Clay G.

I see absolutely no problem with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon being nominated for Best Picture, let alone the slew of others that it recieved. If we were to ignore great movies simply because they were in a different language, that would shut out a lot of the competition. Its thinking like that that keeps the CTHD's from the ultimate prize of Best Picture, because in many cases, when it's nominated for Best Foreign Film and Best Picture, voters tend to vote for foreign and not for Best Picture.

What's the deal with GLADIATOR winning Best Picture anyways? It gets Best Actor, Best Sound and VFX, and Costume Design. Who cares? Compare those to Best Sup. Actor, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Ad. Screenplay for TRAFFIC or Best Score, Best Art Direction, Best Foreign Film, and Best Cinematography. Gladiator didn't have nearly the artistic credibility that the other films had (its nom alone for best screenplay was an insult to the profession of screenwriting), yet it ends up being Best Picture.

Foreign frequently show Americans the very art that we've lost to the commericialization of the film industry. Crouching Tiger had the better story than Gladiator, was better filmed, and was just an all around (near) perfect movie. Because it was in a language other than English shouldn't exclude it from vying for the top prize.

(And CTHD is from Taiwan, officially.)

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Originally posted by dgoldwas:
What does Japan have to do with anything? Many countries have their own awards, and any most films that are submitted tend to be eligible for awards, regardless of the country of origin.

(And CTHD is from Taiwan, officially.)

Dan

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Because oscar's are ours, theirs is theirs, lets not mix them! (not to sound mean or anything)

Clay G.

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Originally posted by scoreguy15:
Am I the only one that has a problem with a foreign film being nominated in so many catagories for the oscars?

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It would seem so.

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Originally posted by scoreguy15:

Because oscar's are ours, theirs is theirs, lets not mix them! (not to sound mean or anything)

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Uhh... right. And let's not enter any films into the Cannes Film Festival, or the BAFTA Awards, or the Cesar Awards, etc. etc.

Clay G.

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Originally posted by scoreguy15:
Because oscar's are ours, theirs is theirs, lets not mix them! (not to sound mean or anything)

Clay G.

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I can see the point you are trying to establish. However, when you start to say "ours"... you have to realise that even if they took out foreign languaged films from the other categories....the oscar can still go to a country outside the US. eg British or Australian. The concept of foreign in terms of the Oscars is based on language and not geography.

So when you say "ours"...you essentially point to language and not country. It would be interesting to see what would occur if a foreign-languaged country made a film in English.

Rochelle

Clay, I DO like the idea of countries sending in their most representative film of the year to a panel of entertainment judges from around the world. It poses some very interesting questions, like: which American film truly was the best of the year? Was it really Gladiator? When you think about judging art on an international scale, you open a can of worms, because judging films (or any art for that matter) is as much a cultural thing as oranges are orange and balls are round!

I think Crouching Tiger would have been this year's World's Best Picture, simply for all the cultural gaps it crossed, from story to music.

1) No matter how wonderful you felt the pic was, it was a FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM, hence it should have only been nominated in the respective category designated by the Academy for such films.

2) You knew it would win best foreign film, and there was no way it would win both...I think it would have felt redundant for voters. So, in a sense it was a wasted nomination, and by today's standards being nominated is quite an accomplishment. In the same vein as Williams being nominated for The Patriot...there were other films/scores that could have been recognized with at least a nomination.

The only reason Crouching Tiger was nominated at all in the Best Picture category was due to its commercial success in the states. The movie never would have won even a Best Picture nomination in Asia where it was poorly received.

Sad as it may seem to many people, the Academy Awards is an American institution for honoring american-made films. Love it or hate it, that's what it is. On the plus side, at least they do bring attention to some outstanding foreign films that would otherwise be lost to the general populace. If you begin to include a plethora of foreign films every year as possible contenders, people will lose interest.

I don't feel the Academy Awards needs to be a world forum...there needs to be an International Award show, where the best films from each country go head to head, and the best film in the world is chosen from a delegation composed of a single representative from each country. Wouldn't that be fun. Sad to say, Crouching Tiger would not be among them, as it would never win in Taiwan.

I'm all for an international film awards institution of some kind, but why oh why would you divide the films by country? Why not have basically the same setup as the Oscars have, only on an international scale? Accept nominations from all over the world, and compete based on genre. Seriously, can anyone give a single valid reason for all of this inane nationalism? I'm sorry, if Italy or China or, god forbid, the U.S. of A. produces 6 great films in the year, spanning several genres, I'd like to see all of them represented at an international awards ceremony. Similarly, if a country produces only horrible, horrible films in the year and that's all, then they shouldn't have films nominated simply because they're the best that happened to be made in that country. Do people honestly think that the country where a film is made matters? What is relevant is the quality of the film, my friends, and the effort that went into it.

As soon as you have a myriad of films from all over the world all come together...people would just lose interest (unfortunate as that may be)

In closing...I don't quite understand your statement about CTHD being targeted at a different culture than where it originated. It is in Mandarin after all...where were they initially targeting it?

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Originally posted by Quill:
The only reason Crouching Tiger was nominated at all in the Best Picture category was due to its commercial success in the states. The movie never would have won even a Best Picture nomination in Asia where it was poorly received.

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I am not sure where this belief that CTHD was so poorly reveiwed in Asia stemmed from. Personally, I would like to know the source. I have previously offered my explanations why it would be critically shunned in Mainland China in other posts so am not about to regurgitate them lest I become over-bearing.

So, I will say this instead...CTHD won 6 Golden Horse Awards (Taiwan) including Best Picture.

Furthermore, it has been nominated in a record-breaking 16 categories at the Hong Kong Film Awards. That is every single category except for best newcomer. This event is still to be held.

Here is the link from which this information was sourced. http://www.dianying.com/en/awards/

I ask again...where did this belief that Asian critics shunned CTHD stem from?

Regards,
Rochelle

I might be wrong, but this brings up another point. Were there any American films nominated for Best Horse/Picture in Taiwan or Hong Kong? Somehow I doubt it. Why must the U.S. be designated an an international forum.

How do we know what the best movie is overall ?

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Originally posted by Quill:
Were there any American films nominated for Best Horse/Picture in Taiwan or Hong Kong? Somehow I doubt it. Why must the U.S. be designated an an international forum.

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Hi Quill,

Please don't get me wrong. I wasn't trying to question the validity of your reasoning since I actually agree with many of the points you raise.

I was, however, questioning the validity behind the assertion that Asia did not receive CTHD well.

Regards,
Rochelle

what a concept!

the Academy Awards are an international forum because like everything, people pay attention to what America does ( "Hey! let's go see latest flag-waving American epic and then gripe!"), and they love "going to the movies."

I'm so cynical.