Hans’ Oscar Bites

This may possibly be the earliest I ever cover this category, thanks to four of the five nominated films being cited in other categories, which as far as I can tell is a record! I also figure I need to pepper in the categories that aren’t just a musical chair revolving door of Marty/Sinners/Frankenstein/One Battle/Hamnet etc.

The nominees are:
-It Was Just an Accident, France
-The Secret Agent, Brazil
-Sentimental Value, Norway
-Sirāt, Spain
-The Voice of Hind Rijab, Tunisia

In order of preference:
5) SIRĀT (Spain, directed by Oliver Laxe)
A man looks for his estranged daughter amidst a group of traveling desert ravers. I’ll get right to it, I was so on board with this film until, spoiler alert, a very bad thing happens about halfway through that just completely took me out of it. I think the set up for this film as I outlined in that one sentence summary had a lot of potential for exploring things like desert rave culture, familial estrangement, what comprises a found family, etc. Instead, it just kinda turns to shock slop and doesn’t do much to recover in my eyes. The sound nomination is well-earned, and this could have also been a contender for cinematography or score.

4) IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT (France, directed by Jafar Panahi)
A man runs into someone he thinks might have been his torturer during an Iranian uprising many years earlier. This year’s Palm d’Or winner brings with it a lot of fascinating energy, weaving drama with screwball comedy as the cast of characters roped into confronting this mystery man grows. At a certain point I felt a little bit like this was slipping into some tropes we see common in this Iranian Sadness Porn-type picture we see often (thinking of the third act of Seed of the Sacred Fig) but overall a very satisfying film.

3) SENTIMENTAL VALUE (Norway, directed by Joachim Trier)
The nominations leader among the international films, Sentimental Value’s ensemble and austere Nordic pace clearly resonated with voters across the board. I wasn’t as big a fan of Trier’s previous nominated effort, Worst Person in the World, and I was glad to see some of the issues I saw with that film reined in, namely pacing and character depth. This was a film I very nearly also cited for should have had a production design nom as the house becomes a fully realized character by the end. Will the whole affair be too cold for voters though?

2) THE SECRET AGENT (Brazil, directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho)
A professor on the run from Brazil’s military authoritarian regime. This film is very much a companion piece to last year’s Brazilian entry and eventual International Feature winner I’m Still Here. Brazil may certainly be counting on evoking those same sentiments, particularly in political times like these, for a second win in a row. I do think it’s a little messier and less tight than I’m Still Here and even Sentimental Value, but there’s clearly a pulsing heart throughout the story, carried by an insanely good Wagner Moura, that makes this feel like a more urgent film for the win.

1)THE VOICE OF HIND RIJAB (Tunisia, directed by Kaouther Ben Hania)
A humanitarian Red Crescent office charged with helping victims of the War in Gaza field a phone call from a 6-year-old Palestinian girl caught in the crossfire in this true-life film. What follows is an incredibly gripping, harrowing, heart wrenching drama that left me absolutely wrecked. filmed entirely within one space and interpolating audio recordings of the real conversations, including of our little title character, the director and screenwriter here know that this story has the legs to stand on its own and doesn’t treat the audience with kid gloves while using very clever techniques to evoke the passage of time and building sense of urgency. As the only film to be solely nominated in this category, this is an unlikely winner, but perhaps last year’s doc winner No Other Land may show the strength of this narrative and subject matter among the voting audience.

-WILL WIN: The Secret Agent
-COULD WIN: Sentimental Value
-SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE: No Other Choice (South Korea)