This is not what "bent" is supposed to mean in this context...

Happy--no, Sad face. My copy of Nick Davis's book "The Desiring Image: Gilles Deleuze and Contemporary Queer Cinema" arrived. YES. But it arrived like so, rolled up like a damn newspaper! NO.

I've tried to straighten the gorgeous gay out but it's not budging. Permanently bent!

[one hour later] Oops... I started reading instead of finishing this post which I should not have done since I have to return this copy! I'm so into the launching Cronenberg chapter and am digging the provocative argument that he...no I can't. Must. Return. Get. New. Copy.

I can't even bear to take a photo of the mangled cover so you should remind yourself of how beautiful it is here. And if you haven't ordered it yet, do it now. Nick is a great writer, provocative thinker, and unshakeable cinephile and since it's gay pride month, it's a great time to start digging in. You'll probably even have your beautiful unmangled copy before I get this one replaced by Amazon!

Man of Link

Film Studies for Free collects essays on Todd Haynes' 1995 masterpiece [safe]
Advocate Man of Steel as gay allegory?
Scriptnotes discusses The Little Mermaid in depth. For a whole podcast 
Guardian lists the 5 best performances of Kevin Costner. And it's SO bizarre I don't even know where to start. No Bull Durham (which as Tim correctly stated this week is by far his best work) but Robin Hood: Prince of Thi.... no I can't even type the full title out. Blargh!
Pajiba celebrates Men in Tights given that Supes is back in theaters

Cinema Blend Marvin Gaye Biopic starring Jesse L Martin doesn't have funds to finish production. Boo. I need another biopic about a famous singer with drug problems like I need another superhero flick but I like Jesse.
/Film Sandra Bullock for Miss Hannigan in Annie? That could be fun but as always say it with me now... "can she sing?"
In Contention a biopic of Ingrid Bergman? I can deal with that... especially since this possible new one has a tight focus on one moment in her life (the best kind of bio) 

Off Cinema
Salon on the battle over Detroit's art collection. News from my first home always seems to be bad :(
Towleroad Cheyenne Jackson pleads "Don't Look at Me" in his new video. We disobey
Vulture the ten best oral sex faces of the 2013 tv season  

Blue is the Hottest Controversy

Julien K. here, your special correspondent in Paris, reporting on the recent controversy surrounding the latest Palme d’or winner, Blue is the Warmest Color. 

As those of you who are familiar with the French film industry may know, director Abdellatif Kechiche’s work has been consistently lavished with praise for the last decade. In 2005, his sophomore effort L’esquive –a raw, direct exploration of teenage sexual politics in the banlieues (the French suburban hoods) by way of eighteenth century playwright Marivaux- unexpectedly trumped critical favorite Kings and Queen and populist heavyweights A Very Long Engagement and Oscar nominee The Chorus at the César Awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. The same thing happened in 2008, when his powerful immigrant family drama The Secret of the Grain defeated a pack of prestige Oscar contenders (La Vie en Rose, Persepolis, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) in the same top categories. 

But now that he’s won the most prestigious award of them all, Kechiche is facing a harsh backlash. [more]

Click to read more ...

Cannes Winners

Steven Spielberg and his jury have made their preferences known!

Three Palms! Léa + Abdellatif + Adele

PALME D'OR
Blue is the Warmest Color (also known as La Vie A'Dele - Chapitre 1 & 2) by Abdellatif Kechiche
In an unusual move the actresses Léa Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos are apparently sharing the Palme D'Or with the director so they all three have matching scrolls.

UPDATE: Some people will call this a historic win because it's a gay-themed film but arguably other Palme D'Or winners have had at least some degree of gay subtext or gay elements (like Elephant or Farewell My Concubine).

GRAND PRIX:
Inside Llewyn Davis by the Coen Bros 

PRIX DU JURY (JURY PRIZE): 
Like Father Like Son by Hirokazu Kore-eda 

DIRECTOR 
Heli by Amat Escalante 

SCREENPLAY (PRIX DU SCENARIO):
A Touch of Sin (Tian Zhu Ding) by Jia Zhangke 

CAMERA D’OR (BEST FIRST FEATURE): 
Ilo Ilo by Anthony Chen 

BEST ACTRESS (PRIX D’INTERPRETATION FEMININE):
Berenice Bejo for The Past

BEST ACTOR (PRIX D’INTERPRETATION MASCULINE): 
Bruce Dern for Nebraska

Though Cannes wins are so prestigious as to render "how will it affect the Oscar?" type questions instantly crass, everyone loves to still ask them. And this is obviously very good news for Bruce Dern's future campaign for Nebraska.

In other 'down the line' news, I wonder if this will help Blue is the Warmest Color actually make it into theaters. It was picked up by Sundance Selects but we all know that small distributors sometimes hold their movies for so long as to render any heat they once had ice cold. Let's hope, especially, that they don't get Oscar dreams because a) that's not going to happen -- France always has a lot to choose from for Oscar submissions and they're far more likely to go with The Past if they're picking a Cannes title --  and b) distributors who have those delusional Oscar dreams tend to hold their movies until after nominations at which point they put them on the backburner when they aren't nominated. 

Au revoir until next year!

Link is the Longest Blog Post

Flavorwire 15 great female film critics you should be reading
IndieWire Before Midnight has a great opening night in an unfortunately tiny amount of theaters. If I ran the world this would make $100 million this weekend ;)
Funny or Die "the reviews are in for Behind the Candelabra" LOL
Grantland Wesley Morris on two Cannes entries Claire Denis' Bastards and Nicolas Winding Refn's booed Only God Forgives 
My New Plaid Pants Allegedly Ewan McGregor 
/Film interesting. Jon Stewart's directorial debut Rosewater will star Gael García Bernal and is about a man who was held in an Iranian prison

Twitter Bryan Singer announces Evan Peters as Quicksilver. I've always thought the X-Men franchise was marred by sloppy casting (especially the further you get away from the centerpiece roles) and this one strikes me as no exception. The actors chose beyond the Magneto/Professor X/Wolverine trinity always seem "off" for the roles. Am I just too connected to the comic books? It's worth noting that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (twin siblings in the comics and two of my personal favorite characters in all of the Marvel Universe), due to complicated legal situations, can be used by both Marvel Studios and Fox but cannot reference the other so we may see a different actor play Quicksilver if Joss Whedon decides to use him.
Variety ...which he has according to this interview
Coming Soon an extremely annoying motion poster for the new Carrie
Variety Blue is the Warmest Color wins Fipresci prize at Cannes
In Contention ..speaking of lesbian dramas. Todd Haynes finally has a new movie project. It's called Carol and it's based on Patricia Highsmith's novel "The Price of Salt". Cate Blanchett is Carol, a married woman, who has an affair with a shopgirl Therese (Mia Wasikowska)
i09 DC heroes invade George Seurat's famous sunday in the park painting 

anniversaries and goodbyes
The Film Doctor happy 5th anniversary to a film blog I quite enjoy! 
Drawn is closing its doors. sniffle. i love this tumblr which was always a great way to stay connected to illustrators on the web 
Awards Daily Sasha's last entry from Cannes - missing buzzy Blue ... and attending the Nebraska press conference. Although I'll admit the reveal of a 30 minute time frame to file a review filled me with abject horror. It takes me SO LONG to write reviews. Are other critics really done with them in 30 minutes? How!