Wed 9 Jan 2008
As far as I know, Ken Rudolph is the only member of the Foreign Language Oscar Committee with his own blog. There he jots down each and every movie he’s seen, with a short critique and a grade (1-4 stars).
So far he’s walked out on one movie - Singapore’s “881″, directed by Royston Tan. But he seems to enjoy a good portion of what’s screened to him.
His favorites so far (a week before the narrowing of the list to the top 9 movies to be re- screened to the committee):
SILENT LIGHT (d. Carlos Reygadis; Mexico) 3.75
THE EDGE OF HEAVEN (d. Fatih Akin; Germany) 3.75
THE TRAP (d. Srdan Golubovic; Serbia) 3.75 (a film he regards as the surprise of the batch and an overlooked gem).
I JUST DIDN’T DO IT (d. Masayuki Suo; Japan) 3.5
KATYN (d. Andrzej Wajda; Poland) 3.5
THE COUNTERFEITERS (d. Stefan Ruzowitzky; Austria) 3.5
BEN X (d. Nic Balthazar; Belgium)
BEAUFORT (d. Joseph Cedar; Israel) 3.5 (Rudolph prefers “Beaufort” to the eliminated-darling “The Band’s Visit”)
Italy’s THE UNKNOWN, Romania’s 4 MONTHS…, and France’s PERSEPOLIS are all graded with a 3.25. It now has to be seen how many of Rudolph’s top 8 favorites will also appear on his committee’s nominees.
About “Beaufort”, a personal favorite of mine, and superb film hurt by the The Band’s Visit fiasco, Rudolph writes enthusiastically:
BEAUFORT (d. Joseph Cedar; Isreal)
Israel’s original submission, The Band’s Visit , was eliminated; and lucky for us they found this replacement: a strikingly effective based-on-a-true-story of a platoon of soldiers holding an old Crusader fort in Southern Lebanon under siege by Hezbollah. The acting was superb, particularly Oshri Cohen, so memorable as the youth in Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi a few years ago. Here he is playing the platoon officer, wracked by battle fatigue and doubts about the mission. Cedar has made some good films in the past; but this tense, claustrophobic, character driven war film takes him to a new level. *** 1/2
(Hat tip: Liron)
Addendum: the kind Sasha Stone followed up on this, but gave this item her unique point of view: while I was interested in reading his remarks on the foreign language race, she noted Rudolph’s grades for the possible best picture contenders. “This, ladies and gentlemen, is your average Academy voter”, she writes of Rudolph.
January 10th, 2008 at 7:43 am
I always like to see what insiders think… hope there are more with blogs
January 10th, 2008 at 11:42 am
The Counterfeiters, Persepolis, 4 Months and The Unknown are all films I am so eager to see!!!
January 14th, 2008 at 3:28 am
Thanks for the kind words. However, don’t expect my favorites to make it to the final nine. Some will, most won’t. I don’t think of myself as an average member of the foreign language film committee…and history bears that out. I have just one vote; and I can attest that there is no collusion on the part of the committee members at any level. My taste for the more avant guard submissions is a minority one, for sure.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:26 am
[…] Ken Rudolph, the academy member whose blogged I linked to last week, was gentleman enough to post a comment on my site: Thanks for the kind words. However, don’t expect my favorites to make it to the final […]