Oscars 2013: Ranking This Year's Best Pictures
6. Amour
Initial Impression: I couldn't believe it when I had heard that this was nominated in the field for top honors. The only Haneke film I've ever seen is his American remake of Funny Games, and honestly that was enough to put me off of his filmography, considering how utterly pointless it seemed. Two dandies randomly visiting violence on a family, only for one of them to stumble across Adam Sandler's remote from "Click" and undo a moment they didn't like? Seriously, that's the plot twist you're going with? On top of my displeasure with Haneke, I just didn't feel like watching the first 15 minutes of Up in live action and with subtitles. That's not to say I don' t like foreign films, but I think that sometimes the Academy goes a little overboard with nominating films for two top honors categories, when you know well they're only going to win in one category. Much like Up, Amour is nominated for Best Picture and the secondary category of Best Foreign Language Film. Guess who's winning Best Foreign Language Film this year? The film that was never going to get Best Picture and took up an extra spot on the already crowded schedule. The Verdict: I surprisingly did not hate this film. Haneke went a long way to restoring his name in my eyes, and hearing these two old folks in love speaking their native tongue is extremely beautiful. A film that is meditative on both loss and declining quality of life, it managed to not be what I had feared it would be. Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant play a married, loving couple so brilliantly that it's crushing to see them slowly part. But alas, even this film had its superfluous flaws, granted they weren't worse than the films below it on the list. Haneke likes to show us shots that have nothing to do with the film, or even in some cases linger a little to long on the subject in question. A maid vacuuming the house, a concert audience during a show, these are two instances where he should have cut sooner, so as to preserve the economy of story. Also, the pigeon chasing metaphor was ridiculous. This is Amour, not a hero's quest picture. Suffice it to say, it's the best film of the ones I'd never watch again from this list.