Gemma Arterton, aka: Tamara Drewe
What is noted miserablist director Ulrich Seidl doing smiling (?) with actors Inge Maux, Peter Kazungu, and Margarethe Tiesl for the Austrian In competition film Paradise: Love
Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who brought his 60 minute film Mekong Hotel
I'm having a hard time getting into the swing of things this year, as none of the films seems to be jumping out at anyone. Usually at these fests, there are various contenders that you might root for, a favorite filmmaker, a critical darling, an underdog, or a specific subject matter, where Robert Koehler’s Film Comment analysis (printed yesterday) seems as good as anyone’s, where he concludes the top prize may be awarded to a geographical area that has been excluded in the past. Now this is interesting, considering the Festival all but dismissed cries of sexism in the selection process, which this year excluded women from the In Competition films, and only included 7 female directors overall, all French, in a budding brouhaha, listed on the Screendaily website as their most popular article.
Festival director Thierry Fremaux’s response:
“As a citizen, I fully support feminist activism, as a professional, I select work on the basis of it actual qualities. We would never agree to select a film that doesn’t deserve it on the basis it was made by a woman. That would lead to a quota policy that would undermine the cause. There is no doubt that greater space needs to be given to women within cinema. But it’s not at Cannes and in the month of May that this question needs to be raised, but rather all year and everywhere. Women’s rights need be defended beyond Cannes, which is a consequence and illustration of what is going on. It makes sense to highlight the problem during Cannes, but accusing the festival doesn’t serve anybody.”
Since the Festival’s official response is that films are judged on merit, period, this would also suggest regionalism is not a factor. The Festival has also come under criticism for selecting so many European films, often ignoring entire continents, specifically South America and Africa. So what’s interesting here is that sex and regionalism are not considered factors in the selection process, but anyone who’s followed the awarding of prizes knows they certainly do factor into who wins awards, as jurors often try to spread them around, sharing the wealth, so to speak. So we’ll see how this all plays out, but as yet, there are no strong favorites.
Cannes photos from The Guardian:
Cannes photos from The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/gallery/2012/may/18/cannes-2012-day-three-in-pictures?intcmp=239
or more here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/gallery/2012/may/19/cannes-2012-red-carpet-in-pictures#/?picture=390373535&index=17
More photos from The Hollywood Reporter:
Women in Film party from The London Telegraph:
photos from The New Jersey Star-Ledger:
Oliver Lyttelton's 15 most anticipated films at Cannes from the indieWIRE Playlist
And while we're at it, why not throw in another ballot for the Sight & Sound poll for Best All-Time Films, where Matt Brennan adds Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood to his ballot, also trailers for each of his choices: http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/now-and-then-the-top-ten-films-of-all-time
We also have the perenenially grouchy Sean Penn, apparently still upset after the dreaded reviews for his lackluster performance in Terrence Malick's Tree of Life, where he complained afterwards to the world that he never understood what his role was in the movie The Front Row: Sean Penn vs. Terrence Malick : The New Yorker
I didn’t at all find on the screen the emotion of the script, which is the most magnificent one that I’ve ever read. A clearer and more conventional narrative would have helped the film without, in my opinion, lessening its beauty and its impact. Frankly, I’m still trying to figure out what I’m doing there and what I was supposed to add in that context! What’s more, Terry himself never managed to explain it to me clearly.
is now whining about the lack of money for Haiti, devastated by any number of earthquakes or natural disasters, where even beforehand they were the poorest country in our hemisphere. It's a sorry sight for celebrities to go hat in hand begging for relief funds, as Penn is hardly the appropriate spokesperson, focusing attention on the celebrity instead of the victims, none of whom were flown in to speak. Jury member Raoul Peck is a Haitian filmmaker, and far more radical and knowledgeable on this issue than Penn will ever be. My guess is he will publicly ignore Penn, while privately I'd bet he'll have plenty to say.
Cannes 2012: Sean Penn Blasts the Media and His Fellow Celebrities for 'Abandoning' Haiti:
Before taking part in a black-tie fundraiser, the actor and activist urges President Obama to meet with Haiti's newly elected president.
Sean Penn may have come to Cannes to take part in a glitzy fundraising dinner to benefit the victims of the Haitian earthquake, but before heading to the black-tie event, he took time out to blast the media and his fellow celebrities for their fading commitment to the cause.
"It's not only celebrities who went for a day," Penn said at a Friday press conference. "It's the whole f---ing world. It's all of you."
He continued, “The reason we have Haiti fatigue is because there was never a commitment in the first place.”
The actor was joined by writer-director Paul Haggis and Czech model Petra Nemcova, both of who, like Penn, have relief organizations working in Haiti. Their three groups – Penn’s J/P Haitian Relief Organization, Haggis’ Artists for Peace and Justice and Nemcova’s Happy Hearts Foundation – are to receive the proceeds from the dinner that Giorgio Armani is presenting with co-sponsor Chopard on Friday night at the Festival Agora.
“The central problem in Haiti is poverty,” Penn said. He praised Haggis, who had been working in Haiti before the 2010 earthquake, for his efforts. Haggis returned the compliment, saying Penn is a “hero.”
Penn also said it's time for President Obama to meet Haiti’s newly elected President Michel Joseph Martelly.
”It is time for our formidable and elegant president to stand by side with the new president of Haiti,” Penn said.
and then he blasts them again:
CANNES -- Sharing the stage with director Paul Haggis and supermodel Petra Nemcova, Sean Penn continued his passionate support for Haitian relief at a Cannes Film Festival charity gala.
In a room filled with VIPs -- including Ben Stiller, Diane Kruger and MPAA chairman and CEO Chris Dodd -- Penn declared "politics is a f---ing smoke screen" and encouraged partygoers to shift their focus to a more immediate cause: rebuilding Haiti.
"I know you have other parties to go to and other people to f---," Penn said before encouraging the audience to open both their hearts and wallets to Haitian relief.
Declaring the importance of international support, Penn demanded that, as an American, the U.S. needs to respect both our nation's culture and genius.
The actor and former Cannes head juror demanded high bids for the evening's auction, including the female attendees to use their powers of persuasion.
"Look to the man next to you and say, I'm not going to f--- you tonight until you pay the f--- up," Penn said, sparking a round of applause.
When the first auction item -- a Golden Globe weekend, including tickets to the show itself, the CAA party, the Weinstein party and two nights at the Montage -- only received a bid of $90,000 (70,000 euro), Haggis returned to the stage to fuel the audience by adding a date to the package: Gerard Butler.
"Gerry Butler, get your gorgeous ass up here," Haggis shouted into the microphone. A reluctant Butler stepped onto the stage and when no new bids came on, the actor joked to the crowd, "Paul, you really f---ed me this time."
The auction ended up going for $127,000 (100,000 euro) to a bidder -- without Butler.
The final item -- a three day trip to Haiti with Penn as a personal guide -- went to three different bidders for $127,000 (100,000 euro) each.
Neil Young with the current odds at Jigsaw Lounge:
15-8 : LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE - Kiarostami
5-1 : YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHIN’ YET - Resnais
6-1 : COSMOPOLIS - Cronenberg
13-2 : RUST AND BONE - Audiard
8-1 : POST TENEBRAS LUX - Reygadas
9-1 : IN ANOTHER COUNTRY – Hong
10-1 : IN THE FOG - Loznitsa
12-1 : ON THE ROAD - Salles
- – - – - – - – - -
16-1 : BEYOND THE HILLS - Mungiu
20-1 : THE HUNT – Vinterberg
22-1 : KILLING THEM SOFTLY - Dominik
22-1 : AMOUR (aka LOVE) - Haneke
22-1 : MOONRISE KINGDOM – Anderson
28-1 : HOLY MOTORS - Carax
33-1 : PARADISE : LOVE – Seidl
35-1 : THE TASTE OF MONEY - Im
50-1 : MUD - Nichols
50-1 : THE PAPERBOY – Daniels
66-1 : LAWLESS – Hillcoat
80-1 : THE ANGELS’ SHARE - Loach
80-1 : REALITY - Garrone
100-1 : AFTER THE BATTLE - Nasrallah
5-1 : YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHIN’ YET - Resnais
6-1 : COSMOPOLIS - Cronenberg
13-2 : RUST AND BONE - Audiard
8-1 : POST TENEBRAS LUX - Reygadas
9-1 : IN ANOTHER COUNTRY – Hong
10-1 : IN THE FOG - Loznitsa
12-1 : ON THE ROAD - Salles
- – - – - – - – - -
16-1 : BEYOND THE HILLS - Mungiu
20-1 : THE HUNT – Vinterberg
22-1 : KILLING THEM SOFTLY - Dominik
22-1 : AMOUR (aka LOVE) - Haneke
22-1 : MOONRISE KINGDOM – Anderson
28-1 : HOLY MOTORS - Carax
33-1 : PARADISE : LOVE – Seidl
35-1 : THE TASTE OF MONEY - Im
50-1 : MUD - Nichols
50-1 : THE PAPERBOY – Daniels
66-1 : LAWLESS – Hillcoat
80-1 : THE ANGELS’ SHARE - Loach
80-1 : REALITY - Garrone
100-1 : AFTER THE BATTLE - Nasrallah
Screendaily has a different format this year, but if you click on the reviews, they are open to the public:
The Hollywood Reporter at Cannes:
David Hudson (formerly of Mubi) does all the links for each review at Fandor:
Variety at Cannes:
Matt Zoller Seitz and Kevin B. Lee at Press Play from indieWIRE
the indieWIRE Playlist:
indieWIRE reviews, with grades listed:
Robert Koehler from Filmjourney:
Daniel Kasman at Mubi:
The House Next Door at Cannes:
Drew McSweeny and Guy Lodge from HitFix:
Mike D'Angelo at The Onion AV Club:
Richard Corliss from Time Magazine:
http://entertainment.time.com/tag/cannes-2012/
Karina Longworth at LA Weekly:
Cannes Fest at Time Out London:
Cannes Diary from Film Comment:
The Guardian Cannes commentary:
Movieline Cannes Coverage:
Michael Oleszczyk from Hammer to Nail:
Melissa Anderson at ArtForum:
Julie Miller at Vanity Fair:
Sukhdev Sandhu from The Daily Telegraph:
Alex Billington from First Showing:
Michael Phillips at Cannes from the Chicago Tribune:
The Envelope, the Cannes Blog from The LA Times:
The Huffington Post:
Emanuel Levy:
Eric Lavallee Ion Cinema:
Brad Bevet from Ropes of Silicon:
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/category/film-festivals/cannes-film-festival/2012-cannes-film-festival/
Fabien Lemercier at Cineuropa:
Charles Ealy at the Austin Movie Blog:
Matt Bochenski from Little White Lies:
And, of course, George is back at Cannes this year, where he finds off the beaten track film fare, whose comments will be posted each day:
Somehow I managed to avoid seeing a documentary the first two days of the festival. Usually one of the six I see each day is such a film. The drought ended today with "Marina Abramovic The Artist Is Present." Janina, artist and art critic of such a stature that she has credentials that give her free entry to any art museum in the world, had not enouraged me to see the movie when I had mentioned it to her, not knowing myself anything about Abramvic, a performance artist who is known as the "grandmother of performance artists." But when I learned the movie had won audience favorite at the Berlin Film Festival I decided to overrule Janina.
The film follows her preparations for a 2010 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in NewYork. She recruited 30 young performance artists to recreate five of her more famous acts while she herself would sit in a chair for the two a half months of the show and allow anyone to come and sit in a chair across from her The chair had a recessed hole so she could relieve herself as she did not intend to leave the chair all day each day. She knew it was going to be a great challenge, especially for a 63 year old woman.
The movie is interspersed with glimpses of some of her previous performances. One was she and her partner of twelve years, a fellow performance artist, starting a trek at opposite ends of China's Great Wall in 1988 and meeting up at its half way point after hiking for three months. They ended their relationship shortly after that performance, but are reuinted for this movie. He is among those who slip into the chair opposite her and silently gaze into her eyes. The tears flowed, as they do frequently from those who sit across from her.
The show turned into such a sensation that people would camp out overnight to be among those who could sit in that prized chair. More than 750,000 people were drawn to the exhibit. Many people sat and watched the performance for hours at a time in this "charismatic space" she created. Watching it was a quite moving and powerful experience. For the first time ever at any film festival I've attended not a single person at my market screening, its only one at the festival, lept up the moment the credits began to roll to rush to their next screening. All of us remained seated for several minutes still absorbing the experience and winding down. The film is being distributed by Dogwoof of the UK, the same company that distributed Wim Wender's splendid "Pina," the Oscar-nominated dance film. Dogwoof knows how to pick them.
I've waited in line for two or three hours for movies and sporting events, but never to get into a museum. The longest wait I've had to attend an event was the Chicago Seven trial in Chicago in 1970. When I noticed a feature film in the market on that trial, I knew that was one I had to see. It was another emotional movie going experience for me reliving that experience even though the movie was a pretty pathetic represenatation of the trial--almost a joke. The trial was a circus, but this English production called "The Chicago 8," as there were originally eight defendants until the Black Panther Bobby Seale was separated from the proceedings for his continual disruptions, made it into a virtual non-stop brawl between the defendants, the legendary '60s activists Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Bobby Seale, Tom Hayden, and the bailiffs.
That wasn't the worst movie of the day though. That honor goes to "The Power of the Few." I ended up subjected to this mess when I was denied entrance to the 8:30 and 9 am screenings of the Competion film "Reality." My back-up was "Winnie" a South African film on Winnie and Nelson Mandela. But the screening had been cancelled. Quickly scanning the schedule for something else there was "The Power of the Few" with Christian Slater and Christopher Walken. From the very opening it was obvious this film was going to be a disaster. Several distributor types were out the door. I stuck with it and got a few chuckles from Walken's performance as a homeless man with shoulder length curly hair tromping around a small town with a dumpster-diving dwarf. People continually recognize Walken as he had once been a local anchorman. Meanwhile Slater and a beauiful blond hit-woman are driving around trying to find some package. Both Slater and Walken light up the screen, but this is a movie that will never be seen.
A cast of Charlotte Rampling, Judy Davis and Geoffrey Rush directed by Fred Schepisi drew me to the market screening of "The Eye of the Storm." I arrived plenty early to make sure I could get in, but evidently word was out that this movie barely had a pulse. Rampling is on her death bed at her large Australian estate. Davis and Rush are her two chidlren and they return from Europe to watch her die and collect their inheritance. None of them like each other or are likeable characters. The movie is based on a novel by Nobel prize winner Patrick White. The screen writer ought to be banned from cinema for his lackluster script wasting all this talent.
The script for the Swedish film "Eat, Sleep, Die" was as honest as could be about a young woman who is laid off from her factory job in a small Swedish town. Her trials are compounded as she is a Muslim from an unnamed Eastern European country, though she immigrated to Sweden with her father when she was one year old. She is her father's lone suipport. She is a very hard worker and will do any work.
The day ended with one of the films I was most looking forward to of the festival, Xavier Dolan's "Laurence Anyways." This was the third film in three years at Cannes for this 23 year old gay Quebec director. His first film, "I Killed My Mother," was so subversive it has never been released in the US and isn't even available in the US on DVD. The opportunity to see such a film is one of the reasons that keeps bringing me back to Cannes.
Dolan thought he was ready for the Competition film with this 170-minute film about a university professor who tells his girl friend that he is really a woman trapped in a man's body and wants to have a sex change. She's not happy about that at all. When he starts cross dressing he loses his job. The film had more of Dolan's dazzling directoral flair, and a couple of his signature full-voiced yelling matches, one in a restaurant when the waitress disrespects the cross-dresser, but it was about twice as long as it needed to be. Still it kept my attention all the way to the end and took my breath away from time to time, despite starting at 10:15 and going until after one AM.
The film follows her preparations for a 2010 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in NewYork. She recruited 30 young performance artists to recreate five of her more famous acts while she herself would sit in a chair for the two a half months of the show and allow anyone to come and sit in a chair across from her The chair had a recessed hole so she could relieve herself as she did not intend to leave the chair all day each day. She knew it was going to be a great challenge, especially for a 63 year old woman.
The movie is interspersed with glimpses of some of her previous performances. One was she and her partner of twelve years, a fellow performance artist, starting a trek at opposite ends of China's Great Wall in 1988 and meeting up at its half way point after hiking for three months. They ended their relationship shortly after that performance, but are reuinted for this movie. He is among those who slip into the chair opposite her and silently gaze into her eyes. The tears flowed, as they do frequently from those who sit across from her.
The show turned into such a sensation that people would camp out overnight to be among those who could sit in that prized chair. More than 750,000 people were drawn to the exhibit. Many people sat and watched the performance for hours at a time in this "charismatic space" she created. Watching it was a quite moving and powerful experience. For the first time ever at any film festival I've attended not a single person at my market screening, its only one at the festival, lept up the moment the credits began to roll to rush to their next screening. All of us remained seated for several minutes still absorbing the experience and winding down. The film is being distributed by Dogwoof of the UK, the same company that distributed Wim Wender's splendid "Pina," the Oscar-nominated dance film. Dogwoof knows how to pick them.
I've waited in line for two or three hours for movies and sporting events, but never to get into a museum. The longest wait I've had to attend an event was the Chicago Seven trial in Chicago in 1970. When I noticed a feature film in the market on that trial, I knew that was one I had to see. It was another emotional movie going experience for me reliving that experience even though the movie was a pretty pathetic represenatation of the trial--almost a joke. The trial was a circus, but this English production called "The Chicago 8," as there were originally eight defendants until the Black Panther Bobby Seale was separated from the proceedings for his continual disruptions, made it into a virtual non-stop brawl between the defendants, the legendary '60s activists Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Bobby Seale, Tom Hayden, and the bailiffs.
That wasn't the worst movie of the day though. That honor goes to "The Power of the Few." I ended up subjected to this mess when I was denied entrance to the 8:30 and 9 am screenings of the Competion film "Reality." My back-up was "Winnie" a South African film on Winnie and Nelson Mandela. But the screening had been cancelled. Quickly scanning the schedule for something else there was "The Power of the Few" with Christian Slater and Christopher Walken. From the very opening it was obvious this film was going to be a disaster. Several distributor types were out the door. I stuck with it and got a few chuckles from Walken's performance as a homeless man with shoulder length curly hair tromping around a small town with a dumpster-diving dwarf. People continually recognize Walken as he had once been a local anchorman. Meanwhile Slater and a beauiful blond hit-woman are driving around trying to find some package. Both Slater and Walken light up the screen, but this is a movie that will never be seen.
A cast of Charlotte Rampling, Judy Davis and Geoffrey Rush directed by Fred Schepisi drew me to the market screening of "The Eye of the Storm." I arrived plenty early to make sure I could get in, but evidently word was out that this movie barely had a pulse. Rampling is on her death bed at her large Australian estate. Davis and Rush are her two chidlren and they return from Europe to watch her die and collect their inheritance. None of them like each other or are likeable characters. The movie is based on a novel by Nobel prize winner Patrick White. The screen writer ought to be banned from cinema for his lackluster script wasting all this talent.
The script for the Swedish film "Eat, Sleep, Die" was as honest as could be about a young woman who is laid off from her factory job in a small Swedish town. Her trials are compounded as she is a Muslim from an unnamed Eastern European country, though she immigrated to Sweden with her father when she was one year old. She is her father's lone suipport. She is a very hard worker and will do any work.
The day ended with one of the films I was most looking forward to of the festival, Xavier Dolan's "Laurence Anyways." This was the third film in three years at Cannes for this 23 year old gay Quebec director. His first film, "I Killed My Mother," was so subversive it has never been released in the US and isn't even available in the US on DVD. The opportunity to see such a film is one of the reasons that keeps bringing me back to Cannes.
Dolan thought he was ready for the Competition film with this 170-minute film about a university professor who tells his girl friend that he is really a woman trapped in a man's body and wants to have a sex change. She's not happy about that at all. When he starts cross dressing he loses his job. The film had more of Dolan's dazzling directoral flair, and a couple of his signature full-voiced yelling matches, one in a restaurant when the waitress disrespects the cross-dresser, but it was about twice as long as it needed to be. Still it kept my attention all the way to the end and took my breath away from time to time, despite starting at 10:15 and going until after one AM.
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