 14 (I’m 19 currently btw) mainly because I thought the title was cool, but I really fell in love with it and remains as one of my favourite foreign language films. Another favourite would be “The Virgin Spring”, which I totally obsessed over for months….”8 1/2″ was ok for me, wanted to see it because of “Nine”, but it’s still a wonderful film.
29 6-04-2009 at 6:33 am
The Dude said...
Impressive list! I’m with Seany P, in that I too really loved Crouching Tiger. Don’t know if it deserves a place on this list, but it would have at least been a runner-up in my book. And I’m glad Almodovar was included…it’s not my favorite of his (Volver takes that crown, somehow), but I think it’s his most important work.
But am I the only one who was underwhelmed with The Lives of Others? I thought it was good, but nothing really special. I’m glad it didn’t make your list.
30 7-28-2009 at 1:19 am
j said...
I dunno if this has been addressed elsewhere, but at least on MC it only rated in the 60’s. Meanwhile, 7 of the top 10 rated movies of the year were foreign language…
31 9-07-2009 at 1:18 am
Babuluk said...
Интересная вещь