CANNES Film Festival 2016

[Chris Knipp]

The program was announced ten days ago 14 April 2016.

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IN COMPETITION
Opening Film
Woody ALLEN (USA) CAFÉ SOCIETY Out of Competition.
***
Maren ADE (Germany) TONI ERDMANN
Pedro ALMODÓVAR (Spain) JULIETA
Andrea ARNOLD (United-Kingdom) AMERICAN HONEY
Olivier ASSAYAS (France) PERSONAL SHOPPER
Jean-Pierre DARDENNE, Luc DARDENNE (Belgium) LA FILLE INCONNUE
Xavier DOLAN (Canada) JUSTE LA FIN DU MONDE (IT'S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD)
Bruno DUMONT (France) MA LOUTE (SLACK BAY)
Nicole GARCIA (France) MAL DE PIERRES
Alain GUIRAUDIE (France) RESTER VERTICAL
Jim JARMUSCH (USA) PATERSON
Kleber MENDONÇA FILHO (Brazil) AQUARIUS
Ken LOACH (United-Kingdom) I, DANIEL BLAKE
Brillante MENDOZA (Philippines) MA' ROSA
Cristian MUNGIU (Romania) BACALAUREAT
Jeff NICHOLS (USA) LOVING
PARK Chan-Wook (South Korea) AGASSI (THE HANDMAIDEN)
Sean PENN (USA) THE LAST FACE
Cristi PUIU (Romania) SIERANEVADA
Paul VERHOEVEN (Netherlands)ELLE
Nicolas WINDING REFN (Denmark)THE NEON DEMON

UN CERTAIN REGARD
Opening Film
Mohamed DIAB (Egypt) ESHTEBAK إشتباك /(CLASH)
***
Behnam BEHZADI (Iran) VAROONEGI / وارونگی / (INVERSION)
BOO Junfeng (Singapore) APPRENTICE
Delphine COULIN, Muriel COULIN (France) VOIR DU PAYS / (THE STOPOVER)
Stéphanie DI GIUSTO (France) LA DANSEUSE / (THE DANCER) 1st film
Michael DUDOK DE WIT (Netherlands)LA TORTUE ROUGE / (RED TURTLE) 1st film
FUKADA Kôji (Japan) FUCHI NI TATSU/ (HARMONIUM)
Maha HAJ (Israel) OMOR SHAKHSIYA / أمور شخصية (PERSONAL AFFAIRS) 1st film
Eran KOLIRIN (Israel) ME’EVER LAHARIM VEHAGVAOT /(BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS AND HILLS)
KORE-EDA Hirokazu (Japan) AFTER THE STORM
Juho KUOSMANEN (Finland) HYMYILEVÄ MIES /(THE HAPPIEST DAY IN THE LIFE OF OLLI MÄKI) 1st film
Francisco MÁRQUEZ, Andrea TESTA (Argentina) LA LARGA NOCHE DE FRANCISCO SANCTIS/ (FRANCISCO SANCTIS'S LONG NIGHT) 1st film
Bogdan MIRICA (Romania) CÂINI / (DOGS) 1st film
Stefano MORDINI (Italy) PERICLE IL NERO
Michael O’SHEA (USA) THE TRANSFIGURATION 1st film
Matt ROSS (USA) CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Kirill SEREBRENNIKOV (Russia) UCHENIK / ученик /(THE STUDENT)

OUT OF COMPETITION
Shane BLACK (USA) THE NICE GUYS
Jodie FOSTER (USA) MONEY MONSTER
NA Hong-Jin (South Korea) THE WAILING
Steven SPIELBERG (USA) THE BFG

CRITICS' WEEK/UNE SEMAINE DE LA CRITIQUE

FEATURE FILMS IN COMPETITION
ALBÜM Mehmet Can Mertoğlu (Turkey/France/Romania)
DIAMOND ISLAND Davy Chou (Cambodia/France/Germany/Thailand/Qatar)
RAW (GRAVE) Julia Ducournau (France/ Belgium)
MIMOSAS Oliver Laxe (Spain/Morocco/France/Qatar)
ONE WEEK AND A DAY (SHAVUA VE YOM) Asaph Polonsky (Israel)
TRAMONTANE Vatche Boulghourjian (Lebanon/France/United Arab Emirates/Qatar)
A YELLOW BIRD K. Rajagopal (Singapore/France)

SHORT FILMS IN COMPETITION
ARNIE Rina B. Tsou (Taiwan/Philippines)
ASCENSÃO Pedro Peralta (Portugal)
CAMPO DE VÍBORAS Cristèle Alves Meira (Portugal/France)
DELUSION IS REDEMPTION TO THOSE IN DISTRESS Fellipe Fernandes (Brazil)
L’ENFANCE D’UN CHEF Antoine de Bary (France)
LIMBO Konstantina Kotzamani (Greece/France)
OH WHAT A WONDERFUL FEELING François Jaros (Canada)
PRENJAK Wregas Bhanuteja (Indonesia)
LE SOLDAT VIERGE Erwan Le Duc (France)
SUPERBIA Luca Tóth (Hungary)

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
Jim JARMUSCH (USA) GIMME DANGER
YEON Sang-Ho (South Korea) BU-SAN-HAENG /(TRAIN TO BUSAN)

SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Thanos ANASTOPOULOS (Greece)
Davide DEL DEGAN (Italy) L'ULTIMA SPIAGGIA/(THE LAST RESORT)
Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN (Chad)HISSEIN HABRÉ, UNE TRAGÉDIE TCHADIENNE/ (HISSEIN HABRÉ, A CHADIAN TRAGEDY)
Rithy PANH (Cambodia) EXIL
Albert SERRA (Spain) LA MORT DE LOUIS XIV/ (LAST DAYS OF LOUIS XIV)
Paul VECCHIALI (France) LE CANCRE

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GEORGE MILLER (http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/article/62094.html) TO PRESIDE OVER THE JURY

[Chris Knipp]

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As announced at the press conference on 14th April, the following films – for the most part viewed after this date – complete this year’s Official Selection:


IN COMPETITION
THE SALESMAN by Asghar Farhadi (Iran)

UN CERTAIN REGARD
Opening film: ESHTEBAK / إشتباك (CLASH) by Mohamed DIAB (Egypt)
HELL OR HIGH WATER by David Mackenzie (Great Britain)

MIDNIGHT SCREENING
BLOOD FATHER by Jean-François Richet (France)

SPECIAL SCREENINGS
WRONG ELEMENTS by Jonathan Littell (United States)
LA FORÊT DE QUINCONCES by Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet (France)
CHOUF by Karim Dridi (France / Tunisia)


Please note that Iggy Pop will be attending the screening of GIMME DANGER, Jim Jarmusch’s film about him. It will be shown at a Midnight Screening on Thursday 19 May.

[Chris Knipp]

Poster of the Festival.

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[Chris Knipp]

Variety (http://variety.com/2016/film/festivals/cannes-official-selection-numbers-1201753696).
Justin Chang has done a rundown on the 2016 Cannes selections "by the numbers."

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FISH TANK

He notes who didn't get into competition - any Italians; films by Samira Makhmalbaf (At Five in the Afternoon), Pablo Larrain’s Neruda, Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire and one of two possible new entries from Terrence Malick (Voyage of Time, Weightless) - and who did. The latter include three women directors, Brit Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank (http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/ftaa.jpg) was her second Cannes Jury Prize) with her first US-produced film American Honey; German Maren Ade (of Everyone Else (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2644-New-York-Film-Festival-2009/page2&s=&postid=23022#post23022) (NYFF 2009) with Toni Erdmann, a father-daughter tale; and Nicole Garcia, with a glam picture starring Marion Cotillard and Louis Garrel. A step further into the big time for Garrel to be in a film with Cotillard.

Two other French women directors had been mentioned for Competition slots, Rebecca Zlotowski (Planetarium) and Katell Quillévéré Réparer les vivants -- I've reviewed her two earlier films as part of the Rendez-Vous in 2011 and 2013). They'll probably be fit in somewhere, Chang predicts. Zlotowski's debut Belle Épine (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3032-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2011&p=25917#post25917), which I reviewed as part of New Directors/New Films 2011, was an "early" edgy role for Léa Seydoux. I remember Mitchell Banks (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3472-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2013-(year-56)&p=30115#post30115) was still living and attending Lincoln Center events and kept telling me Léa was the product of the two most powerful film producing families in France. Everybody is aware of her now, whether they know her lineage or not; she has proven herself as a bold and talented actress.

Chang notes that in one slot or another there are no less than eight American films at Cannes. The Stars and Stripes will be flying high.

He also points out what you'll see when you peruse the lists, that there are four directors at Cannes for the first time, Maren Ade, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Alain Guiraudie and Cristi Puiu. "And every one of them is cause for excitement — not least because they seem to have earned their place in the competition on the strength of exceptional prior work." Filho, whose Aquarius is included, the only Latin American (with Larraín passed over), he points out made the excellent Neighboring Sounds (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27538#post275382) (covered on Filmleaf in ND/NF 2011). That was a very cool one from Brazil whose sense of class resentment and gathering mood of danger and dread I remember well.

Two leading Romanian directors, Puiu and Mungiu, will be going "mano a mano." Cristi Puiu's The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (http://www.filmleaf.net/articles/features/nyff05/lazarescu.htm) was the very first film I watched at my first NYFF covered here in 2005. Needless to say, I remember it! Not so much his more recent Aurora (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25144#post25144) (NYFF 2010).

Chang concludes with a detailed run-down on the three South Korean films, all by heavy hitters; the four previous Palme d'Or winners; and the two Jim Jarmusch films, rivaling the time Richard Linklater had both Fast Food Nation and A Scanner, Darkly at Cannes the same year.

[Chang may be on the wrong track when he sees possible "significance" in "there being two Israeli films in Un Certain Regard (Eran Kolirin’s Beyond the Mountains and Hills, Maha Haj's Personal Affairs), but only one Arab film (Egyptian director Mohamed Diab’s Clash)." He has overlooked the fact that Personal Affairs (the original title is Omor shakhsiya / أمور شخصية ) is about Palestinians and is in Arabic.]


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[Chris Knipp]

P.s.
The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/movie-news/cannes-2016-lineup-talking-points-controversies/).
The London paper's Robbie Collin has a different kind of overview of the selections. Chang's is a serious, cosmopolitan, cinephile look; Collin's is mostly about glitz, Hollywood, stars, and the UK. But they matter too, and he also gives more detail about some of the individual films.

Vanity Fair. (http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/04/2016-cannes-film-festival-lineup)
Richard Lawson gives more detail about what stars are in what Cannes films. Woody Allen's has Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively, Steve Carell, and Parker Posey. Steweart is also in Olivier Assayas' Personal Shopper, "rumored to be a ghost story." Sean Penn's The Last FAce has Charlize Theron, Javier Bardem, Jean Reno, Jared Harris as "aid workers in Africa who must grapple with the harsh political and social realities." Shia LaBeouf is in Andrea Arnold’s American Honey and Adam Driver is in Jarmusch’s Paterson. Out of competition, Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling will be on the Riviera for Shane Black’s The Nice Guys, as will Mark Rylance for Steven Spielberg’s The BFG, and Julia Roberts and George Clooney for Jodie Foster’s Money Monster. That’s a lot of stars!" the writer exclaims, no doubt happily. But Lawson is "most excited" about some other directors. Xavier Dolan's in which a writer is played by "great French beauty" (!) Gaspard Ulliel "who travels home to tell his family that he’s dying," with Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux, Vincent Cassel, and Nathalie Baye rounding out the what he calls "Ocean’s 11 but about death and with French movie stars." He's hoping Nicolas Winding Refn's new film will be like his pretty exciting Drive and not like his disaster Only God Forgives (both with Ryan Gosling). It's a "Los Angeles–set horror movie, starring Jena Malone, Christina Hendricks, and Keanu Reeves (!!!)" - punctuation Mr. Lawson's.

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/69l.jpg (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/)

[Chris Knipp]

Trouble already from "terror" scare at Cannes.

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A simulation of a terror attack and response to it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cEDfxyCsms) by police right in front of the Palais des Festivals at Cannes did ot go over too well with locals.

Cannes Festival opening night film Woody Allen's Café Society trailer is out HERE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl4X6pFfmTI).

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People who are sick and tired of nerdy Jesse Eisenberg will be disappointed to see he is the lead character of Woody's film. But a GUARDIAN puff piece (http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2016/apr/22/cafe-society-woody-allen-trailer-first-look-jesse-eisenberg) suggests it's worthy of vintage Coen brothers.

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[Chris Knipp]

10 May 2016. The Cannes Festival begins tomorrow.

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STILL FROM MONEY MOSTER WITH CLOONEY, O'CONNELL


CANNES 2016 COMPETITION JURY

President: George Miller.
Kirsten Dunst, Vanessa Paradis, Donald Sutherland, Mads Mikkelsen, Arnaud Desplechin, Valeria Golino, László Nemes & Katayoon Shahabi. New blood is represented by the last two, Nemes the Hungarian director of this year's Best Foreign Oscar winner Son of Saul and the Iranian producer of Asghar Farhadi's 2012 Best Foreign Oscar winner A Separation.

The opening night film: Woody Allen's Café Society.

Master of ceremonies: Laurent Lafitte, a French actor.

Jodie Foster's Money Moster will premiere at Cannes. It opens in US theaters this weekend. The addition of Cannes glitter may be a sign of Jodie's clout there. I've seen the trailer several times and it just looks like a conventional thriller to me, though with financial crisis, Wall Street deception overtones. The cast may add interest, with the combination of Julia Roberts and George Clooney as TV mavens and two outstanding Brits, the working class rough boy Jack O'Connell as the outlaw who takes Clooney hostage, and posh Eton grad Dominic West in another lead role.
An (I thought) interesting Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/08/working-class-actors-disappearing-britain-class-privilege-access-posh) article of two days ago pointed to a vanishing of opportunity for working class actors in England and increasing dominance of posh grads of elite schools like Eton not only in subject matter (the "Downton" effect) and casting for theater, movies, and TV but in government.

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ALLEN POSING WITH CAFÉ SOCIETY STARS


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[Chris Knipp]

Cannes early releases.

From UGC: three Cannes films are releasing in Paris right away:


Woody ALLEN (USA) CAFÉ SOCIETY Out of Competition.
Bruno DUMONT (France) MA LOUTE (SLACK BAY)
Jodie FOSTER (USA) MONEY MONSTER Our of Competition.

Probably more. We'll see.

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Meanwhile, fear remains of a terrorist attack at the vulnerable, high-profile moment of Cannes at Festival time and armed guards are all around. A Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/10/cannes-remains-vigilant-as-festival-opens-amid-fears-of-terror-attack) introductory piece, from which the photo below is borrowed, mentions other "major" films opening at Cannes and Competition prize hopefuls.

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[Chris Knipp]

Apparently Mike D'Angelo will be covering the festival with daily AV Club reports and posting Twitter thumbnail reviews again. Here are the first of the latter.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko 1h1 hour ago
Café Society (Allen): 51. This is an odd one. Looks like one of his plotty divertissements, but wants to be HANNAH AND HER SISTERS.

Mike D'Angelo‏@gemko
Rarely enjoyed it much moment to moment (he seems so creaky now), but by the end I did at least find myself admiring its ambition.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Sieranevada (Puiu): 47. But I'm not a fan, and this is easily my fave of his films. Sometimes funny, always hectic. Wish it coalesced more.

[Chris Knipp]

Another one coming out here (the US) soon is:

Shane BLACK (USA) THE NICE GUYS Out of Competition.

With Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. The trailer makes it look light and appealing. Black has been a big action writer but also wrote and directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang .

Guardian reports on UK film boxoffice returns:
Secret Cinema’s 28 Days Later beats the heat as the Bad Neighbours sequel and diva Florence Foster Jenkins wilt But their Mark Kermode gave Florence Foster Jenkins (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/08/florence-foster-jenkins-review-enjoyable-biopic-meryl-streep) (which won't be out till August here) 4/5 stars.


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[Johann]

The poster for Cannes this year is lame. Worst poster to promote the festival I've ever seen. I'm very happy to read your posts Chris, but that yellow "tower of babel" poster sucks donkey dick. :)

[Chris Knipp]

Today was Cannes' glitzy opening day. See Guardian photos. (http://www.theguardian.com/film/gallery/2016/may/11/cannes-2016-woody-allen-kristen-stewart-blake-lively-in-pictures#img-1)

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Johann: You're probably right; the poster may mean more to French people or people who've been to Cannes but to us it doesn't make sense. Anyway it works big maybe but not small and I'll substitute some Cannes 69 logos.

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[Chris Knipp]

Second day at Cannes 2016.

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Damien Bonnard, Christian Bouillette, Laure Calamy


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Staying Vertical (Guiraudie): 77. Lightly surrealistic "meditation on" (sorry @sallitt) freedom and responsibility. Singular, windswept. Very high rating from D'Angelo - who now announces he is going to be writing Cannes bulletins for AV Club again, fortunately.

Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian didn't agree:
Rester Vertical review (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/12/rester-vertical-review-cannes-2016-alain-giraudie) – exercise in myth-making and sexual adventure fails to stay upright
2 / 5 stars

French director Alain Guiraudie’s follow-up to The Stranger by the Lake is wearyingly self-indulgent and a real disappointment

STAYING VERTICAL/RESTER VERTICAL {French title)
SYNOPSIS
film maker has to raise a child by himself whilst looking for an inspiration for his new film.
Long synopsis : Filmmaker Leo is searching for the wolf in the south of France. During a scouting excursion he is seduced by Marie, a free-spirited and dynamic shepherdess. Nine months later she gives birth to their child. Suffering from post-natal depression and with no faith in Leo, who comes and goes without warning, Marie abandons both of them. Leo finds himself alone, with a baby to care for. It’s not easy, but deep down, he loves it. Through a series of unexpected and unusual encounters, struggling to find inspiration for his next film, Leo will do whatever it takes to stay standing. Alain Guiraudie follows Stranger by the Lake with this intimate, heart-stopping tale set amidst a wilderness in which secret desires are revealed.

From yesterday, Peter Bradshaw's Guardian review of Sierranevada (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/12/cannes-2016-film-festival-sieranevada-review-cristi-puiu-romania)
Sieranevada review – food for thought (but not for the mourners) in Romanian oddity
3 / 5 stars

The Death of Mr Lazarescu director Cristi Puiu has created an intense argument-filled study of a family crammed into a single apartment for a funeral service

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Money Monster (Foster): N/A. I didn't fly all the way to France to see movies that open in the States tomorrow. Spent that time writing. He didn't see it. Bradshaw of the Guardian did and liked it though:
Money Monster review (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/12/money-monster-review-george-clooney-jodie-foster-cannes-2016) - George Clooney goes Leslie Nielsen in popcorn hostage thriller.
3 / 5 stars

The Jodie Foster-directed satire about the financial meltdown isn’t especially original, but it’s arguably more honest than Oscar favorite The Big Short

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[Chris Knipp]

AV Club makes Mike D'Angelo a Cannes correspondent again.

So here is Mike D'Angelo's first bulletin for AV Club from Cannes.

click (http://www.avclub.com/article/cannes-opens-latest-star-studded-ensemble-woody-al-236651)

He was doing them instead for The Dissolve for a couple of years, but then The Dissolve, sadly, dissolved. He reviews the first day's offerings, which consisted entirely of the Woody Allen opening night film, Café Society, out of Competition and The Death of Mr. Lazarescu Romanian director Christi Puiu's new one, in Competition, Sierranevada.

And here's another from the prolific Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw:
I, Daniel Blake review: (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/12/i-daniel-blake-ken-loachs-welfare-state-polemic-is-blunt-dignified-and-brutally-moving) Ken Loach's welfare state polemic is blunt, dignified and brutally moving
4 / 5 stars




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[Chris Knipp]

More D'Angelo Tweet reviews from Cannes.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
I, Daniel Blake (Loach): 49. Liked Dan, liked Katie, but did not so much like how much the film urged me to pity Dan and Katie.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Sweet Dreams (Bellocchio): 50. Feels like three or four different films crammed into one; core dead-mother aspect frequently gets lost.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Slack Bay (Dumont): 38. QUINQUIN redux, but with the goofy grotesquerie cranked up to 11. The movie stars commit to it, give 'em that.]


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
TONI ERDMANN is the first film I've seen get spontaneous, raucous mid-film applause at Cannes since the accordion bit in HOLY MOTORS.


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[Chris Knipp]

All Mike D'Angelo Cannes '16 tweet 'reviews' ranked by numerical ratings.

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Peter Simonischek and Sandra Hüller as father and daughter in Toni Erdmann


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Toni Erdmann (Ade): 82. Unafraid to go big, equally unafraid to acknowledge that grand gestures aren't magical cure-alls. Whitney Schnuck!

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Staying Vertical (Guiraudie): 77. Lightly surrealistic “meditation on” (sorry @sallitt) freedom and responsibility. Singular, windswept.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Paterson (Jarmusch): 73. Might be his most existential film, which is saying a lot. Lovely portrait of an artist's sustenance.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Aquarius (Mendonça Filho): 69. Part social-justice pic, part character study. I really liked both parts, but they don't mesh terribly well.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
The Salesman (Farhadi): 68. Came for ASGHAR FARHADI'S DEATH OF A SALESMAN, stayed for ASGHAR FARHADI'S DEATH WISH. Need to see it again.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
The Handmaiden (Park): 66. Operatically trashy fun, really kicking into gear with the perspective shift of Part 2. Part 3 is superfluous.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Hell or High Water (Mackenzie): 64. Taylor Sheridan has a real voice, not just for pungent dialogue but for unconventional genre structure.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Elle (Verhoeven): 63. Thought I had this pegged as a deliciously perverse ode to embracing one's true nature. Then the ending befuddled me.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Julieta (Almodóvar): 62. Kind of absurdly backloaded—I spent much of it wondering “Why the Hitchcockian strings?”—but resolves beautifully.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Graduation (Mungiu): 62. A dozen years ago, this slippery slope of well-intentioned malfeasance would have seemed revelatory. Now, familiar.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
After the Storm (Kore-eda): 61. Very much in his STILL WALKING vein (with some of the same actors)—gentle, wry, touching. Felt long, though.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Exile (Panh): 57. Replaces MISSING PICTURE's puppets with various installation-y concepts that don't have the same impact. Still poignant.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Gimme Danger (Jarmusch): 57. Predictably energetic, but disappointingly safe. Bowie's mix of RAW POWER never even comes up, for example.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
The Unknown Girl (Dardennes): 56. LORNA'S SILENCE was fantastic. *This* is what an overly plot-heavy Dardennes Bros film looks like.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki (Kuosmanen): 53. Can see why this won UCR, very formally invigorating. Wound up feeling slight.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
American Honey (Arnold): 52. Reminder: This is Andrea Arnold's iPhone case.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Café Society (Allen): 51. This is an odd one. Looks like one of his plotty divertissements, but wants to be HANNAH AND HER SISTERS.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Personal Shopper (Assayas): 51 The New York Times raves: "You had me at 'Olivier Assayas.'" And Fangoria magazine says: "Da fuh?"

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
The BFG (Spielberg): 50. So many of his recent films constantly distract me with their technical wizardry. That wasn't always the case.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Sweet Dreams (Bellocchio): 50. Feels like three or four different films crammed into one; core dead-mother aspect frequently gets lost.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
I, Daniel Blake (Loach): 49. Liked Dan, liked Katie, but did not so much like how much the film urged me to pity Dan and Katie.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
The Neon Demon ("NWR"): 49. Might be talking out of my ass, but I *think* I detected a wee commentary re oppressive female beauty standards.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Sieranevada (Puiu): 47. But I'm not a fan, and this is easily my fave of his films. Sometimes funny, always hectic. Wish it coalesced more.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Loving (Nichols): 45. Two hours in it's still selling the Loving family as good, decent people who deserve happiness. You had me at hello.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Ma' Rosa (Mendoza): 43. Resisted the effort to push my empathy in one direction. Also, somebody please buy Mendoza a decent camera.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Slack Bay (Dumont): 38. QUINQUIN redux, but with the goofy grotesquerie cranked up to 11. The movie stars commit to it, give 'em that.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
It's Only the End of the World (Dolan): 38. Never saw AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY but I feel like this must be exactly what it was like.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
In the Land of the Moon (Garcia): 24. This movie's stupid.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
The Last Face (Penn): 10. Bring back Hazanavicius.

D'Angelo also notes that Ade's film, which he's so much anticipated, also is a wider critical triumph: Screen International grid (https://twitter.com/Screendaily/status/731745840906285056)shows TOM ERDMANN sets a record for high scores.


http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/69l.jpg (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/)

[Chris Knipp]

GUARDIAN reviews.

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/prv.jpg
Still from Diab's The Clash


Neruda review (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/14/neruda-review-unconventional-drama-constructs-rather-than-retells-chilean-poets-life) - unconventional drama constructs rather than retells Chilean poet's life4 / 5 stars
Pablo Larrain follows up No and The Club with an unlikely, often surreal and incredibly entertaining film that plays fast and loose with facts and time

This one from not Bradshaw but Benjamin Lee, a new name to me.


The BFG review: Spielberg and Rylance's delicate touch proves hugely charming
4 / 5 stars (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/14/the-bfg-review-mark-rylance-steven-spieberg-roald-dahl)
A touch of touristic uncertainty as to place and time can’t hobble this beautifully wrought, London-set adaptation of the Roald Dahl story, which reunites Mark Rylance and Steven Spielberg after Bridge of Spies

(Bradshaw.)


GUARDIAN: The Handmaiden review – Park Chan-wook's lurid lesbian potboiler simmers with sexual tension
4 / 5 stars (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/14/the-handmaiden-review-park-chan-wooks-lurid-lesbian-potboiler-simmers-with-sexual-tension)

(Benjamin Lee.)


Clash review – horrifying one-location drama tackles Egyptian conflict 4 / 5 stars (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/13/clash-review-egyptian-revolution)
Mohamed Diab’s disturbing and technically daring thriller positions the viewer on the inside of an Egyptian police van in 2013 as post-revolution tensions boil over

Benjamin Lee again. It's called "Ishtibak" ( إشتباك) in Arabic, remember? The action, he explains, is entirely set inside a police riot van during protests in Cairo in 2013, two years after the revolution, and shows the country exploding against itself. "A ferociously well-made film right through to the bitter end."

In an Guardian article (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/13/woody-allen-polanski-cosby-dangerous-cannes-ronan-farrow), "Comparing Woody Allen to Polanski or Cosby is lazy and dangerous," Catherine Shoard points out that the charge of child molestation against Allen have never been substantiated, whereas Polanski has been tried and convicted and Cosby has multiple charges and trial is pending. Nonetheless the Times and Susan Sarandon in a Cannes interview have repeated the allegation.




http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/69l.jpg (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/)

[Chris Knipp]

Sunday's D'Angelo Cannes '16 tweets. Some on the Jarmusch and the festival as a whole

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Loving (Nichols): 45. Two hours in it's still selling the Loving family as good, decent people who deserve happiness. You had me at hello.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Since I stayed through PATERSON's closing credits, let me bum out my colleagues who didn't: The film is dedicated to the dog's memory.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Btw that was the two kids from MOONRISE KINGDOM on the bus, right? It was him for sure; think it was her, too. A Jarmuschian touch.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Cannes '16 looked unusually strong on paper, and it's proving to be unusually strong on [wishes he could end this sentence w/"celluloid"].

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/69l.jpg (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/)

[Chris Knipp]

More Guardian coverage. (They deliver!)

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/120112.jpg
KRISTEN STEWART IN ASSAYAS' PERSONAL SHOPPER


From the Land of the Moon review (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/15/from-the-land-of-the-moon-review-marion-cotillard-cannes) - Marion Cotillard locked up in fuggy sexual melodrama
2 / 5 stars
Nicole Garcia’s drama, about a bored woman searching for sex and a soulmate in 1940s Provence, never really offers a release (D'Angelo's lowest rating so far, 24).

Loving (Jeff Nichols) review (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/16/loving-review-civil-rights-tale-marries-heartfelt-drama-with-too-much-restraint): civil rights tale marries heartfelt drama with too much restraint
3 / 5 stars
Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga bring strength to a true story of an unlawful interracial marriage in 50s America that is earnest but underpowered
-Peter Bradshaw

The Nice Guys review: (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/15/the-nice-guys-review-russell-crowe-and-ryan-gosling-cannes) Crowe and Gosling are abysmal PIs in a high hit-rate action comedy
4 / 5 stars
Shane Black sets a pair of sound-hearted good-bad guys off on the trail of a missing porn star in a crime caper that’s touched by Anderson, Altman and Hiaasen
-Peter Bradshaw

Ma Loute (Slack Bay) (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/13/ma-loute-slack-bay-review-juliette-binoche-cannes-2016-bruno-dumont) review - Juliette Binoche goes mesmerically over the top in bizarre seaside comedy 4 / 5 stars
Bruno Dumont, the former high priest of French seriousness, has successfully shifted to slapstick and pratfalls in this crime comedy set during the Belle Époque
-Peter Bradshaw

I, Daniel Blake review (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/12/i-daniel-blake-ken-loachs-welfare-state-polemic-is-blunt-dignified-and-brutally-moving): Ken Loach's welfare state polemic is blunt, dignified and brutally moving
4 / 5 stars
There are shades of Dickens and Orwell in this emphatic drama about a disabled man strangled by the red tape of the benefits system
-Peter Bradshaw

The Transfiguration review (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/15/the-transfiguration-review-cannes): downbeat black vampire tale lacks bite
2 / 5 stars
Michael O’Shea’s debut chomps countless other vampire films. Unfortunately, they’re all superior to this middling, self-conscious effor
-Nigel M Smith


Hell or High Water review (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/16/hell-or-high-water-review-cannes-film-jeff-bridges-chris-pine) – elegaic Texan western that packs a dizzying punch
4 / 5 stars
Chris Pine and Ben Foster are bank-robbing brothers pursued by Jeff Bridges’s Texas ranger in a heavyweight, cynical thriller from Starred Up director David Mackenzie (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/16/hell-or-high-water-review-cannes-film-jeff-bridges-chris-pine)
-Peter Bradshaw

Personal Shopper review: (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/16/personal-shopper-review-kristen-stewarts-psychic-spooker-is-a-must-have) Kristen Stewart's psychic spooker is a must-have
5 / 5 stars
Cannes gets its first marmite sensation with Olivier Assayas’s (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/16/personal-shopper-review-kristen-stewarts-psychic-spooker-is-a-must-have)uncategorisable – yet undeniably terrifying – drama about a fashion PA trying to exorcise herself of her dead twin
-Peter Bradshaw
Bradshaw: "It is actually Assayas’s best film for a long time, and Stewart’s best performance to date. . ."

N.B.: US press (Variety, NYTimes) seems to be playing up Jeff Nichols' Loving, which D'Angelo and Bradshaw see as decent but underwhelming. I am skipping the red carpet "looks," "incredibly toned" bodies, etc and focusing n the films. If Justin Bieber takes his shirt off on the Croisette I'll show it, but he's been there, done that.


http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/69l.jpg (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/)

[Chris Knipp]

Mike D'Angelo's daily Cannes reports for AV Club. He delivers too!

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/av.jpg

1. Woody Allen's Cafe Society
CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
Cannes opens with the latest star-studded ensemble from Woody Allen
By Mike D'Angelo (http://www.avclub.com/article/cannes-opens-latest-star-studded-ensemble-woody-al-236651)
May 12, 2016 10:30 AM

2.CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
Some Cannes regulars get weird, but only one of their curiosities thrills
By Mike D'Angelo (http://www.avclub.com/article/some-cannes-regulars-get-weird-only-one-their-curi-236732)
May 13, 2016 12:36 PM

3. Maren Ade's Toni Erdmann
CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
Cannes premieres its first great film, and Spielberg does Roald Dahl
By Mike D'Angelo (http://www.avclub.com/article/cannes-premieres-its-first-great-film-and-spielber-236781)
May 14, 2016 1:00 PM

4. Sasha Lane in American Honey
CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
Fish Tank’s Andrea Arnold returns with Shia LaBeouf and a rowdy road trip
By Mike D'Angelo (http://www.avclub.com/article/fish-tanks-andrea-arnold-returns-shia-labeouf-and--236795)
May 15, 2016 11:23 AM

5. CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
Adam Driver drives for Jim Jarmusch, and Jeff Nichols tackles a famous case
By Mike D'Angelo (http://www.avclub.com/article/adam-driver-drives-jim-jarmusch-and-jeff-nichols-t-236826)
May 16, 2016 11:21

6.CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
A singular Kristen Stewart ghost story joins the booed-at-Cannes club
By Mike D'Angelo (http://www.avclub.com/article/singular-kristen-stewart-ghost-story-joins-booed-c-236893)
May 17, 2016 11:04 AM

7. CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
Two master filmmakers make a rare misstep on day 7 of Cannes
By Mike D'Angelo (http://www.avclub.com/article/two-master-filmmakers-make-rare-misstep-day-7-cann-236957)
May 18, 2016 12:00 PM

8. CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
Romanian drama, a Dolan dud, and more Jim Jarmusch on day 8 of Cannes
By Mike D'Angelo (http://www.avclub.com/article/romanian-drama-dolan-dud-and-more-jim-jarmusch-day-237030)
May 19, 2016 12:30 PM

9. CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
The director of Drive heads back to L.A. for a blunt message movie
By Mike D'Angelo (http://www.avclub.com/article/director-drive-heads-back-l-blunt-message-movie-237100)
May 20, 2016 12:03 PM

10. CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
Closing Cannes with Farhadi, Verhoeven, and best-of-the-fest picks
By Mike D'Angelo (http://www.avclub.com/article/closing-cannes-farhadi-verhoeven-and-best-fest-pic-237141)
May 21, 2016 12:13 PM

Tweet "reviews" today (Monday);


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Hell or High Water (Mackenzie): 64. Taylor Sheridan has a real voice, not just for pungent dialogue but for unconventional genre structure.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Personal Shopper (Assayas): 51 The New York Times raves: "You had me at 'Olivier Assayas.'" And Fangoria magazine says: "Da fuh?"


http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/69l.jpg (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/)

[Johann]

Mike D'Angelo's pretty great, no? I like his style. To the point, no nonsense...

What's with Julia Roberts running barefoot up the steps? Does she think she's Cinderella or something? lol
Cannes is being dwarfed by the U.S. election. Wow is Trump ever looking like a doofus. Look at what's haunting him on the campaign trail...sheer batshit nuttiness. That man is not fit to hold that office, period. Neither is Hillary, but it looks like she's the lesser of two evils this go-around. Sadness. Total sadness watching the U.S. election. (From a Canuck p.o.v.)

[Chris Knipp]

I agree with you on D'Angelo and on US politics. I haven't liked any presidential candidate so much as Bernie since Adlai Stevenson or JFK. Sure the primaries are big news all over, everyone has noticed the dangerous absurdity of Trump, but Cannes is pretty big news in France.

D'Angelo is pretty great, and is a veteran at covering Cannes. I discovered him through his "open letter" to Lars von Trier in 2009 which you can read here (http://www.avclub.com/article/cannes-09-day-five-28137). The directness, clarity, and passion of his writing there grabbed me. His focus is closer to the European and art film than the more mainstream Guardian. Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian is really good too. I like his reviews and he writes a lot of them day by day at Cannes, along with several other Guardian reviewers who also contribute. The Guardian Cannes coverage is outstanding. The Guardian has four or five people covering Cannes on location with reviews, podcasts, and videos online. I'll link to some of those too.

[Johann]

Awesome. You would know quality writing. :)

Bernie is simply Amazing. There is gonna be a kick-ass movie come out of his campaign. The guy is a hero to many, including me.
I want to meet him, shake his hand. He's an American I admire. He's got more Hope going for him than Obama did. I don't know why Obama doesn't support Bernie over Hillary. (actually I do). Barack is smart, real smart, Rosicrucian smart, and it's yet another let-down of his tenure to pass the baton to Hillary rather than the obviously scandal-free Bernie. (well maybe The Bern's hair is a scandal...LOL)
He's getting a raw deal here, with this delegate system. I despise the idea of "Super-Delegates"- it makes me puke, makes me wretch. Opportunistic fat cats is what they are, nothing more.

Here's hoping for Americans to wake up one day before Halloween and realize that Bernie is the answer to their rage at government, not clown Trump.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks again. Good points about Bernie. He is way more real than Barack was, come to think of it, with his solid content and no-nonsense speaking style. I'd like to shake his hand too. Incidentally speaking of politics, you Oliver Stone fan: watch for the new Edward Snowden pic starring Joe Gordon-Leavitt directed by Oliver coming out shortly.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3774114/

[Chris Knipp]

More Mike D'Angelo. And me.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko 5h5 hours ago
Julieta (Almodóvar): 62. Kind of absurdly backloaded—I spent much of it wondering “Why the Hitchcockian strings?”—but resolves beautifully.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko 2h2 hours ago
I will be seeing AQUARIUS later today, in the Lumière rather than the Bazin. (Also I just like to do my writing in the early afternoon.)


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko 2h2 hours ago
If you followed me around Cannes for a week, my life would look a lot like Paterson's in the Jarmusch. I have the same routine every day.


Chris Knipp ‏@IKIRU2 10s10 seconds ago
Since I had to finish up in NY and get back up to speed in CA past few days I've got some catching up on Cannes to do.


http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/69l.jpg (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/)

[Johann]

I WAS an Oliver Stone fan. I used to put him up on a pedestal. But when Michael Moore is more effective than he is, something's not right. I fear Oliver is making movies nowadays just to "soften the blow". Since Alexander what has he done? Just soften the blow on 9/11, George W. Bush, the drug war, America's "secret" history and now Edward Snowden.
I said it before: Oliver should make a film about the U.S. Congress- a full-bore rout-out of that festering carcass of a legislative body. Name names! Expose the corrupt fucks! lol

I saw Max Ophuls' La Ronde on Turner Classic Movies the other day (preceded by La Roue! I finally saw that Abel Gance classic!)
and I now know why Kubrick wanted to do a Schnitzler novel. It's because of La Ronde. He was enamored of that film, and he lifted ideas from it for EWS (and even Barry Lyndon- Kubrick stole the line "Were you obliged to dance five times?" from la Ronde, as well as themes of fidelity in marriage. Kubrick's favorite filmmaker was Max Ophuls, and you should see la Ronde ASAP if you want to see who and what inspired Stanley.

[Chris Knipp]

I've never been an Oliver Stone fan, but I would go to see any film he makes on a relevant topic, such as Edward Snowden. Would you not go to see a film about Bernie Sanders, if he made one? I have seen La Ronde. Marvellous. Kubrick is a genius, but he did not have that light touch.

[Johann]

I have seen La Ronde. Marvellous. Kubrick is a genius, but he did not have that light touch.

Very true. The beauty in La Ronde does not compare with Eyes Wide Shut. They're different, if similarly inspired. The opening titles were beautiful and the camerawork was poetic. And the ladies in the film (Simone Signoret and Danielle Darrieux) are like porcelain dolls. Tony Kaye said it best: "When you watch a Kubrick film, you FEEL the puppetmaster in the frame. And was that man ever a Puppetmaster!" (paraphrase)

[Chris Knipp]

No review from Cannes via my sources at the moment. The news from there is a domonstration against the usurpation of power in Brazil ("Brazil Is Not a Democracy") and Almodovar on the Panama Papers: "I'm one of the least important names cited."

[Johann]

The Panama Papers are a bombshell, no?
Hang 'Em High! That includes you, Pedro!
"Ignorance is not a Virtue"- Barack Obama 2016 :)

[Chris Knipp]

The Panama Papers are the biggest leak of documents yet, 11.5 million documents showing offshore concealment of wealth by rich people all over the globe. The source, to a German newspaper, remains anonymous. Due to the volume of documents the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has been asked to assist, making this an important international cooperative investigative journalism effort.

[Chris Knipp]

Cannes continues, eighth day.

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/LM.jpg
Still from Kleber Mendoç Filho's Aquarius

IMDb plot summary for Aquarius:
Clara, a 65 year old widow and retired music critic, was born into a wealthy and traditional family in Recife, Brazil. She is the last resident of the Aquarius, an original two-story building, built in the 1940s, in the upper-class, seaside Avenida Boa Viagem, Recife. All the neighboring apartments have already been acquired by a company which has other plans for that plot. Clara has pledged to only leave her place upon her death, and will engage in a cold war of sorts with the company. This tension both disturbs Clara and gives her that edge on her daily routine. It also gets her thinking about her loved ones, her past and her future.

Sonia Braga has the lead role.

D'Angelo tweets.

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Aquarius (Mendonça Filho): 69. Part social-justice pic, part character study. I really liked both parts, but they don't mesh terribly well

This is his number three rated after Ade's Toni Erdmann (82) and Jarmusch's Paterson (73). There is still a quantitative jump between these three.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Ma' Rosa (Mendoza): 43. Resisted the effort to push my empathy in one direction. Also, somebody please buy Mendoza a decent camera.

Lest his tweeting on "Mendoça Filho" and "Mendoza" concurrently might cause confusion, Kleber Mendoça Filho is the Brazilian director of Neighboring Sounds, (ND/NF 2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3246-New-Directors-New-Films-and-Film-Comment-Selects-2012&p=27538#post27538)a complex and elegant social commentary; Brillante Mendoza is the FilipSerbis (NYFF 2008 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2339-New-York-Film-Festival-2008&s=&postid=20760#post20760)), a messy gay telenovela-like movie. But they're both Competition films of the Festival.

A series of tweets on the Dardennes' film:


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
The Unknown Girl (Dardennes): 56. LORNA'S SILENCE was fantastic. *This* is what an overly plot-heavy Dardennes Bros film looks like.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
The Unknown Girl (Dardennes): 56. TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT was fantastic. *This* is what an overly schematic Dardennes Bros film looks like.


]Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
(Sorry to be cute, but I couldn't fit it all in 140. Also, this is still pretty good, even if it's my least favorite since JE PENSE À VOUS.)


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Oh, good, I'm not alone in thinking THE UNKNOWN GIRL a misfire. There were some surprising “lo, another masterpiece!” tweets in my feed.
Also a tweet that though Adèle Hamel isn't bad, he's glad nobody took him up on his bet that she'd be a shoo-in for Best Actress at Cannes this year.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
It's Only the End of the World (Dolan): 38. Never saw AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY but I feel like this must be exactly what it was like.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
After the Storm (Kore-eda): 61. Very much in his STILL WALKING vein (with some of the same actors)—gentle, wry, touching. Felt long, though.

Guardian.

Bradshaw @ the GUARDIAN concurs:
Cannes 2016
The Unknown Girl review – a marginal, passionless offering from the Dardennes brothers (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/18/the-unknown-girl-review-dardennes-brothers-cannes-2016)
2 / 5 stars. The double-Palme-winners’ latest is a study of a guilt-stricken doctor digging up information about a dead immigrant, but it lacks the Dardennes’ usual brilliance
He seems to like M'Rosa better than Mike:
Ma'Rosa review: a cold, hard look at what it means to be poor. (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/18/marosa-review-brillante-mendoza-cannes)3 / 5 stars. Filipino director Brillante Mendoza’s social realist drama takes us to the dark heart of police corruption in Manila, but never really gets inside the victims’ heads


Cannes 2016 First look review
Aquarius review: rich and mysterious Brazilian story of societal disintegration
(http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/17/aquarius-review-rich-and-mysterious-brazilian-story-of-societal-disintegration)4 / 5 stars. Kleber Mendonça Filho’s second feature is the beautifully observed and surprising story of an ageing music critic staging a stakeout against the developers in her apartment block[
-Peter Bradshaw.

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/6564.jpg

Guardian Interview with Chloë Sevigny, at Cannes for her own short film, Kitty (20 minutes).

Cannes 2016 The Dailies: The Guardian Film Show (http://www.theguardian.com/film/audio/2016/may/18/cannes-2016-chloe-sevigny-interview-special-the-dailies-film-podcast)
Cannes 2016: Chloë Sevigny interview special - the Dailies film podcast
An extended conversation with the acclaimed actor and director, who talks about sexism in Hollywood and why she never gets cast in blockbusters.


http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/69l.jpg (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/)

[Chris Knipp]

About time we looked at Variety's Cannes '16 coverage.

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Still from Invesion

Here's Variety's Jay Weissberg (http://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/aquarius-review-1201776731/)on Kleber Mendoça Filho's Aquarius:

The incomparable Sonia Braga stars as a well-off widow holding on to her apartment against developer pressures in this shrewd meditation on the way physical space elides with our identity.

Kleber Mendonça Filho’s stunning 2012 feature debut “Neighboring Sounds” boldly announced a major new voice in Brazilian cinema, someone able to capture the totality of Brazilian society in one Recife residential street via a remarkably sophisticated choral balancing act. His much-anticipated follow-up is a more subtle film but no less mature, a calmer film but no less angry. Starring the incomparable Sonia Braga as a well-off widow holding on to her apartment against developer pressures, “Aquarius” is a character study as well as a shrewd meditation on the needless transience of place and the way physical space elides with our identity. Festivals will clamor, though distributors unfortunately may feel wary about the lengthy running time.


Owen Gleiberman review of Inversion (http://variety.com/2016/film/features/cannes-film-review-inversion-behnan-behzadi-1201777750/)


Behnam Behzadi's new film is a quietly dramatic tale of a woman in Tehran who is not as liberated as she thinks she is.

The title shot of “Inversion” is an image of a metropolitan landscape so thick with smog that the skyscrapers seem to be melting right into the chalky-white air. It looks like the establishing shot of downtown L.A. that we’ve seen in a thousand films — only this isn’t Los Angeles, it’s Tehran. Iran’s capital city has yet to become a global icon of toxic air pollution on the level of, say, Beijing, but Behnam Behzadi’s new film suggests that it may be fast on its way there. (The title refers to the state of “thermal inversion” that, on bad days, pushes the poison in Tehran’s atmosphere to maximum density.) It’s an oppressive situation the citizens of Tehran simply live with, like lousy weather (or government crackdowns), but in “Inversion,” the pollution sets off a chain reaction of familial discord that closes in on the heroine, Niloofar (Sahar Dowlatshahi), until it forces her to find a new source of air.


http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/69l.jpg (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/)

[Chris Knipp]

D'Angelo's top seven at the moment plus his tweet descriptions.

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/pj55.jpg
Paterson, Adam Driver


​​Toni Erdmann​​ (Ade): 82. Unafraid to go big, equally unafraid to acknowledge that grand gestures aren't magical cure-alls. Whitney Schnuck!

​​Paterson (Jarmusch): 73. Might be his most existential film, which is saying a lot. Lovely portrait of an artist's sustenance.

​​Aquarius (Mendonça Filho): 69. Part social-justice pic, part character study. I really liked both parts, but they don't mesh terribly well

​​The Handmaiden (Park): 66. Operatically trashy fun, really kicking into gear with the perspective shift of Part 2. Part 3 is superfluous.

​​Hell or High Water (Mackenzie): 64. Taylor Sheridan has a real voice, not just for pungent dialogue but for unconventional genre structure.

​​Julieta (Almodóvar): 62. Kind of absurdly backloaded—I spent much of it wondering “Why the Hitchcockian strings?”—but resolves beautifully.

​​After the Storm (Kore-eda): 61. Very much in his STILL WALKING vein (with some of the same actors)—gentle, wry, touching. Felt long, though. Note unusual for Almodovar to be so high and that Woody Allen's is no. 11. But this will change.

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/te55.jpg
Tony Erdmann still


http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/69l.jpg (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/)

[Chris Knipp]

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/gu121.jpg
GASPARD ULLIEL IN IT'S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD

19 May 2016: D'Angelo's latest tweet ratings of Cannes '16 films.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Gimme Danger (Jarmusch): 57. Predictably energetic, but disappointingly safe. Bowie's mix of RAW POWER never even comes up, for example.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Graduation (Mungiu): 62. A dozen years ago, this slippery slope of well-intentioned malfeasance would have seemed revelatory. Now, familiar.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
The Neon Demon ("NWR"): 49. Might be talking out of my ass, but I *think* I detected a wee commentary re oppressive female beauty standards.

Guardian has some different evaluations.

A higher opinion of Xavier Dolan's latest and Mungiu's Graduation.
Xavier Dolan First look review
It’s Only the End of the World review: Xavier Dolan's nightmarish homecoming is a dream
4 / 5 stars. (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/19/its-only-the-end-of-the-world-review-xavier-dolans-nightmarish-homecoming-is-a-dream) The claustrophobia of family has rarely been so well-wrought as in the latest highly stylised – and highly polarising – drama by the French-Canadian enfant terrible

(D'Angelo's rating of 38 is definitely below 4/5 stars.)


Cannes 2016 First look review
Risk review – (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/19/julian-assange-wikileaks-risk-review-laura-poitras-cannes-2016) Laura Poitras skirts safely around Julian Assange in gripping documentary
4 / 5 stars. Poitras follows Citizenfour with a profile of WikiLeaks founder Assange, which contains some electrifying moments despite its lack of objectivity


Cannes 2016
Graduation review (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/19/graduation-review-cristian-mungiu-romania-cannes-2016)– a five-star study of grubby bureaucratic compromise
5 / 5 stars. Romanian Palme d’Or winner Cristian Mungiu’s latest follows a doctor’s attempts to help his daughter pass a life-changing school exam with superbly subtle observation

Photocalls.

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French superstars for Dolan's film: Ulliel, Seydoux, Cotillard, Baye, Cassel

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Mortensen & young cast of Captain Fantastic having fun


http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/69l.jpg (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/)

[Chris Knipp]

JOHANN,

You thought the new Cannes poster was dumb. You should see the prematurely released one for the NYFF (for Sept-Oct. 2016) from "Joe" Weerasethakul.. It's not even poster-shaped: is that meant to seem original? Maybe starting on the hyping of it early they expect to compensate for its lameness. Don't ask me why it's out of focus. (If you look at it downloaded and large you will see some parts are in focus and the lettering has a hand-made look.) In truth the NYFF at least in recent years has not been known for its powers as Cannes has.

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/1joe1.jpg

Downloadable Poster Image:
https://app.box.com/s/qjks93h59egxsop0lzel6a8cr97fa4ct

[Chris Knipp]

Only a couple of days left. How will the awards go, etc? What hasn't been heard from or about, yet?

Despite this being touted as a Cannes with an unusually good field, we haven't said anything much yet about what the faves for Palme d'Or and Grand Prix will be. There also may remain much to say about the other fields, of Critics' Week and Un Certain Regard.

But most of the Competition films have screened. It appears only Asghar Farhadi's SALESMAN, Sean Penn's THE LAST FACE and Verhoeven's ELLE have not shown yet.

Not much at all from Critics' Week (Une Semaine de la Creitique) films. From Un Certain Regard we have heard about some. Mohamed Diab's CLASH/ISHTEBAK, the opener, from Egypt; Koreeda's AFTER THE STORM; Matt Ross's CAPTAIN FANTASTIC - at least we saw the playful photocall with Viggo and the kids for that. I'm interested in Bahzadi's INVERSION (from Iran) and the Israeli entry but in Arabic, Maha Haj's PERSONAL AFFAIRS aka AMOR SHAKHSIYA aka أمور شخصية. There are lots of others of course.

Below are favorites for the Palme d'Or, according to Indiewire. But since there are 17 of them, it doesn't narrow down the field much. Indiewire says, the Palme d'Or is the most famous film award in the world, and the hardest to predict. Remember how hard it was last year, and how Peter Bradshaw thought the final choices were all wrong - which was pretty much true? Some of these are pretty obviously not worthy of being listed and some are probably in the wrong order. For instance, D'Angelo thought Julieta might be a top contender, I thought, and here it's near the bottom, and Nicole Garcia's film sounds very unlikely to be considered. But at least here are thumbnails of what will probably be some of the most interesting films of the year. I'm omitting the links to their reviews.

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/pd.jpg


In order of likelihood:

1. TOM ERDMANN - German director Maren Ade follows up her acclaimed 2009 debut "Everyone Else" with this touching, nuanced look at a young workaholic (Sandra Hüller) whose goofy father (Peter Simonischek) attempts to mend their broken relationship by going under cover to invade her personal life. The film's mixture of comedy and drama has drawn raves for its subtle emotions and is a definite Palme contender; it could also nab a screenplay prize as well as acting prizes for Hüller, Simonischek, or both.

2. AMERICAN HONEY - Andrea Arnold's epic look at an 18-year-old outcast who joins a gang of misfits traveling the midwest is her most ambitious film to date, a gorgeous and expressionistic look at young rebels searching for their place in the world. Arnold is a favorite at Cannes, which also screened her second feature "Fish Tank" in competition (where it won the runner-up prize) and where she served on the jury two years ago. The film is also a strong contender for a directing award as well as an acting prize for newcomer Sasha Lane.

3. LOVING- Jeff Nichols' romantic portrait of Richard and Mildred Loving—the interracial couple whose 1967 Supreme Court case overturned oppressive state laws—sports fine performances from Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton. Its timely hook, rich atmosphere and accessible story could make it an easy consensus choice. Both actors could also win for their performances, while Nichols is in contention for his screenplay.

4. PATERSON - Jim Jarmusch's low key tale of a New Jersey bus driver (Adam Driver) with aspirations of being a poet has the director with some of the best reviews of his careers—which means he's a natural fit for the directing prize. But the movie's touching portrait of creative struggles could wind up with the Palme if enough of the jury is on Jarmusch's wavelength.

5. I, DANIEL BLAKE - The 79-year-old British director Ken Loach returns with another sympathetic tale of working class woes, this time featuring a middle-aged carpenter (Dave Johns) who's recovering from a heart attack and seeking financial aid from the state. In the process, he befriends a young single mother (Hayley Squires) facing a similar situation. Loach is a Cannes favorite and won the Palme d'Or 10 years ago for "The Wind That Shakes the Barley"; this film, which was an early competition favorite that led many audiences to tears, could be a quick consensus choice. It's also a serious contender for acting and screenplay prizes.

6. AQUARIUS - Brazilian director Kleber Mendonca Filho's thematically complex tale of a 65-year-old widow (Sonia Braga) fighting a real estate company that attempts to kick her out of her longtime home was immediately well-received at Cannes for its pointed look at one woman's commitment to her ideals. Braga seems like a serious contender for best actress, and even if the patient film isn't an immediate Palme frontrunner, it's possible that the jury could gravitate towards its subtle charms if other films face sharper division.

7. GRADUATION- Cristian Mungiu's "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" won the Palme d'Or 10 years ago, and his next film, "Beyond the Hills," nabbed him a screenwriting prize. This latest look at his country's complex social problems finds a passionate surgeon doting over his teenage daughter and willing to go to certain immoral extremes for the sake of her college education. The measured character study was respectively received by critics and could certainly impress this year's jury, though they may not see quite the edginess or originality of some other entries.

8. NEON DEMONN- icolas Winding Refn's twisted, bloody look at a young fashion model (Elle Fanning) who faces fierce competition in the form of cannibals and other menacing forces didn't please every member of the press (it was the second film in competition to elicit some boos). But the wacky, hyperstylized movie certainly displays Refn's filmmaking ambition in a memorable fashion designed to provoke an extreme reaction from audiences. If there's any truth to the possibility that jury president's past work has an influence on the films they tend to reward, this year's head — "Mad Max: Fury Road" director George Miller — may appreciate Refn's merging of gorgeous images and grotesque extremes.

9. STAYING VERTICAL - Alain Giraudie's oddball portrait of a man coming to grips with his sexuality and family life divided audiences, but its imaginative approach to depicting its character's subjectivity could be an asset if the jury decides to reward originality above all else.

10. THE HANDMAIDEN - Park Chan-wook's salacious tale of lesbian lovers and con men in 1930's-era Korea is a typically stylized and graphic good time from the "Oldboy" filmmaker. It's wackiness is not to everyone's taste, so it's hard to imagine this one taking home the Palme, unless the jury is entirely comprised of diehard Park fans.

11. PERSONAL SHOPPER - Olivier Assayas' ghost story starring Kristen Stewart as a woman in Paris trying to contact the ghost of her twin brother elicited boos at its first press screening, but critics leapt to its defense and the public screening went over much better. Assayas is well-liked at Cannes, where some jurors may want to reward Stewart or the director in some capacity, but its initial divisiveness suggests it's not a leading contender for the Palme this year.

12. SIERRANEVADA - Romania's Cristi Puiu has been a festival favorite since "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu," and this epic black comedy portrait of a family dealing with the aftermath of a loved one is his first time in Cannes competition. Anyone hip to the long takes and dreary, introspective style of the Romanian New Wave will appreciate its application here, but the film's nearly three-hour running time has alienated many people. It's less likely to land the Palme than a prize for its talky screenplay.

13. THE UNKNOWN GIRL - The Dardenne brothers are among the few filmmakers to win the Palme d'Or twice, and they regularly leave a mark on Cannes competition. But it seems unlikely that their latest socially conscious drama, the story of a young doctor (Adèle Haenel) investigating the death of young woman, could have a real shot at the biggest prize since it has already received a mixed response for offering a lot of familiar ingredients from the Dardennes' other films.

14. MA' ROSA - Filipino director Brillante Mendoza is a Cannes regular, although not an audience favorite even on the Croisette, where his violent kidnapping thriller "Kinatay" caused quite the stir a few years ago. His latest effort, a naturalistic look at police corruption, has found some positive reception but nothing too enthusiastic; it's being seen as a "small" film unlikely to win over new fans for the filmmaker, which makes it hard to imagine it will have much of a different impact on this year's jury.

15. JULIETA - Pedro Almodovar's 20th film is an adaptation of several Alice Munro stories about a middle-aged woman (Emma Suarez) searching for her missing daughter and discovering that much about her traumatic past is not what it seems. The film, which already opened in Spain, has received mixed reviews—although the director's biggest fans are largely appreciative. Suarez may be a contender for an acting prize, but there are too many other well-liked movies this year to consider this one a major Palme contender.

16. IT'S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD - Cannes regular Xavier Dolan's starry drama about a young man attempting to reunite with his estranged family features strong performances from Gaspard Ulliel, Vincent Cassel and Marion Cotillard, but as a whole the movie has been received negatively by press as one of Dolan's weaker efforts. A jury might appreciate some of the performances and the film's lively visual style, but there are too much other more ambitious films in contention this year to consider this one a real contender for the Palme.

17. FROM THE LAND OF THE MOOD - Nicole Garcia's slick period drama starring Louis Garrell and Marion Cotillard has been described as the most conventional film in this year's competition, and not in a good way.

--From Indiewire (http://www.indiewire.com/article/cannes-2016-palme-d-or-winner-predictions-american-honey-toni-erdmann-elle-aquarius-graduation-neon-demon).




http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/69l.jpg (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/)

[Chris Knipp]

Sean Penn's Competition film The Last Face is an unqualified stinker; Dolan baffled at poor reception.

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Bardem and Theron in The Last Face

Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
The Last Face (Penn): 10. Bring back Hazanavicius.

He's referring to Michel Hazanavicius (of the cellebrated The Artist) whose The Search was (reportedly) a tediously earnest film in Competition last year (Metacritic 37).

Guardian:
Cannes 2016
The Last Face review – African conflict is aphrodisiac for white people in Sean Penn's crass romance (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/20/the-last-face-review-sean-penn-charlize-theron-crass-romance-cannes)
1 / 5 stars. Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem give career worst performances as doctors falling in love in west Africa while black characters are relegated to the background. 'What could have been an earnest drama about brutality and poverty in Africa quickly becomes a laughable stinker’ ..
- Benjamin Lee.

Cannes 2016
Dog Eat Dog review – Willem Dafoe is magnificently needy in Paul Schrader's tasty thriller (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/20/dog-eat-dog-review-willem-dafoe-paul-schrader-ed-bunker-cannes)
4 / 5 stars. Adapted from Ed Bunker’s cult novel, Schrader’s thriller about three ex-cons is his best work in years – though he should probably have avoided casting himself
- Peter Bradshaw.
Xavier Dolan gives Guardian an interview (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/20/xavier-dolan-its-only-the-end-of-the-world-cannes-2016-critics)saying the poor reception of his new film It's Only the End of the World reflects "a baffling misunderstanding": he considers it his best and "most complete" film of the six he's made so far. Peter Bradshaw - who also was alone in liking Nicolas Winding Refn's latest The NeonDemon - liked it.
"If it wasn’t for you guys, the entire Anglophone world would have detested the film," Dolan joked.
Peter Bradshaw was the only one even at the Guardian who liked it but he gave it a very good review:
Xavier Dolan
First look review
It’s Only the End of the World review: Xavier Dolan's nightmarish homecoming is a dream (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/19/its-only-the-end-of-the-world-review-xavier-dolans-nightmarish-homecoming-is-a-dream)
4 / 5 stars. The claustrophobia of family has rarely been so well-wrought as in the latest highly stylised – and highly polarising – drama by the French-Canadian enfant terrible
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Marion Cotillard in It's Only the End of the World/Juste la fin du monde

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/69l.jpg (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/)

[Chris Knipp]

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Guardian montage for Bradshaw's summary awards article: Refn, Loach, Ade, Assayas.

Farhadi's Competition film sounds good. So does Verheoven's. Bradshaw sums up.


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
The Salesman (Farhadi): 68. Came for ASGHAR FARHADI'S DEATH OF A SALESMAN, stayed for ASGHAR FARHADI'S DEATH WISH. Need to see it again.

Guardian's Peter Bradshaw give his festival verdict and prize predictions. (http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2016/may/20/cannes-2016-peter-bradshaw-festival-verdict-award-predictions)

Here are my predictions for this year’s prizes:

Palme d’Or
Graduation (dir: Cristian Mungiu)

Grand Prix
Aquarius (dir: Kleber Mendonça Filho)

Jury Prize
Personal Shopper (dir: Olivier Assayas)

Best director
Nicolas Winding Refn for The Neon Demon

Best screenplay
Jim Jarmusch for Paterson

Best actor
Peter Simonischek for Toni Erdmann

Best actress
Ruth Negga for Loving
. . . and some other prizes which aren’t awarded but should be:

Best cinematography
Robbie Ryan for American Honey (dir: Andrea Arnold)

Best production design
Elliott Hostetter for The Neon Demon (dir: Nicolas Winding Refn)

Best editing
José Salcedo for Julieta (dir: Pedro Almodóvar)

Best supporting actor
Ha Jung-woo for The Handmaiden (dir: Park Chan-wook)

Best supporting actress
Hayley Squires for I, Daniel Blake (dir: Ken Loach)

- Guardian, Peter Bradshaw.


http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/69l.jpg (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/)

[Chris Knipp]

Plus more D'Angelo daily bulletins for AV Club (days 6-9):

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6. CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
A singular Kristen Stewart ghost story joins the booed-at-Cannes club
By Mike D'Angelo (http://www.avclub.com/article/singular-kristen-stewart-ghost-story-joins-booed-c-236893)
May 17, 2016 11:04 AM

7. CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
Two master filmmakers make a rare misstep on day 7 of Cannes
By Mike D'Angelo (http://www.avclub.com/article/two-master-filmmakers-make-rare-misstep-day-7-cann-236957)
May 18, 2016 12:00 PM

8. CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
Romanian drama, a Dolan dud, and more Jim Jarmusch on day 8 of Cannes
By Mike D'Angelo (http://www.avclub.com/article/romanian-drama-dolan-dud-and-more-jim-jarmusch-day-237030)
May 19, 2016 12:30 PM

9. CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
The director of Drive heads back to L.A. for a blunt message movie
By Mike D'Angelo (http://www.avclub.com/article/director-drive-heads-back-l-blunt-message-movie-237100)
May 20, 2016 12:03 PM


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[Chris Knipp]

Cannes '16's last Competition film is a shocking zinger from Paul Verhoeven.

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Isabelle Huppert in Verhoeven's Elle


Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Elle (Verhoeven): 63. Thought I had this pegged as a deliciously perverse ode to embracing one's true nature. Then the ending befuddled me.

The Guardian is even more enthusiastic.
Cannes 2016 First look review
Elle review: Paul Verhoeven's brazen rape revenge comedy is a dangerous delight (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/21/elle-review-paul-verhoevens-brazen-revenge-comedy-is-a-dangerous-delight)
5 / 5 stars. Isabelle Huppert delivers a standout performance as a woman turning the tables on her attacker in the controversial director’s electrifying and provocative comeback.
- Xan Brooks

Xan Brooks calls Elle "an outrageous black comedy, volatile and deadly." It features that most indestructible of today's French movie stars, Isabelle Huppert.

Now that all Competition films have screened D'Angelo tweets his top five:
Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko May 21
1. Toni Erdmann (Ade)
2. Staying Vertical (Guiraudie)
3. Paterson (Jarmusch)
4. Aquarius (Mendonça Filho)
5. The Salesman (Farhadi)

And the Guardian reports the Un Certain Regard winners (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/21/cannes-2016-un-certain-regard-prize)
Cannes 2016: The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki wins top Un Certain Regard prize
The Finnish drama beat out higher profile films from Kore-eda Hirokazu and David Mackenzie to be placed at the top of the festival sidebar. . . It’s directed by newcomer Juho Kuosmanen. (D'Angelo caught it too, gave it a 53, making it his number 15 film of the festival but undercut his praise "formally invigorating" with "wound up feeling slight." )
Other awards were handed out to Ghibli animation The Red Turtle, which picked up the special jury prize, while Matt Ross won best director for his Viggo Mortenson-starring Captain Fantastic.

This year’s jury was headed up by Swiss actor Marthe Keller and included directors Jessica Hausner and Ruben Östlund and actors Diego Luna and Céline Sallette. Last year’s prize was won by the Icelandic drama Rams.

The awards precede the announcement of the in competition prizes on Sunday. Favorites to win include German comedy Toni Erdmann and Ethiopian-Irish actor Ruth Negga for her performance in civil rights drama Loving.

What about the other Un Certain Regard Arabic film, Personal Affairs/Omor Shkhsiya (أمور شخصية)? Variety's Ben Kenigsberg (http://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/personal-affairs-review-cannes-1201771820/)calls it a "mild, droll debut":
The dissatisfactions of three generations of an extended Palestinian family serve as the basis for a mild, occasionally trenchant narrative debut feature from Maha Haj, who has worked as a set designer for the Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman (The Time That Remains), among others, and shares her mentor’s taste for droll set pieces and gentle absurdity. This sort of slow-burning, deadpan dramedy has grown ubiquitous on the festival circuit, where Personal Affairs seems likely to find most of its business. But the movie has isolated moments that hint at Haj as a director capable of making something less slight.

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Still from Maha Haj's Personal Affairs


http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/69l.jpg (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/)

[Chris Knipp]

Cannes 2016 awards. (The top ones not likely to please anyone hitherto cited in this thread.)

The universal critical favorite, Maren Ade's Toni Erdmann, was completely passed over.

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Stil from I, Daniel Blake

COMPETITION PRIZES:

Palme d'Or: Ken Loach, "I, Daniel Blake"
Grand Prix: Xavier Dolan, "It's Only The End of the World"
Jury Prize: Andrea Arnold, "American Honey"
Best Actress: Jaclyn Jose, "Ma Rosa"
Best Actor: Shahab Hosseini, "The Salesman"
Best Director: Olivier Assayas, "Personal Shopper" & Cristian Mungiu, "Graduation"
Best Screenplay: Asghar Farhadi, "The Salesman"
Camera d'Or: "Divines," Houda Benyamina
Queer Palm (Feature): "Les Vies de Thérèse," Sébastien Lfshitz
Queer Palm (Short): "Gabber Lover," Anna Cazenave-Cambet.

THE UN CERTAIN REGARD PRIZES:

Un Certain Regard Prize: Juho Kuosmanen, "The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki"
Jury Prize: Kôji Fukada, "Harmonium"
Best Director: Matt Ross, "Captain Fantastic"
Best Screenplay: Delphine and Muriel Coulin, "The Stopover"
Special Jury Prize: Michaël Dudok de Wit, "The Red Turtle"

HONORARY PALME D'OR: JEAN-PIERRE LEAUD

Jean-Pierre Léaud: Truffaut's muse, worked with many great directors, his career began 57 years ago.


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Mike D'Angelo's closing AV Club report:


CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
Closing Cannes with Farhadi, Verhoeven, and best-of-the-fest picks
By Mike D'Angelo (http://www.avclub.com/article/closing-cannes-farhadi-verhoeven-and-best-fest-pic-237141)
May 21, 2016 12:13 PM

D'Angelo comments that the Cannes Jury prizes "rarely echo critical opinion, and often bestow prizes that seem not just wrongheaded but downright deranged," so he acts as a "jury of one" and bestows his own awards, as I'm listing below. (He has detailed comments on each choice that you'll find in the full report linked above.)

Palme D’Or: Toni Erdmann
Grand Prix: Paterson
Director: Alain Guiraudie, Staying Vertical
Actress: Sonia Braga, Aquarius
Actor: Dave Johns, I, Daniel Blake
Screenplay: Asghar Farhadi, The Salesman
Jury Prize: Elle

He adds: "Apologies for not covering some of the higher-profile Directors’ Fortnight films, including Pablo Larraín’s Neruda, Paul Schrader’s Dog Eat Dog, and Risk, Laura Poitras’ companion piece to Citizenfour—I absolutely wanted to see them, but all of their screenings conflicted with Competition films, sadly. And thanks for checking in every day to read breathless reports about movies that you won’t be able to see for months, or possibly even for a full year. (The Lobster, which opened theatrically in the U.S. just last week, played in the 2015 Competition, for example. Café Society, The Neon Demon, and Hell Or High Water [David Mackenzie, with Jeff Bridges and Ben Foster] are right around the corner, though.) Hopefully, a few tantalizing films are now on your radar; like the dad in Toni Erdmann, all I wanted to do was give you something to smile about.

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/pdro.jpg

GUARDIAN


Cannes 2016
Peter Bradshaw on Cannes's closing awards: (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/22/peter-bradshaw-palme-dor-cannes-awards) baffling choices don't spoil a vintage year

Part of Bradshaw's informed comment:

George Miller’s jury awarded a mixed bag of prizes that ignored some of the most exciting films at this year’s Cannes film festival. Still, this was an extraordinary year

The prizes this year were a surprise and a mixed bag which somehow missed out many of the films which were generally found to be exciting and successful. Nothing for Maren Ade’s brilliant comedy Toni Erdmann. Nothing for Jim Jarmusch’s wonderful Paterson and nothing for Paul Verhoeven’s outrageously enjoyable thriller Elle. And it was incidentally exasperating to see that film’s star Isabelle Huppert overlooked for the Best Actress award — along with Kristen Stewart, Ruth Negga and Sonia Braga — in favor of Jaclyn Jose as the Manila drug-dealer in Brillante Mendoza’s Ma’Rosa. A good performance, but not exceptional.

Consolingly, Bradshaw comments that in his view "no bad films were given prizes" this year, and it was "satisfying" to see Loach "pick up" his second Palme d'Or (after the 2006 The Wind That Shakes the Barley, which I saw in Rome), which, he says, was the only film that moved him to tears. He also had good things to say about Just la fin du monde, which he says many critics misunderstood. They must have, if they were supposed to like it. But at the award, where Xavier Dolan showed himself to be one of the all-time drama queens, his naming of the A-list stars (Gaspard Ulliel, Nathalie Baye, Léa Seydoux, Marion Cottilard, Vincent Cassel) got applause. So from the always more-than-usually positive Bradshaw - who wasn't so easygoing last year, when he just thought the main prizes were all wrong. The general critics' view that this was a vintage year is good news. It means an unusually large number of the Competition films are going to be worth waiting and watching for, however long that may be for us.

Again, the NYTimes Cannes coverage fails to impress. Indeed in her final article (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/23/movies/the-palme-dor-goes-to-i-daniel-blake.html?_r=0)Manohla Dargis incorrectly reports that Xavier Dolon got the Best Director prize. She notes that Dolan's prize got roundly booed by the press.


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[Johann]

Your (by proxy) coverage of Cannes is great Chris.

Glad the Dardennes are still at it, glad Jean-Pierre Leaud got an honorary award and glad Ken Loach won another Palme D'or.
If a movie moves you to tears, then chances are it's damn good, damn effective. Very few movies get me weeping. (VERY few)
I'm glad you highlighted Chloe Sevigny too- I just saw her in Werner Herzog's Awesome My Son, My Son..What Have ye Done?.
She's wonderful. She deserves more success than that joke actress Julia Roberts. :)

[Johann]

And yes, the NYFF poster is LIGHT YEARS better than the one for Cannes.
That's the kind of poster I'm talking about- visually grabbing, contextually interesting.

[Chris Knipp]

I agree with you on everything but the posters. Both of them seem to me lame, lacking graphic effectiveness. Chloë is a Whit Stillman regular now, Last Days of Disco and Love and Friendship. The latter is my favorite new movie, fulfilling my love of the writer-director's brilliance and wit more than Damsels in Distress. Chloë has been in many interesting movies - and debuted in Larry Clark's Kids.

[Johann]

Chloe is always interesting to me. She said she never gets cast in blockbusters but who cares? She's got a great resume.
Glad you've got a new favorite movie.

The NYFF poster is light years better than the Cannes one. I guess it is a wee bit lame, I don't know exactly what the scene is supposed to be, but I'll take that artifice over that yellow tower of babel nonsense anyday.

[Chris Knipp]

Indiewire (http://www.indiewire.com/survey/best-films-and-performances-from-cannes-2016/) gives this critics poll for the Cannes films. As D'Angelo says, Miller & Co. are good at making films but we - critics - are better at this (picking the best ones). {The actual page if you click on Indiewire above gives the details of the scores.)


Best Film
1. Toni Erdmann
2. Paterson
3. Elle
4. American Honey
5. The Handmaiden

Best Lead Performance
1. Isabelle Huppert, Elle
2. Sandra Hüller, Toni Erdmann
3. Sônia Braga, Aquarius
4. Peter Simonischek, Toni Erdmann
5. Adam Driver, Paterson

Best Supporting Performance
1. Hayley Squires, I, Daniel Blake
2. Golshifteh Farahani, Paterson
3. Shia LaBeouf, American Honey
4. Abbey Lee, The Neon Demon
5. Riley Keough, American Honey

Best Director
1. Maren Ade, Toni Erdmann
2. Paul Verhoeven, Elle
3. Andrea Arnold, American Honey
4. Jim Jarmusch, Paterson
5. Chan-wook Park, The Handmaiden

Best Screenplay
1. Elle
2. Toni Erdmann
3. Paterson
4. Graduation (Bacalaureat)
5. Sieranevada

Worst Film
1. The Last Face
2. It's Only the End of the World
3. From the Land of the Moon4. Money Monster
5. The BFG

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/69l.jpg (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/)