In Contention

Tag: The Orphanage

  • ‘4 Months’ takes BBC award

    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.)

  • Italy leads the charge at European Film Awards

    Proof positive that 2008 is a banner year for Italian cinema: Matteo Garrone’s “Gomorrah” and Paolo Sorrentino’s “Il Divo,” both masterpieces of a very different stylistic ilk, lead all nominees for the European Film Awards, with five nominations apiece.

    Joing them in the hunt for Best European Film are “The Class” and “Happy-Go-Lucky,” which makes four of my favourite films of the year in the list. Rounding out the nominees in that category are “Waltz With Bashir” and “The Orphanage,” neither film one to be sniffed at either.

    By any standards, that’s one hell of a group — I would be very surprised if the eventual five Oscar nominees for Best Picture match that collective quality. I’d be hard pressed to pick a personal favourite, though my gut says the Italian nominees will split the vote, and the wonderful “The Class” will emerge victorious.

    Four of those six reappear in the Best European Director category, with Steve McQueen (“Hunger”) supplanting Mike Leigh as the British nominee in that race. More puzzlingly, Leigh is also absent in the Best European Screenwriter category — curious, since “Happy-Go-Lucky” strikes me as more of a writerly achievement than the nominated “Waltz With Bashir.”

    More thoughts, and a full list of nominees, after the cut.

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  • What was the debut of the year?

    Chances are it’s not a prize that studios are going to mount furious campaigns for, but the Guardian First Film Award has the classiest slate of nominees I’ve seen all year. Not so much an award as a nice little citation in their year-end Film&Music edition, their critics have drawn up a list of the ten best directorial debuts from the last 12 months, and have invited their readers to vote for the winner.

    They’re going by the UK release schedule, which is why you have 2007 fare like “Persepolis” rubbing up against more recent releases on the list. (And why “Waltz With Bashir” or “Synecdoche, New York,” surely the year’s most discussed freshman effort, aren’t on it.)

    So the ten are: “Caramel” (Nadine Labaki); “Control” (Anton Corbijn); “Eden Lake”  (James Watkins); “In Bruges” (Martin McDonagh); “I’ve Loved You So Long” (Philippe Claudel); “The Orphanage” (Juan Antonio Bayona); “Persepolis” (Vincent Parannaud and Marjane Satrapi); “Shotgun Stories” (Jeff Nichols); “Unrelated” (Joanna Hogg); “Water Lilies” (Céline Sclamma).

    Not much American content there, but hey, that’s the kind of year it’s been. I haven’t yet seen “Eden Lake” or “Unrelated,” I’m afraid to say, but besides that fact, I can’t argue too much with any of these inclusions. (Clearly I’m getting too sanguine.) What would you vote for? What have they left out?

    I’m still trying to break a three-way tie in my head between “Control,” “Persepolis” and “I’ve Loved You So Long,” which you may remember I kind of liked. (I’m just happy for an excuse to use the “Control” poster as illustration — seriously, has there been a better one in the last couple of years?) Check out all the details, and vote if you’re so inclined, here.