Paolo Virzì's Human Capital
(Il Capitale Umano), a darkly humorous and twisting human drama
set against the backdrop of the financial crisis, was named
Wednesday as Italy's candidate for the best foreign film Oscar
at next year's Academy Awards.
Hearing the news, at the funeral of his grandmother,
Virzì said "I am very honoured.
"It's a great responsibility to represent our country in
such a complicated and lively moment for our cinema," he added.
Virzì will know if his movie has made the Academy's
shortlist for the award on January 15.
The film is aiming to repeat the success of Paolo
Sorrentino's The Great Beauty this year.
Human Capital, dubbed a "neo-noir", was named best film at
this year's David di Donatello awards, the Italian Oscars,
splitting top honours with The Great Beauty.
Based on the American novel Human Capital by Stephen
Amidon, the film relocates from Connecticut to the affluent
Brianza area north of Milan and intertwines the destinies of two
families after a cyclist is hit off the road by a jeep on the
night before Christmas Eve.
Top Italian actors Valeria Golino and Fabrizio Bentivoglio
play a lead role, as does Carla Bruni's elder sister, Valeria
Bruni-Tedeschi, who won the David for best actress.
The film garnered 7.5 points on the Internet Movie
Database (IMDb) while on Rotten Tomatoes Elise Nakhnikian of
Slant Magazine called it a "cleverly told mystery"
Human Capital competed at the Tribeca Film Festival and
has been a hit at the Italian box office, scoring around six
million euros ($7.5 million).
It has veeb sold to 35 countries and will be released in
the US via Film Movement.
Human Capital is up against a strong list of contenders
this year.
They include French fashion-world biopic Saint Laurent;
Belgium's Two Days, One Night, the Dardenne brothers'
ecstatically received redundancy fable starring Marion
Cotillard; Turkey's Palme d'Or winner Winter Sleep, from auteur
Nuri Bilge Ceylan; and Poland's Ida, an unsettling family drama
directed by Paweł Pawlikowski.
Other strong contenders are Xavier Dolan's much-admired
Mommy, submitted by Canada; Israel's Gett: The Trial of Viviane
Amsalem, a selection at Cannes and Toronto, by sister-brother
film-makers Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz; and Mauritania's
Timbuktu, a Cannes hit for director Abderrahmane Sissako.
Livorno-born Virzì, who writes all his films, first gained
acclaim with Ovosodo (Hardboiled Egg, 1997).
His other credits include Baci, abbracci (Hugs and Kisses,
1999), My Name is Tonino (2002), Caterina va in città (Catherine
Goes to the City, 2003), N (Io e Napoleone), 2006, Tutta la vita
davanti (Your Whole Life in front of You, 2008) and La prima
cosa bella (The First Beautiful Thing, 2010).
Italy's Oscar shortlist included Alice Rohrwacher's The
Wonders, Francesco Munzi's Black Souls, Ferzan Ozpetek's Fasten
Your Seatbelts, Edoardo Winspeare's Quiet Bliss, the Manetti
Bros.' Song e' Napule and Carlo Verdone's Sotto una Buona
Stella.
The selection panel included directors Gianni Amelio and
Gabriele Salvatores, producers Tommaso Arrighi and Angelo
Barbagallo, and distributor Barbara Salabe among other industry
figures.
In March The Great Beauty gave Italy its eleventh
best-film Oscar win in history, the most ever for any country in
the category.
Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said the win was a mark of
"Italian pride," in a tweet, reflecting the front page of every
national daily.
The prize put Italy two statuettes ahead of France's nine
foreign-Oscar wins, 15 years after Italy's last Academy Award
for Roberto Benigni's Holocaust tragicomedy Life Is
Beautiful.
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