criterionforum.org

A new front-runner?

From D'Angelo's tweets:

"This solidifies [Joe] as the greatest director in the world right now" -- Robert Koehler (who thankfully doesn't know what I look like).

Guys, I'm gonna need some time (and a 2nd viewing) to decide whether UNCLE BOONMEE is just sort of awesome or totally mindblowingly awesome.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Joe): 76 for now, could go way up. Makes everything else in Comp (incl. C. COPY) look paltry.

ellipsis7 wrote:The times that are in it, Beauvois' OF GOD AND MEN must be a front runner...

That and Uncle Boonmee are the two I'm most interested in seeing based on responses so far. Of God and Men sounds phenomenal.

John Cope wrote:yet another mind numbing exercise in Von Trierian "provocation"

Other than the Godard, and perhaps the Oliviera, I'd rather see a Von Trier than anything included in this year's selection. What - Kiarostami trying to have his cake and eat it? Film 'qualite' from Beauvois, Tavernier, etc? Amalric pretending to be a director? The latest televisual boredom from Leigh and Loach? Yet more sub-Kieslowksian, sub-Dardennian Romanian films about the evils of communism? Birdsong II: The Disabled Cut? Or Weerasethakul pedalling fascist bullshit for the idiot fanboys of the world (actually, I'm warming to Kenny's term: 'Twitterific KidCrits')? No thanks.

Nb. I am indeed worried now - if the AW is the fantasy jamboree that the TKs are suggesting, one can indeed see it appealing to an apolitical man-child like Tim Burton. Yet a Palme for a rightwing, upperclass Sino-Thai at this moment in time, less than a week after 50+ unarmed civilians have been murdered by the army (see this report from Amnesty International), would be a stain on the reputation of the festival itself.

Fiery Angel wrote:More from Manohla

Glad to see she discusses (and admires) Lee's film. ;~}

I pray that Uncle Boonmee gets picked up by someone other than Strand. Scratch that. Better than Strand. I know they try, bless their little hearts, but I would actually like to see one of Joe's films in 35mm for a change. I do live in a top-20 US metropolitan area, after all.

IFC theatrical --> Criterion bluray would sure be a nice path for Uncle Boonmee.

If it weren't for the facts that IFC has already bought 4 films at Cannes and that it's not really their kind of film, I'd be hopeful. I'm glad to see they picked up the Xavier Dolan, though.

Which distribs can you count on, Matt? Probably Sony Pictures Classics would run it, but other than that, I'm hard-pressed to think of who it could be picked up by that I would feel guarantees a 35mm run even here in Chicago. Music Box Films (based here in town) surely would show it, and I'd feel pretty good about Cinema Guild, Zeitgeist, and maybe Kino, but I don't know how those companies play in Minnesota.

IFC and Magnolia have both buried films in favor of their on-demand services (Magnolia couldn't even be bothered to give Boarding Gate more than a two festival screenings here, and they own a theater chain). A lot of other indie companies (First Run, most notably, along with Strand) have mostly done away with 35mm in the first place, favoring digital distribution. In fact, this is my biggest fear with Boonmee, that Strand will pick it up and distribute it in some inferior DV format, as they did with The Edge of Heaven.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2010 ... ast-lives/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Anybody know if Angelica has been picked up by anyone?

Nothing wrote:What - Kiarostami trying to have his cake and eat it?

In general I agree with some of your other assessments (though they are, by and large, probably too broad) but I have to take issue with you on this one. If AK is able to infuse a recognizable and familiar style with his own particular thematic interests and have it enlivened by his unique formal strategies then why not? More power to him and all the better for us as we get a richer, more compounded experience. It shows the potential to enrich overly familiar terrain without seeming overtly to strive to "improve" on it (something I fear ultimately mars Shirin despite his best intentions). Of course it could fall too far the other way, as some already would have us believe, and it could be received purely as that same overly familiar Euro art house picture that it presumably deepens. If it is seen only or even primarily as this, with its more austere angles going unremarked upon and mostly unexplored, would that mean it is, ultimately, a failure? Still, Kiarostami is not Nanni Moretti and I expect at the very least ambitious cinema the challenge of which we can, I suppose, either take or leave.

Nothing wrote:Nb. I am indeed worried now - if the AW is the fantasy jamboree that the TKs are suggesting, one can indeed see it appealing to an apolitical man-child like Tim Burton. Yet a Palme for a rightwing, upperclass Sino-Thai at this moment in time, less than a week after 50+ unarmed civilians have been murdered by the army (see this report from Amnesty International), would be a stain on the reputation of the festival itself.

Thought you would be amused by this, given your point of view.

Evidently, there are rumblings that some of the jurors may be predisposed to La Nostra Vita. If they're going that route I wouldn't be shocked to see something like Biutiful walk away with the Palme (amazed too that Princess of Montpensier still appears in the running).

Brian C wrote:Which distribs can you count on, Matt?

Yeah, that's the question, isn't it? There is a growing number of options for arthouse cinema in Minneapolis/St. Paul, but the cities are still dominated by the Landmark Cinemas (part of Mark Cuban's media empire that includes HDNet and Magnolia). Just about anything distributed by Magnolia, Sony Pictures Classics, or Focus, and major releases from Cinema Guild, Summit, Apparition, IFC, and Zeitgeist will show up here, but beyond that, it's a crapshoot, and it's a tough town for arthouse films. To make ends meet, apparently, one of the Landmark Cinemas in Minneapolis is showing Robin Hood.

The Walker Art Center will sometimes screen low- or no-distribution works (we got Tony Manero last year, and they're showing the new Sébastien Lifschitz next month), but they aren't interested in doing full-time film exhibition.

So, to bring this back around to my original point, unless Magnolia, SPC, or Focus pick up Uncle Boonmee (which they won't), my only hope of seeing this in 35mm in my state is the Walker Art Center (who have shown little interest in programming any Asian film beyond a touring package of Shaw Brothers films several years ago).

Magnolia - I know EB, but MAN ON WIRE yes!, but FOOD INC. & ECLIPSE, no... Hit & miss...

Screen is far more balanced than the TKs quoted thus far.

Sandhu is a ghastly critic, and evangelically right-wing (see his bilious comments on Terence Davies here).

In relation to the TK tendency to favour the metaphysical and 'spiritual' over the material (see also the hype around Birdsong a few years ago from the same clique), Geoff Andrew actually makes a rather pertinent point:

Geoff Andrew wrote: I myself see no reason to be any more indulgent towards a Buddhist belief in reincarnation than I am towards similar Western superstitions

Indeed. I also like this from Sandhu:

Sandhu wrote:it’s tempting to see the red-eyed Monkey Ghost as a distant antecedent of the Red Shirt protester

So AW is depicting the indigenous rural poor as red-eyed monkeys? I suppose this is a step on from pretending they don't exist at all...

John wrote:Thought you would be amused by this, given your point of view.

The comments you link to are rather cryptic - allow me to translate:

yellow shirt wrote:Bangkok was burning... Both city and people were dying.

Note that 'city' comes before 'people'. If you take a few minutes to peruse yellow shirt forums, there is a common theme that you will come across: the feeling that the burning of the Central World shopping mall (a place where most Thais couldn't afford to buy a cushion with their annual wage) was far more shocking, far more disgusting, than the murders of the unarmed protesters that preceded it.

yellow shirt wrote: Joe never lied but to say the truth there, someone could kill him here.

Killed by whom? Again, what we are dealing with here is yellow-shirt solipsism and paranoia: the belief that Thaksin's evil militia are lurking in the shadows, ready to jump out and kill them at the first opportunity. Yet, by any count, it is poor rural protesters who have been dying in the streets, not hi-so latte drinkers. The 'truth' that AW dare not speak is, of course, the PAD(yellow shirt)'s 'new politics': that the vote must be taken away from the rural poor until such time as they are able to make 'educated' decisions. In fact, it is not his health but his career which would suffer if he openly voiced such views - no wonder he's keeping schtum... And so, yet again, the AW circle is out to milk sympathy from ill-informed fools. Will the Palme be his reward?

I need an acronym cheat sheet for Nothing's posts here...can someone tell me who TK is? Can't place that one...making it tough to follow along. why I want to is yet another matter

Xan Brooks looks back on the festival:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/may ... ors-la-loi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I find the situation in Thailand fairly confusing.
Thought this was interesting from wiki on Thaksin:

Thaksin had reportedly considered sanctuaries such as China, the Bahamas, Nicaragua, and several other countries in South America and Africa. Reports said the Shinawatras were granted Bahamas honorary citizenship and Nicaragua honorary citizenship and were building a £5.5 million home in China. . .
As of late May 2009, he reportedly remained in Dubai.
A spokesman claimed Thaksin was traveling on six passports, none of them Thai. In December 2008 Thaksin used high-ranking connections to obtain a one-year visa for Germany. The visa was withdrawn on 28 May 2009 when the German government became aware of the arrangement. Thaksin then obtained status as a diplomat of Nicaragua. ...
In 2009 it was reported that Thaksin had obtained Montenegrin citizenship.

Being a billionaire sure provides options.
Nicaraguan diplomatic status? (passport?)

[edit: maybe this should have gone into the political thread]

HistoryProf wrote:I need an acronym cheat sheet for Nothing's posts here...can someone tell me who TK is? Can't place that one...making it tough to follow along. why I want to is yet another matter

Twitterific Kidcrits

Lemmy Caution wrote:I find the situation in Thailand fairly confusing.

This piece is a fairly concise summary of the recent historical past. She plays it very safe, so perhaps isn't quite as clear as she could be. She doesn't talk about the huge American influence, the American fear of Chinese influence; her comment about Thaksin and the 'free press' is deeply silly (as if the press was or ever has been free in Thailand), and it is perhaps useful to know the actual Thaksin/Thai Rak Thai policies that so enraged their opponents: during their tenure, the percentage of the population without access to healthcare dropped from 25% to 5%; Muhammad Yunus-style micro-credit loan schemes were introduced for the poorest farmers; rural infrastructure - roads, access to electricity and water - was massively improved. But at a cost (to whom? There's the next question to ask yourself).

In any case, with the festival drawing to a close, I offer my predictions. I hope I'm wrong...

Palme d'Or: Weerasethakul
Grand Prix: Leigh
Jury Prize: Bouchareb + Loznitsa
Director: Kiarostami
Actress: Yun
Actor: Bardem
Screenplay: Beauvois

That BBC article on Thailand is very interesting - and makes a change from the BBC's usual line on the situation that boils down to "won't someone please think of the tourists!"

It does sound like it has been a bizarrely political festival, with wonky half-baked takes on the wider world, or ignoring 'reality' completely. Perhaps Burnt By The Sun 2 is in with a chance after all!

The Guardian team offer their final thoughts, joined by Leslie Felperin and Mark Cousins:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/20 ... al-roundup" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Slant on Day 10, including a mixed review for Outside The Law:

http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2010 ... more-13288" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nothing wrote:Palme d'Or: Weerasethakul

Although I defer to your knowledge of the Thai political situation, isn't Apichatpong his surname? Anyway, can't see Burton being a huge fan, nor has the Palme gone to an Asian film since 1997 (when it was split between Kiarostami and Imamura).

Gropius wrote:Although I defer to your knowledge of the Thai political situation, isn't Apichatpong his surname?

Nope.