Weekend of 13 May at Cannes Film Festival

Saw some 15 films over the first few days in Cannes - so here's an update on some of the highlights from the weekend of 13-15 May:

 Director and cast

Caught an early screening of Pablo Larraín's latest film about the Chilean poet and senator, Neruda *****(Quinzaine du Réalisateur section of the Festival), followed by a Q&A with the director and cast members. In a quite different aesthetic mode from his earlier movies, Neruda adopts a noirish style to focus on the period in which Neruda (Luis Gnecco) is impeached and pursued for his outspoken communist views and criticism of the González Videla regime. Unable to leave the country, in 1948 he goes into hiding, moving from one safe house to another prior to his eventual exile to Paris. The film is playfully positioned from the viewpoint of the fancifully arrogant Police Prefect, Oscar Peluchonneau (Gael García Bernal). Neruda delights in taunting Peluchonneau, leaving him copies of his poetry as

Pablo Larraín

he narrowly evades his clutches, revelling in the heightening of his iconic status that the situation affords. The dreamlike quality of the images is underlined by the use of Peluchonneau's voiceover. Whilst the poet is a larger than life character, Larraín's representation pulls no punches in revealing the seamier aspects of his colourful life and sexual exploits and the fragility of the idealism of the moment. This is poignantly highlighted when Neruda is asked by a activist what kind of equality they will bring - equality with her lifestyle (she has been cleaning for the privileged for years) - or with Neruda's.  An excellent film and one of my tops from the Festival as a whole.


Other highlights over the weekend were the Italian film, Like Crazy, Mal de Pierres/From the Land of the Moon and La danseuse (in Certain Regard).

La pizza gioia/Like Crazy **** (in the Quinzaine) by director, Paolo Virzi - a very funny, sensitive and moving film, in which Beatrice (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi), a long-term mental patient at the Casa Bondi clinic escapes with a new arrival, Donatella (Micaela Ramazzotti),  and the two women embark on a wacky adventure, reminiscent in some respects of Thelma and Louise. Beatrice's delusions of grandeur, oscillations between hyperactive excitement, outpourings of emotion and occasional explosions of outrageous bigotry contrast with Donatello's withdrawn and anxious who gradually emerges from her shell.

Virzi, Bruni-Tedeschi & Ramazzotti (on the right)

Their wacky journey takes in a visit to Beatrice's former husband and an attempt to track down Donatello's son who has been taken into adoption following traumatic incident in her past. As spectators we are drawn in to empathise and become complicit with the highs and lows of their escapades - Foucault would have appreciated this one! A hilariously engaging, but sensitive and moving picture which draws attention to contrasting mental health care institutions. In the interview with the director and cast at the Quinzaine screening, Virzi drew attention to the impact of recent closures of mental health centres in Italy and the importance
of maintaining places which can provide the kind of caring and responsive environment that we see in Casa Bondi (in contrast to more institutionalised hospital models which we also glimpse in the film).

Marion Cotillard & Nicole García arriving at the Lumiere

Mal de Pierres/From the Land of the Moon **** (in Competition) is a haunting story set in 1950s. Gabrielle (Marion Cotillard - brilliant again) is a imaginative, 'free-spirited' and libidinal young woman whose unrequited obsession with, and public pursuit of, her (married) teacher causes something of a scandal, leaving her distraught and her exasperated and despairing family determined to marry her off. Spanish Civil War veteran José is up for the challenge, despite her determination not to consummate the marriage. When 

she is diagnosed with kidney stones ('mal de pierres') Gabrielle is sent to 'take the waters' in a sanatorium where she meets and falls for a sick soldier, André (Louis Garrel) - their passionate affair filmed in a hauntingly dreamlike register. Great performances by the two leads. See Hollywood Reporter Cannes review here and trailer here.

John and I were lucky enough to attend the evening première of Mal de Pierres/From the Land of the Moon on Sunday in the main Lumière theatre there all the films in Competition are shown. Here we are caught by the paparazzi in our tenue de soirée finery just after seeing the film!

Another impressive film from this weekend's crop (so many!) was La danseuse/The dancer *** (in the Certain Regard category). Directed by Stéphanie de Giusto, it is a stunning bio of the Belle Époque dancer Loie Fuller (Soko) who leaves her mid-west US home  with her drunken father to join her temperance-committed mother in Paris where she starts trying to develop a career in acting. After she seedy assignments, she joins a cabaret and creates her own unique butterfly dance. Review and trailer here.

Other films caught over the weekend were:  

Jodorowsky being interviewed at the Quinzaine screening
(Jodorowsky on the right)

Poesía sin fin/Endless Poetry ** (Alejandro Jodorowsky, Chile/France 2016) (Quinzaine section) -  very much a carnivalesque arthouse movie, the second of his autobiographical films in which his relationship with his father whose machismo and arch-conservativism are at odds with his development as a a cinematographic poet/artist. Jodorowsky's two sons play the roles of himself and his father. The film creates some interesting and powerful imagery, e.g. his early childhood home in Buenos Aires is reconstructed through the superimposition of billboard photos; cardboard cutouts of key figures; circus motifs.  See Screen review here. 

After Love/L'économie du couple *** (Joaquin Lafosse, France 2015)  (Quinzaine des réalisateurs category) dealing with the tensions and contradictions of separation.  Marie and Boris have been together for 10 years and have 2 young daughters but their relationship has hit the rocks and they are in the process of separating though Boris is still living in the house prior to Marie buying him out. The film is a low-key but compellingly tense study of their broken relationship: recriminations about money (Boris's work as an architect is erratic whilst Marie 's family and job have kept them afloat economically whilst Boris is aggrieved at the lack of recognition of the improvements he has made to the house); both seeking (though often failing) to protect the girls from their arguments; moments of regret, family togetherness and even passionate lapses and a moment of crisis - all of these draw in the spectator to root for a reconciliation against which the odds are stacked.  Review and trailer here.

El rey del once ** (Daniel Burman, Argentina 2016) plunges the spectator into the Jewish quarter of Buenos Aires when Ari (Alan Sabbath) returns from his current New York life to visit his family (initially with the plan of introducing them to his girlfriend). Back in Buenos Aires he is plunged immediately back into the family's tireless and chaotic work funning a Jewish Aide Foundation ('El once') which supplies local families with recycled clothes, medicines, kosher food and general moral support. Unable to touch base with his elusive father, Usher, who runs the Foundation, Ari begins to explore the cultural and religious rituals he finds initially finds quite mystifying from his secular viewpoint.  See Hollywood Reporter review from Berlin FF here.

La madre/The Mother ** (Alberto Morais, Spain/Romania/France 2016) Morais's 14-year-old protagonist (Javier Mendo) is about to be sent to a Centre for Minors as his mother is incapable of providing a stable home and looking after him. The structure and pace of the film position us to experience the boy's frustration, alienation and disillusionment as he moves from pillar to post, initially inclined to trust his mother's reassurances that she will resolve the pending issue of the court order and seek a job, but gradually recognising that his mother's lack of response to his calls and eventual disappearance leave him alone to resolve his situation. Unsentimentally moving.  El olivo films website info here. Cineuropa info

Kóblic (Sebastián Borensztein, Argentina/Spain 2016)  ** An uneven thriller with Ricardo Darín in the title role of a military pilot in 1970s. Unable to stomach the regime's adoption of the 'vuelos de la muerte' (the practice of dropping political detainees out of planes and into the sea) he refuses a direct order and goes into hiding in a backwater job flying pesticide planes, grappling with the nightmare flashbacks which plague his conscience.  The suspicions of the local police combine with jealousies aroused by his affair with a local woman combine to close in on him. Some really strong moments (Darín) but rather narratively uneven - some strands insufficiently developed to convince.  Hollywood Reporter review. Trailer here.

Transit Havana (Daniel Abma, Netherlands/Germany 2016) Very competent documentary about transsexuals in Cuba and the impact of a programme championed by Mariela Castro (daughter of President Raúl Castro) to support trans-gender care, raise awareness and combat homophobia.  The programme presents equality in gender and sexuality as the next step in Cuba's socialist programme, under the slogan 'Homophobia no; socialism sí'. The documentary focuses on three transgender people - Juani, Manú and Odette - who are hoping to be selected for sex change operations this year as part of a rolling programme which brings over two specialist plastic surgeons from Holland and Belgium to work with a Cuban team in Havana to operate on 5 cases each year. Through interviews and 'fly-on-the-wall' footage as they discuss their situation, feelings and aspirations, the film explores the community and family reactions, issues around religious belief, the economic situation, etc. Filming was in train when the news of a rapprochement between Cuba and US was announced by Raúl Castro and Obama and captures reactions to this. Trailer here. IMDb link here. 

Along the Croisette outside the Palais du Festival

Hi there! Here's my first post from Cannes 2016 - half way through the Festival!

It seems really busy this year with a lot of time taken up with working out the screening schedule for the day and queuing to get in to the more popular films - and I'm trying to see 3-4 films a day. Fortunately the weather has been great - sunny but not too hot (and only a little rain this afternoon).

As before, I'm focusing mainly on Spanish and Latin American films and the films from the main selection - see the Cannes Film Festival website for details of the different categories and films in these sections.



A great start to the Festival with Woody Allen's Café Society which I caught in the 'séance du lendemain' screening on Thursday 12th at the Salle du Soixantième. The film takes a critical look at the glitzy, shallow, gossip-ridden, name-dropping Hollywood society of the 1930s at the same time as luxuriating in the look and style of the period and revisiting many familiar Allen themes.
Bobby (Jesse Eisenberg) leaves his New York family home to seek new career opportunities in LA with the initially reluctant help of his uncle, a big-shot agent in Hollywood and immediately falls for his uncle's assistant (Kirstin Stewart). The shifting relationship between these three provides the focal point for the narrative.  Review: Screen Daily Cannes.


Thursday's other highlight was Victoria/In bed with Victoria (N.B. title translation differences!!) , directed by Justine Triet and in the Semaine de la Critique section at the Festival. A compelling, if sometimes slightly muddled, comedy/drama around the interplay between the professional and personal life of  criminal lawyer and single mother, Victoria, and a 'warts and all' portrayal of a self-absorbed workaholic with a chaotic home life and unsatisfying string of sexual encounters effectively presented without descending into voyeurism or eroticism  (great performance by Virginie Efira). Review: Variety.


Virginie Elfira, Justine Triet and Vincent Lacoste at 
Semaine de la Critique screening  of Victoria, 12 May 2016

 Also took in a couple of Spanish films: Toro, directed by Kike Maíllo, is a gangster movie set in Torremolinos where brothers José López (Luis Tosar) and Toro (Mario Casas) are locked in an increasingly violent battle with the the powerful and sadistic gangster Romano and his henchmen. A gripping movie as long as you can stomach the violence.  Review: Hollywood Reporter.  El destierro/The Exile, directed by Arturo Ruiz offers a period piece set during the Spanish Civil War in a Nationalist mountain outpost in winter where Silverio, a hardy rough diamond (who found himself on the side of the military uprising by being in the wrong place at the wrong time) and his new fellow guard, Teo, a fervently religious  Nationalist unexpectedly find themselves in custody of Zoska, a young woman who is a volunteer Republican soldier from eastern Europe. The resulting ménage à trois poses some uncomfortable issues around gender and sexuality which the film fails to effectively address, although it provides an interesting and thought-provoking reflection on loyalty and solidarity in conflict. Trailer: Cineuropa.

More about the following days in my next post!

Saturday May 2015

Looking back on the Festival:

Travelled back from Cannes yesterday and arrived home exhausted (from the journey and 10 days of non-stop film viewing) after midnight. The whole experience was tremendous - I saw 28 films over the 10 days, including 16 from Spain/Latin America - especially the latter.

Some really great Latin American films and fantastic to see yesterday's announcement that Embrace of the Serpent / El abrazo de la serpiente (Ciro Guerra, Colombia)  has won the top Art Cinema Award at this year's Quainzaine des Réalisateurs at Cannes - an absolutely beautiful film and thoroughly deserved.

Also Paulina / La patota (Santiago Mitre, Argentina) won the top Critic's Week Nespresso Grand Prize and Land and Shade / Tierra y sombra (César Acevedo, Colombia) won both the France 4 Visionary Award and Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize.
See reports: Hollywood Reporter;Variety


Other Latin American highlights for me were:

The Chosen Ones / Las elegidas (David Pablos, Mexico)
Ixcanul Volcano (Jayro Bustamante, Guatemala/France)
Allende, my grandfather, Allende / Allende mi abuelo Allende (Marcia Tambutti, Chile)

but some great films all round.

As far as the competition films are concerned, my top 2 (from those I got to see) are:
Carol (Todd Haynes, UK) and Son of Saul (Lazlo Nemes, Hungary)
- two completely different films, of course.
Peter Bradshaw has given his predictions here.

And of course my other favourite (not in competition) is Asif Kapadia's amazing Amy Winehouse Documentary - a brilliant film - and of course, he's a Westminster alumnus!

Here are a few images from an incredible week:

 A. Fresco mural by the bus terminal, Cannes centre

 Embrace of the Serpent / El abrazo de la serpiente crew at premiere

  Palais du Festival, Cannes

Red carpet arrivals at the Lumiere cinema, Cannes Film Festival

 Screen on the beach, Cannes Film Festival

International Village, Cannes Film Festival

 

In the European Pavillion, Cannes Film Festival

 In the Marché du Film

Looking across Cannes bay from the Salle du Soixantième cinema terrace

Thursday 21 May 2015

Latest update - Thursday and Friday of week 2 are the days that the Festival runs reprises of the films in the Official Selection so on Thursday (our last full day here) I managed to catch the following ones that I hadn’t seen earlier in the week:

*****Carol (in competition) Dir. Todd Haynes, UK 2013. Very strong contender for the Palme d’Or - and a huge buzz around it at the Festival. A visually stunning evocation of the 1950s about forbidden passion between two women (Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara - a dead ringer for Audrey Hepburn), based on a Patricia Highsmith novel.  . Highly praised in reviews, the only criticism seems to be of the ‘coldness’ of the film, yet its icy surface is a powerful embodiment of the repressions and social strictures of the1950s. Cate Blanchett’s performance sublimely conveys the gamut of passion and emotion barely contained below the steely veneer she maintains. Extremely strong performances all round and beautiful cinematography.  See Peter Bradshaw's Guardian review here. And the trailer here.

****Mia Madre (in competition) Dir. Nanni Moretti, Italy/France/Geremany 2015. Funny and touching by turns, Moretti’s film sees film-maker Margherita (Margherita Buy) juggling the stresses and strains of shooting her latest film, hampered by a string of challenges (including a big US star who cannot remember his lines – played by John Turturro), alongside supporting her adolescent daughter and (together with her brother – played by Moretti himself) spending as much time as she can with her dying mother. She confronts the multiple challenges and emotional roller-coaster of her personal and professional lives with strength and determination despite a very human frustration, exasperation and despair and an endearingly balanced capacity for recognising her own flaws and absurdities. In an amusing wink at Moretti’s own cameo perhaps, Marguerita advises her actors to just imagine that they are standing next to the character they are playing whilst admitting that, although she always gives this same advice – something she learnt from another director, the instruction doesn’t make a lot of sense. Hollywood Reporter review here. Trailer here.

****Louder than bombs (in competition) Dir. Joachim trier, Norway/USA/France, 2014.
War photographer laura Freed (Isabelle Huppert)’s family are still coming to terms with her death in a car crash when a family friend publishes an article which sheds a distressing light on her death and prompts her widower (Gabriel Byrne) and her sons to re-examine their relationship with her and with each other. Both sons are also grappling with other significant changes in their lives: the elder (Jesse Eisenberg) becoming a father for the first time and the younger (David Strathairn) negotiating the bumpy passage through adolescence. Review from Indiewire at Cannes and trailer here.

***Youth (in competition) Dir Paolo Sorrentino, Italy 2014.
Amazingly rich and layered film set in a Swiss hotel where two elderly friends are spending some time together – Michael Caine (great performance) is a retired composer, accompanied by his daughter and assistant (Rachel Weisz) and Harvey Keitel, a film director still in the throes of putting together his next film script. Visually and imaginatively sumptuous (if a bit pretentious) with multiple vignettes – including Jane Fonda and Paloma Faith. See Peter Bradshaw's Guardian review and trailer here.

Also - just few words on a couple of other French films seen last week:

**Une mère / A Mother (seen Sun17 May) Dir.Chrisine Carriere, France 2015.
Marie's relationship with her troubled adolescent son whose behaviour sometimes becomes violent.

***Standing Tall / La tête haute (seen Thurs 14 May) Dir. Emanuelle Bercot, France 2015. Children's magistrate (Catherine Deneuve) and social worker (Rod Parodot) work with persistent delinquent Benoît to try to help him, despite numerous setbacks, to  find a way forward in life. See Variety review at Cannes here and trailer.

*** Chile Factory -  The results of a funded project to encourage new film-makers which opens the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs each year at Cannes. This year's project focused on 4 young Chilean film-makers from Chile being teamed up with 4 others from other parts of the world. They worked on the films in international pairings. Chile Factory presents the resulting collection of 4 shorts.

Wednesday 20 May 2015

Latest update on films seen:

****Alias María (in the Un certain regard selection). Dir. Jose Luis Rugeles Gracia, Colombia/Argentina/France, 2015. See trailer here and Screen Daily review here.

Set in a guerrilla commando group in the Colombian jungle, 13-year-old María is a child guerrillera who has recently discovered she is pregnant. Women who get pregnant ‘in the field’ are normally expected to abort (the camp doctor performs terminations). The comandante’s partner, however has just given birth to a child which María is charged with carrying to safety (and to remove the danger of the baby’s cries betraying their location or posing a kidnap/ransom risk). The journey (with a small armed escort) is fraught with danger and mishap, including running into army forces and a village massacred and occupied by the military.  The experience leads María to reflect on her own pregnancy. Thematically the film raises questions about the brutality and dehumanisation of the war context, power relations and abuse of power. 

Peace to us in our dreams (in Quinzaine des Réalisateurs selection). Dir. Sharunas Bartas, Lithuania/France/Russia, 2015.
Quite a few people walked out of this. Pretty disappointing! 

Also - just few words on some of the other films seen on Saturday 16 May which I haven’t mentioned in earlier blogs:

*****A Perfect Day (in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs selection) Dir. Fernando León de Aranoa, Spain 2015. (Benicio del Toro, Tim Robbins, Olga Kurylenko, Melanie Thierry, Fedya Stukan) (seen Fri 16/05) See Hollywood reporter review from Cannes here and Guardian review here. Trailer here.
International aid workers with  ‘Aid across Borders’ in the Balkans 1995 arrive to remove a dead body deliberately thrown into a village well to contaminate the villagers’ water. The operation hinges on locating a suitably strong length of rope which the group set off the source, bringing them into contact with absurdities and horrors of war which war-worn aid veterans Mambrú (del Toro) and (Robbins) deal with a crude but distancing humour as they ‘indict’ newby Sophie (Thierry).  Engaging film – Aranoa’s first English language movie.

Q&A with the director and crew of A Perfect Day was an added bonus to the premiere of the film here at Cannes

*Happy 140 / Felices 140 Dir. Gracia Querejeta, Spain 2015. Drama comedy in which Elia (Maribel Verdú – who seems to be popping up all over the place) gathers he friends together for the joint celebratin of her 4^th birthday and her 140 million euro jackpot win. Once the news of the win is shared with her friends, it unleashes a string of plotting, jealousies and score-settling. 
See Hollywood Reporter review here.

and on Monday (not previously commented on):

***Tierra y sombre / Land and Shadow (in the Semaine de la Critique selection) Dir. César Augusto Acevedo, Colombia/France, 2015.
Contemplative drama of Alfonso's return to the family he abandoned 17 years previously inthe midst of a sugar cane plantation. He now comes to help care for his seriously ill son, Gonzalo, who is living with his wife and Alfonso's estranged wife. The film is dominated by Gonzalo's increasingly rasping and laboured breathing and the sounds of the slashing of cane and the roar and crackle of flames as the remains of the plants are burnt, creating a perpetual cloud of ash which contaminates the air they breathe. The slow pace and restrained dialogue reflect the charged claustrophobia of the house 
- its permanently closed windows creating an oppressive penumbra throughout in a futile attempt to protect Gonzalo from the ash-laden air.He refuses to move away in search of a better life (despite the exhortations of his wife and father) because his mother refuses to leave the house and he will not leave her. His health steadily weakens - he has no right to medical care as he is no longer regarded as an employee since his illness (a result of the working conditions themselves) stopped him being able to work. His wife and mother are sacked because their productivity levels do not reach the tough targets set and workers' attempts to resist the unreasonable conditions and demands are powerless to undermine the the brutal exploitation. See Hollywood Reporter review from Cannes here. Trailer here.


*****Las elegidas / The Chosen Ones (in the Un certain regard selection) Dir. David Pablos, Mexico 2015. Excellent drama about 14-year-old Sofia who is lured by the adolescent Ulises into a prostitution ring run by his father and involving the whole family. His seduction of Sofia is part of Ulises’s initiation into the family ‘business’ but, when his attachment to her leads him to regret getting her involved, he tries to secure her release. His father agrees on condition that Ulises brings a replacement and in the meantime Sofia is put to work in the brothel. The film presents a sickening picture of how these operations operate on an economy of violence, fear and coercion. The horror of the experience of providing child sexual fodder for a string of men is excruciatingly conveyed through a series of powerful images of Sofia’s numbed gaze shot in medium close-up against the stark wall of brothel, interspersed with a string of shots of older men, accompanied by a disturbing soundtrack of pumping flesh and bodily fluids punctuated by the groans of the men’s orgasms. The detached and formulaic process of ‘seducing’ and luring girls into a false sense of trust is chillingly presented as Ulises is coerced and ‘inducted’ into his role as an abductor by his father and older brother. 

More to come...