Shortlisted Oscar International Films Tackle Gender, Sexuality and Bullying

variety.com:

Guy Lodge Film CriticYears ago, you wouldn’t have looked to the international feature category — or foreign-language film, as it was more insularly named back then — for much in the way of reflecting the modern world.

World War II history and heartwarming child’s-eye family portraits were for a long time the staple diet of an award that shied away from more nervy topics.

This year’s shortlist, however, sees a number of global filmmakers tackling more resonant, contemporary subject matter — with matters of gender and sexuality woven through a number of them.Germany’s entry, “I’m Your Man,” even strays into science fiction, a genre rarely given much attention in this category.

Maria Schrader’s witty, philosophical romantic comedy begins as a battle of wills between Alma (Maren Eggert), an independent, career-oriented academic, and Tom (Dan Stevens), the android boyfriend tailored directly for her needs in a lab — though it seems he has a mind of his own. “In our romantic comedy, the obscure object of desire is not a woman but a man, which of course has to do with the fact that he actually is an object in the true sense of the word — a robot,” Schrader says. “Every good comedy evades expectations of the audience, and as gender politics is such a delicate and controversial field of expectations, it is a tremendously joyful playground for laughs.”Schrader is one of four woman filmmakers on the shortlist, all of whose films taking a female character’s perspective in a world pitted against them.