It’s all over but the shouting. The last two titles in Competition for the Palme d’Or, which will be awarded on Sunday, screened on Saturday to general disinterest as industry attendees continued to flock home. But some were still happy just to be able to see a movie — any movie — at Cannes; Roger Ebert tells of a young man who followed the example of Ebert’s granddaughter and “begged” for a ticket. He was happy and proud to get in. Ebert shares some photographs; he says: “I have no idea why they are all of beautiful women.”
Key Screenings. Competition: Tsai Ming-Liang’s Face (Taiwanese filmmaker makes a movie in France), Isabel Coixet’s Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (Tokyo fish market employee also works as a hit woman).
Awards. Some observers felt the Un Certain Regard section featured higher-quality selection than the main Competition, so it’s of note that Yorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth won the top prize, according to indieWIRE. The Greek film received warm praise from the few reviewers who have seen it. Karina Longworth of Spout says it’s the only narrative she’s seen in Cannes “that really feels like it represents the work an emerging new talent.” The film revolves around an odd family, in which the three 20-something children have never even left their house, while their parents “have created a complex mythology … to keep the family together.” She called it a “dark comedy,” though she also noted that “its depiction of forced incest, two explicitly not-fake images of sex acts, liberation via very bloody self-harm and the on-screen disemboweling of a housecat.”
Filed under: Awards, Cannes, Festival Reports, Cinematical Indie
Hollywood’s favorite new word is “reboot.” I’m not sure why it’s preferable to “remake” except that it has a technological ring to it, and implies that our movie memories will be erased as easily as our computer hard drives.
Though Steven Soderbergh has featured unknown, untrained actors in his movies in the past, he has raised a number of eyebrows recently by casting porn star Sasha Grey in the lead of his forthcoming feature ‘The Girlfriend Experience.’ To be sure, Grey is certainly outside of the mainstream of Hollywood actors, but she certainly is famous and has had quite a bit of experience on camera. Does Soderbergh consider her to be a true amateur?
