By Arameh Etemadi:
Through this point in the critics’ awards season, It Was Just an Accident has had an uneven run.
The film has not won Best International Film from the following critics organizations: Las Vegas, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Phoenix, Boston, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Toronto, the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Society of Film Critics, Minnesota, New Jersey, Iowa, Georgia, and Florida.
By contrast, the film has won Best International Film from: San Diego, Seattle, St. Louis, Chicago, Atlanta, North Texas, the Online Film Critics Society of New York, the Black Film Critics Circle, Kansas, Philadelphia, and the Southeastern Film Critics.
The picture is clear: It Was Just an Accident has performed better among regional critics organizations and newer voices, but has failed to build consensus in the classic, establishment institutions of American criticism — specifically in the International Film category.
This is neither a contradiction nor a coincidence. It is a sign of a taste divide in how critics approach non-English-language cinema today.
It remains to be seen what fate awaits the film at the Golden Globes and the Oscars.
Better films competed this season — Sentimental Value, Sirât, The Secret Agent among them. The awards didn’t agree. They rarely do.