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 2007</strong></Font><br> <B><Font Color="#660066">Jury President:</Font> Stephen Frears</b><br> <Font Color="#660066">Other Jurors:</Font> Marco Bellocchio, Maggie Cheung, Toni Collette, Maria de Medeiros, Orhan Pamuk, Michel Piccoli, Sarah Polley, Abderrahmane Sissako</TD> <TD width=40% align=right valign=center><img src=cannes07tab.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=4m3w2day.html><b>4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days</b></a>, Romania, dir. Cristian Mungiu</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Grand Jury Prize:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=mrnforst.html><i>The Mourning Forest</i></a>, dir. Naomi Kawase</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Jury Prize:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=perspols.html><i>Persepolis</i></a>, dirs. Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud<br> <a href=sillight.html><i>Silent Light</i></a>, dir. Carlos Reygadas</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Director:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=dvbelbut.html><i>The Diving Bell and the Butterfly</i></a>, Julian Schnabel</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Actress:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=secrsuns.html><i>Secret Sunshine</i></a>, Jeon Do-yeon</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Actor:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><Font Color="#003399"><i>The Banishment</i></Font>, Konstantin Lavronenko</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Screenplay:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=edgheavn.html><i>The Edge of Heaven</i></a>, Fatih Akin</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>60th Anniversary Prize:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=prndpark.html><i>Paranoid Park</i></a>, Gus Van Sant</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Technical Grand Prize:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=dvbelbut.html><i>The Diving Bell and the Butterfly</i></a>, Janusz Kaminski, cinematography</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>FIPRESCI/International<br> &nbsp &nbsp Critics Prize:</TD><TD width=450></b></Font> <a href=4m3w2day.html><i>4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days</i></a>, dir. Cristian Mungiu</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Prize of the Ecumenical Jury:</b></Font></TD><TD width=450><a href=edgheavn.html><i>The Edge of Heaven</i></a>, dir. Fatih Akin</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=230><Font Color="#003399"><b>Camera d'Or (first feature):</TD><TD width=450></b></Font> <a href=meduzot.html><i>Jellyfish</i></a>, dirs. Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen</TD></TR></TABLE> <hr> <br> <img src=cannes074m.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=4m3w2day.html><i>4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Romania, dir. Cristian Mungiu)</Font> - Excellent, fresh, suspenseful; phenomenally assured acting and direction, and mature collapsing of any line between politics and "real life" </Font><br> <br> <a href=weownigt.html><i>We Own the Night</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(USA, dir. James Gray)</Font> - Unpretentiously gripping police thriller is also subtle, daring, and formally rigorous: a world-class revisiting of B-movie idioms </Font><br> <br> <a href=alxandra.html><i>Alexandra</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Russia, dir. Aleksandr Sokurov)</Font> - Sokurov may have visual and thematic tics but they work so richly and never seem insincere; a new species of oneiric war film </Font><br> <br> <a href=edgheavn.html><i>The Edge of Heaven</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Germany, dir. Fatih Akin)</Font> - Template of intertwining lives seemed exhausted, but this well-shot, well-acted, well-written drama is elegant and emotionally direct </Font><br> <br> <a href=secrsuns.html><i>Secret Sunshine</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(South Korea, dir. Lee Chang-dong)</Font> - Uneven contrivances, less bracing than <a href=oasis.html><i>Oasis</i></a>, but still a gutsy, restlessly agnostic maternal melo. Jeon is great. </Font><br> <br> <a href=zodiac.html><i>Zodiac</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(USA, dir. David Fincher)</Font> - Fantastic in concept and retrospect, if somewhat wearying and patchy in the moment; kudos for playing smartly against serial-killer grain (<a href=zodiac.html>full review</a>) </Font><br> <br> <a href=mrnforst.html><i>The Mourning Forest</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Japan, dir. Naomi Kawase)</Font> - Enigmatic and austere in story, but gorgeous in color and crystalline in structure; not for everyone, but why won't niche distribs touch it? </Font><br> <br> <a href=nctryold.html><i>No Country for Old Men</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(USA, dirs. Joel and Ethan Coen)</Font> - Coens adapt script in register of philosophical ambition and direct with mind on brute suspense; both tracks engage but don't always jell </Font><br> <br> <a href=sillight.html><i>Silent Light</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Mexico, dir. Carlos Reygadas)</Font> - Lensing as ace as you've heard, almost as if fishing for compliments; story barely supports such meticulous filming, but easily worth a look </Font><br> <br> <a href=dvbelbut.html><i>The Diving Bell and the Butterfly</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(France, dir. Julian Schnabel)</Font> - Another bio from Schnabel that accommodates gifts for color, light, flamboyant show-pieces, cloaking shaky script and iffy grasp of structure </Font><br> <br> <a href=perspols.html><i>Persepolis</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(France, dirs. Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud)</Font> - Visually ingratiating with well-written scenes; not filmmakers' fault that they can't presume informed audience, but feels a bit low-balled </Font><br> <br> <a href=prndpark.html><i>Paranoid Park</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(USA, dir. Gus Van Sant)</Font> - Van Sant's apex? Really? Fine work, but sonic, visual, and montage motifs from preceding films pushed too insistently, hung on weak story </Font><br> <br> <a href=grindhos.html><i>Death Proof</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(USA, dir. Quentin Tarantino)</Font> - Can't handle this without merry <i>Planet Terror</i> to build up good will; formal tension soured by bloated first hour, unsettling glee in sadism </Font><br> <br> <a href=mybluber.html><i>My Blueberry Nights</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(USA/Hong Kong, dir. Wong Kar-wai)</Font> - Implies intriguing potentials for Wong amid looser community, under bigger sky, but mostly clich&#233d; actors elated to be cast but driftless </Font><br> <br> <a href=vmaitres.html><i>The Last Mistress</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(France, dir. Catherine Breillat)</Font> - Drably costumey, momentum stalled, story threadbare, Argento and Aattou flat; only Claude Sarraute works, but her role is too confined </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%>James Gray, <a href=weownigt.html><i>We Own the Night</i></a></TD></TR> <TR><TD width=30%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Actress:</b></Font></TD><TD width=70%>Anamaria Marinca, <a href=4m3w2day.html><i>4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days</i></a></TD></TR> <TR><TD width=30%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Actor: </b></Font></TD><TD width=70%>Joaquin Phoenix, <a href=weownigt.html><i>We Own the Night</i></a></TD></TR> <TR><TD width=30%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Screenplay:</b></Font></TD><TD width=70%>Fatih Akin, <a href=edgheavn.html><i>The Edge of Heaven</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%>Aleksandr Burov, cinematographer, <a href=alxandra.html><i>Alexandra</i></a><br> Skip Lievsay, sound designer, <a href=nctryold.html><i>No Country for Old Men</i></a></TD></TR></TABLE> <hr> <br> <img src=cannes07youlivng.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=youlivng.html><i>You, the Living</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Un Certain Regard: Sweden, dir. Roy Andersson)</Font> - Andersson's <i>tableaux mordants</i> are ingeniously contrived but also accumulate rich, surprising poignancy along with howling laughs </Font><br> <br> <a href=zoo.html><i>Zoo</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Directors' Fortnight: USA, dir. Robinson Devor)</Font> - Tasked to build doc around wholly obfuscated incident, Devor resists judgment and reimagines the form, achieving eerie, lyrical ghost story </Font><br> <br> <a href=mighthrt.html><i>A Mighty Heart</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Out of Competition: UK/USA, dir. Michael Winterbottom)</Font> - So much more than an Oscar play or "biopic"; Jolie, film both smart and wrenching, with director's usual acumen for taking global pulse </Font><br> <br> <a href=savagrac.html><i>Savage Grace</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Directors' Fortnight: USA, dir. Tom Kalin)</Font> - Key is not to expect psychological penetration of lurid real-life tale; film thrills as a series of sharp, hot, opaque stabs at its subject </Font><br> <br> <a href=flredbal.html><i>Flight of the Red Balloon</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Un Certain Regard: France, dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien)</Font> - Glassy remoteness of other Hou films livens a bit here; who'd have guessed he was the man to loosen up Binoche so gloriously? </Font><br> <br> <a href=bordgate.html><i>Boarding Gate</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Out of Competition: France, dir. Olivier Assayas)</Font> - Maintains auteur's fascination with creepy side of modern, global industry, but a self-conscious retreat from <i>demonlover</i> ambitions </Font><br> <br> <a href=control.html><i>Control</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Directors' Fortnight: UK, dir. Anton Corbijn)</Font> - Dwindles into tweedy Wife vs. Girlfriend conflict, but Corbijn finds continuity <i>and</i> contrast between punk highs and working-class anomie (<a href=control.html>full review</a>) </Font><br> <br> <a href=oceans13.html><i>Ocean's Thirteen</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Out of Competition: USA, dir. Steven Soderbergh)</Font> - Gang refreshed from <i>Twelve</i> but still missing <i>Eleven</i> magic; Barkin an unnerving presence; color, light raised to avant-garde abstraction </Font><br> <br> <a href=11thhour.html><i>The 11th Hour</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Special Screening: USA, dirs. Nadia Conners and Leila Conners Petersen)</Font> - Makes potent, hard-to-argue case about ecology on brink of collapse; mere weeks later, though, hard to recall one image not of Leo </Font><br> <br> <a href=meduzot.html><i>Jellyfish</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Critics' Week: Israel, dirs. Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen)</Font> - Like a short-story collection alternating among realist and lightly abstracted modes; piquant, uneven, but grows on you </Font><br> <br> <a href=terradvc.html><i>Terror's Advocate</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Un Certain Regard: France, dir. Barbet Schroeder)</Font> - Assembly somewhat scattershot, as though Schroeder is encountering significant limits in access, though this augments creepy thesis </Font><br> <br> <a href=xxy.html><i>XXY</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Critics' Week: Argentina, dir. Luc&#237a Puenzo)</Font> - Gutsy, candid portrait of intersexed teen, though film needs more shaping; not sure about sea life as key metaphor, but film looks good (<a href=xxy.html>full review</a>) </Font><br> <br> <a href=sicko.html><i>Sicko</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Out of Competition: USA, dir. Michael Moore)</Font> - Starts with some of Moore's best-ever footage and explication, before giving way to outrageous and frankly insulting simplifications </Font><br> <br> <a href=bandsvis.html><i>The Band's Visit</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Un Certain Regard: Israel, dir. Eran Kolirin)</Font> - An appealing film, and absolutely nothing wrong with cozying up to a broad audience; charming but tiny, with no sense of excitement </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/2007/allSelections.html" target="_new">here</a></b> (opens in a new window)</Font><br> <Font Size=-2>&nbsp <br></Font> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0459102/"><i>Import/Export</i></a>, Austria, dir. Ulrich Seidl<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0415127/"><i>The Man from London</i></a>, Hungary, dir. B&#233la Tarr<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0488905/"><i>The Banishment</i></a>, Russia, dir. Andrei Zvyagintsev<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0901475/"><i>Breath</i></a>, South Korea, dir. Kim Ki-duk<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0996605/"><i>Love Songs</i></a>, France, dir. Christophe Honor&#233<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/tt0479519/"><i>Promise Me This</i></a>, Serbia/France, dir. Emir Kusturica<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1008017/"><i>Tehilim</i></a>, France/Israel, dir. Rapha&#235l Nadjari<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/2007/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/tt0815092/"><i>Actresses</i></a>, France, dir. Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475984/"><i>Mister Lonely</i></a>, USA, dir. Harmony Korine<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1031947/"><i>Munyurangabo</i></a>, Rwanda, dir. Lee Isaac Chung<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0846040/"><i>My Brother Is an Only Child</i></a>, Italy, dir. Daniele Luccheti<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0869977/"><i>Water Lilies</i></a>, France, dir. C&#233line Sciamma<br> </TD></TR> <TR><TD valign=top><a href="http://www.quinzaine-realisateurs.com/archives/2007/" style="text-decoration:none" target="_new"><Font Color="#660066">Directors' Fortnight</Font></a>:</TD><TD> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0935086/"><i>All Is Forgiven</i></a>, France, dir. Mia Hansen-L&#248ve<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0922354/"><i>Apr&#232s lui</i></a>, France, dir. Ga&#235l Morel<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0846668/"><i>Before I Forget</i></a>, France, dir. Jacques Nolot<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0825236/"><i>Caramel</i></a>, Lebanon, dir. Nadine Labaki<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0990404/"><i>Chop Shop</i></a>, USA, dir. Ramin Bahrani<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0877621/"><i>La France</i></a>, France, dir. Serge Bozon<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0765141/"><i>Heartbeat Detector</i></a>, France, dir. Nicolas Klotz<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947093/"><i>A Lost Man</i></a>, Lebanon/France, dir. Danielle Arbid<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993778/"><i>Ploy</i></a>, Thailand, dir. Pen-ek Ratanaruang<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780608/"><i>Smiley Face</i></a>, USA, dir. Gregg Araki<br> </TD></TR> <TR><TD valign=top><Font Color="#660066">Out of Competition</Font>:</TD><TD> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0487485/"><i>Back to Normandy</i></a>, France, dir. Nicolas Philibert<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0973844/"><i>Chacun son cin&#233ma</i></a>, Miscellaneous, dir. Theo Angelopoulos, et al.<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393329/"><i>Go Go Tales</i></a>, USA/Italy, dir. Abel Ferrara<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0889652/"><i>Roman de Gare</i></a>, France, dir. Claude Lelouch<br> </TD></TR></TABLE> <hr> <Font Face=Garamond> <table cellpadding=12><tr> <td>Trackbacks:</b></td> <td><strong><a href=cannes07.html target="_top">Permalink</a></strong></td> <td><strong><a href=cannes.html target="_top">Cannes Page</a></strong></td> <td><strong><a href=movies07.html target="_top">2007</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>