'Visit' not foreign enough for Oscars, Globes

December 05, 2007 In the case of "The Band's Visit," opening Friday via Sony Pictures Classics for a one-week Oscar qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles (prior to its Feb. 8 opening), the fact that too much of the Israeli comedy drama's dialogue is in English was enough to prompt the Academy to bar it from the foreign film category although it certainly looks foreign and sounds foreign even when they're speaking English. Subsequently, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. also ruled that "Visit" has too much English to compete in the Golden Globes as a foreign language film. The rulings are unfortunate because this small beautifully made movie from Israeli writer-director Eran Kolirin has been praised for its "Chaplinesque" qualities since winning the Coup de Coeur jury prize last May in the Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard program.

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