Golden Globe Musings: Best Foreign Language Film

Golden Globe nominations for this year will be announced in just a few weeks, so here’s a survey of the contenders and the most likely predictions at this time. Weigh in with your thoughts, and let me know if I’ve left off anything important. A reminder that the Globes are wildly unpredictable and that it is still a bit early to gauge the reception or awards potential of a number of the so-called “contenders” at this point.

Last year’s nominees:
Force Majeure (Sweden)
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (Israel)
Ida (Poland)
Leviathan (Russia)
Tangerines (Estonia)

This category is near-impossible to predict before knowing which films might be eligible, and my number one awards site, Goldderby, doesn’t yet offer any clues about what other people are predicting, just like last year. What I’ve heard most about this year are Goodnight Mommy (Austria), The Second Mother (Brazil), Felix and Meira (Canada), Mustang (France), Labyrinth of Lies (Germany), Son of Saul (Hungary), Baba Joon (Israel), Aferim (Romania), and The Assassin (Taiwan), all of which are eligible for the Oscar which means that we may not be considering others that are out there. Though it’s mostly in English, I think that Clouds of Sils Maria (France) might show up here too.

Current predictions:
The Second Mother (Brazil)
Felix and Meira (Canada)
Clouds of Sils Maria (France)
Labyrinth of Lies (Germany)
Son of Saul (Hungary)