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Entries in Portugal (22)

Monday
Nov072022

Streaming Roulette (Nov 7-13) - 'My Policeman' and more...

by Nathaniel R

Time for streaming roulette, a hodgepodge of recommendations and points of interest from newly available titles around the various services. The images are chosen by randomly moving the scrollbar around. Whatever we land on we share. Let's start with a mini-review of Amazon's My Policeman...

There he was. I recognized him even from behind. That fine head. The unmistakable line of his shoulder.

 

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Friday
Oct072022

NYFF Review: João Pedro Rodrigues’ Will-o’-the-Wisp Gives Wood As Good As It's Got

by Jason Adams

How many wood puns would a reviewer chuck into his review of a movie about wood puns? Admittedly not quite as tight a tongue-twister as the “how much wood would a woodchuck” original, but we work with what we’ve got. And I’ll try to rein myself in when it comes to queer sensualist and provocateur João Pedro Rodrigues’ Will-o’-the-Wisp (aka Fogo-Fátuo) as far as such woody things go, but when he’s got his own characters talking about the trees being “tumescent with sap” I can only be so discreet. But I know when I’ve been beaten, and this wood master already beat me at my own game. Point João once more!

At sixty-seven minutes Will-o’-the-Wisp is as slight as is its central figure, a dazzled Portuguese princeling named Alfredo (Mauro Costa) in an alternate-reality timeline...

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Monday
Sep192022

"World War III" and other new titles join the Oscar race

Bosnia, Iran, Nepal, Portugal, and Romania have announced their submissions to the 95th Oscars. Here's a little info about those choices... 

🇮🇷 WORLD WAR III (Houman Seyyedi)
IRAN  (3 nominations, 2 wins, and 2 additional finalists from 28 submissions)

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Sunday
Jul172022

28 Years, 28 Films

by Cláudio Alves

It was on July 17th, 1994, when a most foul thing happened. In Lisbon, a baby was born destined to become an insufferable cinephile full of opinions and costume design trivia swilling around in his chronically depressed mind. That unfortunate creature was me, and today I celebrate my 28th birthday. Inspired by Nathaniel and Tim Brayton, I decided to mark the occasion with a special list that fully displays my movie passions. With a film for each year, this collection comprises titles that mean something to me, for one reason or another. Of course, they're not these years' best cinematic achievements, nor are they my outright favorites. However, I have a special place in my heart, in my memories, for them all. So come explore my life through a personal film odyssey and maybe get to know me better…

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Sunday
Dec052021

Top Ten: The Countries Oscar Forgot To Honor

by Nathaniel R

Any discussion of Oscar's Best International Feature Film competition throughout history begins with Italy and France. They dominated the early years and though they rarely win now they can still generate buzz with comparative ease (including this year with Hand of God and Titane). Oscar voters have (virtually) travelled to every continent and every major film market at least once or twice since the birth of the category in the 1950s. Their choices don't always reflect where the hot spots in world cinema are, though -- They notoriously missed the entirety of the Romanian New Wave in the Aughts, the provocative if brief Dogme 95 period in Denmark, apart from Japan they're super stingy with Asian cinema in general to the point where it took an international blockbuster ($259 million globably for Parasite) for them to finally notice what was happening in South Korea. Still, it's a fascinating category both for its triumphs and its failures.

All that said it's also worth repeating that no one is ever truly fair to Oscar in their critiques. It's an impossible sisphyean task to sum up the best of what's happening in non English language cinema throughout history via only five titles each season, especially since you can't control which titles will be in the mix and you cant have more than one per country. 

Here are the 10 admirably persistent countries that keep trying despite Oscar's refusal to acknowledge them. They've submitted the most often without receiving a single nomination. Will their fates change this year?

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