2018 Oscars Challenge: [37] “Loveless” – Best Foreign Language Feature

“LOVELESS”
Russia; Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev

Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Producers: Alexander Rodnyansky, Sergey Melkumov, & Gleb Fetisov
Writers: Andrey Zvyagintsev & Oleg Negin
Cinematography: Mikhail Krichman
Editor: Anna Mass
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Release Date: December 1, 2017
Run-time: 128 minutes

FILM SYNOPSIS: Zhenya and Boris, a couple embroiled in a bitter divorce, have already found new partners and need only to sell their Moscow apartment and settle on arrangements for their 12-year-old son before moving on. When the neglected boy goes missing, the estranged couple is forced to work together to find him.

Taking a very real look at the disappearance of a young boy, “Loveless” follows the parents of the boy in the wake of his disappearance. Admitting that she should have never had the boy in the first place and that she never loved the boy’s father, the cold mother goes through such a range of emotion after her son goes missing. The father mainly goes cold. But throughout these reactions, they almost always feel natural to the situation. The film dives into the search for this boy with very little coming out of it. The way the film ends feels like a very real attempt to inflict, at least to a very small degree, the way it feels for anyone who has lost a child.

“Loveless” has actually been popping up across the board this year, with several important nominations including a Golden Globe nomination. But it hasn’t actually won anything yet. Now, either has “A Fantastic Woman,” which is currently the odds on favorite, but “Loveless” seems like it has a little less immediate importance than say “A Fantastic Woman.” If you’re looking at wins, “The Square” is probably the most awarded foreign film of the bunch thus far. Also, if you look at the political climate, with our government deep in investigations in collusion between Russia and our elected officials, who knows if the Academy will use this as any sort of determining factor. On its own, “Loveless” is a very powerful film with a very powerful tone carried by impressive actors and a director with a very specific vision, so if it were to win, I would not be disappointed in the least.