In this morning’s roundup of Oscar news ‘n’ notes from around the web, it’s time for subtitles at the Academy … but do we really know all the competitors yet?
Pete Hammond is slipped the Academy’s members-only list of screenings for eligible films in the Foreign-Language category, and prints it. If this is the final list of entrants in the category, it means we’ll have 65 countries, from Albania to Venezuela, competing for the five spots. All but three of the films have previously been announced and are in theWrap’s roundup of entries; the newcomers are Ethiopia (“The Athlete,” above), Greenland “Nuummioq”) and Kyrgyzstan (“The Light Thief”). Missing in action: Afghanistan’s “Black Tulip,” which was announced as its country’s official submission on September 29, but which may have been disqualified by the Academy’s foreign-language committee … (Deadline)
… or “Black Tulip” may yet wind up competing for an Oscar. An Academy spokesperson says the screening list isn’t the final, confirmed lineup of Foreign-Language entries – that AMPAS had to send its volunteer members a schedule because screenings start this week, but that “issues are still being hammered out” with some submissions, and additions or deletions could still happen.
Here’s an opening line from Sasha Stone: “Wrestling the Oscar beast is no easy task.” But she does just that, surveying the race and wondering if things are quite as cut-and-dried as they now seem to be. Her conclusion: they’re not. There’s room for movement, despite all the talk about “The Social Network” and Colin Firth and Annette Bening. (The movement she’d like to see: the arrival of “Fair Game” as an Oscar contender.) Then she slots Best Picture, Actor and Actress contenders into groups: “overdue for a nom/win,” “critics darlings,” “the frontrunners,” that kind of thing. It’s a sensible roundup from someone who keeps telling you that she doesn’t really know anything. (Awards Daily)
Greg Ellwood doesn’t think there are very many sure things yet this season, either. Except one: Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech.” He comes to this conclusion after analyzing the Gurus o’ Gold chart at Movie City News, where he thinks some of the other contributing pundits are underestimating “Rabbit Hole,” Jim Broadbent and Marion Cotillard, and overestimating Jesse Eisenberg and Jennifer Lawrence. (Awards Campaign)
“This year has been a pretty amazing year for documentaries,” says Bilge Ebiri, who handicaps the Oscar Documentary Feature race and decides that the field contains “five frontrunners likely to be nominated”: “The Tillman Story,” “Waiting for ‘Superman,’” “Inside Job,” “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer,” and “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work.” Given the Academy’s near-relentless focus on issue-oriented docs, I’d guess that the last of those films will have the toughest road – and that one of his next five, maybe “Restrepo” or “A Film Unfinished,” could easily side in there instead. It’s a relatively comprehensive look at the field, although Ebiri lists Errol Morris’ wonderful “Tabloid” and Jeff Malmberg’s moving “Marwencol” as dark horses, when the former won’t be eligible until next year and the latter has elected not to enter at all. And hey, where’s Werner Herzog’s “Cave of Forgotten Dreams?” (Vulture)
