LONDON (AP) – Five movies that tackle the harsh realities of life with humanity and humor are finalists for the 2015 Academy Award for best foreign-language film.
The nominees announced Thursday include director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Leviathan,” a tragic parable of small-town Russian corruption; Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Ida,” in which an aspiring Polish nun confronts dark truths about her family and her country; and “Tangerines,” an Estonian-Georgian film by Zaza Urushadze set in post-Soviet Georgia of the early 1990s.
The other contenders are Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako’s “Timbuktu,” a powerful film about the takeover of northern Mali by Islamic militants, and Argentine filmmaker Damian Szifron’s explosive comic romp “Wild Tales.”
Many will consider “Leviathan,” which won a Golden Globe on Sunday for best foreign-language film, to be the front-runner.
The story of a mechanic whose property is coveted by a local official, the film draws on many of the dissatisfactions of modern Russia, including corrupt officials, a dysfunctional legal system and an Orthodox Church that effectively acts as an arm of the state. It received state funding despite its implicit criticisms of Russian officials, and the film is due to be released in Russia next month.
The other finalists have also made a strong international impact. “Ida,” from Polish director Pawlikowski, was on many critics’ year-end best lists. The black-and-white film also received a best-cinematography Oscar nomination for its two directors of photography, Ryszard Lenczewski and Lukasz Zal.
Zal said he was “terribly, terribly happy.”
“I was privileged to be filming the movie, and now this nomination is a new great joy,” he said.
“Wild Tales,” a collection of six stories in which trivial-seeming incidents descend into mayhem, was a hit at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where director Szifron joked that it could be called “People on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.”
“Timbuktu,” which charts the fate of a close-knit cattle-herding family under the militants’ harsh rule, was also a Cannes entry. It is the first Mauritian film ever nominated for an Oscar.
“Tangerines,” about two men who tend wounded soldiers from rival sides of the Georgia-Abkhazia conflict, has also netted awards nominations around the world. Its Estonian producer, Ivo Felt, said the film tried to show the impact of war – any war – on individuals.
“It’s a crazy world out there,” Felt said. “It’s about basic human values and people living on the edge.”
Felt said he was proud to receive the first Oscar nomination for Estonia, a Baltic nation of 1.3 million people.
“Many people don’t even know where Estonia is, so getting nominated is just amazing,” he said.
The five finalists were chosen from a nine-film list winnowed down from 83 submissions.
The critically praised drama “Two Days, One Night,” from Belgium’s Dardenne brothers failed to make the final nine. But its star, Marion Cotillard, received a best-actress nomination for her performance as a young mother driven to desperation. She’s up against Felicity Jones for “The Theory of Everything,” Julianne Moore for “Still Alice,” Rosamund Pike for “Gone Girl” and Reese Witherspoon for “Wild.”
The winners of the 87th Academy Awards will be announced at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Feb. 22.
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Associated Press writers Monika Scislowska in Warsaw, Jim Heintz in Moscow and Jari Tanner in Tallinn contributed to this report.