Oscar Submissions 2021- The Films from Eastern Europe (21 films)

 Here are the 21 films from Eastern Europe.....This is by far the most competitive group.....More than half of these films are real threats for the shortlist and I'm fairly sure that at least 4-5 will make the list of 15 (last year they got six out of ten spots on the shortlist). 

Unlike previous years, they've also been the easiest to find online. I've seen 18 and have links to 2 more (Romania and Serbia) so I feel pretty confident about these rankings.

Frontrunners: 

1. BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA, “Quo Vadis Aida”

 In A Nutshell:  A Bosnian UN translator tries to get her husband and sons out of Srebrenica before a Serbian militia raids the UN safe zone. 

Pros: It's the best of the 59 films I've seen so far...certainly better than "No Man's Land", which won the Oscar for Bosnia twenty years ago. It's a thriller, a cautionary tale, a family drama, a political drama....it's well-acted, exciting, relevant and tragic....It works whether you know how the story ends or not.  

Cons: None, really....But why is nobody talking about it? No Golden Globe nom is a bad sign. 

2. ROMANIA- “Collective”

In A Nutshell:  A documentary/exposé  on the Romanian health care system. 

Pros: It's probably the best-reviewed film on the whole Oscar longlist (as of February 3rd, it's #2 on IMDB behind Slovakia), and it has won numerous awards and critical acclaim. Health care is a hot issue right now in the USA. I can't wait to see it. 

Cons: Documentaries still struggle to get recognized in this category....But this is the best one on the list and "Honeyland" created a precedent that they seem set to follow. Romania is always ignored here.   

3. BELARUS- “Persian Lessons”

 In A Nutshell:  A Belgian Jew pretends to be Persian from neutral Iran....and is then asked to ask by the Nazis to teach the language.

Bottom Line: Total Oscar bait, with fairly good reviews and a talented pan-European cast. This probably would have been Belarus' first Oscar nomination had it been allowed to compete.

Strong Contenders: 

3. KOSOVO- “Exile”

In A Nutshell:  A thriller/mystery about a well-integrated Kosovar immigrant in Germany (German wife and kids, good job) who becomes increasingly paranoid after a series of mysterious pranks and (possible?) racism and bullying at work. 

Pros: It's just a great film and I expect it will get a lot of high marks from the few who take the time to see it. The synopsis doesn't do it justice; this is an exciting Hitchcockian/Hanekeian mystery where you are never sure whether the lead is paranoiac or a victim. And unlike the other Hitchcock film (See HUNGARY) it knows how to end! There are a lot of parallels with racism in the US.Oscar loves Germany, and this is essentially a German film with the tech credentials to match. 

Cons: Nobody has heard of it....and this category doesn't always like thrillers....But everyone who sees it thinks it's a contender and I expect this will be one of the big surprises on Tuesday. 

4. SLOVAKIA- “The Auschwitz Report”

 In A Nutshell:  Two Jewish Slovaks stage a daring escape from Auschwitz with a report on the camp's hideous operations. 

Pros: I'm not a big fan of WWII films, but I thought this one was great....Oscar loves the subject and this film approaches it in a different way....It's almost two different films- one in the camp, and one on the run....Tight running time, never a dull moment....

Cons: Slovakia has never scored here, even with some baity films ("Eva Nova", "The Interpreter"). Some think the movie is just too small to be remembered. 

5. RUSSIA- “Dear Comrades”

In A Nutshell:  A loyal Communist woman becomes disillusioned when Soviet troops violently crush a protest by workers against a wage decrease. In Black & White. 

Pros:  It's a strong drama that I liked far more than I expected. It's very old-fashioned and would easily get nominated in the 80s and 90s but has quite a few surprises. Auteur Konchalovsky has been shortlisted before.  

Cons: In a year where a lot of films stick with you long after you've seen them, "Dear Comrades" is a good film that you sort of forget about the next day.

6. LATVIA- “Blizzard of Souls” (aka “The Rifleman”)

In A Nutshell:  A 16-year old and his father join a Latvian unit of the Army of the Russian Empire, after the Germans murder his mother, circa 1915 

Pros:  Visually, it's one of the strongest films on the list. Voters from the technical branches will love it. The film is memorable for its brutally realistic depictions of war. 

Cons: As one critic said, Arturs isn't really a human character....He represents Latvia. Like with many war films, character development suffers at the expense of (very well-done) battle scenes. I literally couldn't tell the supporting cast of characters apart. 

7. HUNGARY- “Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time”

In A Nutshell:  A brilliant Hungarian neuroscientist impulsively returns home from the USA to start a new relationship with a man she met and fell in love with at an academic conference....but he claims to never have met her.   

Pros:  Great premise! Great style! Great lead acting performance! It's mesmerizing and intriguing and creepy....It got a surprise Independent Spirit Award nomination for Foreign Film. 

Cons: It was heading toward a nomination until that ending. 😖

DARK HORSES: 

8. CZECH REPUBLIC- "Charlatan"

In A Nutshell:  A creepy gay herbal doctor seduces a married man while diagnosing people's ailments by looking at their urine during Communist times.  

Pros:  Oscar has already shown they like Agnieszka Holland, who has three Oscar nominations. Though the actors are good, the gay subplot strains belief and merely looks silly and distracting (though this based on a true story, there's apparently no evidence the doctor was gay. 

Cons: Yes, I know a lot of people are predicting it but this film is terribly old-fashioned and boring. It would have been nominated in 1990 but I think it's just not good enough to make the final list.   

9. MACEDONIA- "Willow"

In a Nutshell: Three stories about motherhood and infertility; the first is more or less a 17th century Grimm's Fairy Tale, the other two are set in modern-day Skopje. 

Pros:  Milcho Manchevski got an Oscar nomination for the similarly structured "Before the Rain". The three-part is ideal for screener viewing at home. All the stories are engaging and (sort of) connected. Two out of three have an O. Henry vibe.  

Cons: Although I really liked "Willow", I've heard some people dislike the film and are likely to give it low ratings.  

10. POLAND- "Never Gonna Snow Again"

In A Nutshell:  A mysterious Ukrainian masseur with powers of hypnotism (?) inserts himself into the lives of a wealthy Polish gated community. 

Pros:  If we are judging film by their first 45 minutes, this would be one of the best. It's like a lighter version of the brilliant "Borgman" with a quirky style and a series of really interesting characters....you wonder what the director is going to do with them.

Cons: She doesn't do anything, really. The film falls flat in the second half. 

 UNLIKELY-

11. SERBIA- "Dara of Jasenovac"

In A Nutshell:  A little Serbian girl witnesses brutality and inhumanity at a notorious Croatian concentration camp during WWII. 

Pros:  Well, "The Painted Bird" made the finals last year.....

Cons: But that was almost certainly saved by the Elite Committee that doesn't exist this year. Variety called it a propaganda piece. It was selected over acclaimed drama "Father" that was expected to get Serbia its first Oscar nod since the fall of Yugoslavia. 

12. ARMENIA- "Songs of Solomon"

In a Nutshell: The late 19th century friendship between a Muslim Turkish girl and an Armenian Christian girl is put under strain by Turkish massacres of Armenian civilians. 

Pros: Beautiful music and pretty costumes. 

Cons: If there were an award for "Worst Screenplay"....The film hits you over the head with its political agenda. There are literally three almost identical speeches saying "Turkish people and Turkish culture have achieved nothing throughout history, and owe everything to the brilliance of the Armenians" (two by Turkish characters!), and a literal moustache-twirling villain...This is a real shame because the underlying story of friendship between the two girls is well-done, and the finale makes the film worth a watch. 

13. GEORGIA- "Beginning"

In a Nutshell: The wife of a senior Jehovah's Witness official is depressed in a small village, where the locals don't like them. 

Pros: Some true moments of terrifying, brilliant filmmaking . I still get chills.....

Cons: Moments are moments in a 130-minute film. Most of the running time is filled with long shots of nothing happening (At one point, I shut off the movie and restarted it because I thought my screen was frozen during a 5-minute shot of the woman sleeping in the grass). With the shortened voting period, I have a feeling most Oscar viewers won't stay with this film until its (confusing) end. 

14. LITHUANIA- "Nova Lituania"

In a Nutshell: A quirky "what if?" intellectual drama about the Lithuanian government's quixotic plans to relocate the entire country when faced with invasion by both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. 

Bottom Line: This is a good film (certainly better than the three above) but for those who know nothing about Lithuanian/Baltic history, it might not make much sense. This is a small film and not likely to score here.

15. UKRAINE- "Atlantis"

In a Nutshell: A former miner almost wordlessly drives through a bombed-out eastern Ukraine.  

Bottom Line: One of my least favorite films in the competition, my comments are very similar to the Georgian film. Terribly long shots where nothing is happening.....with a few shocking and beautiful moments. There are some good messages beneath the surface but I hated the film. However, some critics seem to have found more meaning than I did. Ukraine's surprise Satellite nomination (alongside "Another Round" and other frontrunners) is a sign this film might have won over the Elite Committee. But it's still far too experimental (and boring) to make the shortlist. 

OUT OF THEIR LEAGUE- 

16. SLOVENIA- "Stories from the Chestnut Woods"

In A Nutshell: An old man and a young woman (Italian-speaking Yugoslavians) meet and tell stories while sheltering together in the woods during a storm. 

Bottom Line: Too weird. The film is told almost like a fairy tale, which I usually like...but the stories and characters just aren't very interesting. The time and place is never explained (apparently it's post-WWII, but I assumed it was much, much earlier until they started talking about emigrating to Australia). While most of the film is in Italian, I found the weird musical interludes (in Slovenian) more charming. While I didn't love the film, the film is worthy of a Best Cinematography nom. 

17. BULGARIA- "The Father"

In A Nutshell: A father and son go on a road trip after the death of their wife/mother. 

Bottom Line: This film is billed as a black comedy and directors Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov directed a great one three years ago ("Glory") so I had high expectations....But this is not really a comedy and all, and it's fairly forgettable. "Borat" actress Maria Bakalova has a tiny role.  

18. ALBANIA- "Open Door"

In A Nutshell: A woman and her scandalously pregnant little sister go on a road trip to visit their widowed father. 

Bottom Line: Very much a female version of the Bulgarian film, this is a competently made road movie that you aren't likely to remember the next day. The film definitely has some important things to say about the double standards and difficulties faced by women (the smarter older sister is basically treated like a maid and housekeeper to her in-laws....the dim-witted younger sister is cheated by men) ad it holds your interest throughout....but not an Oscar candidate. 

19. CROATIA- "Extracurricular"

In a Nutshell: A black comedy about a divorced father who takes his kid's school hostage after having a particular bad day. 

Bottom Line: This sounds great! But critics reviews  are some of the weakest in the group, and Croatia has a habit of sending foul-mouthed, loud films like this to the Oscars without any luck. It's odd that they wouldn't send a screener. 

20. ESTONIA- "The Last Ones"

In A Nutshell:  A Finnish film about sex, drugs and violence in a remote Lapland mining community. 

Bottom Line: Very little to say about this one....I just couldn't get into this Western set in Lapland and its sad, unlikable characters. Billed as a comedy but seemed pretty grim to me. Not a contender.

21. MONTENEGRO- "Breasts"

In A Nutshell:  A high-school reunion brings together a group of friends. 

Bottom Line: Oh dear.....So, this is like a Lifetime TV movie...It's not very well made, though it is entertaining. But the weird tonal shifts, soap opera plots and strange and sudden shifts in character motivations are all a bit amateurish. According to IMDB, this is a re-edited version of a TV miniseries (which would make a lot of sense) which is against the rules....so it's unclear if this was even eligible. 

Now the statistics:

Number of countries who have participated in the past: 24

Number of countries entering films this year:  22.

Number of debuts: None. Every country has entered a film at least twice.

Who Didn’t Submit?: Azerbaijan and Moldova.  Azerbaijan (where I live) had their best film year ever with a Venice premiere (“In Between Dying”) and a Best Director win at Sarajevo (“The Island Within”) so I’m really disappointed they aren’t here….but it’s not really a surprise since they’ve been preoccupied with a war and coronavirus. I also hoped Moldova would send “Baptism” but they haven’t sent a film since 2014 and I believe their Oscar committee becomes inactive after five years.

Already Seen: I’ve seen over half of the submissions (18 of 22), including Bosnia’s “Quo Vadis, Aida”, which is the best I’ve seen and this year’s possible Oscar winner.  I also loved “Exile” from Kosovo and “The Auschwitz Report” from Slovakia, ….and really liked “Willow” and “Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time”. In the middle, “Nova Lituania” and “Dear Comrades” are cold, intellectual films that are quite well-done. “Blizzard of Souls” is an accomplished war film (my least favorite genre). “Never Gonna Snow Again” and "Songs of Solomon" are a mixed bag. The others (Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Ukraine) were fairly forgettable.

Film I'm most looking forward to seeing: Definitely black comedy thriller “Extracurricular” from Croatia which I can’t find anywhere….Looks like a lot of fun.  

Number of Female Directors: 7 (of 22) are directed or co-directed by women- Kristina Grozeva (Bulgaria), Agnieszka Holland (Czech Rep.), Lili Horvat (Hungary), Dea Kulumbegashvili (Georgia), Marija Perovic (Montenegro), Malgorzata Szumowska (Poland) and Jasmila Zbanic (Bosnia).

Oldest and Youngest Directors: This region has the oldest and youngest directors in the worldwide competition- Russia’s Andrei Konchalovsky (83) and Albania’s Florenc Papas (29).

Number of Languages Represented: We have four in the Serbo-Croatian languages (Bosnia, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbia aren’t politically recognized as a single language anymore but they are the same language linguistically), two that are mostly in German (Belarus and Kosovo), plus one each in Albanian, Armenian, Bulgarian, Czech, Finnish (Estonia), Georgian, Hungarian, Italian (Slovenia), Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak and Ukrainian. As usual, many of the Eastern European films (especially Belarus, Latvia, Slovakia and Slovenia) are multi-lingual.

Number of countries with a realistic chance at making the shortlist:

This is a strong group! Maybe 10? 

Most Likely to Advance for the First Time: Romania is most likely to get a nomination for the first time but they did make the shortlist once before….so I’ll say Kosovo. 

 Five of these countries have won (Bosnia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia), three more nominated (Estonia, Georgia, Macedonia), and three shortlisted (Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia).

Buzziest film:  “Collective” from Romania

Controversies and Changes:  Belarus’ best-ever chance at an Oscar nomination- “Persian Lessons”- was disqualified because none of the key cast or crew came from Belarus (it was filmed at BelarusFilm studios in Minsk).

Serbia’s selection committee had to issue a statement in response to local rumors of an unfair selection process….and that was before they snubbed Oscar favorite “The Father” for concentration camp drama “Dara from Jasenovac”.

Oscar History: We have two prior Oscar nominees from the region- Polish director Agnieszka Holland has three Oscar nominations under her belt- Best Screenplay for “Europa, Europa” and two Foreign Film nominations for “Angry Harvest” and “In Darkness”. After representing West Germany and Poland, she is now representing the Czech Republic. Milcho Manchevski is representing (North) Macedonia for the fourth time. He got an Oscar nomination on his first try for “Before the Rain”.

Two other directors are in the race for the third time- Estonia’s Veiko Ounpuu (“Temptation of St. Tony” and “Free Range”) and Russia’s Andrei Konchalovsky (“House of Fools” and “Paradise”).

Five others have been in the race once before- Bosnia’s Jasmila Zbanic (“Grbavica”, 2006), Bulgaria’s Kristina Grozeva & Petar Valchanov (“Glory”, 2017), Kosovo’s Visar Morina (“Babai”, 2015), Slovakia’s Peter Bebjak (“The Line, 2017), and Ukraine’s Valentyn Vasyanovych (“Black Level”, 2017).

The director of the disqualified Belarusian entry, Vadim Perelman, made the Oscar-nominated “House of Sand and Fog”.

Most Notable Omissions: Serbia's "Father" was the biggest omission this year. Long considered to be a potential nominee, it was mysteriously rejected for torture drama "Dara from Jasenovac". Latvia also had a difficult two-way race, and I think "The Sign Painter" (aka "City on the River") is the most notable film missing from the race. Also out in the preliminaries: "Should the Wind Drop" (Armenia), "Rounds" (Bulgaria), four-time Oscar nominee Istvan Szabo's "Final Report" (Hungary), "Oleg" (Latvia), "At Dusk" (Lithuania), "Servants" (Slovakia), My Thoughts Are Silent" (Ukraine)

Familiar Faces:  The most famous face was Franco-Argentinian actor Nahuel Perez Biscayart in "Persian Lessons", but that was disqualified so the biggest star in this group was breakout "Borat" star Maria Bakalova in "The Father" (Bulgaria)....but her part is so small most people can't even find her. Also: Alec Utgoff ("Stranger Things") stars in the Polish submission and Finnish actor Tommi Korpela (not so famous, but who I remember fondly from the wonderful Finnish submission "A Man's Job" many years ago) co-stars in the Estonian submission. 

Last year's race:  Bulgaria, Georgia, Macedonia (A), Slovakia (A-), Albania, Latvia, Poland (B), Hungary, Kosovo, Russia  (B-), Estonia (C+), Croatia, Slovenia (C), Romania (D), Lithuania (F)