-
The rightness of the dominance of Cannes.
"The French are very serious about film, and rightly so; the art of cinema owes much of its development to France. So it’s fitting that the country is the home for the world’s most prestigious film festival. And though their commitment to tradition sometimes runs afoul of progressive ideas about dress codes and film distribution, there’s little doubt that Cannes will retain its spot atop the festival hierarchy for years to come." - Alissa Wilkinson, Vox
I've never been to Cannes, but my annual visits to Paris in fall and sometimes spring have always reaffirmed a sense that cinema deeply matters in France and is uniquely honored and respected there.
http://www.chrisknipp.com/images/7uh9.jpg
Alain Delon receiving special Palm at Cannes
The special Palme d'Or for Alain Delon
You may recall there was some controversy over Alain Delon's receiving an honorary Palm for his work as an actor since 1957 due to reports of his behavior and views and a petition signed by over 26,000 people opposing the award. But Festivalpresident Thierry Frémaux declared that this was not the Nobel Prize and the award would go ahead he got the award, and wept when he received it. See the thumbnail bio of Delon on IMDb. See also Sheena Scott's Forbes article about Delon's career and the award. One can discuss this issue endlessly, but even if Delon has expressed reprehensible views they are not expressed in his work, which shines through his performances for some of the world's greatest directors. He was not Leni Riefenstahl. And even her Nazi propaganda has to be acknowledged for its impressive artistry. Sometimes one must recognize artistic work and not confuse it with the person who does it. The gender parity issue, however, is one that Cannes has to confront more effectively.
-
Last year's final Cannes Jury Grid.
I just saw David Robert Mitchell's Cannes 2018 Competition film Under the Silver Lake, which has been practically hushed up here; I never did get to see it in a theater and had to settle for streaming. Its Metascore is so terrible (59%) compared to an excellent AlloCiné press rating (3.9), evidence of critical love in France, I thought I'd check last year's final Cannes Screen Daily Jury Grid, which will simultaneously be a review of last year's Competition. And we can see how the Competition films ranked with that European cross section of critics. Under the Silver Lake didn't do that badly. In the field of 21, it's sixth from the bottom, in fact above Labaki's Capernaum, which got the Jury Prize. But of course the awards didn't strictly adhere to these ratings, or Lee Chang-dong's Burning (my personal favorite of all these), which got a record high score for the Jury Grid, of 3.8 - no film on the Grid had ever scored that high - would have gotten the top prize (it didn't get any Competition Jury award but did get the Competition FIPRESCI Prize, which is important but doesn't get as much publicity). Notice Spike Lee's BlacKKKlansman ranks ninth here, yet won the Grand Prix, lucky for Spike.
How many have I seen by now? Well, I've still missed six, but for not having been anywhere near Cannes ever that's not bad, and also reflects pretty good availability Stateside. I would like to see Nuri Bilge Ceylan's The Wild Pear Tree, obviously, and also Serebrennikov's Leto, maybe Dvortsevoy's Ayka. Late Godard leaves me cold. I could have lived without Knife + Heart or Girls of the Sun (both which I have seen). Youmeddine, though some thought it was premature to include in the prestigious Competition list (that goes for the two below it), actually has charm. (I caught it by seeing some films at the London Film Festival in the fall.) Burning is still my favorite, and I love Ash Is Purest White and Cold War, both of which I have re-watched with pleasure. I got a lot more out of Sorry Angel in a second viewing. I've seen Capernaum twice too (it's overlong and repetitious and sentimental but also amazing).
Here's the closing 2018 grid in order of rank. Below that is the actual Jury Grid as it appears in Screen Daily.
3.8 Burning (Lee Chang-dong)
3.2 Shoplifters (Koreeda)
3 The Image Book (Godard)
2.9 The Wild Pear Tree (Ceylan)
2.9 Happy As Lazzaro (Rohrwacher)
2.9 Ash Is Purest White (Jia Zhang-ke)
2.9 Cold War (Pawlekowski)
2.6 Three Faces (Panahi)
2.5 BlacKKKlansman
2.4 Leto (Serebrennikov)
2.4 Asako I & II (Hamaguchi)
2.3 Sorry Angel (Honoré)
2.3 Dogman (Garrone)
2.1 Ayka (Dvortsevoy)
2.1 At War [En guerre] (Stéphane Brizé)
2. Under the Silver Lake (Mitchell)
1.9 Capernaum (Labaki)
1.8 Everybody Knows (Farhadi)
1.8 Yomeddine (Shawky)
1.6 Knife + Heart (Yann Gonzalez)
1.0 Girls of the Sun (Husson)
http://www.chrisknipp.com/images/j18G.jpg
-
This year's final Jury Grid.
The last one here was missing It Must Be Heaven (Suleiman) and Sibyl (Justine Triet). Here is the final one with all the ratings of the ten critics.
http://www.chrisknipp.com/images/JGr5.jpg