The American Film Academy has announced the 2019 Oscar Award shortlist. In the list of applicants for the statuette in the nomination "Best Foreign Language Film" is the second full-length film of Kantemir Balagov's "Dylda".

The script of the picture is based on the book of the Belarusian writer Svetlana Aleksievich "The war does not have a female face." According to Balagov himself, the post-war prose of Andrei Platonov also served as a source of inspiration for him.

According to the plot, the former anti-aircraft gunner Iya (a lanky girl nicknamed Dylda) works as a nurse in a Leningrad hospital and educates a boy born in the war years, Pashka. Commissioned from the front with shell shock, she now suffers from sudden bouts of numbness.

In the first post-war autumn, Lya’s girlfriend, Masha, returns to Leningrad. She settles in the room to the girl in a communal apartment and expects to pick up her son.

The script for "Dylda" was written by Balagov himself in collaboration with Alexander Terekhov. The main roles in the film were played by actresses Victoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina.

The tape was presented in the category "Special Event" at the past "Kinotavr". The film received the prize of the International Federation of Film Presses (FIPRESCI) and the award for best directing - all within the framework of the “Special Look” category of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. “Dylda” was also awarded the Grand Prix of the Mirror International Film Festival and the main prize of the XXXV Geneva International Cinema Screening.

In general, critics warmly greeted Balagov’s tape. Many noted the dramaturgy of color. At the Rotten Tomatoes professional review aggregator, 93% of “freshness” was assigned to the tape (viewer rating of the picture is 89%).

"Parasites" from South Korea

Film critics consider the parasites, the first Cannes winner from South Korea, to be the favorite of the award season in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Pong Joon Ho shows the history of the class confrontation by the example of two families - trusting rich and seeking to find financial stability of the poor. The son of a beggar handyman, Kiu Kithek, is hired by an English tutor to the daughter of a wealthy businessman named Pak.

Soon, the enterprising Kiu, having cunningly driven out the old housekeepers from the house, arranges for the rest of the family members to work in the house (of course, hiding kinship): his sister as a drawing teacher, his father as a driver, his mother as a housekeeper. However, in the closet (or rather, behind the closet), the rich Pak have their skeletons.

  • Frame from the film "Parasites"
  • © kinopoisk.ru

"Parasites" also claimed the prize of the International Association of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) in the category "Best Film of the Year" as part of a film screening in San Sebastian. The picture of the South Korean director received a positive expert response - the same Rotten Tomatoes assigned Parasites an almost 100% freshness rating. Among other things, reviewers noted the beauty of the visual language of Pong Joon Ho and his virtuoso ability to maneuver between genres.

Other rivals

Among the candidates for the Oscars this year are the tapes that have already announced themselves at various international shows.

So, for the figurine, the social drama Laja Lee, Les Miserables, nominated by France, competes. This is a story about the interaction of police officers as representatives of legal authority, criminality as a shadow force, as well as the most vulnerable part of society - the poor and migrants, who are trying to use modern information technology to at least slightly protect themselves from arbitrariness. At the Cannes Film Festival, the tape received a jury prize.

Another contender is largely the autobiographical picture of Spaniard Pedro Almadovar “Pain and Glory” with Antonio Banderas. In it, Banderas got the role of a director reflecting on his past.

He recalls the images of his mother, his love and muse in anticipation of the re-release of the film he shot in his youth. The actor received the Cannes Prize for Best Actor, and the picture was also nominated for the Queer-Palm Branch and the main award.

A black-and-white military drama “Painted Bird” was put forward from the Czech Republic for an Oscar about a Jewish boy who is trying to hide from the Nazis alone in Eastern Europe, alone and without relatives. On the way, he meets many difficult characters. This film won the Leoncino d'Oro Agiscuola Award at the Venice Festival for Promoting the Goals and Objectives of UNICEF.

  • Frame from the film “Pain and Glory”
  • © kinopoisk.ru

Another winner of the Cannes Film Festival, who will compete for the Oscars, is the Atlantic by Senegalese director Marie Ditop. In the story, the poor builder leaves her lover on the eve of her wedding with the rich man and dies on the way to a better life, but later returns as a spirit. In Cannes, the ribbon was awarded the Grand Prix of the jury.

The shortlist (including in the category "Best Documentary Feature Film") also included the picture "Country of Honey" about the problems of a beekeeper from Macedonia, who collected three awards of the Sundance festival. Also among the candidates for the Oscars are the Estonian film Truth and Justice, the Remaining tape from Hungary and the Label Europa Cinemas Prize winner at the Venice Film Festival, the Polish film The Body of Christ.

In addition to Dylda, two other Russian projects appeared on the short list of other categories of the Oscar award. Konstantin Bronzit’s tape “He Can't Live Without Space” will fight for the figurine in the nomination “Best Short Animated Film”. The prize in the category "Best Documentary" is claimed by the painting "Watercolor" by Viktor Krasovsky.

The list of nominees for the 92nd Oscar will be announced on January 13, 2020. The award ceremony will take place on February 9th.