Anne Dorval, Xavier Dolan, Suzanne Clément et Antoine-Olivier Pilon
Xavier Dolan kisses actress Suzanne Clément
Italian born Irish actress Aisling Franciosi
Kylie Minogue
Dutch model Lara Stone
French actress Isild Le Besco
former French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy
Israeli model Bar Refaeli and actress Rosario Dawson
Jury member Willem Dafoe and his Italian wife Giada Colagrande
Leonardo DiCaprio
Red carpet shots from The
Hollywood Reporter:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/cannes-2014-photos-nicole-kidman-704065
A collection of pieces from The Hollywood Reporter:
Cannes photos from The
Telegraph:
A French site that lists daily galleries of red carpet
photos:
E Online photos:
The Huffington Post:
Vogue guide to
Cannes: http://www.vogue.co.uk/event/cannes-film-festival,
or more here: http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2014/05/20/cannes-film-festival-best-dressed---join-the-debate
Elle fashion
photos:
Vanity Fair best dressed:
International Business
Times:
Hollywood Life photo gallery:
Another large gallery of photos:
https://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/photos/cannes-film-festival-our-round-up-of-the-best-and-worst-looks-slideshow/eva-longoria-vionnet-foxcatcher-cannes-photo-1400577915268.html
https://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/photos/cannes-film-festival-our-round-up-of-the-best-and-worst-looks-slideshow/eva-longoria-vionnet-foxcatcher-cannes-photo-1400577915268.html
People magazine
hits the Cannes red carpet: http://www.peoplestylewatch.com/people/stylewatch/gallery/0,,20700799,00.html,
or more here: http://www.peoplestylewatch.com/people/stylewatch/redcarpet/
Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman at Cannes 2014
Uma Thurman from Pulp Fiction
Tarantino tells Cannes digital screenings have killed cinema “As far as I'm concerned, digital projection
is the death of cinema,” thus quotes Tarantino, by Alexandria Sage from The Toronto Sun, May 23, 2014
CANNES, FRANCE - Screening films in digital is
like forcing audiences to watch television in public, cult director Quentin
Tarantino told the Cannes film festival on Friday, adding that the lush
35-millimetre cinema he grew up with was "dead".
Tarantino is not competing in this year's event, but he
spoke to journalists and film critics before a 35mm screening (all the rest are
presented digitally) of his hit "Pulp Fiction" on the beach on Friday
night.
"The fact that most films now are not presented in 35mm
means that the war is lost," said the director of the cult hit
"Reservoir Dogs".
Digital formats and distribution have swept the world of
cinema, largely because of cost - most of the films in Cannes are now projected
that way.
But aficionados still sing the praises of the old-school
film reels - in the same way that music buffs hold on to their vinyl LPs over
compact discs. Fans obsess about the warmth and fineness of the 35mm grain and
its ability to record the darkest of shadows and the brightest of lights.
"Digital projections, that's just television in public.
And apparently the whole world is okay with television in public, but what I
knew as cinema is dead," said Tarantino.
"I'm hopeful that we're going through a woozy romantic
period with the ease of digital and I'm hoping that while this generation is
completely hopeless, that the next generation that will come out will demand
the real thing," he added.
The director known for the energy and violence of his films
said digital did have some advantages.
"The good side of digital is the fact that a young
filmmaker can actually now just buy a cellphone and if they have the tenacity
to actually put something together ... they can actually make a movie," he
said.
Before the advent of digital, the barriers to getting a film
made were so great, it was like a "Mount Everest that most of us couldn't
climb".
"But why an established filmmaker would shoot on
digital, I have no fucking idea at all," added Tarantino.
The director said he has a "pretty terrific"
collection of 35mm prints at home, and an even bigger 16mm one, "and I
screen them all the time, I'm always watching movies".
"One of the nice things about my life, because I've
done fairly well in cinema, it's kind of afforded me a chance to almost live an
academic's life, and so my feeling is I'm studying for my professorship in the
history of world cinema and the day I die is the day I graduate."
Tarantino was asked about his win of Cannes' top Palme d'Or
prize in 1994 for "Pulp Fiction."
"Winning the Palme d'Or, to this day, as far as laurels
are concerned, is my single absolutely, positively, greatest achievement,"
said Tarantino.
"Of all the trophies that I have won, it is the one
that has the biggest place of honour in my house, it's the one I want another
one of, maybe, someday, before they turn out the lights."
One idea currently intriguing Tarantino is turning his 2012
Western "Django Unchained", starring Jamie Foxx and Leonardo
DiCaprio, into a four-part mini-series for cable, using extra unseen footage,
he said.
Eighteen films are competing for the Palme d'Or in the
festival's main competition this year. The prize will be awarded on Saturday.
'Leviathan' leads a Russian invasion at Cannes Jake Coyle from The Washington Post, May 23, 2014
CANNES, France — Amid unrest in eastern Ukraine and a return
to Cold War-like politics, a powerful satire that depicts local corruption in
Vladimir Putin’s Russia has stormed the Cannes Film Festival.
Andrei Zviaguintsev’s “Leviathan” premiered Friday in Cannes
after earning some of the best reviews of the festival for its tale of a
Job-like family man stripped of his seaside home by the crooked mayor of a
small North Russia town. He’s offered less than a fifth of its value, harassed
by local authorities and given mere lip service by the courts. In the mayor’s
office, a portrait of Putin looms overhead.
But while some wished to label “Leviathan” an artistically
crafted indictment of contemporary Russia, director Zviaguintsev disputed such
a reading. He said he was initially inspired by a story about a Colorado man
who went on a rampage after being evicted.
“This story could have taken place anywhere in the world,”
said Zviaguintsev. “But for me there is nothing closer to my heart than
Russia.”
Producer Alexandre Rodnianski pointed out that approximately
35 percent of the film was financed by the state through the Ministry of
Culture and the Russian Cinema Fund. But Zviaguintsev acknowledged that the
Minister of Culture, Vladimir Medinsky, didn’t like the film after recently
seeing it.
Rodnianski said he hopes to release the film in Russia in
September.
“We’ll see how it will be received in Russia,” said the
producer. “Definitely we expect this movie to be challenging.”
Only one Russian film has ever won Cannes’ top honor, the
Palme d’Or, for which “Leviathan” is considered a contender. The festival’s
awards will be handed out Saturday night.
The lone Russian director to win the Palme d’Or was Mikhail
Kalatozov for 1958’s “The Cranes Are Flying.” During the decades of the USSR,
Russian relations with the Cannes Film Festival were often strained, as Soviet
delegates sought to ensure that only films showing the country in a positive
light played at the festival.
In his memoir “Citizen Cannes,” Cannes president Gilles
Jacob wrote of Russian masterpieces like Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Andre Rublev”:
“The authorities never wanted to give them to us.” Tarkovsky’s films often
premiered in Cannes, despite Soviet objections.
The 50-year-old Zviaguintsev (who has often been compared to
Tarkovsky) is one of Russia’s most acclaimed filmmakers. “Leviathan” is his
fourth film; his first, “The Return,” won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film
Festival in 2003.
“Leviathan” is the sole Russian film in competition for the
Palme d’Or in Cannes, but there are other movies at the festival that relate
heavily to Russia.
Gabe Polsky’s hockey documentary “Red Army” depicts the
grueling Soviet program to build elite hockey players, many of whom later left
for the National Hockey League in the U.S. Sergei Loznitsa’s “Maiden” documents
the uprising in Ukraine and the protests that toppled Viktor Yanukovych.
(Presidential elections are to be held Sunday in Ukraine.) Michel Hazanavicius’
”The Search” depicts the Second Chechen War, portraying the Russian army as a
grim killing machine.
When asked about what statement he was making about Russia,
Hazanavicius hesitated to answer and then said he was interested in telling a
humanistic story about individuals in wartime.
Zviaguintsev, too, didn’t want to characterize his film as
political.
“In all counties of the world all around the Earth, the
problem of liberty is important. It’s the duty of everyone to combat the
state,” he said. “Either you don’t talk about the problem or you address it in
an honest and frank manner.”
The threat of censorship wasn’t unfathomable to
Zviaguintsev, who argued against legislation scheduled to soon go into effect
in Russia that would restrict films from including profane language. Still, he
said he’s resolved to keep making films in his native country.
“For the time being, everything is absolutely fine,” he said
of the Russian reaction to “Leviathan.” ‘’The film has been made. The film is
there.”
Annie Silverstein’s Skunk
CANNES: 'Skunk' Tops Cannes Film Festival's Cinefondation Elsa Keslassy from Variety, May 22, 2014
CANNES– Annie Silverstein’s “Skunk” won the top prize of the
Cannes Film Festival’s
Cinefondation, whose jury was
presided by Iranian auteur Abbas Kiarostami.
Created by Cannes’ prexy Gilles Jacob and run by George
Goldenstern, the Cinefondation honors the best student shorts. This year’s
selection comprised 16 student shorts chosen among 1631 submissions from 457
schools.
“Skunk” turns on a 14-year old girl who lives in a rural
area of Texas who learns how to stand up for herself and loses her innocence
after her beloved pit bull gets stolen by a dog fighter. Silverstein, a
graduate of the University of Texas, received a grant of 15,000 Euros ($20,475)
as part of her prize and will be invited back at Cannes with her feature debut.
The second prize was awarded to “Oh Lucy!” directed by NYU
student Atsuko Hirayanagi. It turns on a 55-year old office lady in Tokyo who
is given a new identity.
Meanwhile, “Levito Madre” from Italy’s Fulvio Risuleo
(Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia), and “The Bigger Picture” from U.K.
director Daisy Jacobs (National Film and Television School), shared the
third prize.
The second and third prize winners received 11,250 Euros and
7,500 Euros, respectively.
Kiarostami led the jury which comprised Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
(“Grigris”), Noemie Lvovky (“Camille Rewinds”), Daniela Thomas (“Paris, I Love
You”) and Joachim Trier (“Oslo, 31 august”).
Speaking to Variety about the selection
process, Kiarostami said he and the rest of the jury came in with very
high expectations and found that most of the shorts presented were not
audacious or experimental enough.
The Iranian helmer explained he was always busy making
videos in between directing movies and was considering unveiling some of them
to the public one day. Kiarostami also said he was currently writing his next
project, a story of impossible love.
Grigory Fesenko and Yana Novikova from The Tribe
CANNES:
Slaboshpytskiy's 'The Tribe' Tops Critics' Week ... Elsa Keslassy from Variety, May 22, 2014
CANNES– Ukrainian helmer Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s
feature debut “The Tribe” topped the 53rd edition of Cannes’ Critics’ Week.
“The Tribe” won the Nespresso Grand Prize, the Revelation
Prize, and the newly-launched distribution grant from the Fondation Gan.
Repped by Alpha Violet, “The Tribe” follows the dark journey
of deaf-mute teenager who enters a specialized boarding school, where he
becomes part of a wild organization prone to bullying and prostitution.
Slaboshpytskiy’s previous short, “Nuclear Waste,” won a
prize in Locarno.
The SACD (French society of authors, composers and
directors) prize went to another feature debut, Boris Lojkine’s “Hope,” which
tells the tale of a young man from Cameroon who rescues and falls in love with
Nigerian woman in the Sahara desert.
The film, sold by Pyramide, marks the
fiction debut of Lojkine, a documentary filmmaker whose credits include
“Les ames errantes” and “Ceux qui restent.”
The Grand Jury was presided by British director Andrea
Arnold, while the Revelation jury was headed by French helmer Rebecca
Zlotowski.
Topped by artistic director Charles Tesson and program
manager Remi Bonhomme, this year’s selection was particularly strong, with such
standouts as Melanie Laurent’s toxic-friendship drama “Breathe” and David
Robert Mitchell’s coming-of-age suspenser “It Follows.”
Thomas Lilti’s “Hippocrate,” a French drama about two hospital
interns who come from different worlds, closed the sidebar.
Kornél Mundruczó’s White God
CANNES: 'White God' Wins Un Certain Regard Prize Justin Chang from Variety, May 23, 2014
CANNES — “White God,” Hungarian helmer Kornel Mundruczo’s
audacious drama about a canine uprising, won the Un Certain Regard Prize at
the Cannes Film Festival
on Friday.
The jury prize was given to “Force majeure,” Scandinavian
helmer Ruben Ostlund’s sharply comedic tale of a family weathering a crisis
while on vacation at a ski lodge. Ostlund was previously in Un Certain Regard
with 2011′s “Play.”
The jury awarded a special prize to “The Salt of the Earth,”
Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado’s documentary about Salgado’s
photographer father, Sebastiao.
Ensemble acting honors were awarded to the cast of Un
Certain Regard opener “Party Girl,” the debut feature of French helmers Marie
Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis. The actor prize went to Aboriginal
actor David Gulpilil for his performance as the title character in Rolf de
Heer’s “Charlie’s Country,” a drama set in Australia’s Northern Territory.
Argentinean helmer Pablo Trapero, president of the Certain
Regard jury, praised “the force and originality of the films presented this
year.”
Twenty films representing 23 countries screened in Un
Certain Regard. In addition to Trapero, the jury included Criterion Collection
president Peter Becker; Norway-based actress Maria Bonnevie; French actress
Geraldine Pailhas; and Senegalese filmmaker Moussa Toure.
Adele Haenel and Kevin Azais in Thomas Cailley’s Les Combattants (Love At First Fight)
CANNES:
'Love At First Fight' Scores Historic Directors ... Love At
First Fight’ Scores Historic Directors’ Fortnight Triple, by John Hopewell
from Variety, May 23, 2014
First-time director Thomas Cailley’s Gallic romcom “Les
Combattants” (Love At First Fight) scored a historic triple at Cannes Friday,
sweeping all three of Cannes’ 46th Directors’ Fortnight prizes, the first time
that has ever happened.
Starring Kevin Azais (“Playing Dead”) and Adele Haenel – who
already made a large impression in Celine Sciamma’s “Water Lilies” and Katel
Guillevere’s more recent “Suzanne,” – “Fight” scooped Directors’ Fortnight’s
Art Cinema Award and the Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers’ SACD Prize.
As just announced, it also won the section’s Europa Cinemas Label.
Added to that, and also on Friday, “Fight” snagged the
FIPRESCI nod for best film in a Cannes parallel section.
Four awards on the same day is a rare feat for any film
non-Cannes competition title. The trophy trawl will do nothing to staunch buzz
among pundits, especially in Cailley’s native France, that he is the Next Big
Thing in the biggest movie production industry in continental Europe.
True to say, the SACD prize is limited to French-language
films, the Europa Cinemas Label logically enough to European titles, limiting
the candidates who can sweep Directors’ Fortnight trio of unofficial kudos. The
trophy trawl is sure to goose more sales for Bac Films that handles
international rights and boost its box office in France, where “Fight” will be
released by Haut et Court.
Gallic actor-director Guillaume Gallienne’s comic
confessional “Me Myself and Mum,” which topped the 45th Directors’ Fortnight,
winning its Art Cinema Award and SACD Prize went on to become one of France’s
highest-grossing releases of 2013.
An acid but upbeat romantic comedy, “Fight” has Azais plays
macho young carpenter Arnaud who is (literally) knocked off his feet by the
wild-at-heart military fanatic Madeleine (Haenel). He decides, rashly, to join
her at an army training fortnight.
Produced by veteran production house Nord-Ouest, and lensed
by Cailley’s brother, DP David Cailley, “Fight” won an upbeat reception from
critics at Cannes. Variety’s Peter Debruge praised its blend of “slick
Hollywood-style technique with that restrained sense of storytelling so
heartily encouraged among Euro auteurs.”
The only question now is how good the film really is.
For Debruge, in a comment that might now stir healthy
debate, “the same film wouldn’t necessarily stand out if unveiled at Sundance,
despite a pair of punchy lead performances from young hotshots Adele Haenel and Kevin Azais.”
After ‘Me’s’ win last year, “Fight’s” trippletrophy trawl
also vindicatesthe move by Directors’ Fortnight artistic director Edouard
Waintrop to program more comedies in the section.
'Winter
Sleep,' 'Jauja,' 'Love at First Fight' Take Cannes ... Fipresci (Competition and Un Certain Regard),
Director’s Fortnight, and the Ecumenical Jury prize announcements, by Leo
Barraclough from Variety, May 23,
2014
CANNES — The International Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci) awarded its prize for the
best film in Cannes’ competition section on Friday to Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “Winter
Sleep,” confirming the pic’s status as one of the front-runners for the Palme
d’Or.
The jury said the award had gone to a “great filmmaker who
had managed to surprise and delight us again with his in-depth soul-searching,
put to us in great cinematic terms.”
The director thanked the critics for having “wrote some very
nice things about my films. It was a challenging year, and, I want to say,
without you and the audience, art films, but especially long art films, would
be very lonesome.”
The Fipresci jury chose Argentine Lisandro Alonso’s “Jauja”
as best film in the Un Certain Regard lineup. The jury said the filmmaker had
“created an original imaginary world with a landscape of passion, dream, and
inner truth.”
Directors’ Fortnight’s buzzed-up “Love at First Fight,” from
France’s Thomas Cailley, won best film in Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’
Week sections. The jury only considered first films for this award.
The jury commented: “It is a wonderful first film: an
original coming-of-age vision that captures the pulse of a generation, looking
for fights to engage them.”
Abderrahmane Sissako’s “Timbuktu” won the Cannes’ Ecumenical
jury prize. The director was born in Mauritania, but grew up in Mali, where the
film is set. The film plays in Cannes’ competition section.
Wim Wenders’ “The Salt of the Earth” and Spaniard Jaime
Rosales’ “Beautiful Youth” received commendations from the Ecumenical jury.
Both films play in Un Certain Regard.
Cannes critics ratings, a composite of 7 different critic scores, where some of the highest
ratings might surprise you: http://cannes-rurban.rhcloud.com/index.pl/2014
Screendaily Jury Grid (Page 24 from Digital edition #8),
where currently the highest rated films are Mr.
Turner at 3.6 and Winter Sleep at
3.4, with the latest Dardennes film, Two
Days, One Night, rated an even 3.
None of the other films are rated above 3: http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/cannes/cannes-2014-screens-dailies/5071703.article?blocktitle=Most-popular&contentID=-1
Les Etoiles de la
critiques is now complete, where the highest rated films are now the latest
Dardennes film, Two Days, One Night,
with 12 reviews at 3 or above, with 8 declaring it a masterpiece, Winter Sleep, with 10 reviews at 3 or
above, and 5 declaring it a masterpiece, Timbuktu,
with 11 reviews at 3 or above, with 4 declaring it a masterpiece, Mommy has 10 reviews with 3 or above,
with 4 calling it a masterpiece, while Foxcatcher
has 9 reviews at 3 or above, with 2 declaring it a masterpiece. The well touted Leviathan has only 7 reviews at 3 or above, with 4 declaring it a
masterpiece. What’s interesting in
looking at this completed board is how the French critics barely watch any
films from Un Certain Regard, concentrating all their energies exclusively on
competition films: http://www.lefilmfrancais.com/118566/cannes-2014-le-tableau-complet-des-etoiles-de-la-critique
The Cannes Criterion Forum is up and running:
While Neil Young from Jigsaw Lounge maintains the odds for
winners:
to win the Palme d’Or
Awards and Best Actor
predictions
4/1
Winter Sleep (N.B.Ceylan) Palme d’Or
9/2 Leviathan (A.Zvyagintsev) Grand Prix
5/1 Mommy (X.Dolan) Best Director
7/1 Mr Turner (M.Leigh) Best Actor
- – -
9/1 Goodbye to Language (J-L.Godard) Prix du Jury
10/1 The Wonders (A.Rohrwacher) Best Screenplay
12/1 Timbuktu (A.Sissako)
12/1 Foxcatcher (B.Miller)
14/1 Still the Water (N.Kawase)
16/1 Two Days, One Night (Dardenne & Dardenne) Best Actress
16/1 Maps to the Stars (D.Cronenberg)
20/1 Clouds of Sils Maria (O.Assayas)
- – -
28/1 The Homesman (T.L.Jones)
33/1 Jimmy’s Hall (K.Loach)
50/1 Wild Tales (D.Szifrón)
- – -
125/1 Saint Laurent (B.Bonello)
150/1 The Search (M.Hazanavicius)
200/1 The Captive (A.Egoyan)
.
BEST ACTRESS
2/1 Two Days One Night – Marion Cotillard
7/2 Mommy – Anne Dorval (solo or with Suzanne Clement)
7/1 Maps to the Stars – Julianne Moore
8/1 Clouds of Sils Maria – Kristen Stewart (solo or with Juliette Binoche)
11/1 The Wonders – Maria Alexandra Lungu
- – -
16/1 Still the Water – Jun Yoshinaga
20/1 Winter Sleep – Demet Akbag and/or Melisa Sozen
25/1 Timbuktu – Toulou Kiki
25/1 Leviathan – Elena Lyadova
33/1 The Homesman – Hillary Swank (/female ensemble)
33/1 Mr Turner – Dorothy Atkinson
33/1 Wild Tales – Erica Rivas (/female ensemble)
9/2 Leviathan (A.Zvyagintsev) Grand Prix
5/1 Mommy (X.Dolan) Best Director
7/1 Mr Turner (M.Leigh) Best Actor
- – -
9/1 Goodbye to Language (J-L.Godard) Prix du Jury
10/1 The Wonders (A.Rohrwacher) Best Screenplay
12/1 Timbuktu (A.Sissako)
12/1 Foxcatcher (B.Miller)
14/1 Still the Water (N.Kawase)
16/1 Two Days, One Night (Dardenne & Dardenne) Best Actress
16/1 Maps to the Stars (D.Cronenberg)
20/1 Clouds of Sils Maria (O.Assayas)
- – -
28/1 The Homesman (T.L.Jones)
33/1 Jimmy’s Hall (K.Loach)
50/1 Wild Tales (D.Szifrón)
- – -
125/1 Saint Laurent (B.Bonello)
150/1 The Search (M.Hazanavicius)
200/1 The Captive (A.Egoyan)
.
BEST ACTRESS
2/1 Two Days One Night – Marion Cotillard
7/2 Mommy – Anne Dorval (solo or with Suzanne Clement)
7/1 Maps to the Stars – Julianne Moore
8/1 Clouds of Sils Maria – Kristen Stewart (solo or with Juliette Binoche)
11/1 The Wonders – Maria Alexandra Lungu
- – -
16/1 Still the Water – Jun Yoshinaga
20/1 Winter Sleep – Demet Akbag and/or Melisa Sozen
25/1 Timbuktu – Toulou Kiki
25/1 Leviathan – Elena Lyadova
33/1 The Homesman – Hillary Swank (/female ensemble)
33/1 Mr Turner – Dorothy Atkinson
33/1 Wild Tales – Erica Rivas (/female ensemble)
BEST ACTOR
3/1 Mr Turner – Timothy Spall
9/2 Winter Sleep – Haluk Bilginer
9/2 Foxcatcher – Steve Carell (/ C.Tatum / M.Ruffalo)
7/1 Leviathan – Alexey Serebryakov (/ Vladimir Vdovichenkov)
9/1 Timbuktu – Ibrahim Ahmed
9/1 Jimmy’s Hall – Barry Ward (/ Jim Norton)
10/1 Mommy – Antoine-Olivier Pilon
- – -
14/1 The Search – Abdul-Khalim Mamatsuiev
22/1 Saint Laurent – Gaspard Ulliel
25/1 Two Days One Night – Fabrizio Rongione
28/1 The Homesman – Tommy Lee Jones
28/1 The Wonders – Sam Louwyck
33/1 Still the Water – Nijiri Murakami
40/1 Wild Tales – Ricardo Darín (/ male ensemble)
40/1 Maps to the Stars – Robert Pattinson (/John Cusack and/or Evan Bird)
The round-up of various links covering Cannes:
Screendaily still has paywalls, but if you click on the
reviews, they are open to the public: http://www.screendaily.com/, also: http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/cannes/reviews
David Hudson does all the links for each review at Fandor: http://www.fandor.com/blog/?s=Cannes+2014
The Film Center's Barbara Scharres and Michał Oleszczyk from
the Roger Ebert blog: http://www.rogerebert.com/cannes
Kevin Jagernauth, Oliver Lyttelton, and Jessica Kiang the
indieWIRE Playlist: http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/tag/cannes-film-festival
a round-up of indieWIRE reviews: http://www.indiewire.com/reviews/, with everything consolidated here: http://www.indiewire.com/article/the-2014-indiewire-cannes-bible-every-review-interview-and-news-item-posted-during-run-of-festival
Daniel Kasman, Adam Cook, and likely others at Mubi: https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/tag/Cannes%202014
The House Next Door at Cannes: http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/tag/cannes-film-festival/
Mike D'Angelo at the Dissolve: http://thedissolve.com/features/postcards-from-cannes/
The Guardian
collection of reviews: http://www.theguardian.com/film/cannes-2014
The Guardian
Cannes commentary: http://m.guardiannews.com/film/cannesfilmfestival
David Jenkins from Little White Lies: http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/features/festivals
Eric Lavallee and Nicholas Bell from Ion Cinema: http://www.ioncinema.com/category/news/film-festivals
Fabien Lemercier at Cineuropa: https://storify.com/cineuropa/festival-de-cannes-2014
Drew McSweeny and Guy Lodge & others from HitFix: http://www.hitfix.com/movies/cannes-film-festival
Various writers at Twitch: http://twitchfilm.com/festivals/cannes/
Sukhdev Sandhu and Robbie Collins from The Daily Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/cannes-film-festival/
And, of course, George is back at Cannes this year, where he
finds off the beaten track film fare: http://georgethecyclist.blogspot.com
Awards speculation is rampant with all the Competition
screenings completed today and the nine-person jury having to make their choices.
The Russian film "Leviathan," the final film screened, fresh in
everyone's minds, has suddenly become the favorite to be named the best film of
the festival. It wouldn't be my choice. This somewhat stylized
depiction of corruption and thuggery in small town Russia had my mind
wandering, mainly to the film I'd seen just before, Olivier Assayas' "Clouds of Sils Maria."
I loved it, but curiously it doesn't seem to figure in anyone else's
lists of awards. It deserves best screenplay at a minimum.
It was a most intelligent script of a 38-year old famous
movie and theatre actress played by Juliette Binoche largely interacting with
her young assistant/minder. It fully captures all the anxieties and
tribulations of an actress trying to sustain her career as she prepares for a
role in a play opposite the hottest young actress in Hollywood. She had played
the role the younger actress will play twenty years before and it launched her
career. The relationship between the two women in the play mirrors her
own relationship with her assistant. As the two of them read lines from
the play in beautfiul Swiss scenery, sometimes as they're hiking high in the
mountains its not always clear when the lines come from the play or their
present relationship. Such trickery sometimes puts off critics as it did
with "Certified Copy," which won Binoche the best actress award here.
The three sidebar categories all announced their winners
today. Ralph and I were in the Debussy as the Un Certain Rewards winners
called up on stage. Best actor went to the Aboriginal film, an ensemble
cast award to the French film "Party Girl," a special award to the
Wim Wenders documentary on photographer Sebastiao Salgado, the second best film
to "Turist" an Austrian skiing movie, and the best film to the
Hungarian "White God,"
which was screened after the ceremony.
Neither Ralph or I had seen it so we didn't have to dash up
to the Critic's Weekly award winners, at least until later. The film
opens with a young girl bicycling across a long bridge in a large city being
chased by a huge pack of dogs. Then the movie flashes back to what led to
this. It was a most remarkable film of dogs taking revenge on those who
abused a lead dog, who had belonged to the girl on the bike. Her father forced
her to get rid of it when she came to live with him while her mother was away.
The dog stunts were amazing. The lead dog had been forced into
dog-fighting, transforming him from a devoted pet to a hardened killer.
Opinion is split whether this movie will antagonize or please dog lovers.
It was a brave choice by the jury, overlooking the acclaimed Argentinian
experimental film "Jauje" that the FIPRESCI jury gave their top
prize to.
The Critics' Weekly gave their awards to "The
Tribe" from the Ukraine and "Hope" from France. I had
avoided this small category of films to insure I hadn't seen its award winners
in its end of the day time slot when only one other film was playing. A
young French woman beside me in line asked if I could google the Directors's
Fortnight winner on my iPad. She jumped up and down with delight at the
news that "Love at First Fight" had won, as she was friends with
its young first-time director.
We had to wait for "The Tribe" to finish before "Hope" began at nearly eleven
pm. It was a perfect final film for the day as I will begin tomorrow with
"Timbuktu," both films set in northern Sahara Africa. A
Nigerian woman by the name of Hope teams up with a guy from Cameroon out of
desperate necessity as they make the long trek from their homelands to try to
get to Europe. She is forced into prostitution to pay their way when
their money is taken from them by a very hostile gang that holds them hostage.
Their perilous journey is fraught with danger and human predators in this
superb gripping drama of those seeking a better life.
In contrast to the genuine terror in "Hope," the
Out of Competition Argentinian film "Ardor"
offered up contrived terror. This film was put on the slate only because
it starred jury member Gael Garcia Bernal. He comes to the rescue of a
family in the jungle who are being besieged by a handful of white mercenaries.
I regretted I had prolonged my conversation with Ralph after our previous
movie, as it delayed my arrival to the screening of Ryan Gosling's "Lost
River," playing at the same time, making me fall four short of getting in.
It was said to be a failure, but it would have been a more interesting
failure than this one.
This day of fine cinema was also highlighted by the Jacques
Audiard "Master Class"
conducted by master film critic Michel Ciment. There was a greater crush
bent on seeing this than the Sophia Loren Master Class two days before, many of
them students showing no scruples weaseling their way towards the front of the
scrum at the theater entrance, The interview included clips from all six
of the films that Audiard directed, most of which had played at Cannes.
It began with a clip of a Claude Miller film that Audiard wrote the
script for along with his father, a quite accomplished screen writer.
Audiard actually got his start in cinema as an editor, partially because
he had a girlfriend who was an editor. After writing he said he felt a
little like Billy Wilder, who said he went from writer to director because he got
tired of making the bed then having someone else sleep in it. He also
credited Ciment for inspiring him to make "The Beat My Heart
Skipped," as he heard Ciment interview James Toback at Cannes the year
"Fingers" played, the movie Audiard decided to do a remake of.
After a clip from one of his early films he acknowledged he
would film it differently now as one has to consider contemporary circumstances
when making a film. His first film was a struggle as he learned the process,
but after that it became a pleasure. He couldn't remember where he came
up with the idea for "Read My Lips," one of three of his films Ciment
pointed out that feature a handicapped woman who sets a man on the
straight-and-narrow.
Audiard's movies are marked by their violence, though he
said it very much repels him. He thoroughly researched prison life for
"A Prophet," visiting prisons in Belgium, Switzerland and France.
He chose though not to film in a prison, but rather constructed a set
resembling one. He explained that he likes to film close-ups, as he is
near-sighted. He set his glasses on the table between him and Ciment,
occasionally putting them on and then groping around forgetting where he had
put them.
When Ralph and I exited the nearly two-hour session the much
anticipated weekend schedule of films was available. I was thrilled that
I would be able to see the four Competition films I have missed as none of them
are scheduled at the same time in the five theaters that will be replaying the
fifty films from Competition, Un Certsin Regard and Out of Competition. I
don't know what the odds of that are, but I it helped make this one of the most
satisfying days yet. I will also be able to see several other films high
on my list in the final two days of this extravaganza.
One of the reasons "Leviathon" has gained favor
with the pundits and prognosticators as the jury's choice for the Palme d'Or is
that it is very topical with Russia very much in the news, just as Michael
Moore's "Fahrenheit 911" won the top prize eleven years ago with the
world down on George Bush. I suspect that when the jury begins hashing it
out, they'll decide on "Winter Sleep," even though I have yet to see
it, but knowing well Ceylan's sensitivities. It has to have the
profundity and depth of a Palme d'Or that "Leviathan" lacked.
The FIPRESCI jury already has named it the best film of the festival.
"Foxcatcher" could also be a threat depending on who are the
strongest voices on the jury. Willem Dafoe could stand up for it as could
the Danish director Nicolas Refn who could well be partial to such fare, having
won the best director award here himself for the fairly commercial film
"Drive" in 2011.
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