Hella insights on how I got through these two shortlists for best foreign film

I don’t really circulate these much among my peers for proofs and edits, or feedback bc you can’t really criticize them.

It’s just like an archive, a bibliography, a works cited list. And you know how hard those are to put together? 

It’s just like busy work that you don’t have to do, bc I did it for you, so if you have anything against that then Idk what to say. 

Here we have two lists of foreign films that made Indiewire's shortlist for what they expected to be nominated for this years oscars, and then the revised official shortlist of foreign films from the academy itself. And from the outset, every list after Indiewire's shortlist is modified according to what I saw, what I couldn't find and couldn't see, what didn't make the official oscars shortlist, what I saw out of what did, what I saw out of what was added, and then finally the total seen out of that list.

Under every variation of each list, in which there are seven total, is information like where you can stream them for free, or rent. If I couldn’t find them streaming anywhere, I found what else you can stream by that director. Then if I couldn’t find either, I just said that without any further research. 

What made this difficult was when the official shortlist for this years best foreign film actually came out as I was working on the shortlist of predictions for that released by Indiewire. As a consequence, this went through several drafts, all while trying to figure out what my reasoning behind making this actually was, which I don't think I ever got, bc I don't think there was any. 

So in any case, let's just begin here w Indiewire's shortlist of predictions: 

Another Round (Prime rental 6.99)
Apples
Beginning (Mubi)
Charlatan
Collective (Early Access 6.99)
Dear Comrades (Hulu)
Hope
I’m No Longer Here (Netflix)
La Llorona (Shudder)
The Mole Agent (Hulu)
My Little Sister
Never Gonna Snow Again 
Notturno (Prime rental 4.99)
A Sun (Netflix)
Vitalena Varela (Prime rental 4.99)

Saw 10/15:

Vitalena Varela (Prime rental 4.99)
A Sun (Netflix)
Notturno (Prime rental 4.99)
The Mole Agent (Hulu)
La Llorona (Shudder)
I’m No Longer Here (Netflix)
Dear Comrades (Hulu)
Collective (Early Access 6.99)
Beginning (Mubi)
Another Round (Prime rental 6.99)

Takeaways:

I spent a total of 24.00 on this round of films. 

Another Round, and Vitalena Varela were in each of the last two essays I wrote about Indiewire's 50 best of 2020 list. Another Round was in the first one about movies I had seen. Vitalena Varela was in that one too, but I hadn't watched. I said I was gonna at the end, and then I think did that same night, as promised, and I wasn't crazy about it. 

Collective was also mentioned in the second article, but I didn't watch it until I saw it on this list. W this in mind, you can subtract 12.00 from the list of movies I rented making the only ones I rented Notturno, and Collective for a total of 12.00, which I could've saved another five from, had I waited for Notturno to come to Hulu. 

I almost spent more, and I would've if I hadn't found the The Mole Agent, and Dear Comrades was on Hulu. And again, I could've saved 5.00 if I would've waited for Notturno to come to Hulu. 

I watched I'm No Longer Here long before I saw any of these lists, and I was excited to see A Sun on Netflix, as well. And as another note on that, I gotta say they're 3/3 w movies that are 2 1/2 hrs long. I mean The Devil All the Time, Da 5 Bloods, and now this? Where I would say those were better, this one holds up. 

Didn’t see 5/15:

My Little Sister
Never Gonna Snow Again
Apples
Charlatan
Hope

Takeaways:

You can't find Hope, or anything by director Maria Sodahl. 

Charlatan is by Agnieska Holland, and you can find a lot of her movies on Amazon Prime. All I know of is the Secret Garden. I wasn't interested in watching any of them, but Mr Jones, and it's streaming for free on Hulu.

Can't find anything by the director of Apples, Christos Nikou. This is like his third movie, but I'm interested. Sounds like a protege of Yorgos Lanthimos.

This is awkward, bc My Little Sister wasn't available three weeks ago when I started drafting, but it is now on Prime and Vudu for 3.99, or one dollar more. I watched The Little Bedroom, which was all I could find by Stephanie Chuat and Veronique Reymond. I think this is their second movie.

You can't find Never Gonna Snow Again anywhere other than through maybe virtual cinema, but you can find Body, Elles, and The Other Lamb on Prime. Body was meh. The Other Lamb looks good. I didn't see that before. Body is free through Mubi, and The Other Lamb is on Hulu. 

6/15 didn’t make it:

My Little Sister (Prime rental 3.99)
Never Gonna Snow Again
Apples
Vitalena Varela (Prime rental 4.99)
Notturno (Prime rental 4.99)(Hulu)
Beginning (Mubi)

Takeaways:

I didn't wanna talk about these movies, and I can't talk about the first three either way, but I can see why the last three didn't make it. 

Beginning, and Notturno probably had the best chance, but that's still hella wishful thinking, especially for the former. 

Saw 7/9 that did make it:

Hope
Charlatan
Another Round (Prime rental 6.99)
Collective (Early Access 6.99)
Dear Comrades (Hulu)
The Mole Agent (Hulu)
I’m No Longer Here (Netflix)
A Sun (Netflix)
La Llorona (Shudder)

Takeaways:

I talked about every one of these in someway, but La Llorona, and all I can say about that is it's good, but Idk if it's worth starting a trial for, but I would assume so if it's the only way I have of seeing it. 

Saw 2/6 added to that list of 9: 

Better Days (Prime rental 3.99)
Two of Us (Prime rental 6.99)
Quo Vadis, Aida?
Sun Children
The Man Who Sold his Skin
Night of the Kings 

Takeaways:

The two films added to this brought my rental total up to 35.00. 

The screening of the last one brings it to 42.00, but it's not worth listing where I saw it, bc it will probably be gone by the time you read this. It was a one week though, at the film forum.

The Miami Film Festival is also gonna be running a virtual screening of Sun Children on 3/9 if you wanna order tickets; looks good.

So I saw 10/15 from this official oscars shortlist for this year’s best international foreign film:

Dear Comrades (Hulu)
The Mole Agent (Hulu)
Two of Us (Prime rental 6.99)
Better Days (Prime rental 3.99)
A Sun (Netflix)
I’m No Longer Here (Netflix)
La Llorona (Shudder)
Collective (Early Access 6.99)
Another Round (Prime rental 6.99)
Night of the Kings

Takeaways:

This list isn't ranked for anything, other than the order I saw them in.

I don't think I can rank them. But I can say the most worthwhile rentals to me were probably the Collective, and Another Round. And the most rewatchable were probably Dear Comrades, The Mole Agent, and I'm No Longer Here.

Notice I don't mention any names of the directors of films I watched, or how I felt about them, and I think that's bc that, nor how I felt about it was as important to me as telling you how I got ahold of it, period.

And I think after this final revision, the purpose of this as a whole was to show you how I got through both lists, period.

So again, I hope if anything, this did just that.