Cannes 2013

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

And here's the full competition jury:

Christian Ulmen

Not really, would be interesting though.

You're right, he was mentioned in the article I got it from but they've since corrected it with no explanation. Maybe having Mungiu and Waltz on the same jury blew the writer's Cris/Chris fuse, but that's a pretty weird error to make.

[sorrysomehow]

Un Certain Regard - Jury chair: Thomas Vinterberg
AS I LAY DYING, dir James FRANCO

I didn't realize Franco had finished shooting As I Lay Dying. I'm incredibly curious, and slightly skeptical, to see how he took the complicated narrative structure of the novel and turned it into a film.

[bdlover]

Is it really that intuitive or daring for an actor to want to work with Stanley Kubrick or Gus Van Sant, or with Lee Daniels following the success of Precious, Von Trier following the success of Dancer in the Dark and Breaking the Waves, Jonathan Glazer following the success of Sexy Beast, etc? Kidman is certainly a good actress, and these are all solid, well-informed choices, but someone likely to go to war with Steven Spielberg and Ang Lee over the ontological argument?

[warren oates]

...but someone likely to go to war with Steven Spielberg and Ang Lee over the ontological argument?

Say what?

And in answer to your first question, yeah, it is. Her filmography is far more interesting than many other Hollywood stars of comparable stature. And as matrix pointed out, her risk-taking isn't strictly limited to consistent choices to work with auteurs on films that often turn out to be some of their best work. She's obviously cool with exploring all sorts of odd characters, narratives and ideas in a way that, for example, a star like her ex-hubby definitely is not.

[knives]

I don't know about that last point. Cruise has had a tendency to work with some interesting and daring directors and make films more compelling that your typical blockbuster. He's also rather notoriously a major film geek. Hell recently he spent a significant amount of time pimping Street Smart and ignoring his own film.

[Brian C]

Yeah, Cruise isn't someone who seems all that risk-averse to me. His recent projects haven't been all that special, but at the height of his fame and power, he used that fame and power to take on a lot of challenging roles with major directors. Maybe not to the degree that Kidman did, but much more so than his male contemporaries.

He's not Will Smith, for example.

[Duncan Hopper]

New additions:

In Competition:
ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE - Jim JARMUSCH

Un Certain Regard:
MY SWEET PEPPERLAND - HINER SALEEM
TORE TANZT - Katrin GEBBE
WAKOLDA - Lucia PUENZO

Out of Competition:
LE DERNIER DES INJUSTES - Claude LANZMANN

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

One film I'm surprised not to see so far is Peter Chan's American Dreams in China. It was supposed to be released in China in mid-April, but it got pushed back to May 18th a few weeks ago and the reports at the time said it would premiere at Cannes. Chan got an out-of-competition slot for Wu Xia, so it didn't seem too farfetched. Maybe it's still TBA (Chinese films sometimes get announced late because they're supposed to get export certificates from the government), or maybe the Cannes thing was BS and it got pushed back for another reason.

[hearthesilence]

Better. What happened with McQueen's film? Is it still unfinished?

[John Cope]

Where is the Egoyan!?

[Cinosyrc]

What about the Tsai Ming-liang?

[bdlover]

What happened with McQueen's film? Is it still unfinished?

See here:

There was one British film we would have liked to have presented [Clio Barnard's The Selfish Giant] but it’s headed to Directors Fortnight.

The McQueen is definitely finished, the implication being it wasn't good enough.

[knives]

So it's a McQueen film then? [dodges tomato]

[willoneill]

The McQueen is definitely finished, the implication being it wasn't good enough.

That article in no way suggests or implies that McQueen`s film is finished, or not good enough. So where are you getting that from?

[JabbaTheSlut]

Brit films for Cannes

[JMULL222]

The McQueen is already owned by Searchlight and has been dated for a December release. No way they'd even bother submitting it; they'd never want to screen it there as opposed to a Fall Festival where they can capitalize on the buzz.

[bdlover]

they'd never want to screen it there as opposed to a Fall Festival where they can capitalize on the buzz.

Your suggestion that a studio would "never" want to screen a film at the most important film festival in the world is rather odd. Paramount obviously disagree (the Alexander Payne). As to the McQueen, it's def finished (it's been rated by the MPAA) and was heavily rumoured until about a month ago when that December release date was announced. December may have always been the plan, or this may have been a preemptive move once they learned the film hadn't been selected. Both are possible.

[Jeff]

they'd never want to screen it there as opposed to a Fall Festival where they can capitalize on the buzz.

Your suggestion that a studio would "never" want to screen a film at the most important film festival in the world is rather odd. Paramount obviously disagree (the Alexander Payne).

Yes, yesterday Paramount announced a November 22 release date for Nebraska. That strategy is even more common with the non-English films. Last year's Palme winner, Amour, was released by Sony (to great success and acclaim) on December 19.

[bdlover]

Also, McQueen has a history of success in Cannes (Camera d'Or for Hunger) whereas the "fall strategy" for Shame didn't work out so well. Hard to believe they'd turn their noses up at a Competition slot if it was on offer.

[hearthesilence]

Yeah, I don't get that either. This is Cannes, and there are plenty more examples of past Cannes favorites that had no problem generating buzz prior to a fall or winter release. If anything, getting a big reaction at a Cannes premiere laid the groundwork for the build-up of publicity that peaked later in the year, and it's almost certain McQueen submitted his film. Disappointing if his new one isn't up to snuff, but not surprising. As much as I liked Hunger, I thought Shame had some major, fatal missteps despite its considerable merits.

[HistoryProf]

Twelve Years a Slave has been getting very mixed reviews. There's a couple of fascinating articles in the Shadows and Act column on indiewire that look at a few different reactions to test screenings. Worth a read.

I apologize for the aside, but the gaffe in the first post infuriates me whenever I see it (and I see it a lot in papers):

As I said a couple of months, if you were overwhelmed by the so-called realistic, disturbing violence in Django Unchained, you're not ready for Twelve Years A Slave, which, if you're familiar with McQueen's past work, and you've read the novel its based on, or read the script, is far more brutal than anything Tarantino showed you.

Twelve Years a Slave is NOT a novel - it's a first person memoir of Solomon Northrup who dictated his story and was published after the success of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Slave Narratives became hugely popular in the antebellum north, and this was one of the most well known. I think it's incredibly troublesome that people too often confuse things like this for fiction - even as they think Django is a true story for god's sake.

Thanks....Historian's claws retracted!

[Minkin]

Cannes Classic Line-up

RESTORED PRINTS
Vertigo (1958) Alfred Hitchcock
Borom Sarret (1963) Ousmane Sembène
Charulata (1964) Satyajit Ray
Cleopatra (1963) Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Fedora (1978) Billy Wilder
Goha (1957) Jacques Baratier
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) Alain Resnais
The Desert of Tartars (1976) Valerio Zurlini
La grande bouffe (1973) Marco Ferreri
La Reine Margot (1994) Patrice Chéreau
Le Joli Mai (1963) Chris Marker, Pierre Lhomme
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) Jacques Demy
Lucky Luciano (1973) Francesco Rosi
The Nail of Brightness (1975) Lino Brocka
Purple Noon (1960) René Clément
An Autumn Afternoon (1962) Yasujirō Ozu
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974) Ted Kotcheff
The Last Detail (1973) By Hal Ashby
The Last Emperor 3D (1987) Bernardo Bertolucci
Visions of Eight (1973) Youri Ozerov, Milos Forman, Mai Zetterling, Claude Lelouch, Arthur Penn, Michael Pfleghar, John Schlesinger, Kon Ichikawa.

WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARIES
Con La Pata Quebrada (2013) Diego Galán
A Story Of Children And Film (2013) Mark Cousins
In tribute to Joanne Woodward (presence to be confirmed), who can be seen with husband Paul Newman on the poster of the 66th edition, the Festival will screen the final film she produced: Shepard & Dark by Treva Wurmfeld (2013, 1:29).

Finally, Cannes Classics will also be part of CINEMA DE LA PLAGE where the following restored films will be shown:

Jour de Fete (France, 1949, 1:27) by Jacques Tati
The General (1926, 1:18) by Buster Keaton
The Birds (1963, 2:09) by Alfred Hitchcock
LE Grand Bleu (The Big Blue) (1988, 2:16) by Luc Besson
The Ladies Man (1961, 1:35) by Jerry Lewis
L'homme de Rio (The Man From Rio) (France, 1964, 1:52) by Philippe de Broca
Safety Last (1923, 1:13) by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor

---

Should prove exciting. I always look forward to the Classic lineup most, since it gives a general idea of what films to expect on Blu for 2013/14. I'd expect at least several of those to turn up on Criterion in the next year+

Surprised that Varda was able to get Umbrellas through so quickly (she was soliciting funds just a few months ago for the restoration). That and why did Paramount bother with The Last Detail only to dump it on a Mill Creek 4 pack? Also, The Last Emperor 3D? Oh boy.

[matrixschmatrix]

Visions of Eight sounds encouraging, as I've been holding off buying Olive's DVD in hopes of a blu.

[bdsweeney]

Fedora (1978) Billy Wilder

The possibility of a release on DVD/Blu ... finally!

Be still my beating heart.

[Jeff]

Fedora (1978) Billy Wilder

The possibility of a release on DVD/Blu ... finally!

Be still my beating heart.

Fedora was restored by Germany's Bavaria Films. They've licensed it to Olive, who will release it on DVD and Blu-ray later this year.

Looking forward to Criterion Blus of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Charulata (and upgrades of Hiroshima Mon Amour and An Autumn Afternoon).