A lot of foreign films that compete at the Oscars deal with heavy emotional or political themes, often in the context of world-changing events. Whether they're narrative films or documentaries, there's a ton of high-concept, game-changing ideas out there, which is why the Academy likes to curate them in the specialty feature categories (International, Animated, … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Doing the Work
It's been just over a week since the Oscar nominations were announced, and the annual Blitz is already in progress. The timeline is extremely tight this year, with only five and a half weeks between the nominee release and the ceremony itself, which as I've previously mentioned is the shortest window since the pandemic. Normally … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – A Compressed Blitz
I saw Germany's Oscar submission, The Teachers' Lounge, all the way back during the Mill Valley Film Festival in early October. It's been almost two months since I viewed the follow-up effort from the defending title-holders in the International Feature competition, and it still sticks with me now that it's in public release here in … Continue reading The Algorithm – The Teachers’ Lounge
I Actually Paid To See This 