Oscar Nominations: "Biutiful" Leads Foreign Films

(CBS/AP) "Biutiful," a film by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu that's so bleak it must remind viewers their lives really aren't that bad, has been nominated for best foreign language film by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Inarritu's previous films include the gut-wrenching "Babel," the gut-wrenching "21 Grams" and the gut-wrenching "Amores Perros." One might say Inarritu specializes in gut-wrenching.

Academy Awards: Complete Coverage

The other short-listed films are "Dogtooth," by Greece's Yorgos Lanthimos; Algeria's "Outside the Law," a story about that nation's struggle for independence directed by Rachid Bouchareb; "Incendies," from Canada's Denis Villeneuve; and "In a Better World," by Denmark's Susanne Bier. It's entirely possible the foreign nominees are a more interesting bunch than their domestic counterparts, but that's subjective.

"Biutiful" must be considered the front-runner, though it has its share of detractors. In his review for NPR, Mark Jenkins writes, "[T]he high level of craft can't sustain the movie as its script (written by Inarritu with Armando Bo and Nicolas Giacobone) becomes increasingly hectoring. Like 'Babel,' 'Biutiful' is contrived, bombastic and lacking a sense of proportion[.]"

Even less kind is the Village Voice: "'Biutiful' is even more morbidly obese than 'Babel' in terms of soggy ideas, elephantine with miserabilist humanism and redemption jibber-jabber."

"Biutiful" tells the story of a dying hustler preparing for his final reckoning. It boasts an intense central performance that has gained Javier Bardem a best actor Oscar nomination and has seen Hollywood stars, including Julia Roberts and Sean Penn, lining up to praise him.

Inarritu, a previous Oscar contender for "Babel," said he was delighted by the nominations for the film and for Bardem, who won a supporting actor Oscar for "No Country For Old Men."

"It's always a rare feeling, an extraordinary feeling to have this recognition in general when 'Biutiful' is a film of a different nature. It's not a film with a happy ending," Inarritu told Mexico's Televisa. "It doesn't have elements that would be obvious to the Academy."

The same could be said of the disturbing, dystopian "Dogtooth." Described by some as a darker version of "The Truman Show," it is set within a villa where a domineering father and his acquiescent wife raise three children in an artificial universe in which the outside world takes on sinister dimensions.

Actor Christos Stergioglou, who plays the father, said he was "in a state of shock" at the nomination.

He said the film "shows what stupidity can lead to -- when you want to control everything, even under the pretext of love and protection."

"It is both a very serious and ridiculous subject."

The story of three Algerian brothers swept up in the North African country's fight for independence, "Outside the Law" has already sparked controversy in France, where some objected to its depiction of the brutal war that led to Algeria's independence in 1962.

A conservative French lawmaker called the film anti-French, and its Cannes Film Festival screening in May was held amid tight security. Bouchareb has said he was surprised by the strong reaction and insisted he did not make the film to divide.

"The film is not a battleground and was not made to trigger a standoff," Bouchareb, a Frenchman of Algerian origin, said at Cannes.

Danish director Bier is Oscar-nominated for a second time for "In a Better World," the story of two families in gray, rural Denmark that become fatefully intertwined as their sons develop a risky friendship. Her 2006 movie "After the Wedding" also received a foreign language Oscar nomination.

Bier said the nomination "means a lot for a small Danish film because now it will get a whole lot of attention and will be seen by a lot more people."

She said being Oscar nominated is "being part of a very exclusive club."

"The fact that one gets nominated several times means that there's some kind of solidity in what one does," Bier told the AP by phone from the Sundance Film Festival. "It is like being knighted."

The Quebecois film "Incendies" follows adult twins as they travel to the Middle East to uncover their mother's war-ravaged past and a brother they never knew they had.

Directed by Villeneuve, and based on a play by Lebanese-born Wajdi Mouawad, it was named best Canadian film by critics in Toronto and Vancouver

The foreign language film nominating process has been criticized in recent years as many critically acclaimed films and festival award winners have failed to be nominated. Part of the problem stems from a rule that limits each country to submitting only one film for consideration.

This year's list, chosen by panels of Academy members, omits some of the most heralded foreign language films of the year. Snubbed movies include Cannes Film Festival prize-winners "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives," from Thailand, and France's "Of Gods and Men."