2020-01-23 The Hollywood Reporter

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 38 JANUARY 2020 AWARDS 1

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PLAYBOOK

AWARDS SEASON

2020

PERSONAL

CONFLICT

ON A GLOBAL

SCALE

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

B

ong Joon Ho’s acclaimed

Parasite, which also

landed five other Oscar

nominations includ-

ing best picture, best director

and best original screenplay,

looks like the film to beat in the

international feature film derby.

The first Korean film ever to

be nominated for any Oscar is

joined by four European films in

the international category: Pain

and Glory, directed by Spanish

maestro Pedro Almodóvar;

French filmmaker Ladj Ly’s

debut, Les Misérables; Polish

submission Corpus Christi from

helmer Jan Komasa; and North

Macedonian nonfiction entry

Honeyland, from rookie docu-

mentarians Tamara Kotevska and

Ljubomir Stefanov.

Unusually, this year the

category formerly known as

best film in a foreign language

includes a total of three titles

with other nominations as well.

Besides Parasite’s enviable haul

of six, there’s Pain and Glory,

which also scored a best actor nod

for Antonio Banderas, suggest-

ing widespread support among

the Academy’s largest branch,

the actors (regrettably, none of

Parasite’s large cast of superlative

Class warfare and culture clashes fuel the emotional

fires at the center of the international film race, with

five films telling universal and explosive stories

By Boyd van Hoeij

actors was nominated). And

Sundance favorite Honeyland also

scored a best documentary nod,

becoming the first title ever to

double-dip in these categories.

Do multiple nominations make

this trio the logical frontrunners?

Or will they spread the love too

thin as voters choose

their top picks in

different categories,

allowing room for an

unexpected Polish or

French victory?

In terms of

themes and genres,

the nominees might

at first glance look

like an almost ran-

dom cross section

of world cinema.

Parasite, about a

near-destitute clan

posing as valiant

(and unrelated) new employees of

a stinking rich family, combines

genre tropes in black comedy

and suspense with social com-

mentary. Honeyland, on the other

hand, chronicles the tough life

of Hatidze Muratova, said to be

the last woman practicing wild

honey hunting in the Balkans, in

a stripped-down, vérité style.

Quite the opposite, visually

and thematically, is Almodóvar’s

highly stylized approach, familiar

from his extensive filmography,

which he himself mines in this

thinly veiled autobiographi-

cal film (said to form a trilogy

with Law of Desire and Bad

Education). Banderas’ protagonist

is a celebrated film director with

a hairstyle, apartment and

obsessions that keep remind-

ing us of the master himself.

Unsurprisingly for someone

who made a film called All About

My Mother, there’s an homage

to his mother, played by Julietta

Serrano and by Penélope Cruz

in flashbacks that turn out to be a

fictionalized enhancement of

the original madre, all the while

suggesting themes of personal

struggle and the power of cinema

for Almodóvar.

Unlike Pain and Glory, no

knowledge of Jan Komasa’s life

or previous films (which include

Berlinale hit Suicide Room) is

required to deepen your apprecia-

tion of Corpus Christi. This soberly

told and powerful story explores

the predicament of a troubled

young man who pretends to be a

priest in a small community that

is trying to get over a fatal car

crash. Whereas the protagonists

of Parasite might seem interested

simply in bettering their own

station by profiting from the stu-

pidity of the rich, the 20-year-old,

saucer-eyed Polish protagonist

here almost accidentally morphs

into someone both he and the

village seem to need for differ-

ent reasons. Monetary gain or

Kotevska

Bong

Stefanov

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