 |
| Strolling after supper |
 |
| Sadly we weren't invited... |
There was still some time to appreciate Cannes between screenings, though!
First of all the highlights of the first two days of the week for me:
Les vies de Thérèse ***** directed by Sébastien Lifshitz, France 2016 (Quinzaine des Ralisateurs). A biopic of militant feminist Thérèse Clerc as she faces the end of her life. It opens with her reasons for making the documentary and the importance of creating a space to explore the subjects of old age and death which are rarely broached on screen. Sensitively directed, the film intersperses the documentation of her advancing illness, archive footage and her own reflections on her life and perspectives from her children. In the late sixties her conventional life - childhood in a conservative, bourgeois catholic family, early marriage and motherhood - changed dramatically as she discovered feminism, took the decision to end her unhappy marriage and became an activist. The film provides an intimate and moving tribute as she and her family face the end of her life. See Cineuropa review here. Trailer here. |
| Couldn't resist a 'selfie' (yes, I know - same dress!) |
Julieta ***** Pedro Almodóvar, Spain 2015 (in Competition). Very exciting to manage to get a ticket for the evening première of Pedro Almodóvar's latest (yes - another red carpet comb for me!). It elicits excellent performances by Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte as the older and younger Julieta, and brings back the inimitable Rossy de Palma as the quirkily sinister housekeeper for Xoan (Daniel Grao), a Galician fisherman with whom Julieta has a daughter, Antía. Years after Xoan's tragic death, Antía, now a young adult, goes away on a retreat and disappears, severing all contact with her mother. Julieta never abandons the hope of finding Antía.
 |
| Pedro signing autographs outside the Palais just before heading for the red carpet |
After a chance encounter with a childhood friend who has seen Antía in Italy, Julieta abandons plans to move away from Madrid with her new partner, remains in the place where Antía can find her and renews efforts to contact her. A letter to her estranged daughter introduces a flashback to the past and their life together as a young family until Xoan's untimely death. Pedro back on form with this sombre drama about motherhood and a poignant study of the grief, despair and incomprehension of loss.
La ciénaga: entre el mar y la tierra/Between sea and land **** (Carlos del Castillo, Colombia 2016). Market screening.
Brilliant performance by Manolo Cruz (who also wrote the script) as a severely disabled young man, Alberto. Living bed bound in a tiny shack with his mother, and dependent on an artificial respirator, Alberto paints and dreams. The films drama revolves around his mother's attempt to make his dream of being able to go to the sea come true. Extremely moving, the film deservedly won the Special Jury prize at the Sundance Festival. Trailer in Spanish here and subtitled here. Variety Review from Sundance here.Cinema novo **** (Eryk Rocha, Brazil, 2016) Shown in the Cannes Classics section of the Festival, this is a fascinating collage of images and sound from classic cinema novo filmmakers of this critical and influential movement of the 60s and 70s in Brazil by the son of one if its luminaries. Rocha's film shows how these filmmakers sought to find a new film language and aesthetics to bring art, poetry and politics together, and 'take film out onto the streets of Brazil'. Information from Festival here.Variety review - less enthusiastic - here.
Mimosas ** (Oliver Laxe, Spain/Morocco/France/Qatar, 2016). I have to say this film by Galician filmmaker, Laxe, is something of a Marmite experience... I found it disappointingly un-engaging although the cinematography is wonderful and worth seeing just for that. Others have waxed lyrical about it and it did win the Semaine de la Critique Grand Prize. The project is interesting, set in the Moroccan Atlas as a caravan accompanies a dying sheik across the mountains and desert. When he dies and the caravaners want to dump the body, a couple of fellow travellers decide to take on the challenge of returning the sheik to his ancestral burial ground. Screen review here.Santa y Andrés ***(Carlos Lechuga, Cuba/France/Colombia 2016) Market screening. was very interested to see this film following our recent Cuba trip. The film is set in the eastern part of Cuba in 1983. When an international literary event is about to take place, a member of the local Party is assigned to keep watch over a non-conformist, gay writer (Eduardo Martínez) to ensure that he refrains from participating or making 'undesirable' comments. The job is given to the inexperienced Santa who takes the role extremely seriously and, in contrast to Andrés's relaxed style, keeps all conversation and interaction with him to a minimum. When a downpour forces her to accept his offer of shelter, they begin to develop a deep friendship and understanding and, when Andrés is accused of more subversive writing, she risks her own safety and reputation to protect him. Interview with director here.
El charro de Toluquilla/The charro of Toluquilla *(José Villalobos Romero, Mexico 2016) Market screening. A fairly conventional documentary about the mariachi singer, Jaime García Dominguez, speaking frankly about his colourful lifestyle, contracting HIV and reflecting on lifestyle options. Tribeca festival review here.
Sharing Stella (Kiki Alvarez, Cuba/Colombia 2016) Set in Havana in 2014. A director is planning to stage A Streetcar Named Desire and is looking for an actor to play Stella. In the lead up to the casting process, a group of actors reflect in filmed interviews and 'fly-on-the wall' observations on acting, sex and relationships and the changes which are taking place in Cuba. Interesting on the latter, but rather self-indulgent and less interesting otherwise. Teaser here.
Also attended the Doc Day conference on Global Awareness for Social Justice: Impact Making Documentaries which included an interesting interview with Gianfranco Rosi (El sicario; Fire at sea; - 2016 Golden Bear at Berlin FF). Unfortunately Laura Poitras was unable to attend as still putting last finishing touches to her film, Risk (about Julian Assange), which premiered on Thursday at Cannes). Also opportunity to hear from Russian documentary filmmaker, Askov Kurov, who is currently making a film about a Ukranian film director arrested for suspected terrorism, and spoke about the difficulty of filmmaking in Russia at the moment. Also Gabo Arora who is based at the UN - awareness raising - and was talking about the use of virtual reality to make a new kind of film. Unfortunately not enough time and opportunity was given to hearing from these filmmakers... See Screen Daily Report here.
No comments:
Post a Comment