The Academy narrows Best Foreign Language Feature down to nine, which was no easy feat, I am sure. Note that there is no “The Assassin,” “The Second Mother,” or “Goodnight Mommy,” to which many thought were deserving and I personally would have loved to watch the last one as part of the challenge, but will instead seek it out myself. The obvious front-runner is “Son Of Saul,” to which I would be very surprised at this point if it did not win, having swept the critics awards and likely going to take most of the other awards to come as well. My guess at 5 that will be nominated are:
- “Son Of Saul” (Hungary) *front-runner to win*
- “Labyrinth Of Lies” (Germany)
- “Mustang” (France)
- “Theeb” (Jordan)
- “The Fencer” (Finland)
The first four I’ve picked because many people are talking about them and they had strong American theatrical runs, making their presence known. “The Fencer” just happens to have the best looking poster, which can say a lot for a film, but don’t be surprised if one of the other four sneaks into that final spot. Here is the entire list:
- “The Brand New Testament” (Belgium)
- “Embrace of the Serpent” (Colombia)
- “The Fencer” (Finland)
- “Labyrinth Of Lies” (Germany)
- “Mustang” (France)
- “Son Of Saul” (Hungary)
- “Theeb” (Jordan)
- “Viva” (Ireland)
- “A War” (Denmark)
