Cannes 2012

[mfunk9786]

Reviews for Michel Gondry's The We and the I are not good. Not surprised.

Guess that kills any lingering hopes that he'll ever do anything as good as Eternal Sunshine again unless he finds another writer that complements him so well as Kaufman did.

The Science of Sleep was far from perfect, but it had a lot of good moments and creative bursts, and Be Kind Rewind was an extremely underrated exuberant celebration of cinema. I just think his most recent work is a matter of Gondry being interested in material that doesn't necessarily come off well on screen, or in the case of those two films I mentioned, not everyone necessarily being on his wavelength.

[domino harvey]

The Science of Sleep utilized Gondry's strengths and weaknesses better than any film he's done before or since, but his forays at expanding his horizons don't seem to go very well...

[zedz]

Yeah, I really like The Science of Sleep too. It's a pretty dark film when you get past the (delightful) gimmicks. But Be Kind Rewind was an unfunny bore, despite the brilliant premise. A narrative feature film just seemed the wrong vehicle for the ideas he was exploring. The right vehicle? I don't know, maybe a comic book which dispensed with the 'sweding' backstory as quickly as possible, accompanied by a DVD of a half-dozen 'sweded' movies.

When oh when is somebody going to greenlight a Gondry musical?

[swo17]

Isn't Charlie Kaufman's upcoming film supposed to be a musical? So close...

[zedz]

Not the same thing, unless he gets Gondry in (Busby Berkeley style) to direct the musical numbers.

What I want to see is: "Okay, Michel, you've got $10 million, you've got Bjork, you've got the Chemical Brothers - anybody you want to work with, basically. Just give as an honest-to-God musical that clocks in under two hours. Astonish us." Which will obviously never happen.

[yoshimori]

Not sure how long I'll be able to keep this up - I'll be going to screenings from 8:30 to midnightish - but here goes ... [I'll also try to post the Screen and Film Francais "jury" scores, so you can get a 2nd through 19th opinion.]

Please DO NOT READ my little blurbs if you care about things like spoilers. Nothing anyone can say spoils a movie for me, since a) I probably won't remember it, and b) story means little to me if the movie is well-made.

OK. Night 1 and Day 2:

1. Nasrallah, After the Battle (Competition). Feisty, upper-middle class feminist (radical PR exec) falls for low-class, thuggish, "misunderstood" blockhead (horseman). She tries to teach him revolutionary values. He just wants a better life for his sons. Horribly made. Camera unintentionally not level, multiple shadows in daylight, that kind of thing. The last image is surprisingly powerful. Too bad the first 120 minutes are filled with cinepolitical cliches and wooden performances. Faux Tahrir Square footage at climax is laughable.

Grade: D (and F to Fremaux for including it)

2. Audiard, Rust and Bone (Competition). Feisty, upper-middle class feminist (Orca trainer) falls for low-class, thuggish, "misunderstood" blockhead (security guard, boxer). She tries to teach him the meaning of love. He just wants (as much sex as he can get and) a better life for his son. It's all about the style (long lenses, intense soft light) and the shock (details of cartilage fragments in the bubbling pool post-whale attack, the amazing sexual flexibility of the legless, and the pulverizing of all the bones in a man's hand if he tries to crack through the thick ice of a frozen lake). In the end, insufferably glossily "gritty" and smoothly "rough".

Grade: C+ [A- for sound design, though.]

3. Apichatpong, "Mekong Hotel" (Out of Competition). 57 minutes of utter boredom and interminable guitar music. [And before you gang up on me, I LOVE Joe's stuff.] This is rehearsal notes for a movie he hasn't yet made (and hopefully never will make), "about" entrail-eating ghosts, spirit possession, and Laotian immigration, acted by his regular cast on the balconies and beds of the Mekong Hotel during the recent flood. Over 20 people walked out of the Salle Bazin during the 5-minute long last shot. And that was by far the best shot!

Grade: Mercy pass

4. Seidl, Paradise: Love (Competition). Fat, aging, German women go to Kenya on a fuck holiday. What starts as a comedy in super symmetrical and hilariously stilted compositions, turns less "controlled" as the women begin to crave "something more" and the natives let on it's all about the money. A severe critique of both capitalism and the illusion of love. Approve of both, of course. But I wish it were more fun.

Grade: B(ish)

5. Lou, Mystery (Un certain regard, opener). Big fan of Spring Fever. This new film - the first Lou sponsored by the Chinese government after a 5 year ban - is quite disappointing. Man has two wives. Wives' battle for control leads to death of third mistress. Feels like it was written by committee. Despite the title, no mystery at all here. No subtlety. No real human drama.

Grade: C-

Hope tomorrow brings more joy. Schedule includes Garrone's Reality, Omirbaev's Student, Dolan's Laurence Anyways, Zietlin's Beast of the Southern Wild, and Mungiu's Beyond the Hills. Hmm ... maybe I should lower expectation. Maybe Saturday then!

[colinr0380]

The description of the Seidl film reminds me a little of Laurent Cantet's Heading South, with Kenya swapped in for Haiti and no Charlotte Rampling.

[Jeff]

Opening ceremony video has new clips

[Finch]

UK press lukewarm on Reality from the Gommorah director but word's very positive on Directors Fortnight entry No with Gael Garcia Bernal. Keeping fingers crossed for positive reception of the Mingiu tonight.

Guy Lodge @GuyLodge

Wild applause for Pablo Larrain's NO, and deservedly so. Crazy that this isn't in Competition, while AFTER THE BATTLE is.
18 May 12

Demetrios Matheou @dem2112

That's a massive @theartsdesk Yes to Pablo Larrain's No. Great fun, and moving too. #Cannes2012

Charlotte Higgins: The Pinochet film NO, starring Gael Garcia Bernal, has just premiered to whoops, cheers and extended applause - practically unstoppable applause in fact - at Directors' Fortnight. And rightly so. It's brilliant.

Peter Bradshaw @PeterBradshaw1

In truth, a little disappointed by Reality (dir. Matteo Garrone) at #Cannes2012

Nick James @filmnickjames

Garrone's well crafted REALITY heavy pedals the satire of fish seller's Big Brother obsession but revels in trashy set pieces #Cannes2012

Dave Calhoun @davecalhoun

Garrone's Reality is creepy fun but bit aimless. Appropriate tombstone for Berlusconi culture. Spot the grizzled faces from Gomorrah.

[yoshimori]

Another lackluster day. Apparently, I should've been at the Larrain instead of the Mungiu. Oh well.

This morning's SCREEN jury: Anderson 2.6/4, Audiard 3.1/4, Nasrallah 1.5/4
and FILM FRANCAIS: Anderson 2/4, Audiard 3.1/4, Nasrallah 1.3/4, Lou 1.5/4 (though this last may change when more of the 15 jurors weigh in)

Day 3:

1. Garrone, Reality (Competition). Can we say "legacy selection"? It's a wannabe Kaufman/Benigni-esque comedy about a fishmonger who's obsessed with appearing on a reality show. Neither funny nor gripping. Just lots of screaming, gesticulating Italians. [Is that redundant?]

Grade: F

2. Omirbaev, Student (Un certain regard). Kazakh Crime and Punishment adaptation halfway in tone between Bresson's and Kaurismaki's. Special focus on protag's subtly difficult relationships with women.

Grade: B

3. Dolan, Laurence Anyways (Un certain regard). A 35-year-old poet decides to release his inner woman; this causes trouble viz his girlfriend/muse.

At 85 minutes this could've been, not a masterpiece, but a nice divertissement. At 170 minutes! Bahh! Repetitive and self-serious. Some beautiful and inventive shots are polluted by the sloppiness that surrounds them. Too bad. Has the kid no advisors?

Grade: B=

4. Zeitlin, Beast of the Southern Wild (Un certain regard). Cut-rate Malick VO. Cut-rate Malick nature imagery. Cut-rate Malick minimalist narrative. We like Malick. Not sure why, then, BZ's being hailed as the "new American voice".

Grade: C+

5. Mungiu, Beyond the Hills (Competition). A 25-year-old returns from a guest-work gig in Germany to find her orphanage mate-slash-lover has dedicated her life to the Lord. No antics ensue. Rather, Mungiu's long take strategy backfires on him. The movie dies under overwritten dialogue, bland performances, and generally dull plotting.

Grade: C

Tomorrow: Hillcoat, Brandon Cronenberg, Vinterberg, and a Lifshitz doc. Maybe I should skip the 20 minute Apichatpong short ("Ashes") and try to catch the Larrain.

[domino harvey]

Is it just me or this the weakest received Cannes lineup in recent memory?

[mfunk9786]

Isn't the schedule a bit back-loaded though? I think it'll pick up.

[puxzkkx]

No critical consensus picks across the board yet... what seems to be floundering on twitter is succeeding in the trades (Rust and Bone) and vice-versa (the Larraín film). No Palme contenders yet, as far as I can tell only the Omirbaev has been getting consistently positive reception.

[John Cope]

They're biding their time, waiting to coronate Kiarostami and/or Haneke.

[The Narrator Returns]

This report about the best movie at Cannes (of course, Madagascar 3), is downright Armond Whitian, with comparisons to Help! and What's New Pussycat, and comments about the festival's "strained seriousness" and lack of films "with a pulse."

[Hail_Cesar]

I'm glad Dolan wore the red squarre on the carpet...

[yoshimori]

They're biding their time, waiting to coronate Kiarostami and/or Haneke.

Preview for the Kiarostami looked dire, iyam. We'll see Sunday. Haneke trailer was great though. Also Sunday.

Carax? Reygadas? Fingers crossed.

[Finch]

Slant on Ulrich Seidl's Paradise, Love

[Alan Smithee]

Manohla likes Rust and Bone and may be the first to like After the Battle.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Daniel Kasman liked After the Battle too, and put together some blocks of text explaining why.

[Alan Smithee]

Slant on Ulrich Seidl's Paradise, Love

I want Godard to remake this in 3D.

[rohmerin]

Hit Parade of French critics covering Cannes, everyday refresh this

http://www.lefilmfrancais.com/109831/ca ... a-critique" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

De rien.

Audiard's film has been a success in FR box office.

[Calvin]

Some first reactions to Vinterberg's The Hunt:

Peter Bradshaw ‏@PeterBradshaw1
Thomas Vinterberg's Jagten is his best film since Festen: tense, expertly constructed, superbly shot

Robbie Collin ‏@robbiereviews
THE HUNT: absolute barnstormer. Incredibly taut, flawlessly scripted Kafkaesque nightmare. Mads Mikkelsen a great best actor shout.

Kalle Kinnunen ‏@kallekinnunen
Vinterberg's The Hunt is simple in structure and emotionally pretty predictable but still a strong experience & Mads M. is as good as ever.

Alex Billington ‏@firstshowing
Vinterberg's The Hunt - Infuriating, frustrating. A film about lies, full of lies. Wanted to punch many of the characters. Too long. Ugh.

[Finch]

Three's company: Nick Roddick also jumps to the defense of After The Battle

Mixed early word on Brandon Cronenberg's Antiviral apparently.

More tweets from Guardian crew on Hunt

chiggi: So disappointed by Thomas Vinterberg's JAGTEN. Hopes dashed by heavy-handed child-abuse storyline. Lacked pounding logic of FESTEN #cannes
about 52 minutes ago
XanBrooks

XanBrooks: Thomas Vinterberg hits the 'child abuse' red button again. Jagten is crude, electric, gripping. Has audience bucking like broncos #cannes

[Finch]

Beyond The Hills sounds dreadful (Slant's review).