Oscar Winner Predictions: Best International Feature

The competition: Drive My Car (Japan), Flee (Denmark), The Hand of God (Italy), Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan), The Worst Person in the World (Norway)

Previous winners: Another Round (Denmark), Parasite (South Korea), Roma (Mexico), A Fantastic Woman (Chile), The Salesman (Iran), Son of Saul (Hungary), Ida (Poland)
My winner: Coming soon!
The facts: This is the fourth consecutive year that a nominee here also contends for Best Director, with Ryusuke Hamaguchi honored, and the third in four years to be up for Best Picture. This is the third consecutive year that a film here – “Flee” this time – is up for Best Documentary, and the first time it’s also up for Best Animated Feature. “Waltz with Bashir” is the only other animated film to have been nominated for this prize. Both “Drive My Car” and “The Worst Person in the World” have their screenplays nominated. Italy is the most-awarded country in this category, with fourteen wins, most recently for another film by “The Hand of God” director Paolo Sorrentino, “The Great Beauty.” Japan has four wins out of seventeen nominations, with “Departures” the most recent to triumph in 2008. Denmark has won four times out of fourteen nominations, most recently last year, for “Another Round,” and this is the country’s sixth nomination in ten years. Norway has yet to win despite six nominations. This is Bhutan’s first-ever nomination. They first submitted a film in 1999 and then tried to submit this year’s nominee last year but were disqualified. “Drive My Car” has taken most precursor prizes.
Who should win: All these choices are good. I think I would vote for “Lunana” but any would be solid.
Who will win: I don’t see a world where Drive My Car loses this, though “The Worst Person in the World” and “Flee” will surely have support.