Nightingale's rush to O may have been wrong in the first place

"Nightingale" can't fly into the Oscars, and after regretting it, it has set off a new round of thinking - "Nightingale", are we choosing the right one?

On December 20, local time, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 9 films shortlisted for the next round of the 87th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. "Nightingale", which represented Chinese mainland, "Golden Age", which represented Hong Kong, China, and "Meth", which was selected by Taiwan, did not have the opportunity to go further. Since 2003's Heroes, Chinese-language films have missed the Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film for 11 consecutive years, and so far, only Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has made a splash for Chinese-language films in Los Angeles in 2001.

With the news of the fall on the list, whether "Nightingale", directed by The Frenchman Philippe Maitreya, should represent the mainland in the election has once again become a topic of discussion. Two months ago, "Daytime Fireworks", which defeated the Berlin bear with a dark horse, and "Homecoming" with a luxurious lineup, the entry of "Nightingale" was questioned. Some critics have sorted out three reasons from the nearly 10-year Oscar list for Best Foreign Language Film.

First, the freshness is not enough. Online film critic Smith pointed out: "The Oscars are wide-eyed, and only Austria has repeated the films that have won awards in the past 10 years. In his view, Oscar foreign language films encourage new countries and new faces, and this is precisely the shortcoming of "Nightingale". Since the film's release, it has been dubbed the Chinese version of "Butterfly", and even the director is maitreya, a Frenchman who is internationally famous for "Butterfly". Although "Nightingale" is about a Chinese grandson and takes the scene of Guangxi Xiulin Maozhu, neither the narrative technique nor the expression of the subject matter jumps out of the "Butterfly". A little "self-repetition" alone is enough to plant on the starting line.

Secondly, the reason why "Nightingale" is well received is that it is warm and touching, and it is restrained and restrained. But is that the emotional quality oscars like? Looking at the best foreign language films in the past 10 years, it is surprising but reasonable that heavy issues occupy half of the country. According to film critic Shi Hang's summary, "death" is the genre favored by Oscar foreign language films in the past 10 years. The 2005 Spanish-Italian co-production "Deep Sea Long Sleep" explores euthanasia; the 2009 award-winning Japanese film "The Mortician" can be seen from the title that the souls of the dead and the living are touched inside and outside the camera; 2010's "Enigmatic Eyes" is based on homicides; and the 2013 foreign language film winner "Love" still follows emotions to tell death. Even "A Parting", which is the shortest of the 10 films and the closest to the theme of "Nightingale", can also see the depth of society, the conflict between love and reason. If the Oscar foreign language film is a Propositional Essay, there is no doubt that the most pleasing thing is the reflection on the ultimate proposition of life, or the in-depth exploration of the good and evil of human nature. Looking back at "Nightingale", the theme of the disintegration of the diaphragm between family members and the transformation of modern civilization and ancient emotions from collision to harmony is inevitably too fresh.

The last voice, which comes from France, cannot be generalized, but at least represents the views of some French people, especially the French media. Marsura, director of the French television station iTELE Shanghai Reporter Station, expressed confusion about the fact that "Nightingale" can represent Chinese mainland Chong Ao. "Philip Maitreya's reputation in China far exceeds that of his in France." In her view, the reason why "Nightingale" can be released in France for 3 consecutive months, in addition to the issue of Sino-French cooperation, the fundamental reason that attracted 100,000 French people to watch the film is not the film itself, but "the French are very curious about what kind of film can make a French director capture people's hearts in China." In this way, the "international gene" sent by "Nightingale" at that time had almost no place to stand.

However, "Nightingale" does not need to be arrogant, because it also fell behind this year's Cannes Palme d'Or winner Turkish film "Hibernation", the famous French director Dane Brothers' "Two Days and One Night", and "Mommy", which swept the three major European film festivals.

This year's Academy Awards for Foreign Language Films received a total of 83 countries (regions) to select films, including Argentina's "Wilderness Story", Estonia's "Red Orange", Georgia's "Isle of Crops", Mauritania's "Timbuktu", the Netherlands's "Accusation", Poland's "Sister Ida", Russia's "Leviathan", Sweden's "Tourist" and Venezuela's "Liberator". The nominees for the 87th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film will be announced on January 15 next year, and the award ceremony will take place on February 22.