News

In the landscape of modern cinema portraying aging and mortality, “Memory Lane” (“De Terugreis”) emerges as a delightfully nuanced Dutch film that deviates from the traditional grim plot. This Oscar-nominated film, directed by Jelle de Jonge, explores the transformational journey of an elderly couple in a tragic yet frequently hilarious manner.

Martin van Waardenberg and Leny Breederveld play Jaap and Maartje, a couple married for nearly 50 years, with amazing depth in the film. Their characters are a riveting study of long-term partnership: Jaap, a ceaselessly grumbling pessimist preoccupied with bleak news, and Maartje, a lively lady slowly succumbing to dementia but full of life’s excitement.

“Memory Lane” has already received widespread recognition in the Netherlands, earning Golden Calf awards for Best Actor and Best Film. What distinguishes this film as art is its delicate blend of comedy and sorrow, which provides a more humane perspective on aging than the stark,...

In recent years, movies about senility and mortality have taken on a pitilessly bleak, frightening tenor, notably in such awards magnets as “Amour,” “Vortex” and “The Father.” Preferring a less grim approach is the Netherlands’ submission to the Oscar international feature race this year. Jelle de Jonge’s “Memory Lane” is a sometimes boisterous, ultimately affirming seriocomedy about an elderly couple who take a road trip to retrace some of their youthful steps, probably for the last time. A hit on its home turf earlier this year, de Jonge’s film is a well-crafted crowdpleaser that should cross borders with relative ease … unlike its oft-squabbling protagonists.

Jaap (Martin van Waardenberg) and Maartje (Leny Breederveld) have been married close to half a century. But despite their material comfort, the 70-somethings aren’t exactly enjoying a harmonious retirement. He’s an endless grumbler whose doomsaying view that “the world’s on fire...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...