A note for impatient readers: My top ten list is coming (I'm aiming for January 1st / 2nd) but first there's a couple year in reviews things and an interview with Kirsten Dunst. The new site will be up soon, too. Hopefully everything will be running smoothly within the next week.
Vulture Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu speaks out. Good read. I especially liked the Woody Allen bits. /Film Remember when Buried won that surprise NBR Screenplay award. That's not the end of the film's Oscar campaign story... Wired Patton Oswalt (The United States of Tara) asks for the death/rebirth of geek culture by ETEWAF (Everything That Ever Was... Available Forever). Really interesting piece, especially if you're feeling burnt out by the internet's constant regurgitation of past things and repurposing of newish things. Playbill has a list of a ton of people's favorite theater moments of the year. I wish I could still afford theater. [sniffle] Towleroad my weekly article with a teensy bit on the "depressing" double of Rabbit Hole and Blue Valentine. Cinema BlendCasper the Friendly Ghost is coming back to the movies. In Related News: Hollywood isn't even trying anymore. True story: I saw the Christina Ricci Casper (1995) at the drive-in and my best friend cried and we all made fun of him for weeks afterwards.
Three random questions:
Do you think Anne Hathaway is pissed that her Oscar co-host gets the EW cover but Natalie Portman gets what would then, symmetrically speaking, be hers?
Will there be a single day in 2011 where we aren't staring at Natalie Portman's mug?
Was there a day in 2010 when we didn't see James Francos?
offscreen
The Awl Call this next year twenty-eleven, please not "two thousand eleven". A compelling funny argument.
Last day in Cannes, and random thoughts on the films I saw.
Les Amours Imaginaires: Xavier Dolan's second feature was a huge disappointment for me after the gut punch of I Killed My Mother. It was probably foolish to expect a second miracle from a 20 year-old director, but although I recognized some of the qualities that made I Killed My Mother so memorable (the kid's got talent, that's for sure), I hate to admit that those who called him a narcissistic poseur the first time around were in fact not entirely wrong. Fans of A Single Man will probably revel in its overbearing prettiness, but to me the avalanche of slo-mo and Almo/Wong-isms felt too much like a self-conscious search for style, rather than the natural development of an artist.
If you thought Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's first three features were a tad too cheerful, Biutiful is sure to please you. Bleak doesn't even begin to describe the experience, which feels like being locked up in a sandbag and beaten for 2 hours and 20 minutes. As is often the case whith Inarritu, the film start with its main characters already at a very low point, and then proceeds to go downhill from there. There's no denying Inarritu has some fantastic directorial instincts, but since Babel, I'm getting the feeling that human misery is to him what oversized tits were to Russ Meyer: a huge turn-on. And his indulgence in filming squalor is increasingly nauseating, especially since there's nothing around the corner except more squalor. The only thing keeping it from complete unwatchability is Bardem's restrained, humane presence.
What can I say about Stephen Frears' Tamara Drewe? Nothing much, except that I have no idea what could have attracted a director of Frears' stature to such a trivial project, and that Gemma Aterton, who plays the title character, is outacted by every single member of the cast, including the dog. There are some funny moments, but it's mostly aimless, and all over the place.
Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy is by far the worst film I've seen during the Festival. It's the typical Cannes imposture: a film so vague and meandering that intimidated critics are sure to project some sort of profound content on it, terrified at the prospect of being the only one who didn't get it. So let me put it this way: for all its contrived central gimmick and long-winded gabbing about original vs. copy, Certified Copy is nothing more than a banal bourgeois melodrama posing as an art film. I found it not only tedious, but empty, pretentious and irritatingly lazy. Binoche may be great, but there's nothing she can do to salvage this pointless, shallow film.
Who could have thought a few months age that the go to guy for Hollywood spy thrillers, Doug Liman, would ever be in competion for the Palme d'Or? And yet here he is, with Fair Game, a retelling of the Valerie Plame affair that shook the Bush adminstration a few years ago. Sigh of relief:Fair Gamehas more in common with The Bourne Identity than with Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Liman chooses wisely to stay close to the facts, moves quickly, and gets some good work from former 21 Grams co-stars Watts and Penn. Solid and efficient, if unremarkable.
I'm flying back to Paris later this afternoon, and though I've had a fantastic time in Cannes (I've barely slept in a week), as you may have noticed I've been mostly underwhelmed by the films I saw here. I hope you won't think I'm such a sourpuss, but believe me, I ain't the only one: everyone in Cannes was pretty much disappointed by the selection. The closest I came to being won over completely was by Mike Leigh's Another Year, and I sure as hell hope Lesley Manville will be picking up the Best Actress prize for that one on Sunday.
Updated 04/19 They've added two titles but none to the actual competition list just yet. Updates are included below
04/15 Yes, they will add a few titles. Looking round the web people expect something like 4 to 5 more films to show up. Speculation that Malick's Tree of Life or Nolans Inception or Schnabel's Miral probably won't die until after they add said missing titles. But if you're heading over to the South of France next month or merely reading along on various Twitter feeds or film blogs, these are some of the titles you'll be hearing about.
Blanchett. Crowe. Scott
Opening NightFilm Because you have to kick off with a starry entry for that maximum red carpet kick. It gets the international and mainstream press excited and you need their eyeballs... even if your festival is for the global cinephiles.
Robin Hood(Ridley Scott) I'm amused that the tagline is marketing this as an "untold story". Hee. If you look up 'Robin Hood' at ye olde IMDb you get 22 "exact matches" and many more options as well. But it gives us a chance to see Cate Blanchett work the red carpet again and after that one year break (thanks Cate!) the carpet will welcome her back with... uh... open fibers.
Competition Titles The Cannes selection committee is really stingy about this field, nearly always erring on the side of the establishment. You rarely see first time auteurs and they're even stingy about second time auteurs who made a big splash the previous year (See: Xavier Dolan in Un Certain Regard instead).
Another Year (Mike Leigh) Only one more month until we know something (anything!) about Leigh's latest. Such as vague plot. Who has the lead role. Etcetera.
Biutiful(Alejandro González Iñárritu)
Burnt by the Sun 2(Nikita Mikhalkov) Russia's sole competition entry is the longest competition film at 2 hours and 21 minutes. It's also one we have to watch for the Best Foreign Language Film at next year's Oscars since the original won the top prize.
Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami)
Fair Game (Doug Liman) This is the Valerie Plame story again, only with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn in the top roles. As Guy Lodge said on Twitter
Doug Liman goes from "Jumper" to a Cannes competition slot. He's been reading Lee Daniels's self-improvement manual.
The Housemaid(Im Sang-soo) This is where we're reminded that IMDb is sometimes months behind on movies. Must be a bear to keep that site fresh with a never-ending stream of thousands of movies in various stages of development. It's listed as in pre-production but next month it shows at Cannes! I'm looking forward to this one -- not that I'll ever get a chance to see it -- because it stars the lead actress of Secret SunshineDo-Yeon Jeon.
La Nostra Vita (Daniele Luchetti)
Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois)
Outrage (Takeshi Kitano)
Outside the Law(Rachid Bouchareb)
Poetry (Lee Chang-dong)
The Princess of Montpensier (Bertrand Tavernier)
A Screaming Man(Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)
The great Mathieu Amalric (and cast) for Tournée
Tournée(Mathieu Amalric)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) The sometimes confounding Thai director's latest has the longest title (love it) but is actually the shortest film in competition (90 minutes)
You, My Joy (Sergei Loznitsa)
Un Certain Regard This popular sidebar of films, a competition which runs parallel to the main field, is generally where they put younger still maturing talent and "original and different" films. Though a certain 101 year old Portuguese master is here, so...
Adrienn Pál (Ágnes Kocsis)
Angelica (Manoel de Oliveira) This 101 year-old's 49th project -- god he has more stamina than Clint Eastwood! -- also goes by the titles The Strange Case of Angelica or O Estranho Caso de Angélica
Aurora (Cristi Puiu) From the director of the acclaimed Romanian film (is there any other kind?) The Death of Mr. Lazarescu. Like that film, this one is lengthy... the lengthiest from either lineup with a 179 minute running time.
Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance -first feature!) I'm already eager to see his second (third?) feature I liked this one so much. Cannes lists this as a first feature -- meaning he's eligible for their directorial debut award (a very big deal) but according to the IMDb his feature debut came some 10 years back when he made Brother Tied. Maybe that one doesn't count for some reason. The IMDb can be a confusing place.
Chatroom (Hideo Nakata)
Chongqing Blues (Xiaoshuai Wang)
The City Below (Christoph Hochhäusler)
Hahaha (Hong Sang-soo)
Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother) returns to Cannes, the scene of his debut triumph
Heartbeats (Xavier Dolan) This film from the writer/director/actor/gay wunderkind is also referred to as Les Amours Imaginaires which is a much more evocative title, don't you think? Click here for more info on the film
Life Above All (Oliver Schmitz)
The Lips (Iván Fund & Santiago Loza)
Octubre (Daniel Vega -first feature!)
R U There (David Verbeek)
Rebecca H. (Return to the Dogs) (Lodge Kerrigan)
Simon Werner Disappeared… (Fabrice Gobert -first feature!)
Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard)
Tuesday, After Christmas (Radu Muntean)
Udaan (Vikramaditya Motwane -first feature!)
Out of Competition Who knows the politics behind the Out of Competition field each year. But this is where you'll find big name directors who can benefit from a Cannes premiere without the nerve wracking 'will it win anything?' drama.
Brolin. Stone. Douglas. LaBeouf. Mulligan
Carlos (Olivier Assayas) One of France's most fascinating directors returns with this true story of the infamous criminal "Carlos the Jackal"
Tamara Drewe (Stephen Frears) I liked Chéri more than most but I still think it was something like a textbook definition of Missed Opportunity in a few substantial ways. Will Frears regain his artistic footing? Can we get something on the level of his late 80s / early 90s work again any time soon? Please. Pretty please. This is based on a graphic novel and stars Gemma Arterton
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Oliver Stone) I can't decide whether this movie needed a sequel or not. One can make an argument either way. But the movie will answer the question as to whether or not it did. It's 136 minutes long which... well, I hope Stone has enough to say to keep that going.
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (Woody Allen) Just discussed here.
Special Screenings "Special" Interpret that however you will.
5XFavela (Carlos Diegues)
Abel (Diego Luna -first feature!) Both of the Y Tu Mama Tambien boys have moved into direction. I remember two teenagers talking about this one on the bus in Park City this past January (it played at Sundance). I can't for the life of me recall their conversation other than that they thought it was "weird"
Chantrapas (Otar Iosseliani)
Draquila: L'Italia Che Trema (Sabina Guzzanti) trailer here
Inside Job (Charles Ferguson)
Nostalgia For The Light (Patricio Guzmán)
Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow (Sophie Fiennes) a documentary about an installation artist
Midnight Screenings
They'll have to add more of these. The festival lasts a fortnight!
Thomas Dekker (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) does leading manboy duties for indie favorite Gregg Araki
Blackhole(Gilles Marchand) This is also known as L'Autre Monde and stars Gallic hotties Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet (from the sticky Love Songs) and Melvill Poupaud (from the brilliant A Christmas Tale)
the trailer for Blackhole. Me want
Kaboom (Gregg Araki) Quiet Earth calls this an oversexed sci-fi romp. I can still remember vividly seeing The Living End (his debut) in the movie theater. I hadn't ever seen anything like it.
Don't you wish you were in France?
Other Blog Reactions to Check Out: Thompson on Hollywood some chatter about the films that didn't make the cut or weren't finished in time Women and Hollywood No female directors in competition Independent Eye Light on American films Indie Wire the lineup and poll. which film are you most excited for? Guardian Cannes '09 will definitely be a tough act to follow *
Lights. Cameras. Birthday Action (for this, the 30th of November). Only one month left to go and it's 2010. How crazy is that?
Ridley, Terrence (in the 70s) and Marc
1835 Mark Twain's books have been adapted into movies ever since the movies began. Most notably The Prince and the Pauper and any tale of Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer 1920 Virginia Mayo 40s and 50s star, frequent Danny Kaye foil 1926 Richard Crenna, character actor 1927 Robert Guillaume, "Benson" 1929 Dick Clark, seemingly immortal creature who may finally be destroyed by the rise of his spiritual offspring Ryan Seacrest. It's all very Cronos vs. Zeus, only without the thunderbolts 1937 Ridley Scott, manly director whose movies are usually way better when they're shot through with a strong female presence. Consider the three classics: Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Alien. The rest of the filmography surely has its moments but that's the trinity right there. 1943 Terence Malick, mysterious director, nature lover. He's only directed 4 features but what a quartet: Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, The New World. His fifth classic (I'm guessing) Tree of Life will arrive next year. 1950 Margaret Whitton potent 80s supporting actress (Secret of My Succe$s, Ironweed) who made her last movie Trial By Jury way back in 1994. I guess Hollywood didn't meet her needs. They certainly didn't capitalize well on her gifts. 1950 Chris Claremont wrote the X-Men, owned my childhood 1951 Bo Welch frequent Art Direction Oscar nominee. The filmography includes The Color Purple, Edward Scissorhands, Men in Black, Batman Returns, The Birdcage and The Little Princess 1952 Mandy Patinkin, singer, Inigo Montaya, broadway star, actor, continually wasted on TV series. I loved Yentl (1983) as a kid but I still can't quite forgive Babs for putting Mandy in a film musical (his only) and not letting him sing. That ain't right. I mean Warren Beatty even let him sing (with Madonna) in Dick Tracy and that wasn't even a musical
1952 Henry Selick director, stop motion miracle worker (Coraline, James and the Giant Peach, The Nightmare Before Christmas. See previous post) 1955 Billy Idol rocks, sneers, acts once in a blue moon (The Doors) 1956 Stephen Dillane actor of stage, screen, tv. Has played husband to two of TFE's favorite actresses: Kidman in The Hours and Moore in Savage Grace 1959 Cherie Currie, about to be portrayed by Dakota Fanning in The Runaways (see previous posts) 1969 Marc Forster hot bald director (Quantum of Solace, Finding Neverland, Monster's Ball) 1969 David Lindsey-Abaire playwright and screenwriter (Rabbit Hole) 1969 Amy Ryan, Oscar nominated actress (Gone Baby Gone) 1973 Nimród Antal the unusual named Hungarian American director (Kontroll) is currently directing Adrien Brody and Topher Grace in a reboot of the Predator franchise imaginatively titled Predators (2010) 1982 Clémence Poésy, French actress, known to millions as "Fleur Delacour" 1985 Aoi Miyazaki, Japanese actress
Finally today is the 31st birthday of diminutive screen god Gael García Bernal, one of the best and most important actors working. My wish for his next decade onscreen is that he reunite with either Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mama Tambien) or Pedro Almodóvar (Bad Education) but preferrably both. Maybe even a reteam with Alejandro González Iñárritu so long as the director hands him an Amores Perros quality role rather than the thankless one he got in Babel.
The cinema doesn't always do right by its most talented partisans but thankfully GGB is in demand. Next up is a romantic drama with Amanda Seyfried called Letters to Juliet. After that he's starring in the period drama También La Lluvia for actress turned director Icíar Bollaín followed by (gulp) a romantic comedy with Kate Hudson called Earthbound. Finally, that Oscar nomination that he's deserved but that's proved elusive could arrive. He has another starring role in a biopic (he's done that before with Motorcycle Diaries) called Gardel and then there's (maybe) Martin Scorsese's Silence, a historical drama about Jesuit priests. The latter, where he'd supposedly partner with the other recent screen "Che", Benicio Del Toro, sounds promising. Wouldn't it be nice to see Scorsese try his hand at directing a young and very talented actor whose name isn't Leonardo DiCaprio for a change? *
okay okay, you were right. I can't resist. But he has to share the holiday with other famed Mexican stars. I've only been to Mexico once (Los Cabos, for a little vacay) but after seeing Mexican movies hog the world cinema lineup at the IIFF I figured we'd celebrate.
clockwise from top left: amazingly prolific Marío Almada, Dolores Del Rio started om the silents and was the first Mexican movie star to enjoy international fame, one of the world's greatest actors Gael García Bernal (Bad Education, Amores Perros), Hollywood's current favorite Mexican Salma Hayek and heartthrob Diego Luna (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. He'll be in Gus Van Sant's Milk later this year)
clockwise from top left: Two time Oscar winner Anthony Quinn (La Strada, Lust for Life,Zorba the Greek, Lawrence of Arabia), "The Three Amigos" brilliant Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Y Tu Mama Tambien), miserabilism spokesperson Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel, Amores Perros) and the fantastical Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone), WrathfulRicardo Montalban, Mulholland Dr's Laura Harring who should work a whole lot more --come on Hollywood!-- and Oscar nominated Adriana Barraza (Babel).
So, the DGA Nominations have confirmed what many have been expecting all along: Oscar’s Best Picture Oscar nominees will be Babel, The Departed, Dreamgirls, Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen. (that happens to be exact PGA Nominee lineup this year) Remember that DGA nominations are typically more predictive of Oscars Best Picture lineup than the Best Director lineup.
So what is there left to argue about? Well, the directors branch within AMPAS is miniscule compared to the voting membership of the DGA and their eventual Oscar shortlist is always similar to the Guilds but skews ever so slightly towards more auteurist or critical champs. So expect Frears (The Queen), Scorsese (The Departed), and Iñárritu (Babel) to hold their positions. Dayton & Faris (Little Miss Sunshine) or Condon (Dreamgirls) will lose their spot to one of the presumed runners up: Clint Eastwood- Letters From Iwo Jima or Paul Greengrass –United 93 or any one of the Hispanic longshots: Alfonso Cuarón - Children of Men, Pedro Almodovar –Volver or Guillermo Del Toro –Pan's Labyrinth. May the best directors triumph! (That’d be Almodovar and Cuarón in case you haven't been paying attention)
But who knows, maybe the DGA list is the Oscar list too? Here's what could be going down: Oscar members prone to vote for the lone director maverick spot. Those who have voted for people like David Lynch, Atom Egoyan and Mike Leigh in past races probably have too many critical darlings to choose from this year. Plus the studios are still hooked on that risky last two weeks of December game despite Oscar not following the old schedule that always rewarded that game. I'm so glad Oscar isn't waiting till March anymore --I like the film year to be the real calendar year and not some weird Miramax-fashioned January to the next March thing. But I'm not at all happy that the studios are still trying to pretend that Oscar is on the old schedule. Maybe they'll learn this year if Christmas's critical hits (Letters From Iwo Jima, Pan's Labyrinth, Children of Men) all bomb w/ the golden guy?
P.S. I apologize for repeating myself. My mind goes round in circles this time of year.
related pages: Oscar BEST PICTURE Predix -update in progress Oscar BEST DIRECTOR Predix -update in progress
The wonderful Sasha Stone over at OscarWatch is thinking about the rapidly approaching DGA announcement. She asked me for my predictions so why not share them with you as well? I went with the following men:
Of course now that I've sent them I'm having doubts. It's kind of backwards logic but I'm more hopeful that Cuarón can slip into the eventual Oscar directing shortlist than the guild shortlist for his exceptional work on Children of Men. It's strange but the DGA shortlist is usually more indicative of where Oscar's Best Picture list will be than it's Director's list. So I probably should've replaced Cuarón with Dreamgirls' Bill Condon. I'm still angry at Universal for sitting on Children of Men rather than releasing it early enough for it to properly build. Movies that improve with age and second viewings warrant earlier releasing. This is not a complicated concept. Movies that blow their wad right away like oh, say, Dreamgirls need the safety of December.
One has to wonder how much mileage Children of Men and Pan's Labyrinthin particular can get when they're essentially competing with each other for last second "oh this is cool" attention. In many cases they're even sharing media stories with Babel which is already firmly established as a big Oscar contender. The 'Three Amigos' story of this friendly trio of acclaimed Mexican filmmakers makes for a great press angle but won't it divvy up the votes too much for a true impact?
I hope that the movie studios have noticed that the movies doing particularly well this year in precursors: The Departed, The Queen, Babel and Little Miss Sunshine all opened by October. It'd be nice if December was free of this mad rush of last minute Oscar releases and we could all just enjoy the holidays and maybe see favorite movies again without the pressure to see a million new ones. It'd be nice if awards bodies really had time to think their choices through. It'd be nice if money grew on trees, I had an unending supply of chocolate andClive Owen was my personal loveslave
As for my own awards
Don't look so worried, Clive. There'll be some action for Children of Men --it improves so markedly on second viewing I'm ready for a third. The 7th annual FiLM BiTCH Awards start in force tomorrow.
Tuesday Top Ten! ~a new weekly feature. For the listmaker in me and the list lover in you. Today's top ten should in no way be confused with the year in review: top ten of 2006 which is coming in the next couple of days (or something -shut up)
Top Ten Films by the 'Three Amigos', Mexico's trio of celebrated filmmakers: Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárritu, and Guillermo Del Toro who, awards watchers take not, all seem to be vying for this year's "lone director" spot on the Oscar shortlist. It seems obvious that Scorsese (The Departed), Eastwood (Letters From Iwo Jima), Condon (Dreamgirls), and Frears (The Queen) will place in the directors nominations. But the fifth slot is, as ever, up for grabs. It's between any of these three Mexican auteurs, Pedro Almodovar (Volver), Paul Greengrass (United 93) or *sigh* a double dip for Eastwood (Flags of...). Who do you think will nab the coveted spot? Or do you think two of them will, leaving Condon without a song for Dreamgirls?
Anyway... the list:
Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001, Cuarón)
Children of Men (2006, Cuarón)
Pan's Labyrinth (2006, Del Toro)
Powder Keg (2001 *short The Hire, Iñárritu)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004, Cuarón)
Amores Perros (2001, Iñárritu)
Cronos (1993, Del Toro)
Babel (2006, Iñárritu)
Mimic (1997, Del Toro)
Hellboy (2004, Del Toro)
I have not seen The Little Princess but given my affection for Cuarón, easily my favorite of the three, it would knock some of these down a peg. You'll notice that Iñárritu's highest rank comes from a short film. I still don't think his miserabilism works particularly well in the two hour format. It's too aggressive and forcefed. But in short form: wowie. I'm not a fan of Del Toro's The Devil's Backbone. Now, consensus opinion tells me I should rethink that but consensus also says that Pan's Labyrinth is a masterpiece (ignoring the movies considerable difficulty in fusing its two halves and its able but unrevelatory central performance) so: consensus be damned. Pan's sure is a beaut' to look at, though.
p.s. Speaking of beauty...here's hoping that the talented Fernando Eimbcke can raise his profile soon and become a fourth amigos --at least in regards to international media attention.
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