2019 Oscar Submissions- ASIA (20 films)

And here are the 20 films from Asia.....

Now everyone knows that “Parasite” from South Korea is the favorite to win the Oscar next year….But what of the other 19 Asian nominees? With one surprise exception, it’s mostly a sad lot.  

FRONT-RUNNERS

1.     SOUTH KOREA- “Parasite”

2.     MONGOLIA- “The Steed”

Okay, so we all know that “Parasite” is top of the list and that KOREA is finally getting nominated. “Parasite” has won the Palme d'Or and numerous other awards, it’s got buzz and box office, and on top of it all, it's a brilliant, wonderful and memorable film.  Everyone who sees it loves it (including me) and even if the elderly voters of the large committee don’t like the edgy, black comedy, it will be saved. It’s as close to a lock as is possible.

But I’d rather talk about MONGOLIA’s unheralded “The Steed”. This was literally the last film to appear on the Oscar list (Mongolia made no formal announcement) and very few people have seen it. This is a really special film about a young boy from a nomadic Mongolian tribe who goes on a long journey to find his beloved horse, which has been stolen by a fraudulent monk.  As we follow the divergent destinies of both the boy and the horse through Mongolia, Russia and Kazakhstan, we meet a series of charming good and evil characters. It may not sound special on paper, but I was getting flashbacks to Eric Valli's Oscar-nominated "Caravan". The film is beautifully shot (with possibly the best acting performance ever by an animal), it has the highest IMDB score of all 93 films, and is certain to appeal to all sorts of Oscar voters, especially older voters and the tech branches. It’s emotionally involving without being sentimental, and the filmmaker is one to watch. I’m not sure Mongolia will make the Top Ten….but it will certainly come awfully close.

VERY UNLIKELY

3.     JAPAN- “Weathering With You”

4.     PHILIPPINES- “Verdict”

These films may have some supporters but not enough that they’ll have any chance to make the finals. Much has been made of the fact that “Weathering With You” is the first anime film from JAPAN to compete in this category since Hayao Miyazaki’s “Princess Mononoke” in 1997. Though it has good reviews, “Weathering” (set to be released in the USA in January 2020), about a girl who may able to control the weather, is unlikely to overcome the animation bias in this category. However, it is likely to use the Foreign Film Oscar buzz to try and earn an Animated Film nod (it is eligible). 

“Verdict”, from the PHILIPPINES, is a police procedural about a battered wife trying to navigate her way through the criminal justice system. Tunisia did this brilliantly last year in "Beauty and the Dogs" but didn’t manage to get nominated. Despite a Special Jury Prize in Venice, the Philippines, with its low-budget “poverty porn” hand-held esthetic, is also unlikely to break through. But good efforts by both.

RUNNER-UPS
5. CAMBODIA- "In the Life of Music"
6. KYRGYZSTAN- "Aurora"
7. KAZAKHSTAN- "Kazakh Khanate: Golden Throne"

These three obscure films will proudly fly their flag, but I can’t see any of them advancing them to the next round. CAMBODIA is sending “In the Life of Music”, a film about how a traditional song played an important role in the lives of three generations set in three different periods in Cambodia's turbulent 20th century history- before, during and after the Khmer Rouge genocide. Probably too small for a nomination. 

From Central Asia, we have a charming little indie from KYRGYZSTAN called "Aurora", about the lives of a bunch of quirky characters at a sanatorium, a bizarre sort of health spa that is a relic of the Soviet era (I've been to one of these and they are bizarre but fun places). The characters are supposedly archetypes of traditional Kyrgyz society, however Oscar voters likely won't know that. People are calling the Kazakh Khanate series (currently two films and a TV series) a Kazakh version of "Game of Thrones". While KAZAKHSTAN scored an unexpected nomination for "Mongol" and the costumes and sets look cool, the effects here look a bit cheap and it's unclear how well audiences will follow a historical sequel. 

MIDDLE OF THE GROUP

8.     INDONESIA- “Memories of My Body”

9.     INDIA- “Gully Boy”

10. PAKISTAN- “Laal Kabootar”

11. SINGAPORE- “A Land Imagined”

These culturally specific films may be in “the middle”, but they are also completely out of luck. INDIA and PAKISTAN have sent well-made films that are likely to get lost in translation. “Laal Kabootar” is an exciting thriller about a cab driver who teams up with a young widow looking for revenge. Shot by a music video director in the hectic, crazy city of Karachi (where I used to live), it looks slick and stylish and would be a great candidate for a US remake. But it's perhaps a bit too edgy and local for AMPAS. “Gully Boy” (on Amazon Prime) has gotten very good reviews, although I’m not really sure why. It’s not a bad film but the plot is predictable, the characters are archetypes and one of the leads (Safeena) is downright unlikable. If you don’t like hip-hop and rap battles (I don't.....and I’m not sure many Oscar voters do), then this film is not for you. Props to the guys who did the English subtitles though….they worked hard to translate the rapid-fire raps….even if it is hard for English-speaking audiences to process so much poetry so quickly.

INDONESIA’s daring “Memories of My Body” is also likely to lose something in translation. I’ve heard that only Javanese audiences will be able to fully appreciate this controversial look at lengger dancers, men who perform female roles in traditional Javanese dance. It’s obviously that a lot of the wordplay does not translate into English, and the occasional narration (by the dancer whose life inspired the film) may annoy some viewers. Still, I thought this queer film from increasingly homophobic Indonesia was great and I'm proud that the Indonesian Academy had the courage to send it, after Islamist groups forced it out of several theatres and banned it in several provinces. Neighboring SINGAPORE won the Golden Leopard at the 2018 Locarno Film Festival, though it’s difficult to understand why…”A Land Imagined” (on Netflix) tries to make a David Lynch-style mystery but ends up just not making much sense at all. Is it a dream? Is it reality? Why is a man stripping naked to run on a treadmill? Do you care? I didn’t. It’s too arty and abstract to score here.

WITHOUT ANY CHANCE

12. UZBEKISTAN- “Hot Bread”
13. TAIWAN- “Dear Ex”

14. NEPAL- “Bulbul”

15. BANGLADESH- “Alpha”

These four small, average melodramas will be quickly forgotten amongst the muddle of 93 films. I’ve seen “Alpha”, “Bulbul” and “Dear Ex”.

Production values are often a problem for poorer countries like BANGLADESH but “Alpha” (watchable on YouTube) represents a step forward for the country, with some beautiful cinematography and imagery. It’s the story of a village artist who finds a dead body and although it starts off well, with a series of interesting and colorful characters, it loses its focus and starts drifting (like the body) about halfway through and never recovers. Nearby NEPAL has sent an interesting film about a lonely young woman bus driver in Kathmandu who begins an extramarital affair six years after her husband leaves to work in Saudi Arabia. It touches on a lot of social issues that I’m sure will resonate in Nepal, but for Western audiences it’s merely a diverting soap opera. I had high expectations for LGBT dramedy “Dear Ex” from TAIWAN, about a (loud and annoying) furious widow angry that her estranged ex-husband has left his money to his gay lover instead of his son. This could be a great idea for a screwball comedy or a tense drama, but the film never commits to either...It's a wishy-washy and surprisingly dull mish-mash.  If you want to see for yourself, it's available on Netflix.

 

Welcome UZBEKISTAN! I haven’t seen “Hot Bread” (a very bad translation...I spoke with  Central Asian friend and he said “Home-Baked Bread” is closer to the actual meaning) but I’m very happy to see Uzbekistan debuting here. Seven films applied to be in the country’s first-ever Oscar entry. I can’t wait to see “Hot Bread”, about a city girl, sent to live with her grandmother in the countryside….but as a small rural drama that hasn’t played anywhere internationally it is highly unlikely to advance.

OH HELL NO!

16. CHINA- “Ne Zha”

17. VIETNAM- “Furie”

18. THAILAND- “Inhuman Kiss”

19.  HONG KONG- “White Storm 2”

20.  MALAYSIA- “M for Malaysia”

Flesh-eating demons…. demonic two-year olds…..Jackie Chan-style martial arts…..These five genre pics have multiple strikes against them that will prevent any of them from being seriously considered. For the third year in a row, CHINA has ignored its beautiful stable of arthouse films to choose a box-office hit with few awards or festival play. “Ne Zha”, a state-of-the-art animated film about a two-year old from hell (literally) rooted in Chinese mythology, has excellent animation and could be a contender in the Animated Film category (it is eligible). But the scatological humor and overall “loudness” (plus internal cartoon competition from Japan) will doom it to the bottom of the list.

Oscar also hates horror films. But THAILAND doesn’t give a f***. You have to give the Thais credit for having zero genre prejudices…They pick horror films, comedies, action movies, odd docudramas….And this year, they have selected “Krasue: Inhuman Kiss”, a rather depressing horror-drama about a young village woman doomed to transform into a krasue, a bloodsucking female demon well-known to anyone in Southeast Asia. The film has more melodrama than horror and although interesting, it’s very, very slow and mediocre CGI effects mar the ending.

 

When “The Third Wife” was unceremoniously pulled from cinemas in VIETNAM prior to completing its 7-day run, action movie “Furie” became the frontrunner to go to the Oscars. “Furie” is a highly entertaining film about a female debt collector (and martial arts extraordinaire) who single-handedly defeats a street gang who kidnap her 10-year old daughter to use in an evil organ-selling scheme. It’s all very fun and campy and the martial arts choreography is great, but it’s not the sort of film that will score here.

“White Storm 2: Drug Lords” is yet another HONG KONG gangster thriller that looks indistinguishable from all the other triad movies they used to send in the 2000s. It hasn’t won any awards and reviews say the film is pretty average and unmemorable…so it’s a mystery why this was chosen at all. Last (and probably least) is MALAYSIA’s jingoistic documentary “M for Malaysia”. This looks like less of a movie and more of a political advertisement for PM Mahathir bin Mohamed, the wily Prime Minister who served from 1981 until his retirement in 2003, only to join the opposition and become PM again in 2018- at the age of 93. It’s a great personal story, but this documentary made by his granddaughter appears to ignore Mahathir’s many, many faults. Probably the least likely of any of the 93 films running.

“Furie” and “Inhuman Kiss” are available now on Netflix, while "White Storm 2" is available on English-subtitled DVD. 

DISQUALIFIED AGAIN?:

21.  AFGHANISTAN- “Hava, Maryam, Ayesha”

War-torn Afghanistan can't seem to catch a break. For the past five years, they've diligently announced a film...but they've only been approved twice. "Utopia" was disqualified for having too much English, but "Parting" (a very good film!) and now "Hava Maryam Ayesha" simply failed to appear on the final list, with no explanation. "Hava Maryam Ayesha", which had the backing of Angelina Jolie, beat out Cannes drama "The Orphanage" to be selected....So why was it not on the list? Did the film fail to arrive in Los Angeles? Nationality issues? I wish someone could find out! 

Now the statistics:

Number of countries who have participated in the past: 25

Number of countries participating this year:  21, if you include Afghanistan which announced an open competition and selected a film but which did not appear on the final list.

Number of debuts: 1- Uzbekistan

Number of countries opting out:  Only five, all of which have only sent films once or twice in Oscar history- Bhutan (1999), Fiji (2005), Laos (2017), Sri Lanka (2003/2009) and Tajikistan (1999/2005). I thought Sri Lanka might return with “House of My Fathers”...but I’m not surprised they didn’t.  

Number I predicted correctly- Only 6- Cambodia, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Singapore and Taiwan. L 

Already Seen:  10- Korea (A), Mongolia (A-), Indonesia (B+), Vietnam (B), Nepal (B-), Bangladesh (C+), Thailand (C+), Taiwan (C), India (C) and Singapore (C-). I hope to see Hong Kong next month.

Film I'm most looking forward to seeing: Pakistan’s exciting thriller “Laal Kabootar”

Number of Female Directors:  6 (25%) - Zoya Akhtar (India), Mag Hsu (Taiwan), Sahraa Karimi (Afghanistan, but she was disqualified), Dian Lee & Ineza Roussille (Malaysia) and Caylee So (Cambodia).

Oldest and Youngest Directors: I’m not 100% sure, but almost certainly 68-year old Nasiruddin Yousuff (Bangladesh) and Raymund Ribay Gutierrez (Philippines) who is only 27!

Number of Foreign Languages Represented:  21 films in 18 different languages! While China, Singapore and Taiwan sent films that are all or mostly in Mandarin, the others were in Bengali, Cantonese, Filipino, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Kazakh, Khmer, Korean, Kyrgyz, Malay, Mongolian, Nepali, Persian (disqualified), Thai, Urdu, Uzbek and Vietnamese. The Central Asian films also featured Russian as a minority language.

Number of countries with a realistic chance at making the shortlist: Only 2 or 3.

Buzziest film:  Well, “Parasite” of course.  

Oscar History: Only Bong Joon-ho (Korea) and Garin Nugroho (Indonesia) have competed at this level before. “Mother” deserved Korea’s first Oscar nomination when it was submitted in 2009. “Leaf on a Pillow” competed for Indonesian way back in 1998.

Controversies and Changes:  In a sign of the continuing violations on artistic freedom in Asia, the front-runners for Bangladesh (“Saturday Afternoon”), Vietnam (“The Third Wife”) and Indonesia (“Memories of My Body”) were banned or pulled from cinemas. Props to Indonesia’s liberal Academy for selecting the film anyway. Ironically, India's media- which is notorious for criticizing the film that gets selected- was quiet this year even though the film wasn't very good. 

Most Notable Omissions:  The most notable omission is probably Moscow Grand Prize Winner "Saturday Afternoon" (Bangladesh). Also missing: “Fly By Night” (Malaysia), “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” (China), “The Orphanage” (Afghanistan), “Manta Ray” (Thailand), “The Third Wife” (Vietnam), “We Are Little Zombies” (Japan). 

Familiar Faces: Song Kang-ho, Andy Lau, Veronica Ngo, Ranveer Singh and Ellen Wong (“Scott Pilgrim Saved the World”).

Last year's race:   I saw 11 of the 18 Asian films. The two standouts were “Shoplifters” (Japan) and “Marlina the Murderer” (Indonesia). “Burning” was certainly thought-provoking but I thought it needed some judicious editing. “Buffalo Boys” and “The Tailor” were silly but fun. As for Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Taiwan and Thailand….I was not a fan at all. Part of the reason Asian countries don’t get nominated much is that their selections are way off. 

NEXT: The films from Africa and the Middle East