Cannes 2011

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

"Just buy the rights, what's the worst that could happen?" - Mark Cuban

Forget Cuban, I wonder what Scorsese is thinking right now.

[domino harvey]

Well, Scorsese's probably not an overreactionary idiot, so nothing?

[Alan Smithee]

If the jury has any integrity, they'll award Von Trier any of the prizes just to spite such an unbelievably stupid overreaction

Not only should the jury get behind him(god knows de niro's made some stupid comments in his time) but the filmmakers in competition should stand up for him. Considering how many people were putting Melancholia in the front of the competition maybe they're just relieved. After being baited with a dumb reference question Almodovar at least should express how silly this is. But man we said that if the reaction was good von Trier would self destruct and boy has he.

[mfunk9786]

You can say that again

[Michael Kerpan]

(Granted, at {Kaurismaki's} worst - Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses - he's borderline unwatchable).

But isn't the Leningrad Cowboys sequel unique (in being a flop)? _I've_ loved (or liked a lot) everything else. (Lights in the Dusk got a bit of a brush off from lots of critics, but I thought it was actually one of AK's best efforts). Le Havre sounds like a must-see.

[John Cope]

Given the confusion and/or disarrayed polarities implicit in Young's most recent update and Indiewire's predictions I wouldn't be all that surprised if Ceylan's picture rolls in at the end and takes the Palme, thererby dispelling all of the above. I wouldn't be upset about it either as, Three Monkeys nothwisthstanding, Ceylan owns.

[knives]

the blink-and-you'll-miss-it final shot of Lights in the Dusk where he turns the film's entire mood on its head in less than a second.

Well I sure as hell missed it. How could he have turned it around from that extreme?

[MichaelB]

the blink-and-you'll-miss-it final shot of Lights in the Dusk where he turns the film's entire mood on its head in less than a second.

Well I sure as hell missed it. How could he have turned it around from that extreme?

Very easily, if it's the one gesture of genuine and unforced affection in the entire film.

[knives]

Oh you mean the kindness of the girl? I could see how that lifts the film a tad but I suppose I'm too much a pessimist to let that get to me.

[Finch]

Slant (Glenn Heath) on Day 9 including a recommendation of the Almodovar & a damning verdict on Miike's Harakiri
On THE SKIN I LIVE IN:

"Don't look at the surfaces," says Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) during one of the more sane moments in Pedro Almodóvar's fantastically nutty The Skin I Live In. His words sum up Almodóvar's core motif: the organic relationship between layers of emotion and trauma. The Spanish director melds his consistent themes of conflicted sexual identity, family struggle, and interconnected paths with an unsettling combination of warm compositions and sinister desires. The combination is unsettling and fascinating.(...)While many have deemed The Skin I Live In beautiful but hollow, the assertion ignores the fact that Almodóvar insists on reveling in multiple façades despite the consequence. The outlandish dialogue, the obsessive focus on video monitors, and the juxtaposition of multiple faces in any one frame proves Almodóvar's law of surface-level desire. There's also paintings covering Ledgard's mansion, all contorting limbs and faceless bodies, ciphers trying to regain their slipping identity. The Skin I Live In constructs a colorful and dynamic purgatory for the fragmented human versions of these drawings, men and women gracefully sliding toward a rude mental awakening. There descent is intoxicating.

On HARAKIRI:

After seeing his impotent and droll remake, Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai, it's clear Takashi Miike understands little to nothing about what made the original so sharp. His textured but hollow 3D adaptation changes small but key plot elements, disavows the original's pressurized pacing, and eliminates the mystical qualities of the story's bookend sequences. Miike seems to be lost in a forest of iconography, unwilling to engage the complex ideas forming their foundation. Once the film jettisons backward in time to investigate the man's vengeful motivations, it's easy to pinpoint where Miike goes terribly wrong. Instead of structuring the labyrinthine story like a mystery (as the original masterfully does), he proposes the entire flashback sequence as an extended and sluggish melodrama. This decision resolutely brings the entire momentum of the film to a sudden halt. While Kobsayashi jumps back and forth in time to juxtapose the rage causing this fractured perspective, Miike is more interested in conventional and laborious cause and effect. (...)Coming off the invigorating 13 Assassins remake, Mike's complete and utter failure is by far the most disappointing revelation at Cannes. My belly hurts.

[John Cope]

Great Twitter buzz on Drive as well. It would be fantastic if Refn managed to snag a prize out of this.

[ianungstad]

Rope of Silicon and Indiewire have both posted rave reviews for Refn's Drive. Sounds great!

The clips released over the last few weeks looked fantastic. Hopefully Refn doesn't spend years slumming around Hollywood after Logan's Run.

[Nothing]

Poor Lee Chang Dong! Wanted to give the Critics' Week Prize, bravely, to Snowtown, but was neutered by hs jury, including two of the worst journalists in the business, Scott Foundas and Nick James...

[mfunk9786]

Have you even seen any of these films yet?

["membrillo"]

Looks like a drunk post to me.

[Nothing]

Huh?

Nespresso Grand Prize for La Semaine de la Critique: TAKE SHELTER Jeff Nichols
Special distinction of the President: SNOWTOWN Justin Kurzel

A 'Special Distinction of the Jury' would be nothing special, but a 'Special Distinction of the President' is extremely rare - and bluntly indicates a rift between the President and the rest of the jury. In regards to Snowtown, I don't know if it's any good or not, but bleak and violent films very rarely win festival prizes, so it would have been a brave choice by definition. Why I shoul have to explain all this, I don't know...

[FerdinandGriffon]

Poor Lee Chang Dong! Wanted to give the Critics' Week Prize, bravely, to Snowtown, but was neutered by hs jury, including two of the worst journalists in the business, Scott Foundas and Nick James...

You mean Bong Joon-ho. I expect Lee Chang-dong would be one of the last directors in the world to defend a controversial film at Cannes.

I didn't realize Kusturica was heading a jury this year! Having him and Gibson at the festival where von Trier is banned is a little too much. Simply in terms of politics, this has got to be the most embarrassing year in the history of the festival.

[Nothing]

Lee Chang-dong was President of the SDLC Jury this year.

[mfunk9786]

Replace "drunk" with "stupid" and you've got it.

[knives]

Pardon the ignorance, but what exactly did Kusturica do? The best I can find is that he's made and been involved with a lot of propaganda films.

[Nothing]

mmm-kay.... Apologies, once again, for providing some insight.

:-s

Kusturica.

[matrixschmatrix]

'Insight', once again, meaning inventing a narrative out of Nothing

[Nothing]

Honestly, it's like teaching the lower set at high school around here sometimes.

[FerdinandGriffon]

Lee Chang-dong was President of the SDLC Jury this year.

So he was! Cripes, how many of these things have they got?

Pardon the ignorance, but what exactly did Kusturica do? The best I can find is that he's made and been involved with a lot of propaganda films.

Well, the Palme d'Or winning Underground propagates Serbian nationalism and attempts to whitewash the Chetnik's ethnic cleansing programs. Personally, I also found the film's understanding of history and depictions of violence repulsive and fascistic.

Replace "drunk" with "stupid" and you've got it.

Please stop trolling.

[knives]

Okay so no worse than a Riefenstahl or Mizoguchi.