Golden Globes nominations: Diverse foreign-language film contenders

1/13

By Patrick Kevin Day, Los Angeles Times

Initial reports stated that a sewage pipe had burst near the Beverly Hilton, flooding the red carpet. But the actual problem was a sprinkler malfunction, depositing a much cleaner form of water under the feet of Hollywood’s most hoity-toity. Still, in the ulta-controlled, ultra-pampered world of awards shows, even a minor malfunction such as this merited extensive discussion in the media. At least the weather remained pleasant. (Jason H. Neubert / Los Angeles Times)

2/13

Matthew McConaughey apparently did not walk the red carpet for 25 minutes after arriving at the Globes. Instead, he signed autographs and posed for “selfies.” And for that, the E! anchors Ross Mathews and Kelly Osbourne spoke of the “Dallas Buyers Club” actor as though he’d arrived with a limo full of orphans and the cure for cancer in his back pocket. Standing on the red carpet, apparently, does not help give anyone a healthy sense of perspective. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

3/13

“Mad Men” star Elisabeth Moss was asked to do E!’s famous (infamous?) mani-cam, and she finally became the first star to fulfill America’s collective dream of giving the E! audience the finger in extreme close-up. Lucky for the cable channel, a quick-thinking director cut away at the last moment. Still, we all know what she did. And for that, a nation is grateful. (Jordan Strauss / Invision / AP)

4/13

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler reunited to cohost the Golden Globes again this year, and they didn’t disappoint. Perhaps no other joke went over in the room as huge as Fey’s dig at George Clooney’s dating habits when discussing “Gravity:” “George Clooney would rather float into space and die than spend one more minute with a woman his own age.” Runner-up was their comment about Woody Allen getting the Cecil B. DeMille Award so soon after Martin Scorsese had won it, causing them to speculate if it was supposed to always go to the tiniest man with the biggest glasses. (Paul Drinkwater / Associated Press)

5/13

Jennifer Lawrence has proven herself to be a lovable goofball in the endless promotional tour for “American Hustle” and “Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” And yes, her trip on the stairs at the Oscars further endeared her to viewers. But let’s be honest, after you’ve won an Oscar, getting a Golden Globe is no reason to get nervous. So there’s really no reason Lawrence should have been giving a speech from the Taylor Swift-Sarah Jessica Parker playbook when she accepted for supporting actress. Come the next awards show, Lawrence better be a little more jaded or that massive reservoir of goodwill toward her may start to dry up. (Paul Drinkwater / Associated Press)

6/13

It only took two awards, but Jacqueline Bisset clearly gave the speech of the night with her long, rambling, occasionally PG-13 acceptance of the award for supporting actress in a role for television for the Starz series “Dancing on the Edge.” First there was the seemingly endless walk from Bisset’s seat somewhere in the darkest recesses of the International Ballroom, then there was the dramatic pause as she apparently gathered herself. And let’s not forget the occasional swearing, the battle against the music that attempted to usher her off the stage and finally her mother’s advice to her: “Go to hell and don’t come back.” (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

7/13

Some nominees must climb the stairs from the audience to accept their Golden Globes. U2 descends from the heavens. The Irish rockers came down to our mortal plane to accept the award for original song, “Ordinary Love” from the Nelson Mandela biopic “Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom,” and connect themselves to the recently departed South African leader’s struggles in whatever way they could. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

8/13

Actor Shia LaBeouf’s recent scandals were spared any jokes from Fey and Poehler in the show opening, but presenter Jim Carrey wouldn’t let LaBeouf off the hook that easily. While introducing the nominated film “American Hustle,” Carrey said, “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard. I think it was Shia LaBeouf who said that. So young, so wise.” (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

9/13

While many, many people live-tweeted the Golden Globes, perhaps the most biting comment of anyone came from Mia Farrow, ex-partner of Cecil B. DeMille Award recipient Woody Allen, who was giving minute-by-minute commentary right up until the moment Allen’s tribute began. Then she tweeted, “Time to grab some icecream & switch over to #GIRLS. Nite all.” But if you thought her comments were tough, check out Ronan Farrow’s tweet from later in the evening: “Missed the Woody Allen tribute - did they put the part where a woman publicly confirmed he molested her at age 7 before or after Annie Hall?” Allen’s adopted daughter, Dylan, recently discussed the alleged encounter with Vanity Fair. Allen has denied the allegations of sexual abuse. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

10/13

Meanwhile, Allen’s longtime friend Diane Keaton came out to accept the award for the absent Allen and in the process, give the evening’s second-strangest acceptance speech, which included a haunting, child-like performance of the song “Make New Friends.” (Paul Drinkwater / Associated Press)

11/13

Leonardo DiCaprio may have made the best mispronunciation of the night by calling the British film “Philomena” the much more jazzy “Philomania.” While some may not have been interested in seeing a low-key story of a woman seeking her long-lost son, crowds may turn out in droves for the story of a British woman seeking her long-lost son and going nuts at the same time. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

12/13

Stars rarely do impressions of themselves during awards show acceptance speeches, but there was Matthew McConaughey up there winning lead actor in a motion picture telling the crowd, “All right, all right, all right.” (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

13/13

The powerful, hard-hitting “12 Years a Slave” was widely regarded as one of the year’s best movies, but as the evening wore on, the film kept losing awards to others. By the time the night’s final award was about to be handed out, the cast and crew of this slavery drama had all but given up hope. But then the final surprise of the night came when Johnny Depp read their name and the group, led by director Steve McQueen, came to the stage, understandably relieved and energized. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

By Mark Olsen

Dec. 12, 2013 2:53 PM PT

Films from Denmark, France, Iran, Italy and Japan are nominated for the Golden Globes foreign-language film award. “The Hunt,” “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” “The Past,” “The Great Beauty” and “The Wind Rises” will compete for the prize, to be announced on Jan. 12.

With guidelines that allow for more than one film from a given country to be eligible, the Globes’ foreign language category can be very different from the Academy Awards. Last year, two films from France, “The Intouchables” and “Rust and Bone,” were nominated. Nevertheless, the last three winners in the category at the Globes have gone on to win the Oscar too.

Of this year’s Globe nominees, Denmark’s “The Hunt,” Iran’s “The Past” and Italy’s “The Great Beauty” are all official submissions for the Academy Awards from their respective countries, and each got a big boost Thursday morning. Asghar Farhadi, writer-director of “The Past,” won both the Globe and the Oscar for his 2011 film “A Separation.”

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“The Past,” though considered an Iranian film, was shot in Paris and is in French, with a cast that includes “The Artist” star Bérénice Bejo, who won the best actress prize for the role at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

“It was only the location of my film that had changed, but my filmmaking was like before,” Farhadi said from New York via a translator. “I thought of the audience the same way as I thought of them in my previous films. I always think I am the first audience of my films, and if I don’t believe something in my films, I won’t do it.”

“Blue Is the Warmest Color,” a three-hour, NC-17 story of young love, has been one of the most talked about films of the year. In an unusual move, when the film won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the award was given not only to director Abdellatif Kechiche but also to actresses Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux. Since then, controversy has followed the film, not only for its explicit depictions of lesbian sex, but also because a war of words erupted between the director and his stars.

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It was at separate press conferences earlier this year for the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. that Kechiche verbally attacked Seydoux, followed by the actress erupting in tears.

Jonathan Sehring, president of Sundance Selects/IFC Films, distributor of “Blue,” acknowledged that he felt “vindicated” by the Globes nomination after the film’s release date in France made it ineligible to be this year’s official French submission to the Oscars.

“I said early, early on that the Globes could be better than the Oscars in terms of the foreign-language category,” Sehring said. “And, selfishly, by the inclusion of ‘Blue,’ it is a better foreign-language selection. But we’re really thrilled it’s gotten this reception.”

“The Wind Rises,” which director Hayao Miyazaki has repeatedly declared will be his last film, will compete at the Oscars in the animation category rather than foreign language. The film has begun to come under fire for its depiction of the story of aircraft designer Jiro Horikoshi; it’s been called “anti-Japanese” by some and “morally complacent” by others. In a review, Times critic Kenneth Turan called it “a complex story that resists easy summation.”

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Italy’s “The Great Beauty,” directed by Paolo Sorrentino, is a phantasmagorical journey through modern-day Rome as seen through the eyes of a disillusioned author, played by Toni Servillo. The film recently won big at the European Film Awards, picking up four prizes including best film, best actor and best European director.

It was at last year’s European Film Awards that “The Hunt” won the screenplay prize for director Thomas Vinterberg and his co-writer, Tobias Lindholm. When “The Hunt” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012, it picked up a best actor prize for Mads Mikkelsen, who has in the interim seen his profile rise in the United States thanks to his role as the title character on the TV program “Hannibal.”

Speaking by phone from Copenhagen Thursday, Vinterberg said he was pleased by the reponse that “The Hunt,” the story of a man wrongly accused of sexually abusing a young girl, has been getting outside Denmark.

“I’m just incredibly proud that this film we did, this very Danish, local story, has turned out to be universal,” Vinterberg said. “It’s interesting for me to start out with a project with some provocative subjects and to see that it’s been quite a big commercial success here and to see people profoundly moved by it there; that’s a great satisfaction.”

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Follow Mark Olsen on Twitter: @IndieFocus