Cannes at Home: Day 3 – A Cinema of Violence

by Cláudio Alves

The third day of the festival, second day of competition screeners, brought with it our first big Cannes stinker of the year, as well as a potential prize magnet. Starting with the catastrophe, Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire's Black Flies, which stars Sean Penn, incurred the wrath of many a critic. In more positive news, Chinese documentarian Wang Bing presented the first part of a tetralogy project (Youth or Spring are the alternate English language titles), a three-hour-plus epic of observational cinema concerning the lives of young laborers in China's garment industry. Could this be a significant contender for end-of-the-festival honors?

For the Cannes at Home project, let's consider how these two auteurs have dedicated much of their careers to depicting violence – Sauvaire the brutality of war and combat, Wang the horrors of exploitation. With that in mind, our films for today (both available to stream) are Johnny Mad Dog and Bitter Money…

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Review: Virginie Efira is miraculous in "Other People's Children"

by Cláudio Alves

Watching Rebecca Zlotowski's Other People's Children, I was reminded of a discussion I once had with a professor. Despite the class focusing on theater, we talked about cinema and what stories deserve to have the camera pointed at them. In short, we debated the merits of dramatizing ordinary people. For me, there's plenty of interest in exploring individuals whose lives are entirely un-dramatic, maybe even anti-dramatic. Great art can be created by investigating the complexities of the simplest-seeming experiences. Just because something appears anodyne or common doesn't mean there aren't beguiling specificities or that we should be above it. My professor disagreed.

At the time, a great deal of the conversation centered around the films of Chantal Akerman, but Zlotowski's latest effort feels like an up-to-date if more conventional, example. Indeed, I imagine my former pedagogue would hate the thing if he ever set eyes on Other People's Children…

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The haunting beauty of "Kwaidan"

by Cláudio Alves

This month, in the Criterion Channel, there's a spotlight on Kwaidan, the Masaki Kobayashi classic that became the first significant example of Japanese horror to reach international audiences. You can find critic Grady Hendrix exploring the 1964 anthology on the streaming service, but that's far from the only reason you should check it out. Kwaidan collects four ghost stories that, together, form cinematic poetry of ravishing beauty. No wonder Kobayashi's film has entranced The Film Experience for years. Dancin' Dan once wrote about Kwaidan for the Oscar Horrors series, Nathaniel and Juan Carlos discussed it in podcast form, and I highlighted its costuming for an idealized Oscar ballot. 

Still, it's never a wrong time to re-consider Kwaidan, to get lost anew in its visual splendor...

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Oscar Volley: Is ‘Best International Film’ a done deal?

Team Experience is discussing the various Oscar categories. Here's Cláudio Alves and Nick Taylor discussing the Best International Feature Film race.

CLÁUDIO: Since the last batch of Oscar volleys in a pre-nomination world, few categories have been as shaken up as Best International Film. Back then, you could still wonder if All Quiet on the Western Front had been seen by enough people in the industry. Now, after its slew of Oscar nods and smashing BAFTA performance, it's competitive in multiple categories and expected to nab an easy victory in this one. I've already elaborated on my distaste for Edward Berger's war picture and find myself rather delighted to have been paired up with you, dear Nick, for this volley. You see, dear reader, here's someone who might dislike the movie even more than my nitpicky ass.

NICK: But I’ve softened on All Quiet a bit…

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"A Man" leads the Japan Academy Film Nominations

by Nathaniel R

"A Man" received 13 nominations from the Japanese Academy.

Last year the Japan Academy Film prizes were had a slightly higher profile on this side of the pond due to the international success of Drive My Car (which was also popular with Oscar voters). This year, there's no Japanese breakout film unless you count popular anime titles but it's still worth sharing what the Japan Academy is loving. With 13 nominations Kei Ishiwaka's A Man (which premiered at Venice) is the film to beat and it's worth noting that it came out after the deadline for the Oscar submissions this year [updated] and also wasn't submitted by Japan in the new Oscar season. The Japanese ceremony was two days before the Oscars this year on March 10th. Here are the nominees and UPDATED TO INCLUDE THE WINNERS AFTER THE JUMP...

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