Biggest Oscar Snubs #3c: 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS
Laura Vasiliu, Anamaria Marinca in 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (IFC First Take)
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)
Biggest Oscar Snubs #3b: Pedro Almodóvar’s VOLVER
A harrowing drama about a young woman (Laura Vasiliu) trying to get an abortion with the help of her friend (Anamaria Marinca) in Nicolae Ceausescu’s Communist Romania, Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days won the Palme d’Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. It was as much a shoo-in for the best foreign language film Oscar as a film has the right to be.
"First, this movie should be enjoyed. Later, marveled at," wrote Mick LaSalle in the San Francisco Chronicle. "And then, once the excitement has faded, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days really should be studied, because director Cristian Mungiu creates scenes unlike any ever filmed."
"The fascination of the film comes not so much from the experiences the friends have, however unspeakable, but in who they are, and how they behave and relate," Roger Ebert explained in the Chicago Sun-Times. "Anamaria Marinca gives a masterful performance as Otilia, but don’t let my description of Gabita blind you to the brilliance of Laura Vasiliu’s acting. These are two of the more plausible characters I’ve seen in a while."
"It’s face-down-in-the-muck filmmaking at its most immediate and unapologetic, stripped of all artistic affectation and metaphor," wrote Josh Rosenblatt in the Austin Chronicle. "It’s also not a little bit difficult to watch. Mungiu never flinches from the cold realities that attend back-alley abortions … nor is he interested in easy definitions of heroism or morality. All of which makes 4 Months a curious filmgoing experience: Virtuosic, assured, and possessed of undeniable aesthetic force, it’s also hard not to turn away from."
Academy’s foreign language film committee members apparently found it was indeed hard not to turn away from the film. Its "aesthetic force" notwithstanding, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days didn’t even make it to the second-round ballot (an Academy development from the year before), which led Scott Foundas to raise hell in the L.A. Weekly:
"Tuesday, January 15, 2008 — a date that shall live in Academy Awards infamy. Earlier today, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled the nine films that have been shortlisted for this year’s Foreign Language Oscar, of which five will comprise the final list of nominees to be announced (along with all Oscar nominations in all categories) one week from today. And here’s the rub: The year’s most acclaimed foreign-language film, Romanian director Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days isn’t among them. This isn’t, mind you, one of those periodic cases of a film being disqualified on the basis of the Academy’s notoriously serpentine rules and regulations, as happened earlier this year with the Israeli film The Band’s Visit [too much English dialogue] and two years ago with Michael Haneke’s Caché [Austria's submission, but set in Paris and spoken in French]. No, 4 Months has been in this race from the beginning as Romania’s official entry, competing against submissions from some 62 other countries, and its failure to advance to this penultimate round of the nominating process is as embarrassing a blunder as any in the Academy’s history: You can put it right up there with the Best Picture win by Crash (2004)."
Following the 2007 foreign language film debacle — in addition to 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, the Academy also left out Stellet licht, Persepolis, The Edge of Heaven, and Secret Sunshine — foreign language film voting members got spanked with a new rule. They can now pick only six of the nine semi-finalists in that category. According to the Academy’s press release at the time, "the other three titles will be determined by those members of the 20-member Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee who have qualified to vote in the category. The executive committee’s selections will be made after the Phase I voting has been tallied."
For the record, the five nominated foreign language films of 2007 were 12, Beaufort, Katyn, Mongol, and the winner, The Counterfeiters.
Subscribe / Syndicate
Leave a Comment
Tags: 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Academy Awards, Anamaria Marinca, Cristian Mungiu, Film Awards, Foreign Language Film Category, Josh Rosenblatt, Laura Vasiliu, Mick LaSalle, Oscar 2007, Oscar Snubs, Roger Ebert, Scott Foundas
Comments
Leave a Reply
NOTE:
All comments are moderated and may take some time before they are posted. Different views and opinions are welcome, but courtesy is imperative. Rude/crass/bigoted comments and/or remarks, and name-calling of any sort will be immediately deleted.
Also, please be aware that Alt Film Guide has no contact information for the talent mentioned in this blog and no information pertaining to or access to distributors'/producers' film prints.