Bonjour Tristesse

American Translation (2011)

2012-06-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

American Translation (2011)

Genre: Drama

Director: Pascal Arnold, Jean-Marc Barr

Starring: Lizzie Brocheré, Pierre Perrier

Language: French, English

Duration: 114 min.

Rating: 6.4

Summary:

From the moment they meet, brooding Chris and the beautiful Aurore fall instantly and passionately in love but it's not long before their intense connection is consumed by Chris's dark obsession.

American Translation is a film co-directed by Pascal Arnold and Jean-Marc Barr. The fifth collaboration between French writer/director Arnold and American actor/director Barr, best known for his role in Luc Besson's 1988 film The Big Blue, as well as appearing in several films by Danish director Lars von Trier.

The film follows the story of Chris (Pierre Perrier), an attractive young brooding Frenchman and Aurore (Lizzie Brocheré), a rich American daddy's girl. Two psychologically damaged individuals who embark on an intense love affair that quickly turns into an uncontrollable crime spree.

It's actually quite well made, with a highly charismatic duo who turn in very courageous performances, their scorching onscreen chemistry aided by already having acted together in Arnold and Barr's 2006 film One Two Another; there's a solid natural visual aesthetic heavily inspired by Dogme 95 that lends an overall uneasy voyeuristic feeling; and it's paced with a terrific thumping soundtrack featuring Devo, ELO, and French electro rockers Poni Hoax.

But despite all this, the film has a couple crucial flaws. For one, it lacks originality; owing to its highly sexually explicit and violent nature, this film is obviously only going to attract the interest of a very limited audience; and it fails to offer us anything new or shocking that hasn't already been shown or done better by the likes of Breillat, Noé, Ozon, Dumont, or even Oliver Stone many times before.

It also fails to satisfactorily explore and develop both lead characters. We learn everything of Chris' sordid past and his character progression is fully formed and credible, but we didn't need that, it's easy enough to fill in his details, because we've seen and read about his story in the daily news a million times before. Aurore is the character we are most interested in, and there the directors frustratingly squander Brocheré's terrific bilingual performance, leaving us with only the barest of hints as to her real motivations.

There are a couple of great individual sequences including one unforgettable lap-dance and also a well executed ending that prevent American Translation from being a complete waste of time, but it doesn't exactly deliver anything profound or thought provoking either. It appears as though the New French Extremity has finally run its course. Once all the boundaries have been broken, you have to go back to making real compelling cinema to be noteworthy, and this I'm afraid, is neither.

— Bonjour Tristesse

Random Musings - May 2012

2012-05-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

Random Musings of the Month

Well, this month was all about Cannes, and though I had tons of fun covering it from afar, it's not so easy syncing your schedule with an event happening nine timezones away. A few too many late nights and early mornings caught up with me in the end and I needed a few days to recharge my movie brain; but now I'm ready to get back to my regular program again with the usual mix of old and new titles to watch and review for June.

Speaking of Cannes, it seems my dedicated film festival coverage hasn't gone unnoticed because when the 2012 Lammy Nominations were announced the other day, I was pleasantly surprised to see my name listed amongst the nominees for Best Festival & Awards Coverage.

Now I don't have any illusions about actually winning it, not against the incomparably thorough and devoted job that Never Too Early Movie Predictions does covering the Oscars, or the immensely entertaining Annual Awards Nerdism at Cinematic Paradox. Perhaps if the category was split up I might have a chance, but even then The Matinee and Big Thoughts from a Small Mind each have a longstanding record of impressive high quality festival coverage as well.

Still it is very nice to get some recognition and it is an honor just to be considered, so I would like to give a massive thank you to everyone who put my name on their ballots; and also a hearty congratulations to all the other #Lammy2012 nominees.

Random Links of the Month
In no particular order, a few LAMBs who didn't receive a nomination but fully deserved one.

Front Room Cinema, not only the most reliable commenter around but what Scott has built his blog into in such a short time is truly inspirational.
Le Mot du Cinephiliaque, a true classic cinema lover and an encyclopedia of film knowledge. Michaël also submitted one of my favorite FYC posters.
Japan Cinema, living proof that the Lammy nomination process is flawed and unrepresentative, at least as far as the Best Design award is concerned.
Only the Cinema, No one describes a scene quite like Ed Howard can. One of the most intelligent and by far the most evocative reviewer around.
Hollywood Spy, Dezmond's textbook example of how to run a successful and extremely popular blog. Hard to believe it's all done by one person.
Love & Squalor, beautiful minimalistic design, consistently entertaining writing, and just quietly completed the greatest series of posts no one's heard about.
Surrender to the Void, the amount of thorough reviews and essays that Steven constantly produces is astonishing. By word count he is the most prolific blogger I know, and he still somehow finds the time to leave comments everywhere.
Can't Stop the Movies, one of the best all around blogs. Clean easy to navigate interface, a good mix of content, and an unique collaborative reviewing and rating system should have put them in the running for at least a couple categories.
Dr. Blood's Video Vault, a horror fan who I might not always agree with but always respect for his unflinchingly honest and very knowledgeable criticism.

Fellow readers, how was your month? What do you think of the nominees / nomination process? Share your thoughts below.

2012 Cannes Film Festival: Award Winners

2012-05-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

It has been another fun twelve days, but the 65th Cannes Film Festival comes to a close today. All that's left is for the winners to be announced, and of course the dreadfully long wait for me to get a chance to see them.

More 2012 Cannes coverage:
Official Selection Preview
Un Certain Regard Preview
Report and Roundup: Days 1-6
Report and Roundup: Days 7-12

Read on for the full list of awards presented at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival:

Official Competition

This year's nine member competition jury was led by Italian director Nanni Moretti who judged the films alongside actress Hiam Abbass, director Andrea Arnold, actress Emmanuelle Devos, designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, actress Diane Kruger, actor Ewan McGregor, director Alexander Payne, and director Raoul Peck.

Quotes from the post festival jury press conference:

Jury president Nanni Moretti sharing his personal thoughts on the films: "The directors seemed to be more in love with their style than with their characters."

Moretti on his fellow jurors: "I'd like to thank them all, Ewan McGregor for his sincerity and his patience, the passion of Hiam Abbass, the great humor of Jean-Paul Gaultier, he is the ideal spectator, the determination of Diane Kruger, the kindness of Emmannuelle Devos, the competence and culture of Raoul Peck, the tremendous energy of Andrea Arnold, and the enormous cinematic encyclopedia that is Alexander Payne."

Ewan McGregor on the Best Actor award: "It's a very subtle and beautifully played performance by Mads Mikkelsen. The wonder is in the subtlety of it really."

Raoul Peck on the decision process: "Each film has it own chance. Every member of the jury was able to add an additional viewpoint to the others, and together we were able to obtain a very comprehensive view of each film. Although none of the awards were given unanimously, we all stand behind these awards, we are very satisfied with the work we've done."

Alexander Payne on no awards given to American films: "At a film festival, it's not about countries it's about the films. It's incorrect to draw any generalizations based on one tiny snapshot."

Andrea Arnold on Post Tenebras Lux: "I personally love this film. It's one of the films that dared to fail and be brave about life. I think it's full of the fragility, vulnerability, and tenderness of life."

Moretti on the absence of Holy Motors: "There were a large number of films that weren't awarded. Holy Motors, Paradise: Love, and Post Tenebras Lux were the three films that most divided the jury. One of these controversial films got an award and the other two did not."

Palme d'Or

Amour
directed by Michael Haneke
Austria, Germany, France

Grand Prix

Reality
directed by Matteo Garrone
Italy, France

Prix du Jury (Jury Prize)

The Angels' Share
directed by Ken Loach
UK, France

Prix de la mise en scene (Best Director)

Carlos Reygadas
for Post Tenebras Lux
Mexico, France, Netherlands

Prix d'interpretation masculine (Best Actor)

Mads Mikkelsen for his perfomance in Jagten (The Hunt)
directed by Thomas Vinterberg
Denmark

Prix d'interpretation feminine (Best Actress)

Cristina Flutur & Cosmina Stratan ex aequo for their performances in Beyond the Hills
directed by Cristian Mungiu
Romania

Prix du scenario (Best Screenplay)

Beyond the Hills
directed by Cristian Mungiu
Romania

Palme d'Or du court metrage (Best Short Film)

Sessiz-Be Deng (Silent)
directed by L. Rezan Yesilbas
Turkey

Caméra d'Or (Best First Feature Film)

Beasts of the Southern Wild
directed by Benh Zeitlin
USA

Caméra d'Or jury: Michel Andrieu, Remy Chevrin, Francis Gavelle, Hervé Icovic, Gloria Satta

Un Certain Regard

Strange but interesting to see the jury hand out two Best Actress awards and none for Best Actor. I'm very glad that Émilie Dequenne earned some recognition for the first time since Rosetta, and I very much look forward to watching all of the awarded films from this section.

This year's five member jury was led by Tim Roth who was joined by actress Leïla Bekhti, director Tonie Marshall, critic Luciano Monteagudo, and artistic director Sylvie Pras.

Un Certain Regard Award (Best Film)

Después de Lucía (After Lucia)
directed by Michel Franco
Mexico, France

Special Jury Prize

Le Grand Soir (The Big Night)
directed by Benoît Delépine, Gustave Kervern
France

Best Actress

Suzanne Clément for her performance in Laurence Anyways
directed by Xavier Dolan
Canada, France

Best Actress

Émilie Dequenne for her performance in À perdre la raison (Loving Without Reason)
directed by Joachim Lafosse
France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland

Special Distinction of the Jury

Djeca (Children of Sarajevo)
directed by Aida Begic
Bosnia and Herzegovina

44th Directors' Fortnight (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs)

Created by the French Directors Guild in 1969, the Directors' Fortnight is a parallel section distinguished by its focus on independent and eclectic filmmaking.

Arte Cinema Prize (Best Feature)

No
directed by Pablo Larraín
Chile, USA

Label Europa Cinemas Prize (Best European Film)

El Taaib (The Repentant)
directed by Merzak Allouache
Algeria, France

SACD Prize (Best French Language Film)

Camille redouble (Camille Rewinds)
directed by Noémie Lvovsky
France

Special Mention

Ernest et Celestine
directed by Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, Benjamin Renner
France, Belgium, Luxembourg

Illy Prize (Best Short Film)

The Curse
directed by Fyzal Boulifa
UK, Morocco

Special Mention (Short Film)

Os vivos tambem choram (The Living Also Cry)
directed by Basil da Cunha
Switzerland, Portugal

51st International Critic's Week (Semaine de la Critique)

The International Critic's Week began in 1962 as a parallel competitive section to the Cannes Film Festival and serves as a showcase for discovering new talent by presenting first and second feature films from directors around the world.

Nespresso Grand Prize

Aquí y Allá
directed by Antonio Méndez Esparza
Spain

Jury: Bertrand Bonello, Francisco Ferreira, Akiko Kobari, Robert Koehler, Hanns-Georg Rodek

France 4 Visionary Award

Sofia's Last Ambulance
directed by Ilian Metev
Germany, Croatia, Bulgaria

Jury: Céline Sciamma, Victor-Emmanuel Boinem, Ryan Lattanzio, Bikas Mishra, Kim Sehee

SACD Prize

Les Voisins de Dieu (God's Neighbors)
directed by Meni Yaesh
Israel, France

Jury: Gérard Krawczyk, Bertrand Tavernier, Christine Laurent, Yves Nilly, Benjamin Legrand

ACID/CCAS Distribution Support

Los Salvajes (The Wild Ones)
directed by Alejandro Fadel
Argentina

Jury: Chiara Malta, Aurélia Georges, Stefano Savona, Kathy Sebbah, Anna Defendini

Canal+ Award (Best Short Film)

Circle Line
directed by Shin Suwon
South Korea

Jury: Pascale Faure, Brigitte Pardo

Nikon Discovery Award (Short Film)

Un Dimanche Matin (A Sunday Morning)
directed by Damien Manivel
South Korea

Jury: João Pedro Rodrigues, Danny Lennon, Marianne Coury, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Jakub Felcman

Special Mention (Short Film)

O Duplo (Doppelgänger)
directed by Juliana Rojas
Brazil

15th Cinéfondation

Created in 1998, the Cinéfondation is dedicated to provide inspiration and support to the next generation of filmmakers. Three prizes are awarded to the best short and medium length student films in the selection. This year's five member jury was led by filmmaker Jean-Pierre Dardenne, accompanied by actress Arsinée Khanjian, director Karim Aïnouz, writer Emmanuel Carrère, and director Yu Lik-Wai.

First Prize €15,000

Doroga Na (The Road To)
directed by Taisia Igumentseva, VGIK
Russia

Second Prize €11,250

Abigail
directed by Matthew James Reilly, NYU
USA

Third Prize €7,500

Los Anfitriones (The Hosts)
directed by Miguel Angel Moulet, EICTV
Cuba

Independent Awards

FIPRESCI In Competition

V Tumane (In the Fog)
directed by Sergei Loznitsa
Germany, Netherlands, Belarus, Russia, Latvia

FIPRESCI Un Certain Regard

Beasts of the Southern Wild
directed by Benh Zeitlin
USA

FIPRESCI Directors' Fortnight

Rengaine (Hold Back)
directed by Rachid Djaidani
France

FIPRESCI is the International Federation of Film Critics, and their jury awards prizes to the best film in each of the two main sections as well as one film from the parallel sections.

Prize of the Ecumenical Jury

Jagten (The Hunt)
directed by Thomas Vinterberg
Denmark

Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention

Beasts of the Southern Wild
directed by Benh Zeitlin
USA

The Ecumenical Jury are an independent jury of Christian film makers, critics, and professionals whose goal is to "honour works of artistic quality which witnesses to the power of film to reveal the mysterious depths of human beings through what concerns them, their hurts and failings as well as their hopes."

François Chalais Prize

Les Chevaux de Dieu (God's Horses)
directed by Nabil Ayouch, screened in Un Certain Regard
Morocco

The François Chalais Prize is presented to the film most dedicated to the values of life affirmation and of journalism.

Prix de la Jeunesse (Award of the Youth)

Holy Motors
directed by Leos Carax
France

Prix Regard Jeune (Youth Un Certain Regard Award)

Beasts of the Southern Wild
directed by Benh Zeitlin
USA

The Prix de la Jeunesse or Youth Award, is selected by a jury of five youths aged 18-25, and presented to one film from each of the two official selections of the festival.

Prix Vulcain de l'Artiste-Technicien

Charlotte Bruss Christensen for the outstanding cinematography in the film Jagten
directed by Thomas Vinterberg
Denmark

The Vulcain Prize of the Technical Artist is an award presented by a jury appointed by the CST a French association of sound and visual professionals, to the best technical contribution in the festival.

Queer Palm

Laurence Anyways
directed by Xavier Dolan, screened in Un Certain Regard
Canada, France

Queer Palm - Short Film

Ce n'est pas un film de Cow-Boys (It's Not a Cowboy Movie)
directed by Benjamin Parent, screened in Critic's Week
France

Created in 2010, the Queer Palm awards the best LGBT themed film in the festival.

Palm Dog

Banjo and Poppy in Sightseers
directed by Ben Wheatley, screened in Directors' Fortnight
UK

Created in 2001, the Palm Dog Award is presented to the best performance by a canine during the festival.

The End of August at the Hotel Ozone (1967)

2012-05-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

The End of August at the Hotel Ozone • Konec srpna v Hotelu Ozon (1967)

Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama

Director: Jan Schmidt

Starring: Jitka Horejsi, Ondrej Jariabek, Beta Ponicanová, Vanda Kalinová

Language: Czech

Duration: 77 min.

Rating: 7.5

Summary:

In a post-apocalyptic world, several years after a nuclear holocaust, a group of women wander the land in search of other survivors.

The End of August at the Hotel Ozone aka Late August at the Hotel Ozone, is a film directed by Jan Schmidt from a screenplay written by Pavel Jurácek. It was the third collaboration from these two important figures of the Czech New Wave, following the two short films Black and White Sylva (1961) and Joseph Kilian (1965). Interestingly it was also the first film to be distributed by American studio New-Line Cinema.

Billed as 'A Mad Max directed by Andrei Tarkovsky', by the American Cinematheque, I wouldn't say that is a truly accurate statement, but it's pretty close. It is bleak and atmospheric and hardly anything happens at all but it remains engrossing until the end, I'd describe it as something like a cross between Meeks Cutoff and Haneke's Le temps du loup.

The film begins with a most chilling sequence, a simple montage replaying the last moments before nuclear war, while voices count down the seconds to global destruction in several different languages. It then jumps forward fifty odd years, where the only human survivors left are a small group of young women led by an elderly mother (Beta Ponicanová), the only one left who remembers what the world was like before the war.

She leads them, I say that loosely because mostly she just tries to keep order, while they wander across the landscape hunting for food, scavenging for supplies, and searching for signs of other possible survivors (men in particular) hoping to somehow rebuild humanity. Though it soon becomes evident as we watch them in their daily routines that these women just might be too far removed from civilization, too savage, and too cruel, to ever be productive even if they found it. Warning, there are some vicious and disturbing scenes of animal cruelty that are probably not simulated used to strike home this point.

The black and white cinematography is presented with a square ratio and a grey and muddy look to it, not exactly stunning but that actually fits well with the gloomy tone of the film. There are also some interesting Bressonian close-ups of hands and feet and a few other inventive shots in motion throughout.

It's unfortunate that the film is rather short, and that there isn't much of a story, because it's one of the more fascinating and original end of the world scenarios I've seen. A bit disappointing that it didn't live up to potential, however I do still recommend it for its strong atmosphere, that is if you can handle the killing of animals.

— Bonjour Tristesse

2012 Cannes Film Festival: Second Half Report

2012-05-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

We're already at the midway point of the 65th Festival de Cannes. There have been rainstorms and bad weather messing with the proceedings, but there have also been some very strong films shown.

Currently 12 of the 22 competition films have had their premieres. Right now, at least according to initial critic reaction, it seems that Michael Haneke's Amour is the current front runner for the Palme d'Or. I don't think it's a sure bet because there are still a lot of films to be seen and you never know if the jury will love a film that the critics hated, but at this point I'll be surprised if it doesn't take home at least one award on Sunday night.

I hope you have been enjoying my coverage so far, but if you are looking for more in-depth daily reports, including coverage of all the parallel competitions and sidebar screenings, no one does a better job than the most excellent blog Movie On.

I would also like to direct you to a few lucky bloggers who are actually at the festival. Both FilmLand Empire and Marshall and the Movies have already shared some very interesting posts about their Cannes experiences; and the glamorous Virginie is also in Cannes and keeping a seriously amazing photo diary. Thank you for sharing with all of us less fortunate film lovers!

The festival runs until May 27, and I will be keeping a close eye on the events, watching the press conferences, reading the early reviews, and posting frequent updates right here, so be sure to check back often.

2012 Cannes Report: Days 1-6
2012 Cannes Award Winners

Last updated: Sunday, May 27 12:33 PDT

Day 7 - Tuesday, May 22

Competition Film

Killing Them Softly

directed by Andrew Dominik

USA

Mostly positive reviews, and lots of praise for the ensemble cast and the stylish violence. Very promising so far, sounds like it could be this year's Drive.

Quotes from the press conference:

Andrew Dominik: "Crime films are about capitalism. It's perfectly acceptable for all the characters to be motivated only by money."

Dominik on the characters: "These are criminal characters with a funny side to them. Brad's character thinks that the world is a result of natural selection."

Brad Pitt on his role as a producer: "I want to focus on films that have a difficulty being made, and stories that focus on our times and who we are."

Pitt on the violence: "This is the world we live in, so I see it absolutely important to film. I don't see a world without it."

"Certainly not for all tastes, especially those of straight-up action fans, the picture's restraint places a considerable burden on the actors to maintain interest, which they shoulder impressively." - Justin Chang (Variety)

"Makes great use of the widescreen format and fills his film with visual quirks to sit alongside the smartly written dialogue, and working again with Brad Pitt has come up with a remarkably pertinent crime film that reflects the tough times facing America." - Mark Adams (Screen Daily)

"A juicy, bloody, grimy and profane crime drama that amply satisfies as a deep-dish genre piece, Killing Them Softly rather insistently also wants to be something more." - Todd McCarthy (The Hollywood Reporter)

"A cracking piece of storytelling, with a restrained balance of laidback chat and canny visual outbursts, and a delicious thread of gallows humour running through it. " - Dave Calhoun (Time Out London)

"It is outstandingly watchable, superbly and casually pessimistic, a world of slot-mouthed professional and semi-professional criminals always complaining about cleaning up the mess made by other screwups." - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)

Ben Mendelsohn, Ray Liotta, Brad Pitt, Scoot Mcnairy

Competition Film

The Angels' Share

directed by Ken Loach

France, UK

Looks like a very funny film, which is a nice change from the usual serious and heavy stuff that Loach and Laverty make. Another must see.

Quotes from the press conference:

Paul Laverty: "We wanted to show that despite unemployment and the crisis, young people still want to do something with their lives."

Producer Rebecca O'Brien: "We had to remove some of the film's language in order to be classified as a 15. We've shown heavy scenes of torture, water-boarding, fingernails torn out, and they have been 15 certificates."

Ken Loach on the BBFC: "I think we were allowed seven c**ts, but only two of them could be aggressive c**ts."

Actor Charlie MacLean: "When it's raining it's good weather for drinking whiskey, so I feel very much at home."

Actor Paul Brannigan: "I was unemployed. They saved me. I had no money. Who knows what I would have done."

"Deftly balances heartbreak and hilarity to offer a cheering, feel good ray of hope from what often seem like the bleakest of lives." - Allan Hunter (Screen Daily)

"A heart-warming celebration of kindness, friendship and forgiveness. Like a fine whisky, the angry old man of British social realism seems to be mellowing with age. It suits him." - Stephen Dalton (The Hollywood Reporter)

"It’s rewarding to see these filmmakers exploring a different tone with their usual compassion and eye for youthful characters, even if we’re sometimes left in a frustrating middle ground between the more comic and serious sides of their story." - Dave Calhoun (Time Out London)

"Loach has for my money found a happy comic register – happier, I think, than his Looking for Eric – and it is an unfashionably uncynical and unironic kind of comedy." - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)

Gary Maitland, Jasmin Riggins, William Ruane, Ken Loach, Paul Brannigan, Siobahn Reilly
Day 8 - Wednesday, May 23

Competition Film

On the Road

directed by Walter Salles

France, USA, UK

Quotes from the press conference:

Walter Salles: "It took eight years to get here. This project started very early on and it crystallized through time."

Salles on improvisation: "We were trespassing the book in a way, but we were being faithful to it in the sense that more than anything else, Kerouac was looking for the constant improvisation and spontaneity and this is what every actor brought to the shoot."

Producer Roman Coppola: "My dad bought the rights to it in 1979 and many filmmakers have tried their hand at getting it made since, but it wasn't until Walter raised his hand that we knew we had the perfect director for the project."

Kirsten Stewart on her character: "I love Marylou, the character is very vivid, she jumps right off the page and smacks you in the face. She wasn't rebelling against anything, she was just being herself."

Viggo Mortensen: "Re-reading the book made me realize how pertinent it is now. Times are quite conservative now, and there is a similar rejection of the status quo by young people today."

"Salles managed to set aside the reputation of the piece and try to simply portray it in the same honest, direct voice that made it such an important book in the first place." - Drew McWeeny (Motion Captured)

"Despite its pretty cast and sun-ripened colours, the film quickly settles into a tedious looping rhythm." - Robbie Collin (The Telegraph)

"It feels long and tedious, as if we've dropped in on someone else's party without knowing or caring who these folks are, knocking back the whisky and barbiturates as regularly as they're knocking off each other." - Dave Calhoun (Time Out London)

"Brazilian director Walter Salles, has done a respectable job of it, and at moments better than that, though the film rarely busts out to provide the sort of heady pleasures it depicts." - Todd McCarthy (The Hollywood Reporter)

"In its relentless pursuit of visual and aural polish and in the way it tamely critiques Kerouac’s legend at the same time that it glorifies it, On The Road feels a little shallow. " - Lee Marshall (Screen Daily)

"Evocatively lensed, skillfully made and duly attentive to the mercurial qualities of its daunting source material, Walter Salles' picture pulses with youthful energy but feels overly calculated in its bid for spontaneity, attesting to the difficulty and perhaps futility of trying to reproduce Kerouac's literary lightning onscreen." - Justin Chang (Variety)

Kirsten Dunst, Sam Riley, Kristen Stewart, Walter Salles, Garrett Hedlund

Competition Film

Holy Motors

directed by Leos Carax

France

One reporter at the press conference described it as 'absolutely bonkers', another called it 'beautiful and strange', and from the short clips I've seen it does look that way. All I know is that I definitely have to see this!

Carax dedicated the film to the late actress Yekaterina Golubeva, who starred in his previous film Pola X, and tragically passed away last August.

Quotes from the press conference:

Leos Carax on references to other films: "If you decide to live in that little island that is cinema. It's a beautiful island and it has a big cemetery. Sometimes you go to that cemetery."

Carax on the limited audience for his films: "I don't make public films, I make private films and I invite whoever wants to come see it."

Producer Martine Marignac: "The film almost didn't get made. We thought that twenty years down the road that this wouldnt be the case, but the difficulty in financing this kind of film is because they are not viewed as commercial."

Kylie Minogue on her first time in competition at Cannes and returning to film: "It feels like a dream to be welcomed into this family. It felt good to be back on set. I banned my entire entourage from coming with me, I stripped myself of being 'Kylie', so I could be a blank canvas for Leos."

Denis Lavant on which of the several characters he plays was the most difficult: "All the characters were special and they were all difficult to portray, but I think the last one with the monkeys scared me the most."

Carax on Lavant's performances in the film: "There were at least two scenes I didn't think he would be able to do. He's become 10,000 times a better actor than when we first met. He was already an amazing actor but he's developed even further, which isn't always the case."

"Narratively unhinged, beautifully shot and frequently hilarious 'Holy Motors' coheres -- arguably, anyway -- into a vivid jaunt through the auteur's cinematic obsessions. " - Rob Nelson (Variety)

"Overall, this is a film crammed with ideas, yet it lacks the grace of bona fide Surrealism; missing the aura of the genuinely, ineffably strange, it finally remains a self-conscious upmarket weird-out." - Jonathan Romney (Screen Daily)

"Exhilarating, opaque, heartbreaking and completely bonkers, Holy Motors, is a deliciously preposterous piece of filmmaking that appraises life and death and everything in between, reflected in a funhouse mirror." - Megan Lehmann (The Hollywood Reporter)

"Both brilliantly human and purposefully silly, a prism of performance and death so different from other films that it seems to have been beamed down from another planet." - Glenn Heath Jr. (Press Play)

"There’s something fragile, tender and even truthful about Carax’s hall-of-mirrors irrationality, the sense of an artist so weary of decayed human realities that he has no choice but to twist them into the more beautiful shapes afforded by cinema." - Guy Lodge (Time Out London)

"This is what we have all come to Cannes for: for something different, experimental, a tilting at windmills, a great big pole-vault over the barrier of normality by someone who feels that the possibilities of cinema have not been exhausted by conventional realist drama." - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)

Edith Scob, Denis Lavant, Kylie Minogue, Leos Carax, Jeanne Disson, Elise Lhomeau
Day 9 - Thursday, May 24

Competition Film

The Paperboy

directed by Lee Daniels

USA

Some enjoyed it and others call it the worst film in competition, I can't say I was that excited about this title to begin with, but the split reactions intrigue me.

Quotes from the press conference:

Lee Daniels: "What I could breathe into this world was my truth. Every character in this movie is someone that I know personally."

Matthew McConaughey: "Everything in the film is murky and mysterious. Everyone has their own difficulties with their characters in the film. Nobody is as they seem."

Nicole Kidman: "I'd been looking as an actor for something raw and something more dangerous in terms of performances."

Kidman on independent films: "It's very hard to find financing for these films. It requires a lot of tenacity in the filmmaker to get it made"

"A risibly overheated, not unenjoyable slab of late-'60s Southern pulp trash, marked by a sticky, sweaty atmosphere of delirium and sexual frustration that only partly excuses the woozy ineptitude of the filmmaking." - Justin Chang (Variety)

"Basking in a funky, disreputable feel despite its prestigious source material and classy cast, the film has been crafted to resemble a grungy exploitation melodrama made in the period it depicts." - Todd McCarthy (The Hollywood Reporter)

"The best that can be said of The Paperboy is that it’s sometimes intentionally awful. More often than not, however, it’s just awful." - Simon Abrams (Press Play)

"The Paperboy definitely doesn't deliver. It's much the worst in show, making other ordinary fare look masterful." - Xan Brooks (The Guardian)

Macy Gray, Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey, Lee Daniels, John Cusack, Zac Efron

Competition Film

Post Tenebras Lux

directed by Carlos Reygadas

France, Mexico, Netherlands

Some very mixed opinions coming out for this one, but I'm still very much intrigued because it appears the director is going for something new, even if it's a failure, this kind of filmmaking is always the most interesting for me to experience.

Quotes from the press conference:

Carlos Reygadas: "I'm sure a lot of the press won't like my film and that's actually a good thing, some things don't please everybody. If you try to please everyone then you are offering them something completely bland. I want to ensure that some people are really moved and touched by the film, even if it's only a tiny proportion of people. That's my goal."

Reygadas on the altered images: "I felt the need to transform what I see with my own eyes. I like to show contradiction in the act of seeing."

Reygadas on a beheading scene: "It's an image that any Mexican today might have in mind when they sleep at night."

"Reygadas has elected to shoot large portions of his film through a bevelled camera lens, which refracts his figures, doubles the image and leaves the screen's borders blurred. I have no doubt he is deliberately setting out to vex us." - Xan Brooks (The Guardian)

"Yet again, one senses that Reygadas – instead of simply getting on with the job of making a film – has opted instead to go for an opus magnum that reminds us of cinema’s greats. And once again what is finally communicated is vaunting ambition and somewhat frustratingly vague achievement." - Geoff Andrew (Time Out London)

"Though shot and screened in Academy ratio, the landscapes here have a majesty that evoke mixed sensations of troubled awe." - Jay Weissberg (Variety)

"There is a vision here, certainly, but the film feels genuinely, bracingly experimental in that it seems to be searching for its own meaning and form, rather than asserting them ready-made." - Jonathan Romney (Screen Daily)

Carlos Reygadas, Nathalia Acevedo, Adolfo Jimenez

Directors' Fortnight Film

Sightseers

directed by Ben Wheatley

UK

One of the directors I am keeping my eye on, after his wonderful Down Terrace and Kill List. His latest screened in the Quinzaine, and sounds like a fun little black comedy.

"Wheatley applies his unique blend of run-and-gun naturalism and scabrous black humor to a wicked little pic in which a tacky couple discovers that cross-country road-tripping makes it surprisingly easy -- and fun! -- to knock off the more obnoxious characters they encounter en route." - Peter Debruge (Variety)

"Working for the first time from someone else’s script, Wheatley struggles to put his own stamp on what is inherently flawed material." - Tom Huddleston (Time Out London)

"Flesh-creepingly funny comedy about two holidaymakers whose caravanning trip inadvertently turns into a mass murder spree is something that, rather worryingly, you can’t imagine happening in any other country but England. " - Robbie Collin (The Telegraph)
Day 10 - Friday, May 25

Competition Film

Cosmopolis

directed by David Cronenberg

Canada, France, Portugal, Italy

Another day, another round of mixed reviews from Cannes. Can't say that's surprising, nor does it change my enthusiasm to see this one. I would be worried if Cronenberg made a film that everyone liked.

Quotes from the press conference:

David Cronenberg: "For me, the essense of cinema is a person, a face speaking, not epic, not the grand canyon. Real movie making is a fantastic face saying fantastic words."

Cronenberg on hope in bleak times: "The hope is embodied by the fact that this movie got made. Things are so conservative these days. The hope is in the art."

Sarah Gadon on working with David and Brandon Cronenberg: "Obviously there is going to be difference between working with a first time feature director versus working with a master, but they did share some of the same sensibilities on set. They are both very concise in terms of working with actors."

Robert Pattinson: "Some directors are so exhausted when it's time to work with the actors but David listens so intently when you are doing a scene."

Writer Don DeLillo: "I had absolutely nothing to do with the script, that's why the film turned out so well."

"Cut and pasted almost verbatim into the script, the novelist’s mannered dialogue and shallow characters make for an anemic, dramatically flat viewing experience." - Lee Marshall (Screen Daily)

"Lifeless, stagey and lacking a palpable subversive pulse despite the ready opportunities offered by the material" - Todd McCarthy (The Hollywood Reporter)

"An exceptional adaptation and a remarkable work unto itself. Everything matters in Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis, but not everything is necessarily the same as DeLillo’s book. And that makes the film, as a series of discussions about inter-related money-minded contradictions, insanely rich and maddeningly complex. We can’t wait to rewatch it." - Simon Abrams (The Playlist)

"Cronenberg’s superb latest is an existential road movie for our financially and morally bankrupt times" - David Jenkins (Little White Lies)

"Threatens to soar and to be important, but it only offers flashes of lucidity." - Dave Calhoun (Time Out London)

"You don't go to a Cronenberg movie for comedy, but rather for something exciting, exotic, daring and precise: really, none of those things is present in this agonisingly self-conscious and meagre piece of work." - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)

"Working here with a spare, episodic narrative and dialogue that teems with heady ideas, Cronenberg adopts a direct, scene-by-scene approach that crucially nails the novel's tone of archly stylized pessimism. " - Justin Chang (Variety)

Robert Pattinson, David Cronenberg

Competition Film

V Tumane (In the Fog)

directed by Sergei Loznitsa

Germany, Netherlands, Belarus, Russia, Latvia

Generally positive reception for this one. From the sounds of it, I think this might have an outside chance at the Palme d'Or, and a good shot at one of the other top awards.

Strangely this was the only press conference so far that ended because there were no further questions as opposed to running out of time. Perhaps the press have finally had enough.

Quotes from the press conference:

Sergei Loznitsa: "I wanted to make this film for ten years, and it was only now that I could. This is not a film about war, it's a film about people who find themselves in certain circumstances."

Loznitsa on sound: "I treat the sound in my film just as one would treat music. That's why I don't need music, because the sound is sufficient. Even though 90 percent of the sound in the film is direct sound, we still work very meticulously with it. It took 3 months to complete the sound design."

Actor Vladimir Svirski: "We rehearsed for two months, it was terribly difficult. I come from a background of theatre so I had to learn how to speak normally, and not to act."

"His second feature after 'My Joy' is a beautifully rigorous piece which will delight cineastes, his collaboration with cinematographer Oleg Mutu moving up a notch to the point where the film’s visuals are palpably in sync with its protagonists and some notably effective sound design." - Fionnuala Halligan (Screen Daily)

"Fans of old-school Soviet cinema may find these wintry forests and fatalistic characters a touch over-familiar, but the film repays patient viewing as it evolves into an engrossing, nuanced, philosophical drama." - Stephen Dalton (The Hollywood Reporter)

"Loznitsa knows that war exists and won’t go away; rather than indulging in patriotic or pacifistic platitudes, he tries to show what it might do to our souls. And, in this writer’s opinion, he succeeds." - Geoff Andrew (Time Out London)

"Despite its classicism, Loznitsa's helming still feels post-millennial in its austerity, particularly given the total absence of music and the slow-breath rhythms of its editing. The helmer doesn't necessarily break new ground here, but he replows the field with precision." - Leslie Felperin (Variety)

Vladimir Svirski, Vlad Abashin, Sergei Kolesov, Sergei Loznitsa
Day 11 - Saturday, May 26

Competition Film

Mud

directed by Jeff Nichols

USA

Quotes from the press conference:

Jeff Nichols: "I have five films that are my favorite films, but Terrence Malick's Badlands is always my number one."

Nichols on the influence of Huckleberry Finn: "If you are going to steal stuff from somebody, you should steal from somebody really intelligent. I stole from Mark Twain."

Nichols on his tendency to focus on nature: "In this film, love is a part of nature. It's about these kids going out and exploring. It's a fascinating place to be when you are 14 years old or if you are 40."

Reese Witherspoon: "When I read Jeff's script it just felt like home, and I never get to see home on the big movie screen. He brought such an authentic beautiful story to the place that I'm from, it was just very appealing to me. There are very few movies about the American South that are accurate, and this is one of them."

Tye Sheridan: "I learned a lot of things from Matthew. We are from the same part of Texas, and we talked about that a lot, because of that we had an immediate bond."

Matthew McConaughey: "I had a wonderful time getting back in the clouds. The first time you're in love. It's ruthless, there's nothing reasonable about it. My character lives in the clouds. If he ever came back down to earth he would die of a heartache."

"One part 'The Night of the Hunter,' two parts 'Huckleberry Finn,' 'Mud' may be born of the same rustic sensibility that fueled everyone from Andrew Wyeth to Terrence Malick, but Nichols expresses this outlook in a decidedly personal way." - Peter Debruge (Variety)

"Underwhelming follow-up to the masterfully visceral 'Take Shelter,' is both a shallow and contrived coming of age story, offers pat sentiments and bland bathos." - Simon Abrams (The Playlist)

"Mud has the look and feel of an American indie classic. It is a surefire best picture nominee at next year's Oscars and likely to win some kind of award at Cannes, receiving the warmest applause of the festival at its morning press screening." - Jason Solomons (The Guardian)

Jacob Lofland, Jeff Nichols, Reese Witherspoon, Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan

Competition Film

Do-nui mat (The Taste of Money)

directed by Im Sang-soo

South Korea

Quotes from the press conference:

Im Sang-soo: "The biggest problem in Korean society today is what you see in my film."

Im Sang-soo on the similarity of this film to The Housemaid: "Yes there are similar characters and there is a clear relationship with my previous film, but the Housemaid was a remake so I was limited in what I could do. The Taste of Money is much more in line with how I see things."

Actress Youn Yuh-jung on the importance of female characters: "I think in this film, men and women are placed on equal footing, a relationship between an older woman and younger man is something that shocks people in South Korea."

"A trite and tangled potboiler that, despite its polemical pretensions, is just a glorified Korean domestic drama with classier couture and shapelier champagne flutes." - Maggie Lee (Variety)

"As deep and profound as a comic book printed on glossy paper, Im Sang-soo’s latest has all the style and luster of his previous works, but there is no real story to tell here, just a bunch of old fashioned, tired clichés reprocessed to look like an original script." - Dan Fainaru (Screen Daily)

Kim Kang-woo, Kim Hyo-jin, Youn Yuh-jung, Baek Yoon-sik
Day 12 - Sunday, May 27

Closing Film

Thérèse Desqueyroux

directed by Claude Miller

France

Press Conference 11:00 CET

"Tastefully upholstered, but the narrative, told in linear fashion rather than using the book's flashback structure, generates little heat, empathy or momentum" - Boyd Van Hoeij (Variety)

"Far removed from the typical profile of a fun-filled Cannes closing night event, the bill it is supposed to fill this year. A thought-provoking drama, its quietly composed, controlled approach and traditional narrative style is better associated in spirit with the Cannes Classics section, in which it would deserve a place of honour." - Dan Fainaru (Screen Daily)

"Glossy, well-dressed, slightly staid feel of a middlebrow TV miniseries. But it still packs enough dramatic weight and literary pedigree to make a box office splash outside France" - Stephen Dalton (The Hollywood Reporter)

Well, I hope you enjoyed my coverage of the festival. Which films are you most looking forward to seeing in the coming months?

Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011)

2012-05-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai • Ichimei • 一命 (2011)

Genre: Drama

Director: Takashi Miike

Starring: Kôji Yakusho, Eita, Ebizô Ichikawa, Hikari Mitsushima

Language: Japanese

Duration: 126 min.

Rating: 6.7

Summary:

An elder ronin samurai arrives at a feudal lord's home and requests an honorable place to commit suicide. But when the ronin inquires about a younger samurai who arrived before him, things take an unexpected turn.

Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai is a remake by Takashi Miike of Masaki Kobayashi's 1962 classic Harakiri. It premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Miike, one of the most prolific filmmakers of all time, quickly follows up his wildly successful blood splattered remake of 13 Assassins, with another retelling of a 50 year old picture. Whereas that one was a little known obscurity, this time he makes the bold attempt of updating an undisputed classic, some would even say masterpiece.

To his credit, Miike shows some excellent restraint, leaving the original story intact while also resisting the urge to turn it into something it isn't. There were plenty of opportunities for him to exploit the 3D effects to gore it up and go for maximum shock effect, something he has been known to do in the past; and while he does make a few interesting changes to small details here and there, overall he wisely stays true to the subtle and sombre tone of the original.

The film also looks fantastic, with a good mix of static compositions and slow gliding movements. It's shot on RED digital giving it that super crisp look, with colors that pop out, and a great light contrast that comes as close to replicating the same feeling of the monochrome original as possible.

Even the acting is solid all around. Kôji Yakusho, who also starred in 13 Assassins, brings his usual strong presence, this time to the role of heartless clan lord Kageyu; and Ebizô Ichikawa in the lead role of Hanshirô Tsugumo, had the impossible shoes of legendary actor Tatsuya Nakadai to fill, and while he may not possess the same level of simmering intensity or charisma, he never falters in the many long and steady closeups.

On its own, this would be a pretty damn good film. The problem is, aside from a more modern look, it simply doesn't add any significant artistic or dramatic value to the original. Sure at the end of the day it's a faithful remake, but beyond that it doesn't really provide anything compelling to justify it's existence. Good but pointless.

— Bonjour Tristesse

2012 Cannes Report: Days 1-6

2012-05-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

The 65th Festival de Cannes opens today and all the big names and faces are set to gather at the Croisette for the Opening Ceremony, hosted this year by Bérénice Bejo, star of last year's surprise of the festival The Artist.

As always, the line-up of films looks incredible, including entries from 4 previous Palme d'Or winners and 5 films representing the United States.

The festival runs until May 27, and I will be keeping a close eye on the events, watching the press conferences, reading the early reviews, and posting frequent updates right here.

2012 Cannes Report: Days 7-12
2012 Cannes Award Winners

Day 1 - Wednesday, May 16

Opening Film - In Competition

Moonrise Kingdom

directed by Wes Anderson

USA

The first reviews for the festival's opener are in, and I'm glad to see that so far they are all positive.

Quotes from the press conference:

Wes Anderson on always working with the same actors: "Every movie we start is a little bit like a reunion."

Bruce Willis on what it's like working on a Wes Anderson film: "I found it refreshing to be directed. It was nice to be asked to perform the part in a specific way."

Bill Murray on Bruce Willis: "He's a real serious crazy movie star... we could have got the Muscles from Brussels but it wouldn't have been the same."

Tilda Swinton: "It felt like we were invited to a wedding or something, it was an adventure. It was a very very easy family to join. I was happy to get that invitation."

Edward Norton: "Wes has obviously over the years put together one of the great troupes in modern cinema".

"It feels even more finely detailed than any of his previous live-action outings. Still, the love story reads loud and clear, charming those not put off by all the production's potentially distracting ornamentation." - Peter Debruge (Variety)

"Working with his long-time cinematographer Robert Yeoman, the director succeeds in turning young love into precisely the intense, transitory, impossibly idyllic sensation it can be in real life." - Tim Grierson (Screen Daily)

"As in Fantastic Mr. Fox, Anderson is able to express sincere personal connection and compatibility while employing a highly artificial style. The result is that the core of Kingdom -- the bond between the leads played so forthrightly by newcomers Hayward and Gilman -- is strong, even bracing in its resilience." - Todd McCarthy (Hollywood Reporter)

"You can imagine ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ turning young kids on to cinema; it’s so full of a joyous love for the medium and smart without being clever-clever. Its childishness, sense of innocence and eye for fun all make it a very easy film to love." - Dave Calhoun (Time Out London)

"Wes Anderson may have a distinct and easily recognized style, but his talent is genuine and his love of his characters rings loud and true in this film. He may make it look easy because of how firmly his mannerisms are established at this point, but it takes a real artist to evoke the rocky emotional storms of adolescence and adulthood with such clear eyes and precise voice." - Drew McWeeny (Motion Captured)

"If its ending feels faintly messy and rushed, Moonrise Kingdom is a worthy addition to Anderson’s canon – his deadpan wit meshes nicely with a generous view of human imperfections. A mood elevator of a movie, it’s an ideal opener to a sunny, blue-skies Cannes." - David Gritten (The Telegraph)

"Anderson's movies are vulnerable to the charge of being supercilious oddities, but there is elegance and formal brilliance in Moonrise Kingdom as well as a lot of gentle, winning comedy. His homemade aesthetic is placed at the service of a counter-digital, almost hand-drawn cinema, and he has an extraordinary ability to conjure a complete, distinctive universe, entire of itself." - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian UK)

Jason Schwartzman, Bruce Willis, Wes Anderson, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray
Day 2 - Thursday, May 17

Competition Film

De rouille et d'os (Rust and Bone)

directed by Jacques Audiard

France

Wow, looks like Jacques Audiard has made another winner. What an amazing festival this is shaping up to be.

Watching the press conference I was very impressed by Schoenaerts' English, I have a feeling this guy will be a huge star very soon.

Quotes from the press conference:

Marion Cotillard on the differences between French and American cinema: "Every film I do is a different adventure, with a different captain, and no two are the same."

Matthias Schoenaerts on his future in global cinema: "Last week they called me for Rambo 34, and I said I'd do it if I get 35 and 36 as well."

Jacques Audiard : "I personally have a problem with filming violence. I try to make it realistic but not too gory."

"Rust And Bone is a standout, a towering picture we can't wait to see again and that this early in the year, is a no brainer favorite for the awards season" - Kevin Jagernauth (The Playlist)

"What could have been simply bizarre, sentimental or contrived here becomes an utterly absorbing love story; This is early days in the festival, but Rust and Bone has to be a real contender for prizes, and, the odds will be shortening to vanishing point for Cotillard getting the best actress award." - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)

"These are two towering performances in a film of genuine power. Rust and Bone may not be for everyone; but it’s a complex, assured, demanding work." - David Gritten (The Telegraph)

"Audiard deserves to once again be applauded for the way he takes melodramatic convention and bends it to his own particular sensibility, delivering a powerful tale about the reminders we all carry of the pains that have formed us." - Drew McWeeny (Motion Captured)

"Despite its sensitively handled melodramatic premise and two outstanding central performances, Rust & Bone is much duller in impact than Audiard’s previous films." - Adam Woodward (Little White Lies)

"Perhaps it lacks the genre crossover potential of A Prophet; but Rust And Bone is a big film in every sense, sure-footed, stylish and confident, that mainlines emotion into its audience." - Lee Marshall (Screen Daily)

Jacques Audiard, Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts

Competition Film

Baad el mawkeaa (After the Battle)

directed by Yousry Nasrallah

France, Egypt

Sadly, most of the reviews for this one are not too flattering.

Quotes from the press conference:

Director Yousry Nasrallah: "My commitment was not so much political, but cinematic."

Actress Menna Shalabi: on whether she felt any danger making the film: "Yes but art is freedom and I enjoy it."

Actress Nahed El Sebaï: "When I embark on a project, I find it fun to play a character with many layers."

Actor Bassem Samra: "Our presence in Cannes is a wonderful answer to all those people who want to put an end to art in Egypt."

"There's an almost chameleonlike element to Nasrallah's use of various visual styles, ranging from the cerebral to something more storybook-like, yet these differing modes are always connected by a refusal to treat his characters as anything other than complex beings." - Jay Weissberg (Variety)

"If the high volume of After the Battle’s emotional theatrics doesn’t kill you, its incessant self-pity certainly will." - Glenn Heath Jr. (Press Play)

"The result is a flatly shot mash-up of politics and drama that run side-by-side and are often individually interesting but never convincingly connect." - Fionnuala Halligan (Screen Daily)

"The film’s great merit is Nasrallah’s consummate story-telling, which allows non-Egyptian audiences an easy entry point into the familiar sight of thousands of demonstrators." - Deborah Young (The Hollywood Reporter)

"In what could have been an important and incendiary work of obvious international relevance, After the Battle is ultimately a rushed and feathery portrayal of a seminal contemporary event." - Blake Williams (Ioncinema)

"You imagine that, in 10, 20 or 30 years time, ‘After the Battle’ will be of value to historians of the Arab Spring. However, as a film, it’s an indecipherable, chaotic blitzkrieg of half-baked ideas and hot-headed dramatizations of reality." - Dave Calhoun (Time Out London)

Yousry Nasrallah, Nahed El Sebaï, Bassem Samra, Menna Shalabi
Day 3 - Friday, May 18

Competition Film

Reality

directed by Matteo Garrone

France, Italy

Very interesting that the main actor Aniello Arena, has been in prison for the past 20 years serving a life sentence for murder. He was granted special permission to act in the film but not allowed to travel with the crew to Cannes.

Quotes from the press conference:

Director Matteo Garrone about the fantastic nature of the film: "The big challenge of the film was to establish a link between dream and reality."

Composer Alexandre Desplat on the same topic: "We didn't want to crush reality or kill the fable, it was a delicate balance."

Screenwriter Ugo Chiti: "One has the impression that it's a dreamscape of the past."

Garrone on the choice of Naples for the film's setting: "There are many contradictory places, old and new, they are all totally different, just like the actors I chose."

"It's a likable film played with gusto and heart — though fundamentally a little sentimental and predictable." - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)

"Reality-TV addiction is overripe for satire, yet the script here swerves from anything biting, opting for an affectionate look at a family and the rabbit hole this father of three jumps into on his mad quest for celebrity." - Jay Weissberg (Variety)

"The problem lies not with the craftsmanship but with a discursive, verbose, screenplay that never seems entirely sure whether to approach Reality as a caustic satire, an amusing Walter Mitty fantasy, a cutting commentary on a world enslaved by the inanities of reality television or a plaintive window into the mind of a hopelessly deluded innocent." - Allan Hunter (Screen Daily)

"while the film is seldom as funny as it probably wants to be, and drags here and there towards the end, it nevertheless has more than its fair share of strong scenes suggestive of a latter-day ‘La Dolce Vita’." - Geoff Andrew (Time Out London)

Matteo Garrone, Loredana Simioli, Nando Paone

Competition Film

Paradies: Liebe (Paradise: Love)

directed by Ulrich Siedl

France, Germany, Austria

Sounds like this one is just as explicit and unflinching as his previous films, and Margarethe Tiesel is getting a lot of praise for her brave performance.

Quotes from the press conference:

Director Ulrich Siedl on the assertion that the film depicts the 'beach boys' too simplistically: "The film is mainly about white women of a certain age, their desires and their solitude, but the film is also an honest portrayal of the 'beach boys', even if we don't depict their daily lives to the same degree."

Siedl when asked if he has a pessimistic view of human beings: "My goal is to depict things as realistically as possible, whether it's negative, positive, or pessimistic is besides the point."

Actress Margarethe Tiesel on the loneliness of her character: "When you are a woman of a certain age in the West, and you no longer look like the advertisements you see in the newspapers, it's difficult, it's very hard. You come to Africa and nobody really cares how you look as long as you have white skin."

Tiesel on the differences between male and female sex tourists: "That was something I had to fight for in this role, I think that the crucial element is that it's not just about sex but that women are really seeking love."

Cinematographer Wolfgang Thaler on the unusual experience of working with another co-director of photography: "It's a pleasure to work with Ed, and I welcome the opportunity to exchange views and to share experiences, to achieve this result. A strong film can only be expressed through strong images."

Cinematographer Ed Lachman on his function in the crew: "Well for me it was just the admiration for Ulrich and Wolfgang's work. I'm more of a guest worker. I really feel like I'm more an observer than another cinematographer."

"It challenges auds throughout on a multitude of levels. Repulsive and sublimely beautiful, arguably celebratory and damning of its characters, it's hideous and masterful all at once, 'Salo' with sunburn." - Leslie Felperin (Variety)

"Underlines the way in which sex tourism is a form of neo-colonialist oppression but leaves the impression that no matter how striking the aesthetic, Seidl is really not telling us anything we don’t know already." - Allan Hunter (Screen Daily)

"There’s much to admire in the formal rigor of Seidl’s filmmaking. His background in documentary is evident in the striking use of static shots and stark compositions by his cinematography team. Like Mike Leigh, Seidl works to a structured improvisation plan, and no doubt there will be praise for the unflinching, vanity-free performance of his lead actress Margarethe Tiesel." - David Rooney (The Hollywood Reporter)

"Does the film tell us anything we didn't know already? And could anyone expect anything but the most straightforward irony in the title? The answer to both questions is no – but there is undoubted technique, and an authorial address to the audience." - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)

"A witty if psychologically pitiless test of our unspoken presumptions about age, race, class and gender, lingering on the kind of physiques and interactions that Hollywood has long taught us are not fit for general consumption, and calmly inviting us to ask ourselves why we want to look away from the screen when we do." - Guy Lodge (Time Out London)

Inge Maux, Peter Kazungu, Margarethe Tiesel

Un Certain Regard Film

Laurence Anyways

directed by Xavier Dolan

Canada

I bet a lot of people will have a problem with the film's 2h39m running time, but from what little I've read so far it sounds like Dolan has made an even better film than his last, and that's encouraging news.

"Contains a voice so pronounced, and so specific, that Dolan is going to be one to watch for years to come. And frankly, this film is more adventurous on numerous levels than some of the competition fare we've seen so far. " - Kevin Jagernauth (The Playlist)

"Stunningly gorgeous leads prove more than capable of eliciting emotion over the near-three-hour haul, though the pic's exhausting length and intensity will try even lovers of love stories, to the detriment of exposure and acclaim." - Rob Nelson (Variety)

"Dolan's magpie style is beginning, despite itself, to become something his own, but there's still rather too much of it." - Guy Lodge (In Contention)

Melvil Poupaud, Nathalie Baye, Suzanne Clement, Xavier Dolan, Monia Chokri
Day 4 - Saturday, May 19

Competition Film

Lawless

directed by John Hillcoat

USA

Overall lukewarm reactions for this one are not too surprising, but a little bit disappointing because I am a fan of Hillcoat's last two films.

Quotes from the very amusing press conference (I highly recommend watching it), it had lots of funny quips, Nick Cave at one point calls a reporter an SOB, and it's hard not to notice that Tom Hardy and Jessica Chastain seem to get along extremely well:

Tom Hardy on how he prepares on set to play a bad-ass on screen: "I actually play Scrabble, and I lose. Jessica beats me."

John Hillcoat on being a part of a new movement in American cinema: "I've always thought of films as stories for the world. I am interested in stories in America, but in the medium budget world, Character and Drama are words that you cannot use in the United States at this time."

Jessica Chastain on her return to Cannes: "I can't imagine I'm going to be back every year with two films, I'm happy to be back whenever."

Shia Laboeuf on his personal stance on prohibition: "Next question."

Mia Waskikowska: "I'm always drawn to characters who are at odds to the time in which they live in."

Nick Cave: "I didn't have much interest in when the story it was set, it was more the flavor of the book that took me. The classical love story and the excessive violence."

Nick Cave on how aging has influenced his screenwriting: "My memory's gone, and I have to use the thesaurus a lot. Enlarge the type, all that sort of shit. It's awful and I don't recommend it to anyone."

"A well-paced and entertaining story of bootlegging. But if the film will boost Hillcoat’s stock as a commercial director, it is lacking in both the poetry that infused The Proposition and The Road and the mythic quality of many other retro ‘30s gangster pictures." - Mike Goodridge (Screen Daily)

"This is the kind of material studios used to like making, bringing together an interesting story and an excellent collection of talent to tell the tale. We doubt 'Lawless' will be gunning for any Oscars, but as far as top tier storytelling goes, it doesn't get much better than this." - Kevin Jagernauth (The Playlist)

"If Lawless doesn’t achieve the mythic dimensions of the truly great outlaw and gangster movies, it is a highly entertaining tale set in a vivid milieu, told with great style and populated by a terrific ensemble." - David Rooney (The Hollywood Reporter)

"A smug, empty exercise in macho-sentimental violence in which we are apparently expected to root for the lovable good ol' boys, as they mumble, shoot, punch and stab." - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)

"Hillcoat's film wins its gasps and gulps honestly, but it doesn't remotely strain against the constraints of genre in the same way as last two equally Western-inflected films, The Proposition and The Road." - Robbie Collin (The Telegraph)

Shia Laboeuf, Jason Clarke, Tom Hardy, John Hillcoat, Jessica Chastain

Competition Film

Dupa dealuri (Beyond the Hills)

directed by Cristian Mungiu

Romania

I sense an overall aura of disappointment around this one. Still it remains a must see for me, and I was extremely impressed with Mungiu's direct and articulate answers during the press conference.

Quotes from the press conference:

Cristian Mungiu on once again telling the story of two women: "I never intended to make a film with so many similarities to my last one. But this one is less about friendship, it's more about love and abandonment."

Mungiu on similarities between his films and the Dardenne brothers (co-producers for this film): "There's no connection. My choice not to use music and not to abuse editing was made before seeing their films. The kind of cinema I am trying to make tries as much as possible to avoid making the filmmaker present and visible. It's a matter of respect from me to my spectators, I don't think they need to be told when they need to be emotional or not."

Mungiu on the theme of fatality and inevitability in the film: "I don't like when films are reduced to words, because words are not precise. Of course it's about destiny, but it's about a lot of things at the same time."

"Boasts the same formal control and somber realism that distinguished '4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.' But Mungiu's slow-burning, scrupulously evenhanded portrait of religious hysteria rarely achieves that film's gut-level intensity, leaving audiences with an accomplished but bleak 152-minute picture." - Justin Chang (Variety)

"While there are a few rich, exquisitely observed moments, a larger thesis never really coheres. Even if there isn't one, you're left with Flutur and Stratan's performances - both haunting and heartbreaking." - Karina Longworth (LA Weekly)

"A cerebral melodrama of the most steely, bare and brutal kind, the past hangs over it like a character just out of frame, insidious and corrupting." - Dave Calhoun (Time Out London)

"Stylistically, Mungiu's preference for long takes and rugged handheld camerawork remains intact, it's just that the slender facts in this particular case can't even begin to withstand the mammoth weight of a 150-minute running time." - Bud Wilkins (The House Next Door)

"Though Beyond the Hills lacks the taut dramatic suspense that made its predecessor so riveting, it nevertheless stands as the most consistently satisfying film to have screened in Competition so far." - Geoff Andrew (Sight & Sound)

Cristina Flutur, Cristian Mungiu, Cosmina Stratan

Un Certain Regard Film

Antiviral

directed by Brandon Cronenberg

Canada

So for it sounds like this one has turned out just as expected for a first film from a Cronenberg, and it didn't take long to find a review that mentions apples and trees. Can't wait to see it despite whatever flaws it may have.

"It's exactly the oddball and crooked tale you'd want and expect from a Cronenberg with all the gratuitous blood, pus, bone and multiple closeups of needles piercing skin you could ask for. Dad would be proud." - Kevin Jagernauth (The Playlist)

"Never builds the sort of character investment or narrative momentum that would allow its visceral horrors to seriously disturb, rather than seeming like choice gross-out moments lovingly designed for maximum viewer recoil. " - Justin Chang (Variety)

"If this is where he's starting his career, then it's going to be very exciting to watch his work develop in the years ahead, and I suspect his voice will get clearer and even more distinct." - Drew McWeeny (Motion Captured)

"It's just not weird enough in the execution. Cronenberg Jr. is strong on visual style, but weak in creating the real creepiness that gets under your skin." - Barbara Scharres (Chicago Sun Times)

Caleb Landry Jones, Sarah Gadon, Brandon Cronenberg
Day 5 - Sunday, May 20

Competition Film

Amour (Love)

directed by Michael Haneke

France, Austria, Germany

After the across the board glowing reception this has been getting, not that that comes as a surprise, it sounds very much like it will figure prominently on awards night, we'll see if the jury concurs. What an incredible festival this is turning out to be!

Quotes from the press conference:

Michael Haneke: "It's far more difficult for an actor to watch the film than to do the actual work. It's romantic to think that if you make a sad and tragic film that the shooting is also tragic."

More from Haneke: "I never make a movie to prove anything. At the end of the day, I am very pleased to have made a simple film."

Isabelle Huppert on working with Haneke again: "He's demanding as a director but we are tremendously rewarded. I like to watch myself in Haneke's films, it's very gratifying. So I don't see why I shouldn't do this again and again."

Jean-Louis Trintignant on returning to the screen from the stage for the first time since 1998: "I didn't want to act in films anymore, I love the theatre. I think that Michael Haneke is one of the greatest directors in the world, and it was a wonderful opportunity but I won't do it again."

Emmanuelle Riva: "When I watch the film I have the impression that I'm seeing someone else, someone I don't know. It's hard to say, it's very special."

"Trintignant and Riva are consummate veterans of French cinema but put aside their baggage of famous films to approach these roles with concentrated freshness, making each moment a deep plunge into a heroic side of themselves." - Deborah Young (The Hollywood Reporter)

"As unrelenting and unflinching as you might expect from the provocateur, but there is tenderness within that marks a bit of a new direction for the helmer." - Kevin Jagernauth (The Playlist)

"Everything that could have been expected from Haneke and more: a moving, terrifying and uncompromising drama of extraordinary intimacy and intelligence. This is film-making at the highest pitch of intelligence and insight." - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)

"Infused with its namesake, this gentle tragedy is the filmmaker’s least complicated work to date, a streamlined tearjerker that respects viewers enough to not jerk the tears out of them." - David Fear (Time Out New York)

"Considering Haneke's confrontational past, this poignantly acted, uncommonly tender two-hander makes a doubly powerful statement about man's capacity for dignity and sensitivity when confronted with the inevitable cruelty of nature." - Peter Debruge (Variety)

"Amour is striking for its subdued and relatively un-provocative quality. Haneke has become known for poking a stick in viewers’ eyes and then asking them why they keep coming back for more. And yet Amour’s icy calm representation is of a piece with earlier films like The Seventh Continent and Lemmings." - Simon Abrams (Press Play)

Alexandre Tharaud, Emmanuelle Riva, Michael Haneke, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Isabelle Huppert

Competition Film

Jagten (The Hunt)

directed by Thomas Vinterberg

Denmark

Happy to hear that Vinterberg has finally returned to form. I don't know about it's awards chances, maybe Mikkelsen will get some love for playing against typecast. At any rate this looks like yet another must see film.

Quotes from the press conference:

Thomas Vinterberg: "We're not used to happy endings in Denmark. It's a dark and sinister country."

Vinterberg on child actress Annika Wedderkopp: "She's just really incredibly good. It's not because I'm a genius. Yes I am a genius, but in this case she did it her own."

Vinterberg on his first return to Cannes since Festen (1998): "Well first of all, I was always here. You guys were gone for awhile, but I was here and I am proud of what I did meanwhile."

Actress Susse Wold: "This film is about a lot of smoke without any fire and how dangerous that can be."

"Absorbing if not particularly innovative, will fit snugly into the recent run of solid Danish dramas that have done well at fests and in arthouses worldwide. " - Boyd Van Hoeij (Variety)

"Early plotting here is fast, so fast that it can sometimes feel false. But any initial doubts that this might prove to be simply a beautifully-crafted TV-movie are expertly laid waste as The Hunt, propelled by Mads Mikkelsen in an everyman role, hits home - and hits hard." - Fionnuala Halligan (Screen Daily)

"The film is superbly acted by a cast that never strikes a false note or softens the impact with consolatory sentiment. The same strengths distinguish Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm’s screenplay, which spins a psychological horror story rooted at every step in credible reality." - David Rooney (The Hollywood Reporter)

"Vinterberg really has come storming back with this new movie, easily his best since Festen, and a reminder of his superb gift for unsettling collective drama: it is forthright, powerful, composed and directed with clarity and overwhelming force, yet capable of great subtlety and nuance." - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)

Thomas Vinterberg, Mads Mikkelsen
Day 6 - Monday, May 21

Competition Film

Vous n'avez encore rien vu (You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet)

directed by Alain Resnais

France

Quotes from the press conference:

Alain Resnais: "I make it up as I go. This film is different from any other I've done, if I thought it was going to be a grand statement, I'd never have the courage to do it."

Lambert Wilson: "For an actor, what's really difficult is when a director asks you to be yourself."

Producer Jean-Louis Livi: "You have the impression that you're the one making decisions, but it's actually Resnais who has led you to make them."

"Though Resnais' gamble seems to have failed, it's encouraging to see a director on the brink of 90 still willing to experiment in a way most helmers half his age wouldn't dare. While the performances feel rawer and less conventional in the young warehouse version, Resnais supplies the more daring directorial solution, giving poignancy to the film's title: If life permits, he could go right on innovating." - Peter Debruge (Variety)

"This reflection on the past, love and death through the prism of layers of theatrical endeavor is both serious and frisky, engaging on a refined level but frustratingly limited in its complexity and depth." - Todd McCarthy (The Hollywood Reporter)

"Mounts an interesting challenge to the realist consensus of cinema, to the convention that we must pretend that what is being played out on screen is actually happening. But despite its moments of charm and caprice, the film is prolix, inert, indulgent and often just plain dull." - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)

Competition Film

Like Someone In Love

directed by Abbas Kiarostami

France, Japan

Yikes, sounds like he failed to repeat the magic of Certified Copy. Lots of hate from the critics for this one and a screening that ended with a round of boos.

Quotes from the press conference:

Abbas Kiarostami: "My film has no beginning and no ending. That's just what life is like. We show up after the beginning, things always happen beforehand."

Tadashi Okuno on working with Kiarostami: "That was the first time I worked without a script. We were told not to act, just to be natural. Perhaps that's why it was easy for him to choose me, because I don't know how to do a great deal."

"Not entirely satisfying as either an academic or an emotional exercise, 'Like Someone in Love' offers its most complete pleasures as a quietly pristine showcase for Kiarostami's undiminished craft, its most laborious stretches still wowing with their poised camera placement and confidently spare editing schemes." - Guy Lodge (Variety)

"The more you delve, the more resonance you find; the problem is that Kiarostami fails to embed the film’s visual, aural and symbolic games in a narrative that satisfies on the level of story and character." - Lee Marshall (Screen Daily)

"There is a fine line between meeting an audience halfway and witholding enough without falling into self-indulgence, but Kiarostami can't make that balance here. Enigmatic and dull to a maddening degree, 'Like Someone In Love' finds Kiarostami spinning his wheels." - Kevin Jagernauth (The Playlist)

"There are some interesting ideas and sympathetic performances in a superbly shot and fascinatingly controlled exercise. There is potential. But the curtain comes down with an arbitrary crash just as the drama was becoming interesting." - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)

Abbas Kiarostami

Competition Film

Da-Reun Na-Ra-E-Suh (In Another Country)

directed by Hong Sang-soo

South Korea

Quotes from the press conference:

Hong Sang-soo on his many visits to Cannes: "I'm not sure why Cannes likes me so much, but I'm invited, it's a great honor, so I come."

Hong on the use of zoom: "It allows me to shoot from a distance and get close to the actor's faces, I also use it to create a rhythm."

Isabelle Huppert: "For me this was a very original and interesting experience. It was a very enchanting adventure for me."

Actor Yu Jun-sang on Isabelle Huppert: "It was a tremendous pleasure. Onscreen she throws herself completely into the work, and as soon as we stop shooting she becomes someone who's like a child, very joyful."

"Beguilingly simple, relaxed in its mastery and enhanced by Isabelle Huppert's impeccable poise, helmer-writer Hong Sangsoo's ambivalently titled 'In Another Country' plays like the flipside of his Paris-set 'Night and Day'." - Maggie Lee (Variety)

"Another loving tribute by Hong Sangsoo to French cinema, somewhere between inconsequential and flimsy but pleasant to watch all through." - Dan Fainaru (Screen Daily)

"Hong slyly provides enough structural intricacy and interconnectedness to keep semiologists and deconstructionists in business for weeks, while more general audiences may be happy to enjoy the picture's more straightforward pleasures." - Neil Young (The Hollywood Reporter)

Isabelle Huppert, Hong Sang-soo

Thanks for stopping by, check back periodically for the latest updates.

Happy End (1967)

2012-05-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

Happy End (1967)

Genre: Comedy

Director: Oldrich Lipský

Starring: Vladimír Mensík, Jaroslava Obermaierová, Josef Abrhám

Language: Czech

Duration: 71 min.

Rating: 7.5

Summary:

The bold and experimental story of the life of a butcher, told in reverse.

Happy End is a comedy film from the Czech New Wave, directed by Oldrich Lipský (Lemonade Joe), co-written with Milos Macourek. One of the most unique concepts to come out of Czech cinema, this is an experimental tribute to silent films and slapstick comedy, that tells the tragic story of a condemned man entirely in reverse.

It opens with a shot of the severed head of Bedrich Frydrych (Vladimír Mensík), a butcher who murders his wife and her lover, and is sentenced to the guillotine. Narrated as if his execution was his birth, and operating on the 'time destroys all' premise that Gaspar Noé would become famous for exploring 35 years later, what follows is Frydrych's life story with all the action playing out completely backwards, going all the way back to his childhood. As absurd and confusing as that sounds, the result is quite hilarious and amazing to watch.

Shown the other way around, the film would have been a rather mundane betrayal and murder story, but in reverse it makes for quite a twisted comedy with some truly hilarious moments.

Bizarre and disturbing scenes such as Frydrych carrying his wife's dismembered body home from the police station in a suitcase, and then assembling her back together at home, or a plate full of cookies being chewed and regurgitated back onto the table.

In addition to the backwards action, the lines of dialog are also spoken in reverse order leading to some incredibly surreal and nonsensical conversations with answers given before questions, and constantly out of context exclamations being made.

Much credit goes to Miroslav Hájek, the film's editor, as I can't imagine how much work it took to keep track of everything by hand; and at 71 minutes, the film is just the right length, ending just as the idea fully runs out of steam.

— Bonjour Tristesse

Nobody Will Laugh (1966)

2012-05-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

Nobody Will Laugh • Nikdo se nebude smát (1966)

Genre: Drama / Comedy

Director: Hynek Bocan

Starring: Jan Kacer, Stepánka Rehákova, Josef Chvalina

Language: Czech, English

Duration: 94 min.

Rating: 7.6

Summary:

A successful art historian who has trouble telling people difficult truths, finds himself in an inescapable situation when a small lie quickly gets out of hand.

Nobody Will Laugh is the debut feature film from Hynek Bocan, co-written with Pavel Jurácek (Every Young Man) and based on a collection of short stories written by Milan Kundera. It won the Grand Prize at the 1965 Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival.

Karel Klima (Jan Kacer), is an art history professor who leads a carefree life, living in a nice apartment with a young wannabe model. He's well regarded and his opinion is highly respected in his field. As such, he is frequently asked to write reviews of his peers' work before publication. When one such request reaches his desk, instead of outright rejecting it, he lies and writes a half-hearted and evasive reply. This small lie slowly grows into a big dilemma that soon affects all aspects of Klima's life.

It's an astute and entertaining tragicomedy that employs all of the important Czech New Wave characteristics. Natural acting and dialog using mostly non-professional actors that depicts life as it was without exaggeration. Fluid camerawork and expertly crafted black and white images that are thought provoking and fascinating to observe. Above all, the most delightful aspect, a carefully applied layer of pitch black humor, at times hilariously absurd and other times blissfully subtle, but always so perceptive and something that almost everyone can relate to.

One scene involving a committee of local community members who convene in the local pub to discuss growing concerns over Klima's private life, is one of the most chillingly accurate mirrors of the communist regime I have seen to date.

There are also some interesting playful interludes scattered throughout the picture, a series of dialog free sequences backed by a lively soundtrack composed by Wiliam Bukový, that add a bit of fun and flavor to the film.

I think it's a solid first effort from Bocan and do look forward to exploring his other work from this era, but it's not by any means an essential watch.

— Bonjour Tristesse

Marty (1955)

2012-05-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

Marty (1955)

Genre: Drama, Romance

Director: Delbert Mann

Starring: Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair

Language: English

Duration: 89 min.

Rating: 7.4

Summary:

A touching story about two lonely people who have almost resigned themselves to never being truly loved.

Marty is a film directed by Delbert Mann, based on a teleplay written by Paddy Chayefsky. Released in 1955, it was the first film to win the Palme d'Or (before 1955, the top prize at Cannes was called the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film), and to this day is the only film to win both the Palme and the Oscar for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

It's a simple and solidly put together tale of romance between two regular people one weekend in New York City. Starring Ernest Borgnine in the title role that helped him break the typecasting of always playing the bad guy in western films, and Betsy Blair as the school teacher he meets when he reluctantly goes out to the dance hall on Saturday night.

I've never been a big fan of films made from plays, but must admit that this one works quite well. Anchored by Borgnine's strong and detailed performance, and its realistic on-location sets, you don't get the feeling that everything is staged like with so many other films of this era. It's also not your typical classic glamorous Hollywood movie. This is no fairy tale love story between a dapper hero and a beautiful princess, but rather a brief window into the plain lives of two everyday lonely people in the city, a nice and ironic break from the norm.

It's not a life changing masterpiece, and it isn't particularly creatively inventive or inspiring; some of the dialog sounds aged, the jokes are set up from a mile away, and the outcome is entirely predictable. I do wonder how this managed to pull off the double win, however it remains a genuinely enjoyable watch that strikes a good balance between humor and heartbreak, and proves you don't need a huge budget, fancy effects, or an airbrushed cast to make a successful picture.

— Bonjour Tristesse

Chicken with Plums (2011)

2012-05-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

Chicken with Plums • Poulet aux prunes (2011)

Genre: Drama, Comedy

Director: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud

Starring: Mathieu Amalric, Maria de Medeiros, Golshifteh Farahani, Eric Caravaca, Chiara Mastroianni

Language: French, English

Duration: 93 min.

Rating: 7.0

Summary:

Teheran, 1958. Since his beloved violin was broken, Nasser Ali Khan, one of the most renowned musicians of his day, has lost all taste for life. Finding no instrument worthy of replacing it, he decides to confine himself to bed to await death.

Chicken with Plums is a film by writing and directing duo Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, best known for their 2007 Oscar nominated animated film Persepolis. It premiered in competition at the 2011 Venice Film Festival.

Once again displaying great storytelling abilities in adapting a graphic novel into film, the pair deliver a moving live-action fantasy drama garnished with a liberal sprinkling of animated flair. In a story set in 1950s Tehran of the last days of Nasser Ali (Mathieu Amalric), the most talented violinist of his time, who decides to end his life after his beloved and irreplaceable instrument is destroyed.

The film is presented through a series of anecdotal flashbacks and flashforwards, narrated by an all knowing voice with a gentle humor that almost brings to mind Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie. I had a couple problems with the story itself: the main character is for the most part a very selfish fool who of course has his reasons, but digs himself into too big of a hole throughout the film to ever be fully redeemed at the end; and there is one ridiculously heavy handed off-beat skit mocking America that is only funny because it's so cringe worthy. However, the actual storytelling is capable and captivating, Satrapi and Paronnaud certainly have a remarkable skill for weaving the moments of the past, present, and future in an elegant way that holds the film together very well.

Another aspect done well is the overall visual look of the film. Every scene is shot from interesting angles and perspectives, and filled in magnificently with precise colors and expertly manipulated light and shadow, aided by the aforementioned animated flourishes which faithfully evoke the story's graphic novel origins.

The acting is also solid. Despite not being able to warm up to his character, I was impressed with Amalric who always seems to deliver a stirring performance and in no way can he be faulted here. The supporting cast of quirky characters are quite enjoyable to watch, with Jamel Debbouze in two hilarious side roles, Maria de Medeiros (who most will recognize from Pulp Fiction) as Nasser Ali's long suffering wife Faringuisse, and one unforgettable scene featuring eternal beauty Isabella Rossellini slicing up a watermelon in anger.

A strong follow-up to Persepolis, and a promising evolution into live-action, it's unquestionably beautiful to look at and at times laugh out loud funny, but in the end Chicken with Plums doesn't quite serve up the intended emotional impact.

— Bonjour Tristesse

Fugue on the Black Keys (1965)

2012-05-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

Fugue on the Black Keys • Fuga na cerných klávesách (1965)

Genre: Drama, Short

Director: Drahomíra Vihanová

Starring: Julian Diaz, George Stivín, Franz Rauch

Language: Czech, English

Duration: 34 min.

Rating: 7.3

Summary:

A portrait of an African music student studying the piano in Prague, as he prepares for his debut concert recital.

Fugue on the Black Keys is a short student film by Drahomíra Vihanová, a graduate of the famed FAMU film academy. It was screened at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival.

It's an inventive and atmospheric piece that follows young African student Fati Farari (Julian Diaz), nearing the end of his piano studies at Prague's Music Academy. Shot with a candid documentary style on location in the streets of Prague, and featuring a running internal dialog of the main character as he encounters various people in his preparations for his graduation recital.

This film is interesting for several reasons: the casting of a visible minority in the main role (it's rare enough to see even a single non-white extra in the films of this era), and its delicate handling of the overt racism he experiences on a daily basis; some skillful editing and imaginative first person point of view scenes where we hear Farari's internal thoughts in both English and Czech; and some lively on-location camerawork reminiscent of the early French New Wave, providing us with a wonderful and spontaneous look at Prague in the early 1960s.

A minor figure of the Czech New Wave, Vihanová went on to direct just one other film during this period, the 1969 feature Squandered Sunday (Zabitá nedele), which earned her a ban from filmmaking by the Communist government; and though she was able to direct a handful of short documentaries before the Velvet Revolution, she wasn't able to make another feature until 1994.

— Bonjour Tristesse

Lemonade Joe (1964)

2012-05-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

Lemonade Joe • Limonádový Joe aneb Konská opera (1964)

Genre: Western, Comedy, Musical

Director: Oldrich Lipský

Starring: Karel Fiala, Rudolf Deyl, Milos Kopecký, Kveta Fialová, Olga Schoberová

Language: Czech

Duration: 99 min.

Rating: 8.0

Summary:

Clean-living gunfighter Lemonade Joe takes on a town full of whiskey-drinking cowboys.

Lemonade Joe also known as Lemonade Joe or the Horse Opera is a film directed by Oldrich Lipský, based on a series of short stories by Czech writer/animator Jirí Brdecka. It was the Czechoslovak entry to the 1964 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

Probably the most well known of the spoofs on Western culture and cinema (which included science fiction, comic strips, and spy movies) to come out of the Czech New Wave—and in my opinion the most effective—Lemonade Joe is a hilarious musical parody of the Wild West inspired by B grade silent era westerns and infused with that wonderful Czech sense of satirical comedy that holds universal appeal.

Stetson City, Arizona is where this tale takes place. A typical dusty western town where the premiere establishment is the Trigger Whisky Saloon. With its swinging mid-height doors, out of tune piano, dancing girls, and where the whiskey flows all night. The story details the black-and-white, good-and-evil rivalry between the mean proprietor of the Trigger Whisky, Doug Badman (Rudolf Deyl) and the heroic gunslinger Lemonade Joe (Karel Fiala).

A legendary figure who rides into town all dressed in white, just in time to rescue young Winifred Goodman (the lovely Olga Schoberová) from the base intentions of Badman and his sadistic brother Hogo Fogo (Milos Kopecký); and to use his impeccable marksmanship skills, which he attributes to his favorite brand of lemonade (in an obvious reference to Coca-Cola), to convince the local residents to switch to drinking that instead of whiskey.

The plot may sound childish and pedestrian, but the execution is full of visually inventive techniques and clever genre tributes. Writer Jirí Brdecka's roots were in animation and some of his ideas are used to great effect in the film. The opening scene inside the saloon shows a very cartoon like all-out bar brawl, expertly choreographed and fluidly edited with stop start motions.

There are other various little touches as well, like cigar smoke rings used to pass secret messages, and a marvelous gunfight sequence with freeze frames and graphic lines representing bullet paths. In addition to the slapstick comedy, there are a number of musical scenes performed by each of the main characters that are quite fascinating including the title song which seems to be a nonsensical combination of English and Spanish words.

The film is shot in black-and-white and uses a predominately 'lemonade' yellow filter that on occasion switches to red, blue, or green depending on the mood of the scene. There are also some very interesting closeup shots that are strikingly similar to those that Sergio Leone made famous. Hard to say whether or not it was a conscious attempt at parody or merely coincidence (Leone's first spaghetti western A Fistful of Dollars was filmed the very same year), but still something to take note of.

At times the endless silly jokes and routines start to feel repetitive, but on the whole Lemonade Joe is still a fantastically entertaining take on the American West, a unique and enjoyable film full of playful moments, sharp wit, and that amazing and surreal Czech sense of humor.

— Bonjour Tristesse

The Salesman (2011)

2012-05-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

The Salesman • Le vendeur (2011)

Genre: Drama

Director: Sébastien Pilote

Starring: Gilbert Sicotte, Jean-François Boudreau, Nathalie Cavezzali

Language: French

Duration: 107 min.

Rating: 8.1

Summary:

The perennial car salesman of the month, Marcel Lévesque takes great satisfaction in the ritual of persuasion. But in the small working-class town where the local paper mill's impending closure is immobilizing the economy, Marcel must come to terms with the changing times.

The Salesman is the feature debut from writer director Sébastien Pilote. It premiered in the World Cinema Competition section of the 2011 Sundance International Film Festival.

A slow moving but immensely affecting character study about a man who has dedicated his entire life to perfecting the skills of his work. Marcel Lévesque (Gilbert Sicotte, in easily one of the top ten performances of 2011) is a car salesman, and a very good one. As the film begins, life appears good for Marcel, he's the top performer at his small-town dealership, where he has consistently been awarded the salesman-of-the-month trophy for as long as anyone can remember. He's also dedicated and friendly, well liked at work and in the community, and he has a close relationship with his loving daughter (Nathalie Cavezzali) and grand-son. However, this one seemingly endless Northern Quebec winter, Marcel is forced to face some difficult circumstances that are far beyond his control.

Right from the start, Pilote paints a vivid scene, capturing in perfect detail the sights and sounds of the long Canadian winter. A setting which I'm remarkably familiar with, even though I speak a different language and live 5,000 km away (to put into perspective, that's a distance further than Paris to Baghdad), the experience is the same. With the help of cinematographer Michel La Veaux, Pilote crafts some of the most evocative and immersive images I have ever seen in a Canadian film. The icy landscapes, snow covered vehicles, heavy machinery, and even a dead moose on the side of the highway are all expertly framed and composed with a sensibility not often seen this side of the Atlantic.

At the heart of this film is Gilbert Sicotte's exceptional performance. A veteran actor I know little about, but here he delivers a complex and carefully nuanced portrayal, nailing every little character quirk and always carrying an outward aura of confident charm. This is a guy for whom selling is not only a job but a way of life. At 67, he shrugs off any suggestion of retirement, and he still carries a pocket recorder so that he can learn from his mistakes, leaving it on even while spending time with his family. Even though the town's last big employer, the local paper mill, has now been shuttered for several months, and the entire community is starting to become visibly affected, Marcel carries on with the singular goal of clearing the lot in time for next year's models.

The screenplay is also quite strong overall, dealing with some heavy issues (religion, consumerism, the global economy) and handling them all with a neutral perspective; and although the story is centered on Marcel, the director takes the time to present a full and intimate portrait of the lifestyle and culture in the town where the film takes place, from the main street to the hockey rink to the community hall to the gates of the paper mill where the locked out workers huddle. All of the little pieces of this corner of the world are neatly crafted and also all very real. The only miscue is one critical plot development is telegraphed well in advance, and while it remains incredibly powerful, I think it was a bit too obvious to see where things were headed.

I don't know what it is, but there is a massive amount of great new talent coming out of Quebec lately. Add Sébastien Pilote to the growing list of young directors from there to keep your eyes on. For this is a marvelous debut that may not be the most crowd pleasing, star studded, or stylish, but it is certainly the most powerful Canadian film of the past year.

— Bonjour Tristesse

Nuit #1 (2011)

2012-05-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

Nuit #1 (2011)

Genre: Drama
Director: Anne Émond
Starring: Catherine de Léan, Dimitri Storoge
Language: French
Duration: 91 min.
Rating: 7.0

Summary:

Clara and Nikolai meet at a rave. They return to his apartment for sex. Afterwards, instead of parting ways, the two lovers divulge their deepest secrets to one another.

Nuit #1 is the feature length debut from Canadian director Anne Émond. It premiered in the Canada First section of the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. It won the Claude Jutra Award at the 32nd Genie Awards, a prize awarded to the year's best feature from a first-time director; it also won Best Canadian Feature at the 2011 Vancouver International Film Festival.

The film begins to the sounds of Elysian Fields' cover of Serge Gainsbourg's classic Les amours perdues. The sultry smoky vocals of Jennifer Charles and the languid instrumentation of Oren Bloedow provide a stark contrast to the images in front of us. A slow motion scene of flashing strobe lights and a packed sweaty dance floor full of ravers with arms in the air jumping up and down to the rhythm of an entirely different song. All except for one girl who seems to be in a world of her own, slightly off-beat from the rest. It's a striking introduction that instantly grabs the audiences attention.

The intimate film that follows doesn't quite maintain that level of magic, but it does provide ample opportunity for the leads Dimitri Storoge and Catherine de Léan (who earned a Best Actress nomination at the Genies), to show off their acting chops. After a long, awkward, largely dispassionate, and entirely unglamorous, but unusually explicit sex scene; instead of immediately going their separate ways, the two strangers Nikolai and Clara begin to talk, and over the rest of the evening they slowly open up, using one another for what amounts to be an impromptu late night therapy session.

Fortunately the performances were stirring, because the script was not always the most convincing, at times resembling a series of theatrical monologues rather than a realistic exchange of dialog between two people. Also, Nikolai's threadbare and decrepit apartment where we spend the vast majority of the film was not the most inviting place to be stuck in for so long. Still that kind of worked in the film's favor, because every rare scene that takes place outside of that apartment not only provides the audience with some visual relief, but also delivers its most powerful emotional moments, including a well executed ending.

Overall Nuit #1 offers nothing particularly groundbreaking but there were some flashes of brilliance. I'd say that Émond shows some very strong promise with this debut, and I expect we will be hearing her name in festival and award circles again very soon.

— Bonjour Tristesse

Little Deaths (2011)

2012-05-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

Little Deaths (2011)

Genre: Horror Anthology
Director: Sean Hogan, Andrew Parkinson, Simon Rumley
Starring: Luke de Lacey, Holly Lucas, Kate Braithwaite, Jodie Jameson
Language: English
Duration: 94 min.
Rating: 7.5

Summary:

Three disturbingly sensual and terrifying short narratives, unified by the twin themes of sex and death.

Little Deaths is a collection of three short films from the UK directed by Sean Hogan, Andrew Parkinson, and Simon Rumley. It premiered in the 2011 Film4 FrightFest, and also screened in the SXFantastic section of the 2011 SXSW Film Festival.

Making a strong case for a New Brit Extremity, this anthology whose title is a play on the French metaphor for an orgasm, is a series of three absolutely twisted and perverse tales, connected only by their unflinching exploration of some deeply abnormal depravities, complete with extreme and violent displays of body parts and fluids (all of them); and the trusty presence of a soundtrack from killer post-rock outfit Crippled Black Phoenix.

The first episode titled House and Home is directed by Sean Hogan and follows a well-off suburban couple with the strange habit of picking up young homeless women, inviting them home on the pretense of a hot meal and warm bath, and then having their way with them. It's a scenario with a decent setup, and plays out more or less just as you would predict, however the acts depicted and the ways that they are shown are quite unsettling.

The middle piece directed by Andrew Parkinson is called Mutant Tool and is a Cronenbergian body horror/science fiction mashup that follows a woman who becomes an unwitting test subject for a mad doctor who develops a potent drug that comes from a highly unusual source. A vastly imaginative scenario held back by some over-the-top moments but nevertheless offers up plenty of clever twists and one absolutely unforgettable prosthetic effect.

Saving the best for last, the final story by Simon Rumley who directed last year's extraordinary Red White & Blue, is titled Bitch and gives us the portrait of a young couple with what can only be deemed a terribly unhealthy relationship. This one is the least explicit of the bunch but because of the director's clear strength in knowing who and what needs to be shown, and just when to show it, he delivers the most disturbing and most powerful tale of all.

Just as with any anthology the quality here is uneven, and the extreme nature of these shorts means that only a seasoned horror fan or an adventurous viewer with a very open mind will be able to appreciate them, but if you've read this far then chances are you fit into one of those categories. Check it out.

— Bonjour Tristesse

Breathing (2011)

2012-05-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

Breathing • Atmen (2011)

Genre: Drama
Director: Karl Markovics
Starring: Thomas Schubert, Karin Lischka, Gerhard Liebmann, Georg Friedrich
Language: German
Duration: 90 min.
Rating: 6.9

Summary:

A 19-year-old ex-convict attempts to build a new life amidst his overriding guilt.

Breathing is the directorial debut from longtime Austrian actor Karl Markovics. It premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, and was Austria's official submission to the 84th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

Set in a modern and almost nondescript Vienna, this is a quiet observation of Roman (Thomas Schubert), a young man serving the end of a criminal sentence in a juvenile detention center. Soon up for parole, he is afforded day passes to the city in order to seek employment. He winds up taking a position with the city morgue, a job which forces him to face the many ghosts of his past as well as the uncertainty of his future life outside of prison.

Markovics displays a pleasing yet detached visual style, filling his widescreen frame with a subdued palette and precise compositions from a mostly static camera. Each long take is carefully presented in a variety of shots that capture both the tight claustrophobic feeling of being behind cell walls and also the wide open expanse of the outside world. As well, there are a series of very interesting and symbolic scenes that cleverly play on the title of the film, including some impressively executed underwater shots.

Schubert handles the central performance with a subtle and low key manner. The material is such that he doesn't really get the chance to show much range, but he is solid, his awkwardness around others is always believable, and most importantly his honest portrayal of Roman's internal struggle makes us want to care about him.

The problem is despite all that, everything is just so deliberately and unremittingly restrained. All of the potential confrontations, conflicts, and setbacks are stifled before they get a chance to develop into anything of substance. This along with the cold and clinical nature of the cinematography prevents the film from ever reaching any real emotional impact.

— Bonjour Tristesse

The Snows of Kilimanjaro (2011)

2012-05-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

The Snows of Kilimanjaro • Les neiges du Kilimandjaro (2011)

Genre: Drama
Director: Robert Guédiguian
Starring: Ariane Ascaride, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Gérard Meylan
Language: French
Duration: 107 min.
Rating: 6.6

Summary:

Michel, lives happily with Marie-Claire, his wife of nearly 30 years. A dedicated trade unionist, he is tasked with calling out the names in a draw that will decide who will be laid off to save their shipyard. To everyone's surprise he calls out his own name, leading to an unexpected new phase in his life.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro is a film directed by Robert Guédiguian, based on a poem by Victor Hugo titled Les pauvres gens and named after a 1960s French pop song by Pascal Danel. It premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

A fable like story set in the southern port city of Marseilles, where long time union man Michel (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) despite not being required to do so, puts his own name in a draw to see which 20 unlucky men will be laid-off at the local shipyard. Evidently he calls out his own name and goes home to an early retirement.

In his new found spare time, he plays with his grandchildren, hangs out with close friends, and is enjoying this new phase in life with his loving wife of 30 years Marie-Claire (Ariane Ascaride). However, one evening they are violently robbed by two home-invaders, and that leads to some very unexpected consequences.

Darroussin (who played a wonderful part in Le Havre), and Ascaride (nominated for a César for her role here) are both impressive, entirely believable as a solid but far from perfect couple who have a loving and supportive relationship.

The story starts out in an interesting way and slowly unfolds to reveal some unique complexities. However, the couple's ultimate response to the crime and the resulting situation although heartwarming, doesn't entirely ring true.

— Bonjour Tristesse

Random Musings - April 2012

2012-04-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

Random Musings of the Month

Wow, another month that went by quickly. Lots of cool stuff in the world of film happened in April. The Hong Kong Film Awards, the Tribeca Film Fest, the first Sundance UK, and the official Cannes lineup was announced.

After my unplanned break in March, that by the way ended a 500+ day posting streak, and due to the start of the NHL playoffs, I struggled a little bit this month to get back into my usual blogging routine, but things are starting to get comfortable again. I am however getting used to having weekends off for other pursuits, so I will continue to do that unless something inspiring comes up that I just need to post about.

I've introduced a new feature in which I plan on covering all of the Palme d'Or winners. However, I'm still in the process of trying to locate most of the titles so those reviews won't be as frequent as my other features have been. Expect the first ones to come leading up to the opening of Cannes.

Speaking of Cannes, I plan on remotely covering the festival as best as I can with daily reports and roundups of all the competition films as well as some of the higher profile titles in the other categories. So stay tuned for that.

In other news, I've begun working on a side project for The LAMB that will help streamline some of the existing and very tedious behind the scenes work that goes into maintaining it. This will hopefully allow Shep. Burman to use his time on promoting and improving things for all us fellow Lammies. It may even lead to some new exciting features that weren't possible before.

One other thing, did anyone else notice a very sharp decrease in traffic to their site on April 25? That day was the lowest amount of visitors I've had all year by a large margin and I'm wondering if it was a glitch or just a fluke.

Random Links of the Month

In case you missed it, earlier in the week, my everyone's 80's crush Molly Ringwald took part in an amazing AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit.
I've recently started following FilmScope a relatively new UK based site that covers the types of film I like the best: Foreign and Indie.
John Likes Movies was at the Tribeca Film Festival and was very impressed with the French thriller Sleepless Night (Nuit blanche). Which he says was better than Bond, Bourne, and Bauer.
Michaël of Le Mot du Cinephiliaque has started the first of a planned series of fascinating posts on the Theories of Robert Bresson.
Andy Buckle's Film Emporium recently saw Café de Flore, a stylish Canadian film that I recommend everyone check out.
Sati of Cinematic Corner which is I have to say, one of the most visually impressive blogs around, reviews David Cronenberg's The Fly
Jason of Genkinahito's Blog gives us a good preview of the Japanese Films that will premiere at Cannes.
Sam of Duke & the Movies attended and provides a great overview of Ebertfest 2012. The annual festival put on by the worlds best known critic.
April's LAMB of the Month: Never Too Early Movie Predictions has started the ambitious task of trying to document all of the AMPAS members with The Academy Members Project.
Stevee @ Cinematic Paradox expresses her new found love for Terrence Malick's impossibly beautiful Days of Heaven.
David from Taste of Cinema gives us 7 compelling reasons to use Letterboxd. This is the article that finally convinced me to sign up.
New LAMB member Jandy of The Frame takes a look at the Mike Nichols classic Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as a part of her blind spots series.

Fellow readers, how was your month? What was the best film you saw or post you read? Share your thoughts below.

2012 Tribeca Film Festival: Award Winners

2012-04-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

The 11th Annual Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), announced the award winners of its competition categories yesterday (April 26, 2012) at an awards ceremony held at the Conrad New York Hotel in Downtown Manhattan.

Here are the winners for the World Narrative Competition Categories awarded by jury members Patricia Clarkson, Dakota Fanning, Mike Newell, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Jim Sheridan, and Irwin Winkler:

The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature

War Witch (Rebelle) directed by Kim Nguyen - Canada

Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film

Dariel Arrechada and Javier Nuñez in Una Noche
directed by Lucy Mulloy - UK, USA, Cuba

Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film

Rachel Mwanza in War Witch
directed by Kim Nguyen - Canada

Best Cinematography in a Narrative Feature Film

Trevor Forrest and Shlomo Godder for Una Noche
directed by Lucy Mulloy - UK, USA, Cuba

Special Jury Mention: Cinematography

Alex Catalan for Unit 7
directed by Alberto Rodríguez - Spain

Best Screenplay for a Narrative Feature Film

Daniel Burman and Sergio Dubcovsky for All In (La Suerte en Tus Manos)
directed by Daniel Burman - Argentina

Best New Narrative Director

Lucy Mulloy for Una Noche - UK, USA, Cuba

Special Jury Mention: Best New Narrative

Patricia Benoit for Stones in the Sun - Haiti, USA
Sharon Bar-Ziv for Room 514 (Heder 514) - Israel

See the full list of winners including documentary and short film categories at the official TFF website.

Good to see Rebelle/War Witch is continuing its strong success since its premiere at the Berlinale in January. There's still many months to go but I think this win makes it a strong favorite to represent Canada at next year's Oscars.

The Cuban film Una Noche sounds very interesting as well. According to the jury: "reveals a Havana we could never otherwise see, in its jumble of vibrant life, decay, and making do. There’s a ‘you are there’ documentary immediacy to the picture, shot on the fly and in the streets, that keeps us enthralled."

Which of the winners do you look forward to seeing the most?

The Divide (2011)

2012-04-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

The Divide (2011)

Genre: Sci-Fi Horror
Director: Xavier Gens
Starring: Lauren German, Michael Biehn, Milo Ventimiglia, Courtney B. Vance
Language: English
Duration: 112 min.
Rating: 6.4

Summary:

Survivors of a nuclear attack are grouped together for days in the basement of their apartment building, where fear and dwindling supplies wear away at their dynamic.

The Divide is a film directed by French filmmaker Xavier Gens, written by Karl Mueller and Eron Sheean. It premiered in the official selection of the 2011 SXSW Film Festival.

Best known for his debut feature, the ultra violent Frontier(s) which is often associated with the New French Extremity. Xavier Gens' latest is a somber post-apocalyptic thriller that doesn't quite reach for the same gory extremes, but still manages to provide an even more unsettling display of human nature.

The concept is indeed an interesting one, with the film opening on a sudden nuclear attack in Manhattan and a small but diverse group of frantic apartment dwellers finding safety in a makeshift fallout shelter in the basement of their building. This eerily effective set-piece of low ceilings and cramped corridors is where the entire film takes place, and the director along with his skilled cinematographer Laurent Barès (Inside, Livid) capture the dark, dingy, and claustrophobic atmosphere to beautiful effect.

As it turns out, the building manager Mickey, played by remarkable genre actor Michael Biehn (Aliens, Terminator) has been preparing for this moment since 9/11. So the survivors are lucky to have found food, water, and shelter, but they will soon discover that there is a very thin line between civilization and savagery. The stage is set for a wonderfully dark psychological examination.

Unfortunately there are a few things that hold this one back. The writing is full of teases that raise far more questions than are answered. Including flimsy backgrounds for all of the characters and small hints at the scenario's back story that never get explained or fully explored. Would have been better to leave those bits out because the pacing does suffer from too many frustrating dead ends. There's also a lack of any sympathetic characters, these are people you wouldn't want to spend an elevator ride with, let alone the end of the world. So instead of mounting tension, you just want them to hurry up and snap and turn on each other.

The film is most impressive when the group dynamics finally start to unravel. The entire cast really begins to shine as each of their true natures are revealed and unleashed in ugly fashion. As the situation devolves, their humanity erodes into some truly horrifying and unrelentingly dark moments that even fans of genre films may find difficult to handle. Gens clearly has a technical mastery of this stuff, if only he could maintain a compelling story from start to finish.

— Bonjour Tristesse

Declaration of War (2011)

2012-04-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

Declaration of War • La guerre est déclarée (2011)

Genre: Drama
Director: Valérie Donzelli
Starring: Valérie Donzelli, Jérémie Elkaïm
Language: French
Duration: 100 min.
Rating: 7.7

Summary:

A new couple must face the ultimate test when they discover their new born child is very ill.

Declaration of War is the second film from French actress/director Valérie Donzelli, co-written with Jérémie Elkaïm based on their real life experiences. It premiered as the opening film in the Critics Week section of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. It was France's official submission to the 84th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, and it was nominated six times including for Best Film at the 37th César Awards.

This story of a young couple who must learn to deal with their baby son being diagnosed with a brain tumor will probably scare most viewers away, and in fact even with the acclaim it's received I've been avoiding it assuming it would be a typical depressing melodrama. However, it turned out to be a film full of surprises, some sad ones definitely, but also some happy ones, and plenty of French New Wave inspired style too.

Juliette (Donzelli) and Romeo (Elkaïm) meet in a Paris nightclub, share a laugh over their ironic names, and fall in love at first sight. Their whirlwind romance is presented with a quick paced cutesy montage, so joyous and playful that it borders on parody, and ends with the arrival of their baby son Adam. It isn't long before they realize that something is wrong with their child, and after the tests confirm their worst fears, they find themselves in the biggest struggle of their lives.

Donzelli impresses both in front of and behind the lens, capturing everything with a fluid camera that despite the film's tragic subject matter, manages to present us with a remarkably life affirming tone. A very Godard like upbeat rhythm is kept throughout with many fast moving shots of characters driving, running, and riding through the Paris streets. There's a judicious use of jump cuts, multiple omniscient narrators to fill us in on certain details, and even a whimsical musical interlude that helps the couple cope with the bad news. All enhanced by a strong soundtrack featuring tracks from Ennio Morricone, Vivaldi, Laurie Anderson, and Jacno.

The pair share a genuine natural chemistry, made easier perhaps because they have actually lived through it all, but I think that makes their performances here all the more impressive. It's a deeply personal story for them and that feeling comes across in every frame, but it's also an artistically refreshing portrayal that moves us without resorting to the obvious tricks. A lovely and lively collage of old and new that declares Donzelli an emerging director to look out for.

— Bonjour Tristesse

Martyrs of Love (1967)

2012-04-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

Martyrs of Love • Mucedníci lásky (1967)

Genre: Fantasy Drama
Director: Jan Nemec
Starring: Lindsay Anderson, Jitka Cerhová, Hana Kuberová, Josef Konícek
Language: Czech
Duration: 71 min.
Rating: 6.8

Summary:

A series of loosely connected shorts comprised of three tales representing different aspects of love: temptation, dreams, and adventure.

Martyrs of Love is a film directed by Jan Nemec, co-written by Esther Krumbachová. It was his third and last feature film made in Czechoslovakia before the political repercussions of his previous effort, The Party and the Guests, got him banned from working and eventually forced out of the country. It premiered at the 1967 Locarno International Film Festival earning him the Special Mention Award.

Perhaps already sensing that he'd already gone too far, Martyrs of Love represents a total departure from the thinly veiled political satire of his other films. It's a collection of shorts, each of them exploring a different aspect of love through the surrealistic fantasies and imaginations of three separate characters. There is very little dialog here, Nemec relies mostly on the poetic imagery to tell each story. In that respect it is somewhat like his first feature Diamonds of the Night, albiet far less grim.

The first segment deals with temptation, and features a timid young desk clerk (Petr Kopriva) who dresses like Magritte's Son of Man. It follows a day in his life which eventually leads him to an upscale nightclub where he is too shy to approach anyone. Interestingly, there are brief cameos from Jitka Cerhová and Ivana Karbanová, who reprise their roles from Daisies; and British actor Lindsay Anderson makes a small appearance as well.

The second short is a young serving girl's (Hana Kuberová) erotic daydream. It's filled with lush imagery and hidden sexual symbolism as she fantasizes about falling in love with a rich noble, then a military general, and finally a gipsy guitar player. Famous Czech singer Karel Gott shows up in this as a wedding singer.

The last episode follows the adventures of a lonely man named Rudolf (Josef Konícek), he finds himself taken in by a bizarre hedonistic family who has mistaken him for someone else named Jakub. The weakest of the trio, it's essentially an absurd comedy sketch inspired by slapstick silent films, but is only ever mildly funny and feels very self indulgent.

All in all, Martyrs of Love is an uneven avant-garde work that fails to live up to the expectations set by Nemec's other films. It's worth a look if you are a completionist, or want to see another glimpse of the two Maries, but it otherwise doesn't offer anything monumental.

— Bonjour Tristesse

The Palme d'Or

2012-04-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

The Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) is the coveted top prize presented to the director of the best feature film in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

Although the Festival de Cannes was first held in 1946, the Palme d'Or was not actually created until a few years later. In the early years of the festival, the top prize was originally called the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film (The Grand Prize of the International Film Festival).

The Palme d'Or was created in 1955 as a tribute to the host city's coat-of-arms, and it became the festival's highest honor until 1964 when legal issues forced the festival's directors to temporarily revert to the original prize. It wasn't until 1975 that the Palme was fully reinstated and it has remained the festival's main prize ever since.

In the 64 years (as of 2011) that the Cannes Film Festival has been held, there have been a few anomalies: the first year saw 11 separate films awarded; there have also been ties on 10 other occasions; plus one winner was awarded retroactively (in 2002 for the cancelled inaugural 1939 festival that had to be scrapped because of WWII) for a total of 84 winners, of which only 8 of them have been voted on unanimously by the jury.

Winning films have been selected from 25 different countries. The most successful being the USA with 18 Palme/Grand Prix combined. Followed by Italy with 12, France and the UK each with 9, and Denmark and Japan tied with 4.

Only one female director has ever won the Palme d'Or. New Zealand's Jane Campion for The Piano (1993).

There have also been 6 double award winning directors. Alf Sjöberg (1946, 1951), Francis Ford Coppola (1974, 1979), Bille August (1988, 1992), Emir Kusturica (1985, 1995), Shohei Imamura (1983, 1997), and Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (1999, 2005). So far no director has won the top prize more than twice.

As a new ongoing feature, I will attempt to eventually work my way through the entire list, watching and reviewing each and every one of the winners and keeping track of them all in this post. Even though the award winning films from 1939-1954 and 1964-1974 didn't actually receive a Palme d'Or, I will still include them here for completeness.

The Palme d'Or / Grand Prix du Festival Award Winners:

Union Pacific (1939)
Cecil B. Demille - USA

Iris and the Lieutenant (Iris och löjtnantshjärta) (1946) †
Alf Sjöberg - Sweden

The Lost Weekend (1946) †
Billy Wilder - United States

The Red Meadows (De røde enge) (1946) †
Bodil Ipsen and Lau Lauritzen Jr. - Denmark

Brief Encounter (1946) †
David Lean - United Kingdom

Portrait of Maria (María Candelaria (Xochimilco)) (1946) †
Emilio Fernández - Mexico

Neecha Nagar (नीचा नगर) (1946) †
Chetan Anand - India

The Turning Point (Великий перелом, Velikiy perelom) (1946) †
Fridrikh Ermler - Soviet Union

La symphonie pastorale (1946) †
Jean Delannoy - France

The Last Chance (Die Letzte Chance) (1946) †
Leopold Lindtberg - Austria

Men Without Wings (Muži bez křídel) (1946) †
František Čáp - Czechoslovakia

Rome, Open City (Roma, città aperta) (1946) †
Roberto Rossellini - Italy

The Third Man (1949)
Carol Reed - United Kingdom

Miss Julie (Fröken Julie) (1951) †
Alf Sjöberg - Sweden

Miracle in Milan (Miracolo a Milano) (1951) †
Vittorio De Sica - Italy

The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (1952) †
Orson Welles - United States

Two Cents Worth of Hope (Due soldi di speranza) (1952) †
Renato Castellani - Italy

The Wages of Fear (Le salaire de la peur) (1953)
Henri-Georges Clouzot - France

Gate of Hell (地獄門, Jigokumon) (1954)
Teinosuke Kinugasa - Japan

Marty (1955)
Delbert Mann - United States

The Silent World (Le monde du silence) (1956)
Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Louis Malle - France

Friendly Persuasion (1957)
William Wyler - United States

The Cranes Are Flying (Летят журавли, Letyat zhuravli) (1958)
Mikhail Kalatozov - Soviet Union

Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro) (1959)
Marcel Camus - France

La Dolce Vita (1960)
Federico Fellini - Italy

The Long Absence (Une aussi longue absence) (1961) †
Henri Colpi - France

Viridiana (1961) †
Luis Buñuel - Mexico

O Pagador de Promessas (1962)
Anselmo Duarte - Brazil

The Leopard (Il gattopardo) (1963)
Luchino Visconti - Italy

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les parapluies de Cherbourg) (1964)
Jacques Demy - France

The Knack …and How to Get It (1965)
Richard Lester - United Kingdom

A Man and a Woman (Un homme et une femme) (1966) †
Claude Lelouch - France

The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (Signore e signori) (1966) †
Pietro Germi - Italy

Blow-Up (1967)
Michelangelo Antonioni - Italy

if.... (1969)
Lindsay Anderson - United Kingdom

MASH (1970)
Robert Altman - United States

The Go-Between (1971)
Joseph Losey - United Kingdom

The Working Class Goes to Heaven (La classe operaia va in paradiso) (1972) †
Elio Petri - Italy

The Mattei Affair (Il caso Mattei) (1972) †
Francesco Rosi - Italy

The Hireling (1973) †
Alan Bridges - United Kingdom

Scarecrow (1973) †
Jerry Schatzberg - United States

The Conversation (1974)
Francis Ford Coppola - United States

Chronicle of the Years of Fire (Chronique des années de braise) (1975)
Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina - Algeria

Taxi Driver (1976)
Martin Scorsese - United States

Padre Padrone (1977)
Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani - Italy

The Tree of Wooden Clogs (L'albero degli zoccoli) (1978)
Ermanno Olmi - Italy

Apocalypse Now (1979) †
Francis Ford Coppola - United States

The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel) (1979) †
Volker Schlöndorff - West Germany

All That Jazz (1980) †
Bob Fosse - United States

Kagemusha (影武者) (1980) †
Akira Kurosawa - Japan

Man of Iron (Człowiek z żelaza) (1981)
Andrzej Wajda - Poland

Missing (1982) †
Costa-Gavras - Greece

The Way (Yol) (1982) †
Yılmaz Güney and Şerif Gören - Turkey

The Ballad of Narayama (楢山節考 / Narayama bushikō) (1983)
Shohei Imamura - Japan

Paris, Texas (1984) *
Wim Wenders - West Germany

When Father Was Away on Business (Otac na službenom putu) (1985) *
Emir Kusturica - Yugoslavia

The Mission (1986)
Roland Joffé - United Kingdom

Under the Sun of Satan (Sous le soleil de Satan) (1987) *
Maurice Pialat - France

Pelle the Conqueror (Pelle erobreren) (1988)
Bille August - Denmark

Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)
Steven Soderbergh - United States

Wild at Heart (1990)
David Lynch - United States

Barton Fink (1991) *
Joel and Ethan Coen - United States

The Best Intentions (Den goda viljan) (1992)
Bille August - Denmark

Farewell My Concubine (霸王別姬 / Bàwáng bié jī) (1993) †
Chen Kaige - China

The Piano (1993) †
Jane Campion - New Zealand

Pulp Fiction (1994)
Quentin Tarantino - United States

Underground (Подземље, Podzemlje) (1995)
Emir Kusturica - Yugoslavia

Secrets & Lies (1996)
Mike Leigh - United Kingdom

Taste of Cherry (طعم گيلاس / Ta'm-e gīlās) (1997) †
Abbas Kiarostami - Iran

The Eel (うなぎ, Unagi) (1997) †
Shohei Imamura - Japan

Eternity and a Day (Μια αιωνιότητα και μια μέρα / Mia aio̱nióti̱ta kai mia méra) (1998) *
Theo Angelopoulos - Greece

Rosetta (1999) *
Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne - Belgium

Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Lars von Trier - Denmark

The Son's Room (La stanza del figlio) (2001)
Nanni Moretti - Italy

The Pianist (Pianista) (2002)
Roman Polanski - Poland

Elephant (2003)
Gus Van Sant - United States

Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Michael Moore - United States

L'enfant (The Child) (2005)
Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne - Belgium

The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) *
Ken Loach - United Kingdom

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile) (2007)
Cristian Mungiu - Romania

The Class (Entre les murs) (2008) *
Laurent Cantet - France

The White Ribbon (Das weiße Band, Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte) (2009)
Michael Haneke - Austria

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (ลุงบุญมีระลึกชาติ / Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat) (2010)
Apichatpong Weerasethakul - Thailand

The Tree of Life (2011)
Terrence Malick - United States

Love (Amour) (2012)
Michael Haneke - Austria

* denotes unanimous win
† denotes tie

How many have you seen? Which one should I start with?

2012 Cannes Film Festival: Un Certain Regard

2012-04-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

First introduced in 1978 by festival president Gilles Jacob, the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival runs parallel to the main competition and provides an opportunity for a wider range of films including many from first time directors, as well as innovative and artistically daring works that would not fit the main programme.

This year's initial lineup was announced on April 19 and currently consists of 17 titles representing 16 countries. However, I expect that a few films will be added in the coming weeks to round the number to 20. There are four films from first time directors, and two from female directors.

English actor/director Tim Roth is the president of the 2012 Un Certain Regard Jury which will choose the award winners from this section.

Update April 30: Djeca, Gimme the Loot, and Renoir were added to the Line-up.

Read on for a full overview of the films in the 65th Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard section or see the Main Competition films:

Un Certain Regard Film

Miss Lovely
directed by Ashim Ahluwalia
India

This is the first feature film from Indian director Ashim Ahluwalia who has directed two previous documentaries. It's set in mid 1980's Bombay and follows two brothers who produce sleazy low budget horror films. It stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Niharika Singh, and Anil George.

Un Certain Regard Film

La Playa (The Beach)
directed by Juan Andrés Arango
Colombia

This is the first film from Colombian director Juan Andrés Arango. A drama that follows a young Afro-Colombian boy searching for his lost younger brother in the streets of Bogota. It stars Luis Carlos Guevara, Jamés Solís, and Andrés Murillo.

Un Certain Regard Film

Les Chevaux De Dieu (God's Horses)
directed by Nabil Ayouch
France, Morocco
, Tunisia

This is the French/Moroccan/Tunisian director's sixth film. It's a drama centered on a young boy from a poor family, loosely inspired by the May 16, 2003 terrorist attacks in Morocco.

Un Certain Regard Film

Djeca
directed by Aida Begic
Bosnia and Herzegovina

This is the Sarajevo born director's fourth film, and the second to premiere at Cannes. She previously won the Critics Week Grand Prize for her 2008 film Snijeg (Snow). This latest film is centered around two orphans amidst the reconstruction efforts in present day Sarajevo.

Un Certain Regard Closing Film

Renoir
directed by Gilles Bourdos
France

This is the French director's fourth feature. A biopic set in 1915, following the famed Impressionist painter in his twilight years. It stars Michel Bouquet, Christa Theret, Vincent Rottiers, Thomas Doret, Michèle Gleizer, and Romane Bohringer.

Un Certain Regard Film

Trois Monde
directed by Catherine Corsini
France

One of only two female directors in this section. Corsini's 2001 film Replay was previously screened in the main competition. This is said to be a contemporary drama about guilt, justice, forgiveness, and redemption following an accident between three people whose paths should never have crossed. It stars Raphael Personnaz, Clotilde Hesme, and Arta Dobroshi (The Silence of Lorna).

Un Certain Regard Film

Antiviral
directed by Brandon Cronenberg
Canada, USA

This is the debut feature from Brandon Cronenberg, son of the famous director David Cronenberg. A horror film about a clinic that harvests viruses from sick celebrities in order to sell them to obsessed fans. It stars Caleb Landry Jones, Sarah Gadon, and Malcolm McDowell. Sounds very interesting.

Un Certain Regard Film

7 Dias en la Habana (7 Days in Havana)
directed by Benicio Del Toro, Pablo Trapero, Julio Medem, Elia Suleiman, Juan Carlos Tabio, Gaspar Noé, Laurent Cantet
France, Spain, Cuba

A feature length portrait of Havana consisting of seven chapters, with each segment directed by a different filmmaker. It stars Daniel Brühl, Emir Kusturica, Elia Suleiman, Josh Hutcherson, Vladimir Cruz, Mirta Ibarra, and Jorge Perugorria.

Un Certain Regard Film

Le Grand Soir (The Big Night)
directed by Benoit Delépine, Gustave Kervern
France

This is the fifth feature from this directing duo. A comedy about two half brothers who go on a road trip in search of their father. It stars Benoît Poelvoorde, Albert Dupontel, Yolande Moreau, and Brigitte Fontaine.

Un Certain Regard Film

Laurence Anyways
directed by Xavier Dolan
Canada, France

Many expected this Canadian director's highly anticipated film to be selected in the main competition. His two previous films Heartbeats (Un Certain Regard) and I Killed My Mother (Director's Fortnight) also had their premieres at Cannes and he won the Prize of the Youth both times. This is the story of a man who confesses to his fiancée that he longs to become a woman, asking for her to support him in this transformation. It stars Nathalie Baye, Melvil Poupaud, Monia Chokri, and Yves Jacques.

Un Certain Regard Film

Después de Lucia (After Lucia)
directed by Michel Franco
Mexico, France

The director of the controversial 2009 film Daniel & Ana, follows it up with a drama about the relationship between a father and his teenage son after the death of his wife. It stars Tessa Norvind, Gonzalo Vega Jr., Tamara Yazbek, and Hernan Mendoza.

Un Certain Regard Film

Aimer à perdre la raison (Loving Without Reason)
directed by Joachim Lafosse
France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland

This is the Belgian director's first time at Cannes. It's a drama about a troubled and complicated relationship starring Niels Arestrup, Tahar Rahim, and Émilie Dequenne (Rosetta, 1999 Best Actress).

Un Certain Regard Film

Gimme the Loot
directed by Adam Leon
USA

This is the American director's debut feature film. The story follows a rivalry between two gangs of graffiti artists in New York. It stars Ty Hickson, Zoë Lescaze, Joshua Rivera, and Tashiana Washington.

Un Certain Regard Film

Student
directed by Darezhan Omirbayev
Kazakhstan

A Kazakhstani director who previously won the Un Certain Regard Prize in 1998 with his film Killer. This one will be an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment.

Un Certain Regard Film

La Pirogue (The Canoe)
directed by Moussa Toure
France, Senegal

The Senegalese director's fourth feature film. A drama about undocumented immigrants who attempt to paddle the 900 mile distance from Dakar to the Canary Islands.

Un Certain Regard Film

Elefante Blanco (White Elephant)
directed by Pablo Trapero
Argentina, Spain

The Argentinian director's second film in this year's selection tells the story of two friends from the Buenos Aires slums who choose different paths in their struggle against violence, corruption, and injustice. It stars Ricardo Darin, Jérémie Rénier, and Martina Gusman.

Un Certain Regard Film

Confession of a Child of the Century
directed by Sylvie Verheyde
France

The second female director in this section, French director Sylvie Verheyde (Stella), adapts the 1836 autobiographical novel by Alfred de Musset. It stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, Pete Doherty, Lily Cole, August Diehl, and Volker Bruch.

Un Certain Regard Film

11.25 The Day He Chose His Own Fate
directed by Koji Wakamatsu
Japan

This latest film from the prolific Japanese director is a biographical tale about the last days of right-wing nationalist Japanese author Yukio Mishima who attempted a coup in 1970 by taking a General hostage in the Ministry of Defense. It stars Arata Iura.

Un Certain Regard Film

Mystery
directed by Lou Ye
China

This highly regarded Chinese director's last 3 titles all screened in competition at Cannes, but this time he is in the Un Certain Regard section with a crime drama about a businessman who leads a double life. It stars Hao Lei, Qin Hao, and Qi Xi.

Un Certain Regard Film

Beasts of the Southern Wild
directed by Benh Zeitlin
USA

This is the American director's first feature film. It premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival winning the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and Cinematography Award. The fantasy drama film stars Quvenzhané Wallis and Dwight Henry.

Which of these films are you looking forward to the most?