The BBC Four World Cinema Award is an endearingly unassuming, low-fi ceremony — so unassuming and low-fi, in fact, I’d forgotten it took place until I happened upon the TV broadcast earlier this evening. (It seems nesting on a Saturday night has the odd advantage.)
It’s a simple enough prize. UK critics elect a shortlist of the five outstanding foreign-language releases of the year, upon which a jury of industry figures convenes to choose to best of them. The award is now in its sixth year: previous winners include “Belleville Rendezvous,” “The Return,” “Downfall,” “The Death of Mr Lazarescu” and “Pan’s Labyrinth.” This year’s list, heavy on 2007 films that only received a UK release last year, went as follows:
“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” (WINNER)
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
“Gomorrah”
“The Orphanage”
“Persepolis”
Jury head John Hurt said the verdict was unanimous. Not a very surprising, or very arguable, result — though with a list of that calibre, it’s hard to go wrong. (Only “The Orphanage,” I think, is a little out of its depth here.) By the way, can you spot what the five shortlisted films have in common? Yep, all were either snubbed or ineligible for the foreign-language Oscar. Make of that what you will.
Meanwhile, Werner Herzog picked up a lifetime achievement award and gave one of the most eloquent speeches I’ve heard all season. I know he doesn’t really have a shot in hell, but I’d sure love to see him on the Oscar stage. (EDIT: If you’re interested, you can watch the ceremony here.)
Comments
8 responses to “‘4 Months’ takes BBC award”
What will it take for the Academy to take notice and overhaul the antiquated process it has in place? I just don’t get it.
Great pick. 4 Months is one of the best movies I have ever seen.
Guy, I’m a huge Herzog fan…could you give a brief summary of what Herzog said in his speech…I’d be very interested to know.
Michael: It’s not that he said anything particularly unusual in the context of such occasions — he just said it with real class and sincerity. Anyway, it seems you can watch the ceremony here (it’s about an hour long, and the Herzog tribute is about halfway through):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00hd0jb/BBC_Four_World_Cinema_Awards_2009/
Guy, that link you are giving does not work for us Americans.
And since Let The Right One In wasn’t on that list (should’ve been and shoul’ve won, clearly) then The Orphanage, actually, is the one that deserved the win. 4 Months was weak and overhyped beyond belief.
James: Sorry, I can only do so much!
Matt: “Let the Right One In” wasn’t released in the UK in 2008, so it wasn’t eligible.
It’s great that ‘4 months…’ won, it was a brilliant film that really resonated with me. Also, I’m proud of the fact that I have seen 4 of the 5 movies nominated – I have yet to see Gomorrah, like most Americans. I will see it though.