Nick's Flick Picks: The Cannes Film Festival

<BODY text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFCC" link="#003399" vlink="#003399" leftmargin="35" rightmargin="35"> <table width=680><tr><td> <br> <TABLE cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0> <TR><TD width=480 valign=center><Font Face=Garamond Color="#003399" Size=+3><strong>Cannes Film Festival 2006</strong></Font><br> <B><Font Color="#660066">Jury President:</Font> Wong Kar-wai</b><br> <Font Color="#660066">Other Jurors:</Font> Monica Bellucci, Helena Bonham Carter, Samuel L. Jackson, Patrice Leconte, Lucrecia Martel, Tim Roth, Elia Suleiman, Zhang Ziyi</TD> <TD width=40% align=right valign=center><img src=cannes06tab.jpg></TD></TR></TABLE> <hr> <br> <TABLE cellpadding=3> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Palme d'Or:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=windshak.html><b>The Wind That Shakes the Barley</b></a>, UK, dir. Ken Loach</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Grand Jury Prize:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=flanders.html><i>Flanders</i></a>, dir. Bruno Dumont</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Jury Prize:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=redroad.html><i>Red Road</i></a>, dir. Andrea Arnold</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Director:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=babel.html><i>Babel</i></a>, Alejandro Gonz&#225lez I&#241&#225rritu</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Actress:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=volver.html><i>Volver</i></a>, Pen&#233lope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Due&#241as, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, and Chus Lampreave</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Actor:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=indigens.html><i>Days of Glory (Indig&#232nes)</i></a>, Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila, and Bernard Blancan</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Screenplay:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=volver.html><i>Volver</i></a>, Pedro Almod&#243var</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Technical Grand Prize:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=babel.html><i>Babel</i></a>, Stephen Mirrione, editing</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>FIPRESCI/International<br> &nbsp &nbsp Critics Prize:</TD><TD width=450></b></Font> <Font Color="#003399"><i>Climates</i></Font>, dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Prize of the Ecumenical Jury:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=babel.html><i>Babel</i></a>, dir. Alejandro Gonz&#225lez I&#241&#225rritu</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Camera d'Or (first feature):</TD><TD width=450></b></Font> <a href=1208buch.html><i>12:08 East of Bucharest</i></a>, dir. Corneliu Porumboiu</TD></TR></TABLE> <hr> <br> <img src=cannes06ffn.jpg align=right><Font Face=Garamond Color="#660066" Size=+1><b>Competition Films I Have Seen:</b></Font><br> <Font Size=-1><b>Ranked in order of preference</b></Font><br> <Font Size=-2>&nbsp <br></Font> <Font Color="#003399"><b>My Palme d'Or</b></Font><br> <a href=ffnation.html><i>Fast Food Nation</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(USA, dir. Richard Linklater)</Font> - Quilt of characters but not Altmanesque, more careworn and humbled than jazzy or cynical; well acted; looks sadly, impressively like USA </Font><br> <br> <a href=redroad.html><i>Red Road</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(UK, dir. Andrea Arnold)</Font> - Last-minute add to competition blows most of it out of water; Arnold still mastering narrative but nails mood, camera, light, sound, tension </Font><br> <br> <a href=volver.html><i>Volver</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Spain, dir. Pedro Almod&#243var)</Font> - Most notable as coming-out party for wonderful Cruz; somewhat less than memorable, but we could use more movies that radiate proficient glow </Font><br> <br> <a href=indigens.html><i>Days of Glory (Indig&#232nes)</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(France/Algeria, dir. Rachid Bouchareb)</Font> - One of those recuperative historical dramas that errs on side of straightforward earnestness to score its points, but it does score them </Font><br> <br> <a href=windshak.html><i>The Wind That Shakes the Barley</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(UK, dir. Ken Loach)</Font> - Light is painterly on landscapes, sculptural on faces, lending dynamism to passion-soaked film even when story gets clich&#233d or imbalanced </Font><br> <br> <a href=southtal.html><i>Southland Tales</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(USA, dir. Richard Kelly)</Font> - A total Rorschach; easier to imagine hating than loving on a different day, but it's got cuckoo imagination, even if Kelly exceeds his reach </Font><br> <br> <a href=marieant.html><i>Marie Antoinette</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(USA, dir. Sofia Coppola)</Font> - The anti-<i>Southland</i>: an enticing but frustrating film that I suspect would improve on second view, though limits to Coppola's ideas seem clear </Font><br> <br> <a href=panslaby.html><i>Pan's Labyrinth</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Mexico, dir. Guillermo Del Toro)</Font> - So, it turns out fascists are grisly monsters and peasants are gauntly noble. So much for dream logic or real ideas, but images have allure </Font><br> <br> <a href=babel.html><i>Babel</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Mexico/USA, dir. Alejandro Gonz&#225lez I&#241&#225rritu)</Font> - Can't resist forcing needless link-ups; step away and Japan plot seems especially lame, but while it plays, actors and tone keep film aloft </Font><br> <br> <a href=sumpalac.html><i>Summer Palace</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(China, dir. Lou Ye)</Font> - Enticed to the movie by its reputation for infuriating Chinese government, I had hoped for something less sludgy; still, it's worth a look </Font><br> <br> <a href=flanders.html><i>Flanders</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(France, dir. Bruno Dumont)</Font> - Finally, a Dumont film for which I can't imagine a defense; a lame egghead's-remove take on Iraq War plus old saws about female hysteria </Font><br> <br> <hr> <br> <Font Face=Garamond Color="#660066" Size=+1><b>My Jury Votes:</b></Font><br> <TABLE width=600px cellpadding=3> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Director:</b></Font></TD><TD width=70%>Andrea Arnold, <a href=redroad.html><i>Red Road</i></a></TD></TR> <TR><TD width=30%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Actress:</b></Font></TD><TD width=70%>Ashley Johnson, <a href=ffnation.html><i>Fast Food Nation</i></a></TD></TR> <TR><TD width=30%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Actor: </b></Font></TD><TD width=70%>Cillian Murphy, <a href=windshak.html><i>The Wind That Shakes the Barley</i></a></TD></TR> <TR><TD width=30%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Screenplay:</b></Font></TD><TD width=70%>Pedro Almod&#243var, <a href=volver.html><i>Volver</i></a></TD></TR> <TR><TD valign=center width=30%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Technical Grand Prize:</b></Font></TD><TD valign=top width=70%>Lance Acord, cinematography, <a href=marieant.html><i>Marie Antoinette</i></a><br> Eugenio Caballero, production design, <a href=panslaby.html><i>Pan's Labyrinth</i></a></TD></TR></TABLE> <hr> <br> <img src=cannes06jindabyn.jpg align=right><Font Face=Garamond Color="#660066" Size=+1><b>Sidebar Selections I Have Seen:</b></Font><br> <Font Size=-1><b>Ranked in order of preference</b></Font><br> <Font Size=-2>&nbsp <br></Font> <a href=jindabyn.html><i>Jindabyne</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Directors' Fortnight: Australia, dir. Ray Lawrence)</Font> - Uncertain hold on aboriginal culture, but otherwise stunning drama; majestic handling of edits, actors, sound, wide frame, and natural light </Font><br> <br> <a href=dndnight.html><i>Day Night Day Night</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Directors' Fortnight: USA, dir. Julia Loktev)</Font> - Amazingly avoids feeling like a stunt; instead, a bracing, stomach-knotted immersion in final hours of young girl heading to NYC with a bomb </Font><br> <br> <a href=1208buch.html><i>12:08 East of Bucharest</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Directors' Fortnight: Romania, dir. Corneliu Porumboiu)</Font> - Nimble duel over whether local action breeds big changes, or reverse. Dialectics as comedy, as lesson, and as detour from pressing problems </Font><br> <br> <a href=bamako.html><i>Bamako</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Out of Competition: Mali, dir. Abderrahmane Sissako)</Font> - As lecturely as <i>Inconvenient Truth</i>, but dry surface conceals odd, witty, angry theater of the absurd; uneven, a few clunks, but entrancing </Font><br> <br> <a href=destrict.html><i>Destricted</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Miscellaneous, dirs. Marina Abramowi&#263, et al.)</Font> - See the European print if you can: the batting average of its segments is higher, but Barney and Noé entrance in both. </Font><br> <br> <a href=united93.html><i>United 93</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Out of Competition: USA, dir. Paul Greengrass)</Font> - I get some people declining to see it but not why it's "too soon"; realism without sadism, capable of compassion, moving in unexpected ways </Font><br> <br> <a href=shortbus.html><i>Shortbus</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Out of Competition: USA, dir. John Cameron Mitchell)</Font> - Aims so hard for diversity that vanilla, male bias is all the more striking; jokes, tenderness, exuberance welcome; why no sex in 2nd hour? </Font><br> <br> <a href=thehost.html><i>The Host</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Directors' Fortnight: South Korea, dir. Bong Joon-ho)</Font> - First sequence of monster's attack a wonder; rest is good, but never <i>as</i> good; idiotic humans are alternately interesting and infuriating </Font><br> <br> <a href=bug.html><i>Bug</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Directors' Fortnight: USA, dir. William Friedkin)</Font> - Friedkin, actors, designers, D.P. all earn credit for making very body-centered play work well on screen, though signs of struggle persist </Font><br> <br> <a href=incontru.html><i>An Inconvenient Truth</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Out of Competition: USA, dir. Davis Guggenheim)</Font> - Admittedly, aiming camera at lecture falls short of cinema, but images, ideas do come across; outside classroom, Gore laughably kid-gloved </Font><br> <br> <a href=10canoes.html><i>Ten Canoes</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Un Certain Regard: Australia, dir. Rolf de Heer)</Font> - Bats around 60/40 between a hypnotic mythopoesis of aboriginal culture and a middlebrow arthouse curio with nativist pretensions </Font><br> <br> <a href=scandark.html><i>A Scanner Darkly</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Un Certain Regard: USA, dir. Richard Linklater)</Font> - Hangs together better than Waking Life did, with a few bravura turns and images, but something about this aesthetic still feels stunted </Font><br> <br> <a href=pageturn.html><i>The Page Turner</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Un Certain Regard: France, dir. Denis Dercourt)</Font> - I'm guessing the motivating muse here is Chabrol? Frot is good, a blither, icier nemesis than Huppert's piano teacher, but film isn't much </Font><br> <br> <a href=pjetaime.html><i>Paris, je t'aime</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Un Certain Regard: France et al., dir. Miscellaneous)</Font> - 18 stories, of which I remember six, half of them sort of fondly: Van Sant, Assayas, Payne. Why not explore a city we know less well? </Font><br> <br> <a href=extangls.html><i>Exterminating Angels</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Directors' Fortnight: France, dir. Jean-Claude Brisseau)</Font> - <i>Secret Things</i> potentially not worth big brouhaha it caused in France; this <i>film-&#224-clef</i> about making that one feels smug and unnecessary </Font><br> <br> <hr> <br> <Font Face=Garamond Color="#660066"><b>Competition Films I'm Curious to See:</b></Font><br> <Font Size=-1><b>Ranked in order of interest; more on this year's lineup <a href="http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/2006/allSelections.html" target="_new">here</a></b> (opens in a new window)</Font><br> <Font Size=-2>&nbsp <br></Font> <a href="http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0460480/"><i>Colossal Youth</i></a>, Portugal/France/Switzerland, dir. Pedro Costa<br> <a href="http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0458242/"><i>Lights in the Dusk</i></a>, Finland, dir. Aki Kaurism&#228ki<br> <a href="http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0772105/"><i>The Family Friend</i></a>, Italy, dir. Paolo Sorrentino<br> <a href="http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0429727/"><i>The Caiman</i></a>, Italy, dir. Nanni Moretti<br> <a href="http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0498097/"><i>Climates</i></a>, Turkey, dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan<br> <br> <TABLE border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=5><TR><TD valign=top><Font Color="#660066" Size=-1>Also in Competition</Font>:</TD><TD> <Font Size=-1> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479354/"><i>Buenos Aires, 1977</i></a>, Argentina, dir. Adri&#225n Caetano<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454536/"><i>The Right of the Weakest</i></a>, Belgium, dir. Lucas Belvaux<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0444418/"><i>Selon Charlie</i></a>, France, dir. Nicole Garcia<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464828/"><i>When I Was a Singer</i></a>, France, dir. Xavier Giannoli<br> </Font> </TD></TR></TABLE> <hr> <br> <Font Face=Garamond Color="#660066"><b>Sidebar Films I'm Curious to See:</b></Font><br> <Font Size=-1><b>Listed alphabetically; more on this year's lineup <a href="http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/2006/allSelections.html" target="_new">here</a></b> (opens in a new window)</Font><br> <Font Size=-2>&nbsp <br></Font> <TABLE border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=8><TR><TD valign=top><Font Color="#660066">Un Certain Regard</Font>:</TD><TD> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0795341/"><i>Bled Number One</i></a>, Algeria/France, dir. Rabah Ameur-Za&#239meche<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0410730/"><i>Taxidermia</i></a>, Argentina, dir. Gy&#246rgy P&#225lfi<br> </TD></TR> <TR><TD valign=top><a href="http://www.quinzaine-realisateurs.com/archives/2006/" style="text-decoration:none" target="_new"><Font Color="#660066">Directors' Fortnight</Font></a>:</TD><TD> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0769508/"><i>Dans Paris</i></a>, France, dir. Christophe Honor&#233<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412808/"><i>The Hawk Is Dying</i></a>, USA, dir. Julian Goldberger<br> </TD></TR> <TR><TD valign=top><a href="http://www.semainedelacritique.com/EN/films/2006/2006_selection.php" style="text-decoration:none" target="_new"><Font Color="#660066">Critics' Week</Font></a>:</TD><TD> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0814656/"><i>Poison Friends</i></a>, France, dir. Emmanuel Bourdieu<br> </TD></TR> <TR><TD valign=top><Font Color="#660066">Out of Competition</Font>:</TD><TD> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1054043/"><i>SIDA</i></a>, France, dir. Gaspar No&#233<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446784/"><i>Sketches of Frank Gehry</i></a>, USA, dir. Sydney Pollack<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463381/"><i>Transylvania</i></a>, France, dir. Tony Gatlif<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800262/"><i>The Water Diary</i></a>, Australia, dir. Jane Campion<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478337/"><i>Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait</i></a>, France, dirs. Douglas Gordon & Philippe Parreno<br> </TD></TR></TABLE> <hr> <Font Face=Garamond> <table cellpadding=12><tr> <td>Trackbacks:</b></td> <td><strong><a href=cannes06.html target="_top">Permalink</a></strong></td> <td><strong><a href=cannes.html target="_top">Cannes Page</a></strong></td> <td><strong><a href=movies06.html target="_top">2006</a></strong></td> <td><strong><a href=movarchs.html target="_top">Home</a></strong></td> <td><strong><a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com" target="_new">Blog</a></strong></td> <td><strong><a href=email.html target="_top">E-Mail</a></strong></td> </tr></table> </Font> </center> </body>