This Years Oscars
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发布于: 11年前
This Year's Oscars
RAGEN DETER: You are listening to on screen from the BBC world service. I'm Ragen Deter. Coming up I'll be asking why some leading film critics fear that the selection procedure for the best foreign language film is making the Academy a laughing stock in world cinema. But first a reminder of what's to expect from Sunday's Oscars? And all star cast to presenters was unveiled last week. Handing out the awards the Kodak Theater would be all full of last year winners in the acting categories, Alan Arkin, Jennifer Hudson, Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker. And several stars actually up for awards themselves have also joint the rest of presenters, most notably Australian icon Cate Blanchett nominated in both supporting and best actress categories and heart flip, George Clooney, a best actor nominee. Hollywood icons Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, Nicole Kidman and Denzel Washington were also taken to the stage and just for good measure Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Colin Farrell, James McAvoy, Martin Scorsese, John Travolta and Renee Zellweger will also be calling out the victors. Now a brief reminder of the main names up for Oscar this year. In the best actor category, Daniel Day-Lewis is seen the hot favor but watch out for wild card Tommy Lee Johns In The Valley of Elah. For the best actress category, until recently British legend Julie Christie was the name on everyone's list. But after Marion Cotillard surprise triumph for the best for the La Vie En Rose no ones back on it. And for the best director they say it's a two way tussle between the Coens for No Country for the Old Men and Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood. Plays your bets all will be revealed on Sunday.
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Now we may all have us healthy differences about who should win the best actor and best film garlands. But its best foreign language film which seems to be in the category its own when it comes controversy. This year after sixty-three countries submitted one film each, the Academy shortlist nine. The final choice was then made by the members who dwindle it down to the final five. This is the important award for foreign films especially commercially. Take last year's winner the exclaimed German entry The Lives of Others which made 80 percent of its box office return after its victory, serious business, as they say.
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This year there's dismay at the emission of the highly praised Israeli film. On the grounds that over fifty percent of the dialogue is in English. And there's even more controversy over the absence from the final shortlist over Romania's Four Months Three Weeks And Two Days, winner of the Palme d'Or in Cannes and one of the best celebrate films of last year. Now this movie is missing not because of the strict rules of Academy but some critics say because of the aging and out of touch selection committee. To find out more I talk to the Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan down the line from California a fierce opponent of the selection process. I'm asked him first what he thought was wrong with the current procedure.
KENNETH TURAN: Well the selection procedure has kind of gotten too far removed from what informed the worldwide cinematic opinion is. No two people would like the same group films or pick the same films. But you know basically the Academy motion pictures arts and sciences was represents the best of Hollywood and should be within haling distance at least of the rest of the world. There should be this enormous gap between what the Academy think it's a good foreign language film and what everyone else in the world thinks it's a good foreign language film.
HOST: But the procedure was changed last year after criticism and you know people will say we'll hand the main do you exactly mean the change all over again?
KENNETH TURAN: Well I'm afraid they do quite frankly and I hoped they will. You know the Academy had a similar situation more about ten, fifteen years ago on the documentary branch when a film called Hoop Dreams which is universally considered the best documentary of the year and still consider one of the best documentary in modern times was left off the list of nominees. And the Academy radically changed its system and it really made a difference and now nobody can plans for second about the document choices. And something say more to that has to be done with foreign language.
HOST: I have to ask, is it not just sour grapes in a sense on your part because a critics' favorite particularly Four Months Three Weeks And Two Days hasn't made it past the first phase of selection.
KENNETH TURAN: Well it's not really sour grapes because it is not just critics. This film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes no critics on that juror. This film won the European film award and I don't think any critics on this juror. These are major, major awards. And you know that the fact that film, this good, this celebrated by all aspects of the international film community not just the critics was not good enough never mind to win the Oscar. This did not make the shortlist of nine best foreign language films. And it is really no logical explanation for film that good not to be one of the nine best foreign language films. That's just crazy.
HOST: Are you saying basically then that the kind of people who were choosing this film to bring it down to the shortlist are in essence too conservative to judge films properly?
KENNETH TURAN: I think they're too cut off from the kind of world cinema sense, the kind of that guides the world cinema award. Again differences are OK, no one or two people are going to be agree on everything. But to be that far removed I think for institution like the Academy which gives the awards really to kind of call attention to itself and to the kind of be the awards of supports reflect positively on the institution. And when you give an award that makes people around the world say this body of people doesn't know what they are doing. This is not a good thing and I really heard everything I wrote my pace every time. I've got emails from all around the world people saying thank God someone is saying this because it's embarrassing to the Academy.
HOST: Do you think it undermines the Academy's credibility then?
KENNETH TURAN: Oh, I think absolutely. I think it destroys it doesn't undermine it. You can't ignore the film that the universally praised as the Romanian film and haven't any credibility left.
HOST: There are other expects this Sunday which says that any selection panel if you like would always perhaps go for better known world class directors rather than new comers. They'll tend to like soft films I think the Brazil The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, this year. Those are natural tendencies not just for the Academy, are they?
KENNETH TURAN: They are. And I think you know one of the problems you know with the selection process is that because it's enormous amount of time necessary to look it out the foreign language nominees. The people, who tend to be on these communities, turn to secure older in age than the average Academy membership which secures pretty old than the first place. And this is natural as a person, you know, who's getting older, myself, are you definitely consider tendencies in myself that refer to I want the Academy does. There is a tendency the like for back more conventional films, for back on directors. There are well known in whose works you appreciate in the past. And I feel confident that for the system had been in place where the entire Academy voted on foreign language films. The Romanian film would have made it in enlist among the nine.
HOST: It's overly well pointed the problem, how would you solve this?
KENNETH TURAN: Well, I'm not really sure quite frankly. The core problem that emergent Romanian film is the nature of the committees that paid for the foreign language candidate. Now I think something has to be done to kind of encourage more people with different points of view, points of view more reflective of the Academy as a whole, something has to be done to encourage those people to participate. And I don't know how to do that. But I mean I'm confident because it has been such an embarrassment to Academy, that people in the Academy are thinking about the things come about the solution. The Academy takes itself in the best way very seriously. You know I didn't like all these articles had been written all around the world saying what's going on here. They want to be respected and I think respects within their grads but I'm confident they were come about the system that make it happened.
HOST: The Los Agnes Times film critic Kenneth Turan.