It’s Thursday and I’m back with a new Thursday Movie Picks feature post. This series is hosted by Wandering through the Shelves and offers you a weekly prompt to post some movie recommendations/talking points according to the theme. Usually, you are supposed to post about 3-5 examples, which I find a very manageable amount.

This week is once again part of the Oscar Winner Edition, which will continue to be a reoccurring theme during each month. This month is all about Best Foreign Language Movies. I certainly know one movie that comes to mind, but I’m sure I’ll once again have to consult some lists to see which movies won in the past years. Let’s get this started!

Parasite (South Korea)

This isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned Parasite and it probably won’t be the last. I mean, Parasite made history, so why would I not mention it first thing in this post!?

Amour (Austria)

I could not resist including movies that represent my own country, despite this movie being shot in French! I know the director, Michael Haneke, and his work well, I’ve even met him a couple of times. I have to say, I’m not his biggest fan? However, I very much respect the career he has made for himself and you can’t deny there’s a certain genius in him. After all, he won with Amour, but he was nominated another time as well.

The Counterfeiters (Austria)

Austria’s movie industry was once described as the feel bad capital of the world, so … the movies are mostly on the depressing side. We still won though?

Amélie (France)

Amélie did not actually win, but it was nominated. I feel like it was more of a commercial success despite its quirkiness and I also feel like commercial appeal doesn’t always work with the Academy? Could be only my interpretation …

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Well, this certainly proves again that I do not watch very many Oscar nominated movies, but I somehow still don’t think I’m really missing out? I do think that there’s probably some hidden gems in the international section, but I still very often question the Academy’s selection.