The Golden Globes demonstrated their interest in contemporary World Cinema last year by nominating two Hollywood-produced films in the Best Foreign Language Film category, and ultimately handing the award to Clint Eastwood’s Japanese-language Letters From Iwo Jima. I was one of many who found this worrisome, but at the same time, it didn’t seem like it was totally out of left field. At least they didn’t give it to Apocalypto (nominated in the same category, thus unfortunately giving Mel Gibson a dose of “they only understand my work in Europe” cred).
At The Hollywood Reporter, Steven Zeitchik says the Hollywood Foreign Press Association looks almost certain to repeat the pattern this year. Lust, Caution and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly are just two of several films with Hollywood studio backing, directed by name-brand Indiewood auteurs, in a language other than English and incorporating a mix of foreign talent, that the Globes are expected to deem “too foreign” for their Best Picture category and just right for their Foriegn Language film category. This will, of course, have a ripple effect, pushing deserving non-Hollywood Foreign Language films out of consideration.
Ultimately, the problem stems from the fact that the HFPA’s field of vision is apparently so narrow that they don’t even think there is a problem. And they’re not the only ones.
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