Cannes 2014

[Chris Knipp]

Festival de Cannes. May 23. Various early awards.

Thev FIPRESCI International Federation of Film Critics top Competition film award went to Nuri Bilge Ceylan's WINTER SLEEP, as mentioned. The Fipresci jury chose Argentine Lisandro Alonso’s JAUJA as best film in the Un Certain Regard lineup. LOVE AT FIRST FIGHT (Thomas Calley) won best film in Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week sections. The jury only considered first films for this award. Abderrahmane Sissako’s TIMBUKTU won the Cannes’ Ecumenical jury prize. Wim Wenders’ THE SALT OF THE EARTH and Spaniard Jaime Rosales’ BEAUTIFUL YOUTH received commendations from the Ecumenical jury (both in Un Certain Regard).

[Chris Knipp]

Festival de Cannes. 23 May. Tarantino blasts the dominance of digital projection at Cannes.


CLICK ON THIS IMAGE FOR THE CONFERENCE VIDEO

QUENTIN TARANTINO

QT BLASTS DIGITAL PROJECTION AT CANNES. It is said only his PULP FICTION, being shown to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its Cannes Palme d'Or, is getting projected in 35mm. He is angry. He grants that anyone can make a film with a cell phone now who has the tenacity, and that's a good thing, but is convinced this generation is being very stupid to be so in love with digital and he hopes the next generation will realize what it's lost and bring film projection back. "The fact that most films aren't presented in 35mm means that the world is lost. Digital projection is just television in cinema," Tarantino declared. "I'm hopeful, " he added, "that we're going through a woozy romantic period with the ease of digital."

Certainly some of the films were shot on film; Bertrand Bonello mentions in the SAINT LAURENT press conference that his new film was. I just saw Cédric Klapisch's new CHINESE PUZZLE, shot on 35mm Technicolor stock. But when they are then digitally projected to the audience, the nuances of film are suppressed. And this is a widespread, virtually universal problem now.

That's an Indiewiere story. A page with links to every Indiewire stroy for the festival in all categories is here. The conference itself, moderated by subtitle wizard Henri Béhar, is here. Watch it: Tarantino is always passionate, funny, clear, and interesting.

[Chris Knipp]

Festival de Cannes. May 24. More ratings and reviews of films.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko 11h
White God (Mundruzcó): 38. Baffled by the raves and UCR prize for what's basically just a lame horror movie with delusions of grandeur.

WHITE GOD received the Un Certain Regard (UCR) Jury prize. It's said to be like Hitchcock's THE BIRDS only with dogs, and a kind of "ambiguous satire of power relations generally," according to Peter Bradshaw's GUARDIAN review, where he gave it 4/5 stars. D'Angelo also explained on Twitter why he chose to skip Lisandro Alonso's AUJA, the FIPRESCI Jury's choice as best of UCR: (1) he hates Alonso; (2) it's not in Competition so not obligatory to see. If it were in Competition he'd see it despite his dislike.

(This turns up from 22 May:)
SNOW IN PARADISE (Andrew Hulme) GUARDIAN (Xian Brooks review) "- east London conversion, needs work
This flashy, patchy debut from former movie editor Andrew Hulme tells the real-life story of a petty criminal who turns to Islam, in part in disgust at the gentrification of the East End." An outsider UK film that got no UK funding that "gate crashes the festival through the Un Certain Regard sidebar."

(From yesterday, but appeared late:)
CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA (Olivier Assayas) VARIETY (Peter Debruge review): "Contrasting styles between stars of two different generations make Cannes competition title a rich study of actorly insecurity. . .


BINOCHE, STEWART IN CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA

Some Cannes films have opened in France and here are their Allociné press ratings:
GRACE OF MONACO (Dahan): 2.6
THE HOMESMAN (Tommy Lee Jones): 3/6
MAPS TO THE STARS (Cronenberg): 3.7
THE BLUE ROOM/LA CHAMBRE BLEUE (Amalric): 3.8
TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT (Dardennes): 4.1

[Chris Knipp]

Festival de Cannes. May 24. Awards and comments on them.



Mike D'Angelo's (in THE DISSOLVE): "Day 10: predictions and proselytization."

D'Angelo'is predictions/preferences:

Will win/should win:

Palme d'Or:
TIMBUKTU/TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT

Grand Prix:
LEVIATHON/MR. TURNER

Best Director:
Nuri Bilge Ceylan/Jean-Luc Godard

Best Actress:
Marion Cotillard/Kristen Stewart

Best Actor:
Timothy Spall/Haluk Bilginer (WINTER SLEEP)

Best Screenplay:
Naomi Kawase/Olivier Assayas

He got Spall right, and also guessed the Jury Prize might to to Dolan or Godard and it went to both.

NURI BILGE CEYLAN ACCEPTING PALME D'OR

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko 1h
Is it overly cynical if I note that the Palme went to (a) the film predicted to win before the fest even started, & (b) the longest film?

So there was a surprise. Actually several. The Dardennes not three-time winners, and a film respected but not loved given the top award, and another film less often mentioned than some given the Grand Prix. It has been thought having been a top contender three years in a row, Marion Cotillard might be awarded Best Actress, but it went to the less often mentioned Julianne Moore. Competition Jury Prize split with Godard for Xavier Dolan, an honor perhaps, but not the high award he dreamed of. Mike D'Angelo hardly had a clue about what would win and if you go back and look at the predictions by Peter Bradshaw and Justin Chang, they were far off too. This was a year where the quality was spread out more, and perhaps Bradshaw was right in assuming Jane Champion would want to keep the Competition Jury from doing anything obvious, which would have included giving the Dardenne brothers a third Palme d'Or. Many are sorry this slot went to a colder, more off-putting film and to Julianne Moore rather than the now three-times-close Marion Cotillard. It may wind up being hard to remember these choices. But it won't be hard to remember the movies that mattered here.

Actual Cannes 2014 top winners:

FEATURE FILMS
Palme d'Or
WINTER SLEEP Directed by Nuri Bilge CEYLAN

Grand Prix
LE MERAVIGLIE (THE WONDERS) Directed by Alice ROHRWACHER

Award for Best Director
Bennett MILLER for FOXCATCHER

Award for Best Screenplay
Andrey ZVYAGINTSEV for LEVIATHAN, Oleg NEGIN for LEVIATHAN

Award for Best Actress
Julianne MOORE in MAPS TO THE STARS Directed by David CRONENBERG

Award for Best Actor
Timothy SPALL in MR. TURNER Directed by Mike LEIGH

Jury Prize
MOMMY Directed by Xavier DOLAN
ADIEU AU LANGAGE (GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE) Directed by Jean-Luc GODARD

SHORT FILMS
Palme d'Or - Short Film
LEIDI Directed by Simón MESA SOTO

Short Film Special Distinction
AÏSSA Directed by Clément TREHIN-LALANNE
JA VI ELSKER (YES WE LOVE) Directed by Hallvar WITZØ

Camera d'Or went to PARTY GIRL Directed by Samuel THEIS, Claire BURGER, Marie AMACHOUKELI

Lately D'Angelo reported watching Thomas Calley's Directors' Fortnight winner LES COMBATANTS/LOVE AT FIRST FIGHT, but he appears not to have given it a thumbnail review and number on Twitter.

The awards ceremony was moved up a day because of European elections. (What elections?)

[Chris Knipp]

Festival de Cannes. May 25, 2014. Final day. Other awards, etc.

(These were announced before the Competition top awards.)

Un Certain Regard

Jury: Pablo Trapero, Peter Becker, Maria Bonnevie, Géraldine Pailhas and Moussa Touré .

Prize of Un Certain Regard
Fehér Isten (White God) by Kornél Mundruczó

Jury Prize
Tourist by Ruben Östlund

Un Certain Regard Special Prize
The Salt of the Earth by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado

Ensemble Prize
Party Girl by Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis

Prize of the Best Actor
David Gulpill in Charlie’s Country by Rolf de Heer



Critics' Week/Semaine de la critiue

Grand Prix Nespresso
The Tribe by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy

The Revelation Prize
The Tribe by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy

SACD Prize
Hope by Boris Lojkine

Discovery Prize for a Short Film
A Ciambra by Jonas Carpignano

Prix Canal for a Short Film
Crocodile by Gaëlle Denis

Distribution Grant from Foundation Gan
The Tribe by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy

D'Angelo catches a few more films, one of which, like others, he rates highly (FORCE MAJEURE):

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko 3h
Force Majeure (Östlund): 63. I much prefer the version of this film where the couple can't talk about it. Sharp on masculinity, though.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko 3h
Love at First Fight (Cailley): 56. Starts out like a French version of a mediocre Sundance romcom, winds up somewhere (a bit) weirder.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko 3h
P'tit Quinquin (Dumont): 55. Not so much a Dumont comedy as just a long-ass Dumont film that's often really funny. Gestalt lacking for me.

He has said the last few years have been blah but he says optimistically:

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko 17m
Saw one 1st-rate film in each section: 2 DAYS, 1 NIGHT (Comp); BIRD PEOPLE (UCR); TU DORS NICOLE (Fortnight); IT FOLLOWS (Critics' Week).

David Gulpilil's Best Actor prize has a human interest story in the Guardian. The director, Rolf de Heer, says the film, CHARLIE'S COUNTRY, is the first where Australia's best known indigenous actor been fully able to live up to his talent. Gulpilil couldn't come Cannes but he did as a teenager when he starred in Nicolas Roeg's WALKABOUT, his debut role (1971). Gulpilil is 60. De Heer made the fascinating all-Aboriginal-language film TEN CANOES (2006), which I reviewed.