ICYMI
Saturday, May 24, 2014 at 5:00PM This past two weeks has been Cannes heavy so what have you missed in the inbetweens? Here are a few highlights in case your brain was way over the ocean with all the auteurs and actresses.
Godzilla & Mutants
The King of Monsters wowed me more than readers as evident in the review and comments. But that big lizard monster led to one of our best podcasts ever (seriously so much fun to discuss) and made me feel like a "RRRrrraaaaAAAwrrr"ing 5 year old again when Tim surveyed the best monster vs monster fight scenes. We also dipped toes back into X-Mania... but not enough. Hopefully there's a bit more on X-Men (future and past) to come.
Other Notables
We joined the "critical conspiracy" against Legends of Oz, said a tearful goodbye to the legendary cinematographer Gordon Willis, looked at the trailers for Interstellar and Magic in the Moonlight and went time travelling back to the days of major actors doing "yellowface" in Dragon Seed (1944), days that are thankfully behind us.
And... Two E-Mail Last Calls!
Self-Improvement Motivation - inspired by the current banner, I'm starting a little experimental offsite encouragement group. If you join by e-mail request I promise there will be movie-love silliness mixed in with the 'did you get to the gym? do something to take care of yourself' banality.
Why am I doing this, exactly? Because I need it myself and misery loves company the more the merrier.
1941 Smackdown Reader Votes - You have until Friday May 30th to submit your ballots before we tally the hearts and see who wins the Smackdown. Vote on however many of the ladies you've seen (even if it's just two of 'em) since the votes are averaged by number of submissions it doesn't hurt the people who've appeared in underseen films.
The nominees were: Mary Astor (The Great Lie), Patricia Collinge and Teresa Wright (The Little Foxes), Margaret Wycherly (Sergeant York), and Sara Allgood (How Green Was My Valley)
Cannes Closing Ceremony - Live Blog
Saturday, May 24, 2014 at 12:56PM Cannes closes tomorrow and Diana still has a couple more pieces to share with you I believe, but now the prizes are handed out - here are quick notes from the ceremony.
12:45 PM EST the Jury has arrived which means the show is about to begin. Jane Campion is too busy to stand with her jury (at least at this second in the screencap)... and how have I never noticed how toweringly tall Nicolas Winding Refn is (far right)? I love his "who, me?" pose here as if he's aware of the disparity. This image alarmed me so much that I looked up photos of him with Ryan Gosling his 6'2" muse and Refn is yet taller.
12:49 Uma Thurman arrives with Quentin Tarantino and is wearing something like a white winged dove across her bosom... ooh, baby, ooh, said "ooh" ♫. Gorgeous as ever and I've always admired how bold her color choices are. Bright yellow at the Pulp Fiction 20th anniversary screening at Cannes and pure white today.
12:59 Timothy Spall, Mr Turner himself, has arrived which means we know where Best Actor is going (there didn't seem to be much competition for that this year (unlike Best Actress). Best Actor, Oscar Division, will have much more competition.
1:04 Xavier Dolan arrived looking very pleased with himself #whatelseisnew (I kid. Mostly. I enjoy his work. Intermittently he looks nervous but Mommy is definitely winning something)
1:05 Sophia Loren just had some sort of near wardrobe malfunction and is now holding tightly to her gown (perchance she tripped on the train on the steps). MORE...
Cannes Diary: "Foxcatcher" and Best Actor, "Clouds of Sils Maria" and Actresses
Saturday, May 24, 2014 at 9:07AM Diana Drumm reporting from Cannes for The Film Experience
With the Palme d’Or announcement looming over the Croisette, critics and casual filmgoers are scattering to catch the festival favorites screening throughout the Palais and/or selecting their bets for the Awards ceremony. Yours truly is in a bizarre, hazy limbo between the two, writing up what’s left of my coverage and running to more screenings. Without further rambling, here are two more competition films (an Oscar favorite and an indie to look out for) along with my personal pick for Best Actor. Will Jane Campion and jury agree?
Foxcatcher
Bennett Miller’s true story drama looks at the relationship between Olympic wrestlers Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) and Dave Schultz (Mark Ruffalo) and American old money heir John E. du Pont (Steve Carell), that would lead to a point-blank murder. Opening with black-and-white footage of a foxhunt (horses, hounds, riding gear) on the du Pont Foxcatcher estate, the film then cuts to Mark Schultz in not quite as posh straits, getting paid $20 to give a speech to an elementary school and chowing down on lukewarm ramen. So when he gets the call that John E. du Pont (apparently an avid wrestling enthusiast despite his status and it being a sweaty arm sport) wants to fly him out to meet, Mark leaps at the chance before getting any specifics on du Pont...
Cannes Tidbits: The Tribe, White God, and Sils Maria
Friday, May 23, 2014 at 8:00PM A few more notes from the festival. The big prizes are revealed tomorrow and the festival closes Sunday.
Juliette, Chloe, and Kristen
Sils Maria sometimes referred to as Clouds of Sils Maria focuses on an actress and her personal assistant and the actresses decision to play a part in a remake of a property deeply connected to her life (which weirdly also exactly describes, at least in part, Maps to the Stars with Julianne Moore and Mia Wasikowska!!!). Early word is that it's a Kristen Stewart showcase. This turn of events by no means surprise me. It's long been a thing which amuses and annoys in equal measure that people ALWAYS lose their shit when a non-prestigious actor suddenly holds their own in a substantive role or movie. (Hell, it's so common that this is even the second time this week following Channing Tatum's raves in Foxcatcher) Of course this "surprise" factor would be significantly reduced if more people paid attention to the actual quality of the acting in any actors career and not just that thing they did one time in a movie or franchise that made them famous. Foxcatcher is hardly the first time Channing has been good and if more people had actually watched and tried to absorb Stewart as Joan Jett in The Runaways, rather than treating it as a indie curio inbetween Twilight movies, they'd know that Stewart had some talent, too. That said I object to the subhheadline in Jordan Hoffman's review in Vanity Fair that says "sticks it to anyone who ever slammed her for Twilight"
....no, no, no. You don't get to erase your bad work as soon as you choose to do good work. Yes, those movies are terrible but she needn't have been terrible in them. Good committed actors rise above bad material all the time, so her dead-eyed numbingly dull performance in that franchise? That's on her.
Critics Week Winner
The Ukranian film The Tribe has no subtitles, but then it's not in Ukranian either. The ambitious movie is completely in sign language and populated by deaf actors. The audience has to decipher the intricacy by watching the gestures of and emotion of the actors. Just to make sure you're paying attention it also contains graphic sex. Here's a review from Indiewire... and consider our interest highly piqued.
The Winners of Critics Week
This is a sidebar featuring emerging talent so the features are also eligible for the Camera d'Or
Grand Prize - The Tribe (Ukraine)
Gan Foundation Support for Distribution Prize - The Tribe (Ukraine)
Visionary Award - The Tribe (Ukraine)
Screenplay - Hope (France)
Canal Plus (Short Film) - Crocodile (UK)
Sony CineAlta Discovery Prize (Short Film) - A Ciambra (Italy)
Palme D'og & Un Certain Regard
A Cannes tradition that got very popular when the The Artist broke out big in 2011, this year's winner was a Hungarian feature directed by Kornél Mundruczó called White God and we all know what "God" spells backwards. The movie is about a pack of wild dogs on a rampage and keeps being compared to Hitchcock's The Birds -- I wonder if that's just a snap judgement comparison or a qualitative comparison? Here's a feature at Artsbeat on the well-received film. Apparently Jean Luc Godard's Farewell to Language stars his dog Mieville had to settle for runner up.
White God also took top honors for the Un Certain Regard jury and, like Critics Week, most of the films are from emerging talent and some (though not the winner) are eligible for the Camera D'Or which honors first time filmmakers
The Winners of Un Certain Regard
Best Film - White God (Hungary)
Jury Prize - Force Majeure (Sweden
<-- For what it's worth Ruben Östlund has previously been submitted for Oscar consideration by Sweden
Special Jury Prize - The Salt of the Earth (USA)
Ensemble - Party Girl (France)
Best Actor -David Gulpilil, Charlie's Country (Australia)
Gulpilil previously collaborated with the same director Rolf de Heer on the Australian Oscar submission Ten Canoes (2006)
P.S. I do not know why there is not a Best Actress award. I assume the exact makeup of the prizes each year is up to that particular jury.