Cannes's Latest Booing Victims

It wouldn't be Cannes without the reports of boos from the always feisty crowd. While reviews and early word from the festival's first days were mostly positive, the jeers are just starting to begin. This year's unluckiest victims have been Personal Shopper and The Neon Demon.

If the reported response to The Neon Demon is to be believed, it may be one for future Cannes lore. The most vocal detractors were hurling obscenities at the screen and many responses were repulsed by the film's more twisted, violent elements and shallow veneer. But the question remains: What else did they expect from a Nicolas Winding Refn horror film? Perhaps the boos themselves could have been expected as well, given the reaction to his previous effort Only God Forgives.

Personal Shopper reunites director Olivier Assayas with his Clouds of Sils Maria star Kristen Stewart as an assistant suffering from ghostly visitations. Its many early fans have defended it as misunderstood, ambiguous, and difficult to categorize, and Stewart has garnered some Best Actress buzz for the festival. By my estimation, the film has inspired some of the best writing of the festival, like Richard Lawson's aching take over at Vanity Fair. The first international trailer promises something unique indeed:

Neither film needs to worry: they join the long tradition of films that have been booed at the festival, including Taxi Driver, Marie Antoinette, The Tree of Life, and Inglourious Basterds. Not every film booed at Cannes turns out like Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny - so consider our excitement for both Shopper and Demon increased.

Have you ever experienced booing in the cinema?

I Cannot Tell a Link

Guardian Glenn on 10 best Australian documentaries ever including Canes Toads (in 3D) a film I saw at Sundance years ago that freaked me right out
The Tracking Board Martin Scorsese might make a George Washington biopic. Hmmm, how does Leonardo DiCaprio look in a white powder wig?
Oscars.org Los Angelenos readers take note. Alan Menken and Angela Lansbury will be taking part in a 25th anniversary screening of Beauty & The Beast on May 9th. You can buy tickets at the link. 
MNPP Jason attends a special Aliens screening and Q&A with Sigourney Weaver (who is still looking incredible) 
Awards Daily thinks Passengers (the sci-fi film starring Chris Pratt & Jennifer Lawrence) could be one of our Best Picture nominees

The Playlist new images from The Neon Demon. Can't wait to see this 
New Yorker Richard Brody provocatively argues that film critics and publications need to move beyond "theatrical release" or "festival" when considering what makes a movie worth writing about
Variety more Cannes news. While we've already discussed the main jury, they've announced the sidebars. All three will be presided over by women (!): Actress Marthe Keller for Un Certain Regard; Director Naomi Kawase for Short Films; Director Catherine Corsini for Camera D'Or
Coming Soon has a new Kubo and the Two Strings trailer if you're interested (my general personal rule of thumb now is to stop after the first teaser or trailer so nothing is spoiled). Laika makes such great movies I don't even need a trailer. I'm always in.
/Film The Jungle Book has a how-they-did-it visual fx reel going around
i09 the X-Men finally get to wear costumes that are a smidgeon like their comic book origins at some point in X-Men Apocalypse (hopefully not just at the end)
Interview talks to programmer Thomas Beard about the current Film Society program 'Queer Cinema Before Stonewall '
FSLC ...and there's a few more days of that program left if you're in NYC

Provocative Thought O' The Day
Uproxx "Are more famous people really dying in 2016 or does it just seem that way?" which delves quite a lot into the 1980s as relevant cultural force

Off Cinema
Drama Desk Awards The nominations are in. Hamilton was eligible last year (since Off Broadway productions factor into these awards) which is why it's not up for anything. The revival of She Loves Me (with two of musical comedy's greatest stars: Laura Benanti & Jane Krakowski) leads all productions with 9 nominations. American Psycho wracked up the most nods for a new musical (well, it's tied with Steve Martin & Edie Brickelle's Bright Star) EXCEPT the big one: Best Musical. Weird, right. That's gotta sting even if the high nomination count isn't any sort of axe to the head for the show. Famous TV & Film actors nominated this year for their stage work include: Jessica Lange, Michael Shannon, Michael C Hall, and Frank Langella. Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o, who has been much-buzzed for her performance in Eclipsed, was not nominated this morning. Hmmm.

Today's Watch
Chase Whale interviews Key & Peele about their kitten heist movie Keanu. Fun bit.

Curio: The Neon Demon

Murtada here. Making the rounds online is fan art for Nicolas Winding Refn’s summer release The Neon Demon. Taking inspiration from Refn’s own “neon noir” aesthetic, the posters looked the part so much so that I first thought they were the real thing. They are not, they just are really good.

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Beauty Break: Will Karl Glusman Break Out at Cannes?

Cannes is as high profile as film festivals get so your first starring role in a buzzy feature could really make waves. Consider... Karl Glusman. He's the male star of Gaspar Noé's Love, the already buzzy sex film that gets a special screening at Cannes. He has a few credits in shorts and several on stage, plus voice work in a Starship Troopers film but he's still an unknown quantity. 2015 will be his first year in the movies proper so it could well start with a bang.

Gaspar Noé calls him

...the collest actor I have ever met. He is daring, joyful and intelligent. He has love scenes throughout the whole movie. He is the ultimate 3D baby maker."

Glusman photos (one NSFW) and videos after the jump...

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