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?

Cannes Film Festival Official Lineup

Kieran, here. The Cannes film festival is a peculiar animal. Its relation to the Oscar race (it's April, so I'm allowed to mention it again) is nebulous. While the festival raerly fails to deliver at least a few titles that will net multiple nominations, it's hardly the launching pad into awards season in a way similar to Toronto or (in more recent years) Telluride. And truthfully, that's one of the things that makes it so compelling to follow. Regardless of whatever criticisms one can levy against Cannes, it's hard to deny that it clearly has its own rich history and identity with different motives on its mind compared to many high profile festivals.

The lineup for the festival is replete with interesting cinematic offerings. There are certain directors who can always garner a slot on the roster (*uses quiet voice* regardles of the quality of the actual film). Even still, it's such a thrill every year when they announce the list, quibble as we may at the inclusion of the usual suspects. Below is the official lineup for the 69th Annual Cannes Film Festival in full.

Opening Night Film

 Cafe Society – directed by Woody Allen

Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart in Woody Allen's latest

Doesn't it seem strange that it took this long for Woody Allen to put Kristen Stewart in one of his films? Woody Allen is definitely on the list of aforementioned directors who can always land a spot on the Cannes roster. Whether it's a rapturously received Midnight in Paris or a more tepid You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger level offering. Which will this be?

Competition 

Toni Erdmann – directed by Maren Ade
Julieta – directed by Pedro Almodóvar
American Honey– directed by Andrea Arnold
The Unknown Girl– directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Personal Shopper – directed by Olivier Assayas
It’s Only The End Of The World – directed by Xavier Dolan
Ma Loute – directed by Bruno Dumont
Paterson – directed by Jim Jarmusch
Rester Vertical– directed by Alain Guiraudie
Aquarius– directed by Kleber Mendonca Filho
Mal de Pierres – directed by Nicole Garcia
I, Daniel Blake– directed by Ken Loach
Ma’Rosa – directed by Brillante Mendoza
Loving – directed by Jeff Nichols
Bacalaureat – directed by Cristian Mungiu
Agassi– directed by Park Chan-Wook
The Last Face – directed by Sean Penn
Sieranevada – directed by Cristi Puiu
Elle – directed by Paul Verhoeven
The Neon Demon – directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

Elle Fanning in Nicolas Winding Refn's THE NEON DEMON

The announcement of the lineup has dovetailed nicely with the release of the trailer for Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon, which has the internet buzzing. Have you watched yet? Seeing the haunting, enigmatic stills of Elle Fanning I opted not to and hopefully go into the film cold when it reaches stateside. Seriously, though...how absolutely amazing does this lineup of in-competition features look? Bacalaureat directed by Cristian Mungiu (Beyond the Hills and the fantastic 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) is the title that most has me wishing I could attend the festival. There's no guarantee it'll reach the United States in a timely manner. 

Un Certain Regard

Varoonegi – directed by Behnam Behzadi
Apprentice– directed by Boo Junfeng
Voir Du Pays – directed by Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin
La Danseuse– directed by Stephanie Di Giusto
Clash– directed by Mohamed Diab
La Tortue Rouge - directed by Michael Dudok de Wit
Fuchi Bi Tatsu – directed by Fukada Koji
Omar Shakhsiya – directed by Maha Haj
Me’Ever Laharim Vehagvaot – directed by Eran Kolirin
After The Storm– directed by Kore-Eda Hirokazu
Hymyileva Mies– directed by Juho Kuosmanen
La Large Noche de Francisco Sanctis– directed by Francisco Marquez and Andrea Testa
Caini – directed by Bogdan Mirica
Pericle Il Nero – directed by Stefano Mordini
The Transfiguration– directed by Michael O’Shea
Captain Fantastic – directed by Matt Ross
Uchenik – directed by Kirill Serebrennikov

Viggo Mortensen in Matt Ross' CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

Captain Fantastic, the second feature by actor turned director Matt Ross (American Psycho, TV's "Big Love" where he was excellent as a gay serpentine polygamist cult zealot) already played Sundance to good notices. Will it also impress the Cannes audience?

Midnight Screenings

Gimme Danger – directed by Jim Jarmusch
The Train to Busan – directed by Yeon Sang-Ho
A Chad Tragedy – directed by Mahamat-Saleh Aroun
The Death of Louis XIV – directed by Albert Serra
L’Ultima Spiaggia – directed by Thanos Anastopolous and Davide Del Degan

Outside Competition

The BFG – directed by Steven Spielberg
Money Monster – directed by Jodie Foster
The Nice Guys – directed by Shane Black
Gok Sung – directed by Na Hong-Jin

Jodie Foster directs George Clooney in MONEY MONSTERThe premiere and subsequent reception of Jodie Foster's Money Monster (which will be released in the US the following day) will be interesting to watch for several reasons. Foster, while obviously accomplished as an actor, has never really broken through with unanimous critical acclaim for any of her outings as a director (though Home For the Holidays is excellent). This is also the first film produced by George Clooney with a female director. He has previously only produced white-male-directed films--an odd bit of trivia given his reputation as a bastion of forward-thinking politics in Hollywood. He was one of the louder critics of the Academy's lack of diversity this past season, so perhaps we're seeing Clooney going beyond rhetoric (which does have value when you're a star of his reach and influence) and putting his money where his mouth is. 

What are you most excited to see?

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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Nic Cage and the Curios Case of the Non-Disparagement Agreement

Manuel here bringing you what’s surely the weirdest buzz surrounding an upcoming project you didn’t know existed.

Paul Schrader’s (or rather, not-Schrader’s) new film Dying of the Light, set to open this December, is currently embroiled in one of the oddest bits of director/producer spats we’ve seen in a while. While the pic got a new trailer this week, Schrader, along with co-stars Nicolas Cage and Anton Yelchin (as well as exec producer Nicolas Winding Refn) has begun a tacit non-disparaging disparaging campaign against the film itself. In Schrader’s own words:

We lost the battle. Dying of the Light, a film I wrote and directed, was taken away from me, redited, scored and mixed without my imput. Yesterday Grindstone (a division of Lionsgate) released the poster and the trailer. They are available on line. Here we are, Nick Cage, Anton Yelchin, Nic Refn and myself, wearing our “non-disparagement” T shirts. The non-disparagement clause in an artist’s contract gives the owners of the film the right to sue the artist should the owner deem anything the artist has said about the film to be “derogatory.” I have no comment on the film or others connected with the picture.

It’s not often these behind the scenes battles go so public, though in this day and age, where social media allows a greater sense of transparency (Schrader himself took to Facebook to share the pic below), you’d think we’d get these types of approaches more often. I, for one, would love to see Nicole Kidman wearing a Team Dahan tee, wouldn’t you?

I love the picture Schrader cobbled together because it’s so patently over-the-top between Yelchin’s power fist and Refn’s too-cool glasses/come-at-me pose combo. But rather than snarking on Cage, Schrader and co., I wanted us to imagine alternate plots for the above poster.

What movie is being sold to us in this revamped Dying of the Light poster? Is it a Hangover-style comedy where we follow the hijinks that lead this foursome to all wear the same tee? Is it an indie where estranged fathers and brothers come together for one last dinner?

Top Ten Tweets: from Death Becomes Her to Dracula Untold

No, I'm not desperate for material. I'm not!

It's just that certain other more substantive articles are taking me longer than I expected because I over do it, don'cha know. In case you haven't noticed today, our season premiere, is a special "top ten day" - lists all day!

It is no secret that I love twitter. So much truth, fun, satire, insight, and silliness in 140 characters for when your attention span is very very short. You should follow the team on twitter: Nathaniel, Michael, Anne Marie, Jason, Glenn, Amir, Abstew newbies Manuel & Margaret (...and Matthew should he ever resurface)

10 BEST TWEETS OF THE WEEK
 aka random tweets that Nathaniel loved

The one thing that is more threatening to me than ebola is the proliferation of YouTube celebrities into mainstream culture.

— Robert Kessler (@robertkessler) October 13, 2014

We should remake DEATH BECOMES HER using only this year's Best Actress contenders.

— Jordan (@veilleuxwho) October 12, 2014

8 more: Clooney, Mean Girls, Dracula after the jump

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