Cannes Jury Members Give Their Love to Haneke.

Jose here. In a truly unprecedented turn of events, Austrian auteur Michael Haneke has won his second Palme D'or at the Cannes Film Festival. Haneke now joins the ranks of the Dardenne brothers, Bille August and Francis Ford Coppola, among others, as some of the few filmmakers who have been able to achieve this feat. What's more surprising is that Haneke achieved it with two consecutive films and within the span of three years, his previous film The White Ribbon, won the Palme in 2009.

His winning movie Amour moved audiences and critics alike when it was shown in competition last week. People were surprised about the way in which his typical iciness shaded new light on the complex subject of mortality in a movie that deals with how a stroke shatters the stability of an older married couple. Some were pleased to realize Haneke had finally found his "heart" and the only thing that seemed to stand between him and his second Palme was none other than jury president Nanni Moretti...

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Chastain @ Cannes

I was thrown for a giddy loop while watching the Lawless trailer last week when Jessica Chastain strolled into frame with this sassy rhetorical question:

Well... do I get the job?"

Oh, Jessica. You get every job.

Quoth Movie|Line two weeks back when she finally turned down a role (in something as fame-boosting as Marvel Studio's billion dollar superheroes franchise (Iron Man 3 to be exact):

Asked for their reactions, every other young actress in Hollywood sighed in unison, "Finally." 

When I interviewed Jessica Chastain this past Oscar season she was name dropping international auteurs like Olivier Assayas and Michael Haneke as dream directors, as a true cinephile and would be auteur muse would. I guess when you kick things off with stellar co-stars and Terrence Malick you have license to dream big. Will she actually court them (or vice versa) while in the South of France?

Or maybe she's recalibrated to pursue Jacques Audiard (extremely worthy target) who has a festival hit with Rust and Bone. What do you think Jessica Chastain is doing at this EXACT moment over in Cannes? It's 2:15 AM there at this very moment but it's not like anybody sleeps during the festival.

It's Over! Hot Docs '12 Finale Edition

The Hot Docs Festival wrapped late last week and a jury handed out awards on Friday.

Call Me Kuchu

I saw Call Me Kuchu after it won Best International Feature (each year they play three award winners during the festival's last evening). I had tried to avoid the movie because depression and anger aren't emotions I like feeling, especially with something that affects me on such a personal level. The anger is rooted in denial.  I'd like to think that the struggle is over for LGBT people but it isn't in so many communities and countries. 

"Kuchu" is a pejorative umbrella term referring to homosexuals, male or female, for Uganda's homophobic government and majority opinion. Directors Malika Zouhali-Worrall and Katherine Fairfax Wright follow a small group of gay activists in this hostile environment and focus on David Kato in particular. His violent death took place during this documentary's production. His murder sparked outrage in the Western world but Uganda's government and majority resent the Western interference in their policies.

One of the other movies given an additional screening was Nisha Pahuja's The World Before Her, which also  made a splash at Tribeca. It won the top prize of Best Canadian Feature and $10,000. This documentary compares contestants of the Miss India pageant with young women of the same age toting guns in Hindu fundamentalist camps, exposing the lack of options for social and economic mobility of young woman in India. According to the CBC, Pahuja's previous credits include TV doc Diamond Road and it took her two years to gain access to the fundamentalist camps. More award winners after the jump.

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Hot Docs: Paolo's Opening Reactions

Paolo here. All world class cities have a lot going on in arts and cultures and this is especially true of Toronto for film lovers. So here I am apologizing that I missed the Kathleen Turner Mini-Film Festival because it happened during Hot Docs, the largest documentary film festival in North America. Taking us northern movie lovers from our post-Oscar hibernation, this festival also begins our new movie year.

I first started going to the festival in 2010, a year full of political films, although not as preachy as the word implies. 2011 had creatively-filmed spotlights on the bittersweet lives of its subjects. But this year's docs are more difficult to enjoy, if that's even an option. Let me explain. An example is The Invisible War, which had its international premiere last Friday.

It's...

the latest groundbreaking investigative documentary by award-winning director Kirby Dick, is about one of America’s most shameful and best kept secrets: the epidemic of rape -

No! Although it has 'prestige doc' potential.

Then there's Outing, also having its international premiere last Friday, its synopsis reading

Since turning 15, a shy, sensitive youth has struggled with a growing awareness of his own unimaginable desire: his sexual attraction to children.

"Jeff"Oh come on now, really? (UPDATE: the screenings for this movie have sold out, leaving its availability status for those who dare join the rush lines). These movies are just the tip of a creepy ass iceberg. There's a selection called Sexy Baby for Christ's sakes, adding another title to the trend of Docs That Make Me Uncomfortable. Then again why am I avoiding these movies but have no qualms on signing up for 'Nightvision,' a package of midnight screenings, that include passes for the Jeffrey Dahmer doc called...Jeff (I blame Jeremy Renner).

[Slushy thoughts, less depressing stuff and James fucking Franco after the jump.]

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Cannes: The Usual Suspects

Jose here to discuss the lineup for this year's Cannes Film Festival. I know what I'm about to say isn't "cool" but aren't you tired of Cannes being Oscar's equally traditional but way more highbrow cousin? Why, you ask? During the past decade or so, it's become equally predictable to know what'll be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and what films will show up in the official Cannes lineup.

You don't believe me?  

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