Cannes Coverage 2011: "Drive"

Cannes Film Festival is winding down, and the talk of the festival seems to have circulated mostly around Terrence Malick and Lars von Trier. Important names as they are, the standouts of the festival, from a non-attendant point of view, have been such unknown powers as We Need to Talk About Kevin and this latest debut, Drive. An action flick like this is usually seen as an afterthought, but it looks to be far more than just that. I knew there was something interesting behind it with a cast like Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, and Bryan Cranston, but reviews have been so outstanding, and it makes me want to see this film all the more.

Eric Kohn (indieWIRE), B+: "The tense pedal-to-the-medal routine begins in the opening minutes and continues, sporadically, all the way through the bloody finale. Gosling’s driver character—in vintage Clint Eastwood fashion, he remains unnamed—arrives on cue to pick up a couple of late night Los Angeles robbers and jet them away from police. A few swift turns and engine revs later, he nimbly avoids each cop on his tail and vanishes into a nearby crowd, while the beats of a cheesy synth score bring up the opening credits."

Cannes Coverage 2011: "Melancholia"

It's Lars Von Trier time again, and it's always a pleasure to sit down for a film of his. That is assuming that you can handle the drama, and quite often most people can't. I know the first time I sat down for the entirety of Antichrist was certainly a traumatic experience, mostly because it was such a personal work from such a dynamic director. I knew that when reviews started rolling around for Melancholia there would be some sort of negative reaction. They don't matter when it comes right down to it. The critical reaction isn't a factor in my own satisfaction.

Guy Lodge (In Contention), ***1/2: "If this seems like so much kitsch — particularly with the spine-tingling roar of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde filling the auditorium as we watch — that may not be accident: the contrast between this sequence and von Trier’s considerably grayer-hued ending suggests how we like to romanticize even our worst-case scenarios. In this remarkable film, at once intimate and operatic in scope, the apocalypse turns out to be rather a private function."

Cannes Coverage 2011: "The Tree of Life"

We've been waiting for word on this film for years, waiting for something to tell us whether this is the "redefinition of cinema", as alleged test screenings raved, or merely another good film. Personally, I am a mild fan of Terrence Malick, but I'm not as praising as others. I've tried to get into one of his films, but there has always been a certain prosaic lifelessness to his work that's pushed me back. I was awe struck by the trailer for The Tree of Life, simply because it was oh so beautiful. The plot, on the other hand, just seems rather been-there-done-that. And so the reviews are bound to be good, but there was always going to be some sense of mild disappointment amidst the raves of others.

Guy Lodge (In Contention), ***: "Further fuzzing the question of what The Tree of Life wishes to say about our collective spiritual journey (perhaps it’s that the director is still open to all options, which is no bad thing, though confusing to visualize), it’s a badly misjudged finish to a film that nonetheless has sections so rapturous as to justify the six-year wait since The New World on their own. (That said, the film’s weaknesses may well be the result of an overthought creative process.) Malick’s slow-burn cinema tends to take several viewings to reveal its full arsenal of tactile pleasures, so I already look forward to a second encounter with his latest. At first blush, however, I’m left stimulated but unmoved, as if having watched the life of someone I hardly know flash before my eyes."

Cannes Coverage 2011: "Polisse"

I don't really know what to make of this film, and that might be a good thing. Set in Paris, France, following a juvenile protection unit, it stars director Maiwenn Le Besco as a photojournalist who falls for one of the cops she's documenting. Isn't that just the way of things? Polisse, intentionally misspelled as to look like a child's writing, has done its part to divide critics to some degree. I always see that as a good thing, as it avoids the risk of high expectations. Furthermore, there's something exciting about heading into a film you're not entirely sure will be good or not.

Brad Brevet (Rope of Silicon), A-: "The joy, pain and heartbreak of the job is felt by the audience as a result of the crimes depicted on the screen, all of which were taken from actual cases. However, none of this would work had it not been for the performances of an incredible cast. Made up of a group of actors I was entirely unfamiliar with, Polisse runs the gamut of emotions, and never lets up as the final frame is one that will stick with you long after you've left the theater no matter how dramatized you may believe it to be."

Cannes Coverage 2011: "Restless"

Gus Van Sant is hardly one of the miracle directors of our age, because for every success he's had, he's also had a massive failures. I felt like Restless was going to be one of those missteps, despite optimistic inclinations towards the otherwise. I'm consistently pleased with Mia Wasikowska's performances, each containing a subtle sense of dimension or depth, but as much could not be said of the films she's appeared in. I'd reference my review for Alice in Wonderland, but I never had the drive to actually write on. As expected, the reaction to Restless after its premiere at Cannes has been typically cold to a degree.

Todd McCarthy (Hollywood Reporter): "Van Sant can be good at creating private worlds inhabited by sensitive and/or disturbed characters, but here the individuals are simply not very interesting. The project started as a group of short plays and vignettes by NYU student Jason Lew, a fellow classmate of co-producer Bryce Dallas Howard who subsequently worked them into a play and, ultimately, a script. It still feels sketchy, however, neither deeply developed nor very nuanced. With her Mia Farrow haircut and winsome air, Wasikowska is a welcome presence as always, but one wishes she had more levels to play than brave and resolutely upbeat. In his film debut, Hopper, son of Dennis Hopper, is tousel-haired and cute but struggles to bring dimension and nuance to Enoch’s balkiness."

Cannes Coverage 2011: "We Need to Talk About Kevin"

I've been dying to talk about We Need to Talk about Kevin after its debut at Cannes yesterday. I woke up and everyone was humming with praise for the film I'd barely heard of. All I knew was that it starred John C. Reilly, and the name made it sound like something of an indie comedy in the same vein as Cyrus. After pulling up a few clips from the film, I realized pretty quickly that wasn't the case, and John C. Reilly isn't close to the main focus. The film stars Tilda Swinton as the mother of a sociopath who just murdered several classmates at his local school, and is now trying to come to terms with her own guilt. It's the sort of gut punch you expect of such a great festival, but so rarely receive. Every review I've read has made me all the more interested in seeing it, and I hope that it arrives sooner rather than later. Not too soon, though, because I want the chance to see director Lynne Ramsay's first two films before seeing her third.

Guy Lodge (In Contention), ****: "Lionel Shriver’s 2003 bestseller 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' is a rare pop novel indeed: a nippy, low-comfort social essay that lures readers into messily untied arguments on topical subject matter the talk-show circuit would have far less trouble resolving. It might have made for a cluttered, stentorian film about things, particularly as the novel’s candid, epistolary format — a series of unreturned letters from an emotionally paralyzed wife and mother to her absent husband — lends itself to reams of dense, subtext-securing voiceover."

Cannes Coverage 2011: "Sleeping Beauty"

If this seems a bit redundant, it's because I've actually posted this already. I posted it about two days ago, right after the film actually debuted at Cannes Film Festival. Then Blogger underwent maintenance and wiped away a few of my posts which I then had to recreate, including this one. I'd say no hard feelings, but this has been causing me one hell of an afternoon. Not at all what I had hoped for waking up at noon, but it's a start to the day. What pains me is that I was so sure that I had nailed what I'd written the first time, that it's such a chore to have to go back and do it again. I really enjoy writing about such things, but not to the point of repetition.

So even though it has been a whole two days since its premiere, and word has already spread on to bigger and better things, Sleeping Beauty was still one of the most talked about films heading into the festival. I knew from the trailer that released on the day it was announced as a Cannes competitor, this was going to be one to watch for. I could tell that Julia Leigh wasn't about to play it safe with her film, and that it was going to be one to divide critics. Within hours of the film's premiere, such divisive word had already broken out. Some call it great, while others call it pointless. I look forward to figuring that out for myself. What I can be sure of is a film that will shock me, which deserves acknowledgment for that capability alone.

Guy Lodge (In Contention), ***1/2: "'Humane' might be a stretch for a film this severe, this stainless-steel in its makeup, but Leigh is plainly troubled with as well as by her protagonist: Lucy may be stingy with words and expressions alike, but she’s no blankly symbolic victim, dropping sparse fragments of backstory that allude to so many years of interfolded error, neglect and over-defensive self-treatment. As played by 22 year-old Emily Browning in a startling breakthrough turn (forget Sucker Punch, if you haven’t already) that balances a child’s wan irresolution with short, bitter stabs of wit, she’s a calculatedly incomplete being — which makes her drugged, unconscious debasement at the hands of a string of wealthy older clients, seeking only tactile sensations with no emotional returns, that much harder to watch."

Cannes Coverage 2011: "Midnight in Paris"

Cannes has officially kicked off, and I'm wasting no time in getting to the main attraction. Midnight in Paris, the film releasing in May that I've been most anticipating, opened the festival on a pleasant note. I refrain from noting it as a high note, because that could easily be misleading. The majority of reviews I have read thus far have been positive, which is something of a relief for those worried that Woody Allen would be dishing out another failure. That being said, I don't detect the same sort of emphatic euphoria that many had for Vicky Christina Barcelona. That being said, if reviews aren't stellar, they are favorable.

Brad Brevet (Rope of Silicon): "Like any film dealing with the troubles of a writer, you look for connection to the screenwriter of the film and comparisons are easy to make as you can see where Allen's career itself was inspired by the writers Gil, and seemingly Allen, both hold in high esteem. Midnight in Paris is also not without Allen's jabs at portions of society that may ruffle his feathers. Republican Tea Party comments stirred laughter from all corners of the Cannes international audience and Michael Sheen playing the role of Paul, a pedantic know-it-all friend of Inez's, is a consistent source of amusement, and Sheen absolutely crushes the part."

Cannes Coverage 2011: Who Should You Follow?

Cannes Film Festival kicks off pretty soon, and as per usual, I am not financially capable of being there. If anybody wants to pay me to go to these festivals then that would be fantastic, but I doubt that will ever happen. I'm waiting to be proved wrong. So, since I won't be there, I'll be getting my information from anybody who is there. More often than not, that consists of the difficult to please Guy Lodge of "In Contention" and Anne Thompson of "Thompson on Hollywood". Both are regular visitors at the festival, and I had a good time reading Lodge's reviews last year. I'm also expanding to Sasha Stone of "Awards Daily" and Brad Brevet of "Rope of Silicon". So, if you'd like to just bypass my secondhand gathering of their reviews, by all means do so. As soon as reviews are in for the opening night film, Midnight in Paris, I'll have them up here. And so kicks off the stalled beginning of Oscar season.