Two more countries have officially tossed their hats in the ring for the Foreign-Language Oscar, according to separate stories in Variety, and both selections are screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. South Korea's entry is Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine. The well-regarded drama debuted at Cannes, where Jeon Do-yeon won the award for best actress. As the Variety story notes, she plays "a young widow who moves from Seoul to start over in a provincial city." Variety says that Secret Sunshine was selected over Kim Ki-duk's Breath (also a Cannes selection) and May 18, a box-office hit based on real events. In addition to its screenings in Toronto, Secret Sunshine will also be playing at the New York Film Festival and at AFI Fest in Los Angeles, but does not yet have US distribution.

Another Variety story covers the general wariness of buyers toward the films on display in Toronto, but also reports that Lebanon officially selected Nadine Labaki's directorial debut Caramel as their Oscar entrant. According to Variety, the film opened in France and Lebanon in August and is already on course to become the top-grossing Lebanese release in those two territories. Caramel is a romantic comedy revolving around the lives of five women, set in and around a beauty salon in Beirut. The trailer at the official French site looks low-key and glossy. Jason Anderson at Eye Weekly called it "a Lebanese chick flick" that's "usually as fetching as it is familiar." Roadside Attractions has US distribution rights.

The dragon rules in South Korea. D-War continues its box office dominance, according to Variety Asia Online, earning $42.3 million so far, good enough to place it at #10 in the country's all time list. For a monster movie, D-War has inspired passionate feelings. A poster in the koreanfilm.org discussion forum points to two articles: one from The Korea Herald (reprinted at HanCinema) claims filmmaker Shim Hyung-rae "appealed strongly to Koreans' patriotism and sympathy, inserting a popular Korean song, Arirang, to the emotional ending credit, where he explains how difficult it was to produce a film like D-War in a country where he had to convince many skeptics about his ambitious dream to enter Hollywood." Hmm, I wonder which American directors might want to try that one?

Another article in The Hankyoreh says that the film "is particularly gaining popularity with fans on the Internet," with fans posting "exuberant messages" in support of both director Shim and the film. Shim has spent most of his career as a TV comedian and there is speculation that he's been "bullied" by mainstream filmmakers. When independent filmmaker Lee Song-hee-il posted a negative review on his blog, supporters overwhelmed it with comments, causing him to shut it down. I found one more article at donga.com that confirmed the points in the other two stories, with the writer adding his opinion: "Critics, as usual, gave bad reviews to the movie. But the film is selling just 'off the shelf.' Its awful CG effects and G-rating has fueled its commercial success." (Note: I'm not sure if "awful" is an accurate translation from the original Korean text.) As noted earlier by Monika Bartyzel, D-War will be released as Dragon Wars in the US on September 14.

Local audiences are also supporting May 18, which has now accumulated nearly $36 million in box office receipts. As I mentioned last week, it's based on the massacre in Gwangju, South Korea in 1980; films based on recent, politically-charged events, such as Silmido and Tae-Guk-Gi, have proven to be consistent draws in the country.

China has been saved by an unlikely hero. Boston-bred Donnie Yen is the star of Flash Point, which opened wide on 500 screens and earned a cool $1.9 million, according to Variety Asia Online. In the US, that total would be a disaster, but it "thrilled" Virginia Leung, a senior distribution manager quoted in the story. The weekend earnings would jump the film to #19 on Box Office Mojo's list for the year so far. From all appearances an insane action picture made with the trademarked hyper-kinetic Hong Kong style, Flash Point will play in the Midnight Madness section at the upcoming Toronto film festival. Yen and director Wilson Yip will team again for Painted Skin, due to start filming later this year.

In South Korea, as Monica Bartyzel informed us earlier this week, monster movie D-War just missed beating the record-setting opening five-day numbers established by another monster flick, The Host. That builds on the success of another more serious local film, May 18, which opened the previous week and is based on the massacre in Gwangju, South Korea in 1980.

Other countries in Asia have been infected by Transformers fever, proving once again that bad taste recognizes no national boundaries. As reported by Variety Asia Online, Transformers opened this past Saturday on 600 screens and took more than $5 million from the hard-working people of Japan. No doubt rubbing his hands together in evil glee, the distributor estimates the film will top out at $59 million. Smaller in populace but no less subservient than anyone else in the world to the lure of a big dumb Hollywood action movie, Malaysians made Transformers the biggest film in local history, racking up more than $5 million over five weeks, while Michael Bay's baby has become the biggest non-sequel in Singapore box office history.