Well, I never talked about the submission of just ONE country, but Portugal deserves it just because if this little country continues with their usual selection, Portuguese Cinema will never get a nod for Best Foreign Picture.
This year the Portuguese candidate is To Die Like a Man, a movie about a transvestite who tries to erase any past history of herself as a male and when she dies tragically before this is accomplished and her male identity is engraved on her headstone, directed by João Pedro Rodrigues. The movie have been part of the selection of some major film festivals like Cannes, Venice or New York, but it seems that the Portuguese bloggers are not happy at all with the choice, specially with better options this year.
This year the Portuguese candidate is To Die Like a Man, a movie about a transvestite who tries to erase any past history of herself as a male and when she dies tragically before this is accomplished and her male identity is engraved on her headstone, directed by João Pedro Rodrigues. The movie have been part of the selection of some major film festivals like Cannes, Venice or New York, but it seems that the Portuguese bloggers are not happy at all with the choice, specially with better options this year.
Embargo seems to me this year's strongest Portuguese movie, bringing us the story of Nuno, a man working at a hot dog stand, who also invented a machine which promises to revolutionize the shoe industry- a foot scanner. In the middle of a gasoline embargo and finding himself in a strange predicament, Nuno becomes mysteriously confined to his car, finding his life suddenly embargoed. The movie have been seriously acclaimed and it's not a sad movie like the majority of the movies made in Portugal, being funny and satyrical at the same time. The adaptation of the novel of the same name written by the Nobel Prize José Saramago would be my first choice to send to the Academy.
Another strong contender that could represent Portugal would be Marco Martins' How To Draw a Perfect Circle the story of "Guilherme and Sofia, brother and sister, (who) grow up sharing experiences and slowly discovering their sexuality. The thing that Sofia doesn't know is how far Guilherme will go to keep her inside his own perverse, dark and perfect circle". A story of incest and obcession that could touch the Academy's heart because of the deepness of the emotional exploration of the movie, but it could be just another one sad movie from Portugal, but still an extremely good, remarkable and difficult to forget one and even better than To Die Like a Man.
But Portugal sent To Die Like a Man. The movie is shocking and too much polemic, making it the kind of movie that the Academy usually tries to stay away for. For me, Embargo or How To Draw a Perfect Circle would be better choice, but at this moment, the Portuguese cinema lovers just can pray to see a Portuguese movie in the Best Foreign Picture nominees list!
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