Man, this isn’t going to quell the outrage. Jeffrey Wells spoke to a senior member of the Foreign AMPAS committee and they don’t think that snubbing “Gomorrah” is as egregious as snubbing last year’s Romanian Cannes big winner “4 Months 3 Weeks And 2 Days.” Which is kind of true, “Gomorrah” isn’t in the class of that film frankly (but it is good, just not quite a masterpiece), but does that mean the committee is admitting to last year’s blunder?
We digress. About the celebrated Italian film that was snubbed yesterday for Foreign Oscar shortlist contention, the anonymous member says that “Gomorrah” didn’t “deliver in the way it could or should have. It’s not a matter of it not being heart-warming. It’s a matter of our respecting the film without believing that it really brought the goods home.”
“Let The Right One In” Snub Umbrage Too?
That’s going to further fuel the flames frankly. But people, please stop complaining about the omission of “Let The Right One In” immediately. Sweden didn’t nominate it as their official Oscar submission so you should direct your rage at that nation if anyone and if you truly cared enough, you’d have been angry months ago (October) when Sweden’s pick (and every other countries) was announced.
Update: Also judging by the AMPAS rules (which yes, are antiquated and need to be adjusted across the board), and “Let The Right One In”s Swedish release date*, the Scandinavian vampire film is actually eligible for Foreign Oscar consideration, next year.
[*”The motion picture must be first released in the country submitting it no earlier than October 1, 2007, and no later than September 30, 2008.” Tomas Alfredson‘s film didn’t come out in Sweden until October 24, 2008]