Would you like a Slice of Life topped with objectivity with your Palme D'Or?

No actually, I wouldn't. I'd much rather feel a connection to the people I'm watching on screen, even if it does mean *gasp* having a scene that is somewhat on the "showy" side. Art isn't meant to be objective, so please, filmmakers and screenwriters everywhere, stop overloading us with "naturalism" to the point where we don't feel anything at all. It's beyond irritating at this point.

There's a big difference between the naturalism used in "The Hurt Locker" and that used in "The Class" and many other films: "The Hurt Locker" still manages to make us feel something, even though the performances aren't showy (except for Anthony Mackie's one scene in the humvee). The script and direction still manage to generate feelings of unbelievable tension, as opposed to forcing the audience to just sit and watch through an objective looking glass. In "The Class" on the other hand, the closest we get to any sense of "feeling" are in some of the back-and-forth confrontations between the teacher and his students, but even then, the results are barely engaging. Directors and screenwriters are not scientists, and the characters on the screen are not lab mice to be dealt with clinically from a distance; they are people, and deserve to be treated as such, and no amount of glowing reviews or trophies from film festivals are going to change my mind about that.

2008 Cannes Film Festival Award Winners!

The Cannes Film Festival, one of the most prestigious film festivals around, came to a close barely minutes ago, and here are the winners.

Palme D'Or: "The Class" by Laurent Cantet

Grand Jury Prize: "Gomorrah" by Matteo Garrone

Jury Prize: "Il Divo" by Paolo Sorrentino

Best Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan for "Three Monkeys"

Best Actor: Benicio Del Toro for "Che"

Best Actress: Sandra Corveloni for "Linha De Passe"

Best Screenplay: "Lorna's Silence" written by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

Palme D'Or for Best Short Film: "Megatron" by Marian Crisan

Camera D'Or: "Hunger" by Steve McQueen

Things we're learning from Cannes 08 - Part III

Clint Eastwood's "The Exchange" (formerly "Changeling") is the first major contender for Best Picture AND Angelina Jolie has a strong shot at Best Actress


The Evidence:

This is a brief excert from the Variety review, and as I type this I'm finding more and more good reviews from the film's Cannes screening.


"A thematic companion piece to "Mystic River" but more complex and far-reaching, "Changeling" impressively continues Clint Eastwood's great run of ambitious late-career pictures. Emotionally powerful and stylistically sure-handed, this true story-inspired drama begins small with the disappearance of a young boy, only to gradually fan out to become a comprehensive critique of the entire power structure of Los Angeles, circa 1928. Graced by a top-notch performance from Angelina Jolie, the Universal release looks poised to do some serious business upon tentatively scheduled opening late in the year."

Things we're learning from Cannes 2008 - Part II

After today's screening at Cannes, the verdict seems to be...

Indiana Jones IV is actually good!

The Evidence:

Variety:

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One of the most eagerly and long-awaited series follow-ups in screen history delivers the goods -- not those of the still first-rate original, 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark," but those of its uneven two successors.

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" begins with an actual big bang, then gradually slides toward a ho-hum midsection before literally taking off for an uplifting finish.

Nineteen years after their last adventure, director Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford have no trouble getting back into the groove with a story and style very much in keeping with what has made the series so perennially popular. Few films have ever had such a high mass audience must-see factor, spelling giant May 22 openings worldwide and a rambunctious B.O. life all the way into the eventual "Indiana Jones" DVD four-pack.

Full review to be posted shortly.

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Emanuel Levy:

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal SkullB+
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," the fourth chapter of the India Jones adventure that began in 1981, is not a great picture, but it delivers the goods and is a lot of fun.

The eagerly awaited segment, that took nearly two decades to make due to the lack of an acceptable script, could be described as Spielberg's spectacle for the masses, by which I mean that the movie belongs to the old Spielberg movies of the 1970s and 1980s.

Indeed, blurring all the genres that the maestro has worked with—action, sci-fi, and even horror—"Indy Jones 4" at once reflects and is inhibited by the three-way collaboration of producer George Lucas, who created the concept, Spielberg, who directed all four pictures, and Harrison Ford, reprising the most iconic role of his career.

For starters, all fears and doubts that Ford is too old (he'll turn 66 in July) to play again the world's bets-known archeologist, should put to rest as he gives a commanding performance that holds the necessarily episodic picture together.
Ford not only look good for his age, but acts better than ever, and moves with the agility of a man half his age. Just the sight of Ford, as the whip-toting, punch-packing, snake-hating, globe-trotting archeologist wearing his signature fedora hat brought a huge applause; it's like visiting an old friend of the 1980s.

Shrewdly, screenwriter David Keopp has penned a multi-generational saga that reunites Ford with his old squeeze (Karen Allen, also looking good, at 56) and arranged for him to have a younger companion, Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), a rebellious youth sporting a black leather jacket.

This time around, the saga is set in the Southwest desert—Nevada to be specific, in 1957, the height of the Cold War and Senator McCarthy's communist witch-hunting. In the first scene, Indy and his sidekick Mac (Brit Ray Winstone, excellent as usual) barely escape a close scrape with nefarious Soviet agents on a remote airfield.

Click here to find out more!
Professor Jones returns home to Marshall College, only to find things have gone bad. The dean of the college and close friend (Jim Broadbent) explains that Indy's recent activities have made him the object of suspicion and that the government and the FBI have put pressure on him to fire Indy—albeit with full salary and benefits.

On his way out of town, Indy bumps into Mutt (LaBeouf), a youth whose physical appearance pays tribute to Marlon Brando's iconic role in "The Wild One" (1954), wearing a white t-shirt, sexy leather jacket and jeans, and riding a motorcycle. Proudly introducing himself as a dropout, Mutt describes his family background, revealing anger, grudge, and dissatisfaction. But he also makes an alluring proposition for the adventurous Indy: If he'll help Mutt on a mission with deeply personal stakes, Indy could make one of the most archeological finds in history—the Crystal Skull of Akator, a mysterious, legendary object that holds fascination, superstition, and fear.

In short order, Indy and Mutt set out for the most remote corner of Peru, a land of ancient tombs, forgotten explorers, and rumored city of gold. As expected, the odd couple soon realizes that they are not the only ones in search of the treasure. The Soviet agents are also hot on the trail of the Crystal Skull.

Chief among them is Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett, sporting heavy Russian accent), the icily cold but devastatingly beautiful commissar who was introduced in the very first act, during a search of a military warehouse. Like Indy, Irina and her elite military squad is scouring the globe for the eerie Crystal Skull, which they believe can help the Soviets dominate the world through brains-washing, or control of the human mind. The "only" problem is how to locate it, and once found, how to unlock its ancient secrets.

The saga's organizing theme is rather simple: Indy and Mutt, later joined by Mary, must find ways to evade the ruthless Soviets. The two groups follow seemingly impenetrable trails of mysteries, grapple with human enemies (primitive tribes that look as if they were taken out of Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto") and friends of questionable motives, and Nature itself, in the form of monkeys, ants, water falls, and so on.
To that extent, the narrative is structured as a series of chases, encounters, separations, and reencounters between Indy and his group, which also includes Mac (a man with at least two or three identities) and Oxley (John Hurt), a somehow damaged and bruised man who knows more than given credit.

Some critics may have issues with this adventure's old-fashioned nature, but I think it was consciously to fit into the general pattern of the three previous chapters that were made in 1981, 1984, and 1989 respectively.
Indeed, with the exception of some state-of-the-arts special effects, technically speaking, the art design, costume, and the staging of the various action scenes have the feel of late 1980s picture.

The film's visual motifs borrow from (and pay tribute to) seminal mythic adventures that both Lucas and Spielberg have made in such films as "Star Wars" (the first series), "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977), "E.T." (1981), and of course, "Indiana Jones" series that began in 1981 with "Raiders of the Lost Ark," the first and (for me) still the best of the four chapters.

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Others:
The Telegraph
Cinematical
BBC
The Times Leader
Austin 360
The London Times

Things we're learning from Cannes 2008 - Part I

I've decided to start a new "series" of posts that will basically, give impressions made by films and performances at various film festivals leading up to the start of awards season in late September. While it might seem like it's too early to start something like this, consider that No Country for Old Men and the Diving Bell and the Butterfly were screened at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, and Julian Schnabel even won the best director award. Meanwhile, No Country got slightly mixed reception, but went on to become the best reviewed film of 2007. Perceptions often change drastically in the time between Cannes and the Oscars, so I thought it would be interesting to track those changes. To start things off......

Penelope Cruz is a contender for Best Supporting Actress:

The Evidence:
"Cruz, who officially graduated from sex kitten to powerhouse melodramatic actress in "Volver," is in full Anna Magnani mode here, storming up and down mountain peaks of emotion and captivating everyone in the process. Allen even generates affectionate comic mileage from the common rap on Cruz's acting--that she's great in Spanish but blah in English--by having her deliver Maria Elena's colorful tirades in her native language, only to be told again and again by Juan Antonio to speak English so Cristina can understand her. She's dynamite here in either language."
- Variety

"Cruz turns in a performance that's better, even, than her Oscar-nominated turn in Volver; her Maria Elena is on-the-edge crazy, but is also very funny and engaging."
- Cinematical

"We've saved the most vibrant character for last: Maria Elena, which Penelope Cruz turns into one of her boldest, fullest characters. A painter so sexy that Juan Antonio's father still has erotic dreams of her, Maria Elena had been Juan Antonio's muse, competitor and wife; their turbulent marriage ended when she tried to kill him"
"Whenever Bardem or Cruz are on screen, VCB finds its heart"
- Time

"the movie is nearly stolen by Penélope Cruz—and not because she and Johansson make out while developing photos together"
- Timeout

"Penelope Cruz, who give the film's outstanding performance and should be considered seriously for the Supporting Actress Oscar (and other kudos) at year's end"
- Emanuel Levy

"The only parts of Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Weinstein Co., 8.29) that feel truly alive and crackling are the Spanish-language scenes between Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz."
"Cruz, especially, is electricity itself. When she loses her temper, it's sheer bliss"
- jeff wells

"Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem steal the movie from the two callow American girls"
- anne thompson

"Bardem and Cruz create the comic fireworks, both looking like they are having fun as the nutty exes driven by fiery passion"
- screendaily

"punctuated by applause for Penelope Cruz’s wildly funny out there performance as a perhaps crazed, maybe genius, highly temperamental and foul-mouthed artist whose marriage and love for Javier Bardem propels much of the romantic confusion– even though Cruz doesn’t make an appearance until at least 30 minutes into the 96 minute comedy"
"I actually could see this movie again just to laugh and cheer all over again at the wonder that is Penelope Cruz"
- stephen schaefer

"The two most hilarious characters, played by Spain's two most famous actors, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, are nothing if not cliches about tempestuous Latin lovers"
"the film belongs to Bardem and Cruz"
- Hollywood Reporter