In Contention

Tag: Lebanon

  • Golden Globes announce more inclusive foreign-language list

    Penelope Cruz in Broken EmbracesAny regular Oscar-watcher is familiar with the finicky rules and regulations that, year in and year out, keep some of the year’s most talked-about foreign-language titles from contending for the Oscar.

    Happily, the Golden Globes have fewer restrictions — unlike AMPAS, they permit more than one film per country in the competition, and don’t rely on the official submissions of the countries themselves. The result is a larger, more inclusive field of contenders for the Best Foreign Language Film award, as demonstrated by this longlist of Globe contenders (courtesy of Screen International).

    At 69 titles, it’s only 4 titles longer than the Academy’s list, but the real difference lies in the number of high-profile films in contention. For example, while France’s profilic industry is only represented by “A Prophet” for the Oscars, the Globes allow such titles as “Coco Before Chanel,” “The Girl on the Train” and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “Micmacs” to join it in the race.

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  • The foreign films that got away

    Penelope Cruz in Broken EmbracesWith the deadline for Best Foreign Language Film submissions upon us, indieWIRE’s Peter Knegt is taking stock of the possible injustices that already have taken place in the race … and at this early stage, the Academy isn’t even responsible. (Well, unless we count the problems of the one-film-per-country system, not to mention leaving the countries to choose their own contenders, but that’s another conversation.)

    For better or worse — it’s terribly hard to say without having seen all the films in question — several countries have surprised pundits and filmgoers alike by picking lower-profile candidates and critical and/or public favorites.

    We’ve already discussed what is probably the most ill-received submission so far, as Italy selected Giuseppe Tornatore’s critically panned period saga “Baaria” over the film most presumed was a shoo-in to represent the country, Marco Bellocchio’s Cannes-lauded Mussolini biopic “Vincere.”

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  • ‘Ajami,’ not ‘Lebanon,’ chosen to represent Israel in foreign language race

    Thanks to Anne Thompson for the Twitter heads up here, but Yair Raveh is reporting that the Israeli entry in this year’s Best Foreign Language Film race isn’t the Venice fest’s Golden Lion winner “Lebanon,” but the Ophir-winning crime drama “Ajami.” The foreign submissions page has been updated.  Discuss.

  • WEEKLY WRAP: Festival pick-ups, the season’s fetes and the PGA’s 10

    Robert Duvall in Get Low• We wrapped up Toronto as Lee Daniels’s “Precious” took the festival’s audience award, putting it on a solid track for Oscar.

    • We got a look at the first trailer for “Harry Brown,” which may or may not be an awards film for actor Michael Caine.  John, you’ll recall, isn’t feeling it.

    • We saw ‘Meatball’ dominance at the box office in this weekend’s Sunday Cents column.

    • This week’s Off the Carpet column kicked off our weekly Oscar coverage with a call for perspective on the perceived Best Picture frontrunners, while a new weekly column from across the pond — The Long Shot — introduces a different perspective mid-week.

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  • Sony Classics nabs ‘Lebanon’

    LebanonSamuel Maoz’s debut film “Lebanon” already won the Golden Lion in Venice and was probably on track to be a foreign language film contender before Sony Classics stepped up to the plate.  Now the trajectory seems all the more refined, and at the end of the day, SPC could wind up with three films in the mix (along with “A Prophet” and maybe “The White Ribbon”).

    The press release, in part:

    Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired all US rights to the Israeli film, LEBANON from Celluloid Dreams. The film is written and directed by Samuel Maoz, a co-production between Metro Communications and Ariel Films and produced by David Silber, Ilann Gerard and Benjamina Mirnik. This is Maoz’s first feature film.

    LEBANON joins the classic body of films and the growing collection of recent Israeli films in which filmmakers look at experiences of young people at war and try to make sense of it. Set almost entirely inside an Israeli tank, four young men set out on a mission in what turns out to be a trip filled with fear, anxiety and ultimately death and the revelation of what makes life worth living. Recently included in the recent Toronto Film Festival where the film played to great acclaim, LEBANON will also be included in the prestigious New York Film Festival.

    “LEBANON is of those important films that will last forever in the marketplace. We are honored to be bringing LEBANON to the American public,” said Sony Pictures Classics.

  • WEEKLY WRAP: Swayze passes, Venice wraps, Toronto runs

    Patrick Swayze• Patrick Swayze left us this week, passing away of cancer at the age of 57.

    • The Venice Film Festival drew to a close, with Israeli war drama “Lebanon” taking top honors.

    • It was Colin Firth, however, who emerged with Oscar buzz for the Weinstein-acquired “A Single Man.”

    • Across the Atlantic, we kept you up to date with Toronto goings-on, as buzz for “Precious” continues to build.

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  • Thoughts on the Venice winners

    Colin FirthOkay, so I was mainly off the mark. When it comes to guessing festival awards, I usually am. But at the same time, few of the selections revealed tonight by Ang Lee’s jury at the closing ceremony of the Venice Film Festival really surprise me.

    It was clear that Samuel Maoz’s “Lebanon” would walk away with something (I had it pencilled in for Best Director), given its combination of political currency and personal investment on the part of the director. (The film is an autobiographical reflection on his own experience in the First Lebanon War.) Personally, I think giving it the Golden Lion is a tad generous for a debut that, while very accomplished, never quite hits home emotionally, but it’s a reasonable winner.

    I have more of a problem with the runner-up Grand Jury Prize going to Fatih Akin’s “Soul Kitchen,” though I saw it coming. The film is a sweet but slipshod effort that hardly represents the director’s strongest work; with several more deserving films in competition going unawarded, its selection feels like a nod to the more mainstream contingent of the competition. (The absence of critics’ favorite “Lourdes” from the winners list, meanwhile, is the biggest shock here.)

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  • ‘Lebanon’ wins Venice’s Golden Lion

    Venice Film FestivalGuy will comment further on these winners later, but for now, just the facts:

    INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION JURY

    Golden Lion: “Lebanon” (Samuel Maoz)
    Silver Lion (Best Director): “Women Without Men” (Shirin Neshat)
    Grand Jury Prize: “Soul Kitchen” (Fatih Akin)
    Best Actor: Colin Firth, “A Single Man”
    Best Actress: Ksenia Rappoport, “The Double Hour”
    Marcello Mastroianni Prize for Young Performer: Jasmine Trinca, “The Big Dream”
    Best Screenplay: Todd Solondz, “Life During Wartime”
    Technical Contribution for Set Design: Sylvie Olive, “Mr. Nobody”

    OTHER JURIES

    Luigi De Laurentiss Lion of the Future: “Engkwentro”
    Venice Horizons Documentary: “1428” (Du Haibin)
    Venice Horizons Special Mention: “The Man’s Woman and Other Stories” (Amt Dutta)

  • VENICE: Who will take the gold … and who should

    The Golden Lion at the Venice Film FestivalAnd so it comes to this. Ten days of blazing sunshine, free-flowing Prosecco, occasionally “Brazil”-style administration and – oh, right – a few films too, will come to a head tonight as Ang Lee and his merry band of jurors will name the supposed best of the fest.

    I’ve written before about the near-futility of predicting festival awards. Unlike the Oscars, the voting body is different every time, so you’re never quite sure what they’re looking for. We persist because it’s fun, thought it actually becomes more difficult when you’ve seen most of the films in question, as personal reservations (or fondnesses) keep getting in the way.

    If I were back in London, for example, I’d be more open to the whispers that Fatih Akin’s cheery but slight crowdpleaser “Soul Kitchen” is a serious contender for the Golden Lion, effectively serving Marco Müller’s more populist programming direction; having actually seen the film, my gut reaction is more in the “you’ve got to be kidding me” vein.

    If no clear-cut frontrunner has emerged from this year’s lineup, it’s because no film has united critical opinion and mainstream media interest the way “Brokeback” or last year’s champ “The Wrestler” did. Some are plumping for Michael Moore, though that would seem a bit old-hat five years after Cannes laurelled “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

    (More thoughts, and my will win/should win picks, after the cut.)

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  • VENICE: ‘White Material,’ ‘Around a Small Mountain,’ ‘Lebanon’

    White MaterialVenice Film Festival

    The big deal on the Lido today was Oliver Stone rolling into town for his Hugo Chavez documentary “South of the Border” — I did my level best to catch the screening this afternoon, but demand greatly exceeded seat supply on this particular occasion. Tomorrow, perhaps.

    Otherwise, the search continues at the festival for a talk-of-the-town critical hit: I had hoped that the extraordinary “White Material” might be it, but the reception so far seems to be warm rather ecstatic. Still, given the general goodwill towards Claire Denis (who has surprisingly never claimed major festival gold) and the undeniable quality of the film, it has to be regarded as one of the frontrunners.

    The title that keeps resurfacing in conversation, interestingly enough, is Todd Solondz’s “Life During Wartime”: people really like the film, it seems, and the fact that an extra screening has been arranged for it may or may not be significant. If I were a betting man, this is where I’d place my chips. Anyway, onto some short takes of the great, the good and the befuddling.

    “White Material” (****)

    I’ve been chided elsewhere for not being direct enough in my reviews, so let’s just get this out of the way: Claire Denis is one of the greatest filmmakers alive, and “White Material” is one of her greatest films.

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