Two films that have just been nominated for the Oscar Award also appeared in cinemas in Romania, alongside the new title of an already awarded actor

The films “Hamnet” and “Marty Supreme”, which were nominated on Thursday for the Oscar Award for the best feature film, also appeared in cinemas in Romania on Friday, after their international premieres at the end of last year. Along with them arrived in theaters “Rental Family”, Brendan Fraser's exciting new film and the first in which the American actor plays the leading role after the film that brought him the Oscar Award.

Both “Hamnet,” which tells the story of William Shakespeare's wife as she struggles to come to terms with the loss of her only son, and “Marty Supreme,” the drama starring Timothée Chalamet as an aspiring table tennis player, have a general release in Romanian cinemas on January 23.

On Thursday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences included both on the list for the Academy Award for Best Picture, confirming the expectations of experts who saw them on the list of big favorites.

“Hamnet” is directed by Chinese-born filmmaker Chloé Zhao, who in 2021 won both the Golden Globe and the Oscar for best director for her feature film “Nomadland”. Her new film stars actor Paul Mescal (the lead actor in the 2024 feature film Gladiator II) as Shakespeare, while Irish actress Jessie Buckley (known from films like Wild Rose or The Lost Daughter) plays his wife. But some will probably recognize her from another role: that of firefighter Vasili Ignatenko's wife in the popular series “Chernobyl” created by HBO.

At the Golden Globe Awards, which annually opens the film industry's awards season, “Hamnet” was awarded on January 11 with one of the most coveted prizes, that of the best feature film drama. For the Academy Awards, which will take place on March 15 and close the award season, Zhao's film has received 8 nominations, including for Buckley, for the best actress in a leading role. The Chinese filmmaker was also nominated for the Oscars for best director and best adapted screenplay.

The film for which Timothée Chalamet is considered the favorite for the Oscar Award

Even if a feature film about the life story of a table tennis player might sound somewhat boring, the feature film signed by American filmmaker Josh Safdie could hardly be included in that category. After its international premiere, “Marty Supreme” was widely praised by film critics and appreciated by audiences. It has an average rating of 8.2 / 10 from over 40,000 ratings published on IMDb.

His performance in “Marty Supreme” has already earned Chalamet the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical, and many analysts now see him as the favorite to pick up the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role in mid-March.

The 30-year-old is considered Hollywood's hottest new generation actor, having starred in both blockbusters (like Canadian director Denis Villeneuve's Dune and 2023's Wonka) and critically acclaimed films (Lady Bird or A Complete Unknown).

In “Marty Supreme,” he stars alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, in her first major role since Pepper Potts in the superhero film “Avengers: Endgame.” The script for the new film convinced the actress who won an Oscar for her performance in “Shakespeare in Love” to return to the big screen after 6 years in which she was mainly involved with “Goop”, her lifestyle company, and only accepted minor roles in series.

In addition to the Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor in a Leading Role, “Marty Supreme” was nominated in 7 other categories, including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

Brendan Fraser's new film “Rental Family” is also out in theaters

This Friday sees the general premiere in cinemas in Romania and “Rental Family”, the film in which Brendan Fraser plays Phillip Vandarploeug. It's about an American actor living in Tokyo who struggles to find purpose in life until he lands an unusual job: at a Japanese “family for rent” agency, standing in for family members or acting as a friend to strangers. “He rediscovers meaning, belonging and the beauty of human connection,” notes the IMDb description for the film.

“What is a rental family? After you do a little digging, and reading the script certainly helps, you'll find out that it's a business that's been around since the 1980s. I think there's about 300 or so of them operating in Tokyo now, probably more since the movie came out,” Fraser explained in an interview late last year before the international premiere of “Rental Family.”

The 57-year-old actor, who in 2023 received his first career Oscar for his performance in the drama “The Whale”, also said the recognition from the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has given him more “bandwidth” in choosing the features he wants to star in. In the same interview with IndieWire, Fraser also gave a disarming answer to why he rented a hedgehog during his time in Japan filming “Rental Family”: “Because I hadn't done that before.”

The movie “The Whale”, which won him the Oscar 3 years ago, was an A24 title. It is the studio that is now pinning its hopes on the Oscars in “Marty Supreme”, after in recent years it produced or distributed films such as “Civil War”, the feature film that enjoyed success beyond expectations in cinemas in 2024, “A Different Man”, the title that brought Sebastian Stan the first Golden Globe of his career last year, “Queer”, the acclaimed film with Daniel Craig in a new role after giving up that of James Bond, or “The Brutalist”, the film for which Adrien Brody won his second career Academy Award, also last year.

“Sentimental Value”, another top option for those who want to see a movie at the cinema

Those who want to see a movie at the cinema this weekend also have the option of class, which has been playing in cinemas since last Friday. It is about the feature film “Sentimental Value” by Joachim Trier, one of the most acclaimed European directors.

“Sisters Nora and Agnes are reunited after many years with their father Gustav, a once famous director, who offers Nora a role in his latest film, but she refuses it. This is how Gustav ends up with Rachel Kemp, a famous Hollywood actress, whom he brings into the middle of this personal and emotional meeting,” states the description published by Cinemagia.ro.

And Gustvan is played by well-known Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, who won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in the film in which he stars alongside Elle Fanning, Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, among others. At the European Film Awards, which took place last weekend, “Sentimental Value” “swept” the competition, taking home 6 awards: for the best film, the best director, both acting awards – for Skarsgård and Reinsve -, for the best screenplay and the best soundtrack.

For the Oscars gala that will take place in March, “Sentimental Value” received nominations in no less than 9 categories, behind only “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another.”

The reasons why some films appear in Romanian cinemas late compared to their international premiere date vary from case to case, but rarely have anything to do with their value. For example, some premiere at major international film festivals precisely to be eligible for awards season.

This was also the case for “Marty Supreme”, which was presented to film critics through a “secret” screening organized in October at the New York Film Festival in order to be eligible for the Golden Globe Awards, the gala for which nominations were announced on December 8, 2024. “Marty Supreme” thus had its international premiere even before the date set for its North American theatrical release, the domestic market of Hollywood, on December 25.