CriterionCast

Oscar Foreign Film Short List Revealed

While we’re expecting the final list of nominees to be announced this week, we now have a clearer picture of who is in the running.

Deadline is reporting that the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has revealed the short list for their Best Foreign Film category for this year’s Oscar ceremony, and it’s quite the collection of films.

Including the Golden Globe winning In A Better World from Denmark, the list features Japan’s Confessions, Greece’s Dogtooth, Canada’s Incendies, Algeria’s Hors la Loi, Mexico’s Biutiful, South Africa’s Life Above All, Spain’s Tambien la Lluvia and Sweden’s Simple Simon.

Personally, the biggest shocker here has to be Dogtooth.   One of the year’s most beloved foreign releases, it’s also one of 2010’s most polarizing, and controversial, two adjectives that don’t often make short lists like this.   Susanne Bier’s World is far from a shocker, and same with Oliver Schmitz’s Life, Above All, and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Biutiful, three films that have had their fair share of buzz.

At this point, this is, as usual, the hardest category to really talk about prior to the awards ceremony.   Part of me wants to say that Inarritu has enough pull to nab the award, but then part of me thinks that the same could go for a director like Schmitz or Bier.

What do you think?

Source: Deadline

Joshua Brunsting

Josh is a critic, a member of the Online Film Critics Society, a wrestling nerd, a hip-hop head, a father, a cinephile and a man looking to make his stamp on the world, one word at a time.

2 comments

  • Dogtooth. Wow. Though I wouldn’t put money on it, I’d lean toward Dogtooth as my pick if, for no other reason, the fact that it seems to represent everything that the Academy Awards generally aren’t. It’s a much richer film in its satire and social commentary than its shocking veneer has led many to believe.