Half Way Through the Year - The Best Films So Far

Now that we are already into July it is time for me to list my favorite films of the year so far. I picked out seven films that I thought were especially good. Here they are:

1) L'Enfant
2) Water
3) A Prairie Home Companion
4) The Proposition
5) Tsotsi
6) The King
7) El Perro

Most of the above listed films have no chance during next year's awards season. L'Enfant was Belgium's entry in last year's foreign film category and it was not nominated for an Oscar or
anything else even though it won the Palm D'or at Cannes in 2005. Tsotsi is this year's foreign film Oscar winner. El Perro is too small of a film to garner any awards attention. Water is an outstanding film which has done reasonably well at the box office. But it is highly controversial and I doubt that India would submit it as their selection for next year's Oscars. Both The Proposition and The King are too small to be considered contenders in next year's awards season. A Prairie Home Companion might get one or two nominations (Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Meryl Streep) but it was released early in the season and I don't think that it will be remembered. Streep is more likely to get a nomination for the very popular The Devil Wears Prada. Also of note, many people think that United 93 will get a nomination for Best Picture and Best Director. While it is a well made film and I admire director Paul Greengrass I just don't see that happening.

In the documentary arena things are already heating up. I liked Why We Fight but I don't think that it is eligible for next year's Oscars. I just saw Who Killed the Electric Car? and I thought it was good but not a film that will win awards. I loved Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man and I think that it has a good chance of getting a nomination. But somehow I don't think it will win. I haven't seen The War Tapes or Wordplay but they are both supposed to be good and I will catch them on DVD. If there is one category that I think I can call a winner (even at this early stage) it is the documentary category. I just have a strong feeling that Davis Guggenheim's Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Truth will walk away with next year's prize. And so it should. It is an excellent film about a matter that concerns us all - global warming.

We will soon be in the Oscar season and I will review all of the films that I see and comment on what I think their chances are during the hectic awards season.