Academy Awards (Oscars) 2020 Announced

  • The award announcements maybe found on the official website: Oscars.

Foreign Language Films

Diversity in cinema has been a very hot discussion topic in Hollwood in the past year. This year (2020), Parasite became the first non-English film to win the prestigious best film award at the Oscars. Have a look at the Best Directors in the last three years:

  • 2018-Guillermo del Toro - The Shape of Water (2017)🇲🇽
  • 2019-Alfonso CuarĂłn - Roma (2018)🇲🇽
  • 2020 -Bong Joon Ho - Parasite (2019)🇰🇷

I don’t write this just because Parasite won the Academy Award, and my friends can attest that I have recommended them to watch this much before it won in any festival. However, I do take this opportunity, fueled directly by its Oscar Win to give this movie (and Asian cinema in general) more exposure and publicity. I request everyone, especially those who are not into watching foreign films to give this movie a chance and realize what a wealth of movies are being missed which transcend the Language barrier. In addition to a previous post on existential films that contains some foreign films, I would like to highlight the works of the following directors (Im listing out all that are at the top of my mind, will add more soon):

  • Akira Kurosawa (Japanese): Such an influential creator that literally anything on this linked list is recommended and studied in film school.
  • Abbas Kiarostami (Persian): Taste of Cherries, which is part of the critically acclaimed Koker trilogy. This director’s films lead the Iranian new wave of directors consisting of Bahram Beyzai, Nasser Taghvai, Ali Hatami, Masoud Kimiai, Dariush Mehrjui, Sohrab Shahid-Saless and Parviz Kimiavi. Other notable films include Where Is the Friend’s Home? Close-Up, Through the Olive Trees and The Wind Will Carry Us.
  • Robert Bresson (French): Diary of a Country Priest, Pickpocket
  • Ingmar Bergman(Swedish): Winter Night, Seventh Seal, Persona, Wild Strawberries
  • Andrei Tarkovsky(Russian): Stalker, Mirror, Ivan’s Childhood, Andrei Rublev, Solaris, Nostalghia

Relatively recent ones:

  • Hirokazu Kore-eda(Japenese): Shoplifters, Our Little Sister, Like Father Like Son, After Life
  • Lee Chang-dong(South Korea): Burning, Poetry, Secret Sunshine
  • Edward Yang(Taiwan): Yi Yi, Terrorizers, A Brighter Summer Day, A Confucian Confusion
  • Wong Kar Wai(Hong Kong): In the Mood for Love, 2046, Chunking Express.
  • Michael Haneke (Austrian, with films in French, German and English): The Piano Teacher, CachĂ©, The White Ribbon, Amour.
  • Yorgos Lanthimos(Greek, although major films are in English): The class and society theme in Parasite reminded me of The Lobster (2015), The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Dogtooth.
  • Krzysztof KieĹ›lowski (Polish): Dekalog (1989)- (Ten Commandments), The Double Life of Veronique (1991), and the Three Colors trilogy.
  • Luca Guadagnino (Italian): Call me by Your Name (English/ Italian),
  • Guillermo del Toro(Mexican): Shape of Water
  • Alejandro González Iñárritu(Mexican): Babel (Multilingual film taking place in Morocco, Japan, Mexico and the US) which is the last part of Iñárritu’s Death Trilogy, also its background score by Gustavo Santaolalla(Argentine) won the Oscar. With an emnsemble cast of Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael GarcĂ­a Bernal, KĹŤji Yakusho, Adriana Barraza, Rinko Kikuchi, this is one of the best foreign films that I have seen. I must admit that I have cried at the end of watching this film every single time. In fact, just listening to that phenomenal background score is enough to make me cry. Amores Perros (Love is a Bitch) which is the first part of Death Trilogy, and since we are at it, 21 Grams (2003). Biutiful.
  • Alfonso CuarĂłn(Mexican): Roma, Gravity, Children of Men
  • Lars von Trier (Danish): Breaking the Waves (1996), Dancer in the Dark (2000), Dogville (2003), Antichrist (2009), Melancholia (2011), “The House That Jack Built” (2018). Note his strong academic background, “He studied film theory at the University of Copenhagen and film direction at the National Film School of Denmark”.
  • Paolo Sorrentino (Italian): The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza), Youth
  • Best of Youth (Italian): Takes an entire day to watch it, so clear your schedule.
  • Asghar Farhadi(Persian): A Separation, The Salesman
  • Miscellaneous: Blue is the Warmest Color (French), System Crasher (West Germany), The Elephant Sitting Still (Japan), Olso August 31st (Norway), The Guilty (Denmark), My Sassy Girl (South Korea), On Body and Soul (Hungary), 303 (Germany), Cold War (Poland).

Those who already watched and liked Parasite, may go for Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster, Jordan Peele’s Get Out.

Actors

  • Joaquin Phoenix finally won an Oscar. Ever since River, Summer and Joaquin started their acting careers, their talent was known to all. After the sad untimely demise of River, Joaquin kept performing unabashed and garnered accolodes for his roles, including two Oscar nominations. This year he finally won it for his portrayal of Joker. This also establishes the level of respect for actors playing the role of Joker- All of the recent actors playing Joker -Joaquin, Heath Ledger, Jack Nicholson and Jared Leto have won the Oscar for acting (although not necessarily for their role of Joker).

  • RenĂ©e Zellweger won best actress Oscar for Judy. This was a tough call and I was really rooting for Scarlett Johansson for her performance in Marriage Story (2019). Also, Saoirse Ronan was nominated for the fourth time (Atonement (2007), Brooklyn (2015), Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird (2017), Gerwig’s Little Women (2019)) in 25 years of her existence on Earth! She also has other roles that were not nominated but which I really appreciate. I don’t have any doubts that both Scarlett and Saoirse are going to win it in some time. For those who are getting rejections from film schools right now (read: me), note this and that Ronan auditioned to play Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, a role she eventually lost to Evanna Lynch. Look at her now. Persistence.

  • Brad Pitt: Finally won an Oscar for best supporting role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Did I mention Persistence?