China submits "Leap" to the Oscars
Friday, December 4, 2020 at 12:30PM by Nathaniel R
China has submitted the women's volleyball drama Leap to the Oscars, which is already streaming on Amazon Prime. Gong Li headlines but you'd barely recognize her she's so unglamorous this time. The 55 year old superstar has recently returned to the screen after taking a few years off, and its' going pretty well. She's the flashiest thing about Disney's Mulan and now she's headlining her seventh Oscar submission in the International category. We already discussed China's Oscar history but how about Gong Li's history starring in Oscar hopefuls? Here they are...
GONG LI'S OSCAR-SUBMITTED OR OSCAR-NOMINATED FILMS
- Red Sorghum (China, 1988) Submitted for the International Oscar race.
- Ju Dou (China, 1990) Nominated for the Best International Film Oscar.
- Raise the Red Lantern (Hong Kong, 1991) Nominated for the Best International Film Oscar.
- The Story of Qiu Ju (China, 1992) - Submitted for the International Oscar race.
- Farewell My Concubine (Hong Kong, 1993) - Nominated for both Best International Film and Best Cinematography. This performance and her later star turn in Memoirs of a Geisha are the only times she herself had Oscar buzz (both times in Best Supporting Actress) though in neither case did the Academy's acting branch loosen up about their historic resistance to honoring Asian actors... which is a shame because this was a glorious performance.
- Shanghai Triad (China, 1995) - not submitted for the International Oscar race but a nominee for Best Cinematography
- Memoirs of a Geisha (US/Japan/France, 2005) - nominated for 6 Oscars, winning 3: Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction.
- Curse of the Golden Flower (China, 2006) - Submitted for the International Oscar. Nominated for Best Costume Design
- Leap (China, 2020) - Submitted for the International Oscar race.
MEANWHILE IN OTHER INTERNATIONAL FILM OSCAR NEWS...
Since the last update we've had these five films join the competition for Oscar's Best International Feature Film bringing the current number up to 89.
- China - Leap
- Kazakhstan - The Crying Steppe
- Morocco - The Unknown Saint
- Nigeria - The Milkmaid
- Paraguay - Killing the Dead
You can follow this list on the charts here or at letterboxd.
Reader Comments (9)
It's wonderful to see Gong Li back in the Oscar universe, even if it's "only" as the star of China's Best International Film submission. She should already be an Oscar winner and multiple nominee.
Better Days is such a great movie. Is it really not a contender?
OMG, Gong Li looks exactly like Lang Ping, but when she was in her early 40's and was the coach of USA's national team. Gong Li is a movie star, she doesn't look her age. It looks like Lang Ping was in The Irishman.
OMG Gong Li!
In other news Paraguay will submit Matar a un muerto (Killing the dead).
It was released in early march just six days before the closing of theaters.
@Rod - Better days was submitted by Hong Kong.
Gong Li, hands down, should have WON the Oscar in 1993 for Farewell My Concubine. Tremendous performance.
Gong Li, unglamurous? That reminds me of my fave performance by her (for which she should have swept Awards season), in Qiu Ju, by the master Zhang Yimou.
John Waters has released his top 10 of 2020. "Butt Boy" is #1.
I agree. Gong Li should have been nominated for an Oscar years ago. Her performance in Raise the red lantern alone deserved a nomination.
Hopefully the Academy members will vote for her soon. Especially now they have shown they have no problem with foreign language films. Parasite was a deserving winner last year and could see more subtitled films winning oscars in the future.
Yes folks - you can see movies with English subtitles.