Cannes Film Festival 2014

[Chienfantome]

The press conference detailing the lineup of this year's Cannes Film Festival took place this morning, and here's the lineup for the official selection :

In competition for the Palme d'Or :
- SILS MARIA by OLIVIER ASSAYAS (France)
- SAINT LAURENT by BERTRAND BONELLO (France)
- KIS UYKUSU (SOMMEIL D'HIVER) by NURI BILGE CEYLAN (Turkey)
- MAPS TO THE STARS by DAVID CRONENBERG (Canada)
- DEUX JOURS, UNE NUIT by JEAN-PIERRE et LUC DARDENNE (Belgium)
- MOMMY by XAVIER DOLAN (Canada)
- CAPTIVES by ATOM EGOYAN (Canada)
- ADIEU AU LANGAGE by JEAN-LUC GODARD (Switzerland)
- THE SEARCH by MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS (France)
- THE HOMESMAN by TOMMY LEE JONES (USA)
- FUTATSUME NO MADO by NAOMI KAWASE (Japon)
- MR TURNER by MIKE LEIGH (UK)
- JIMMY’S HALL by KEN LOACH (UK)
- FOXCATCHER by BENNETT MILLER (USA)
- LE MERAVIGLIE by ALICE ROHRWACHER (Italy)
- RELATOS SALVAJES (WILD TALES) by DAMIAN SZIFRON (Argentina)
- LEVIATHAN by ANDREY ZVYAGINTSEV (Russia)
- TIMBUKTU by ABDERRAHMANE SISSAKO (Mauritania)

Outside of the Official Competition, there are a number of notable screenings :
"How to chase a dragon 2" will screen out of competition, as will the new film by Zhang Yimou, which I'm very eager to see.
"The Rover" will get a Midnight Screening (out of competition), as will the Korean thriller "The Target", which is a remake of a French film.

There's a lot to discover in the "Un Certain Regard" section, but we can already point out "Eleanor Rigby" by Ned Benson, "Lost River", the directorial debut of Ryan Gosling, and personally a Korean film produced by Lee Chang Dong (director of "Poetry" and "Secret Sunshine"), "Dohee Ya".

[Chienfantome]

As usual with Cannes, there's a lot of expected diretors in competition. Loach, Dardennes, Assayas, Ceylan, Godard, Leigh, Kawase...
When they started announcing the titles, I started thinking this would be a year without a single surprise. Fortunately, there are a few. Xavier Dolan, the young Canadian prodigy, finally gets a competition slot. Rohrwacher is a competition newbie too, I've never heard of that Argetinian film, Wild Tales, which seems to be produced by Almodovar. Zvyagintsev enters the competition too. We've got an African in competition, which happens once in a while. The Frenchies were expected.
What strikes me the most is the strong presence of Canada, with three films, and the discreet presence of the US, with only two films, the Tommy Lee Jones and the Benneth MIller, which were both predicted since weeks, so there's no surprise here.

[numbersix]

Not the most exciting of line-ups, although I'd love to see Winter Sleep and Mike Leigh's new film. It's Leigh Vs Loach, the battle of the social realist directors.

[Chienfantome]

Nope, not the most exciting line-up. But I'm always eager to discover the ones I know nothing about, so i'd say the ones i'm most curious about are the Italian film and the Argentinian film.
I'm also a fan of Dolan, so I can't wait to see Mommy. And the Kawase film, I usually like her films so I'll watch out for this one. I also liked Elena, Zvyagintsev' previous film.

Now I'm waiting for the Critics' Week, and most of all the Director's Fortnight's lineup, which is usually my favourite section of Cannes.

[Chienfantome]

Oh yeah and there's also a Danish Western filmed in South Africa in Midnight Screening, starring Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen and... Eric Cantona. Now I'm curious about that one very much.

[Buscemi]

I've noticed a bit of a trend with Dolan films:

- Directed by and starring Dolan: will be bogged down by Dolan's awful acting but will get praised because he's young.
- Directed by Dolan: will be better (but not great) but will get praised because he's young.

I feel that if he was a median age director, his movies wouldn't get so much love. And his acting makes Tarantino's acting look good.

[Chienfantome]

I can't agree with you on that Boosch. My favourite Dolan film, "Les amours imaginaires", has him acting, and although he often writes himself annoying characters, he plays them perfectly.
He's a much, much better actor than QT

[Chienfantome]

I just realized that "Eleanor Rigby" now has been tightened to a 2-hour film, while it was presented in Toronto last September in two parts. That's rather unusual that Cannes take a film that was already shown in another festival the year before, although it's probably a very different film.

[Buscemi]

I'm not surprised that Eleanor Rigby lost an hour from its premiere length. Some of the reviews at Toronto had complained it was too long at three hours (and besides, directorial debuts should not run that long*).

Meanwhile, I must say that How to Catch a Monster is a surprising inclusion. I thought it would premiere at Toronto (where star-driven movies dominate the scene).


* - Yes, Chien. I know you're going to say Dances with Wolves but Costner probably had enough clout as an actor to make it three hours. Eleanor Rigby was from a guy who had never made anything before and only got total creative control because Jessica Chastain let him go crazy without any restraint.

[Chienfantome]

Was Eleanor Rigby shown as one 3-hour film or as two 90 minutes films ? I thought it was two films.
Gosling was one of the contenders, several of his films as an actor were shown in Cannes, especially in parallel sections, so there was talk it could be in Cannes.
I always like to see the films I expect be included in the parallel sections like Un Certain Regard or Director's Fortnight because that means I can see those in Paris 10 days after the festival. So I already know I'll be seeing Gosling's film, among others, in early june. Cool.

[BanksIsDaFuture]

From what I can find online, it seems that Eleanor Rigby was shown at TIFF as two different films but in succession, so like Grindhouse I guess. The whole thing ran 3+ hours so it would seem each part was roughly 90 minutes.

As I happened to see it at its premiere with Him preceding Her, this 3 hour movie felt like perfect conjoined fraternal twins, each of 90 minutes in length.

http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2013/ ... m-her.html

[Buscemi]

I always like to see the films I expect be included in the parallel sections like Un Certain Regard or Director's Fortnight because that means I can see those in Paris 10 days after the festival. So I already know I'll be seeing Gosling's film, among others, in early june. Cool.

I figured it would be at Toronto since it's Gosling's attempt to direct and Toronto seems to the place that embraces ego-stroking projects like that (since it's basically turned into an event for American tourists).

[Chienfantome]

Cannes likes its star power too.

[numbersix]

Yeah, and as Chien has said, Gosling has a good relationship with Cannes and regularly attends.

[numbersix]

Lineups for the Critics Week and Directors' Fortnight Announced

DIRECTOR'S FORTNIGHT
OPENING FILM: Bande De Files, dir: Céline Sciamma
CLOSING FILM: Pride, Matthew Warchus

Alleluia, dir: Fabrice Du Welz
Catch Me Daddy, Daniel Wolfe
Next To Her, dir: Asaf Korman
Cold In July, dir: Jim Mickle
Fighters, dir: Thomas Cailley
Gett — The Trial Of Viviane Amsalem, dir: Ronit & Shlomi Elbaketz
Kaguya-Hime No Monogatari, dir: Isao Takahata
Eat Your Bones, dir: Jean-Charles Hue
A Hard Day, dir: Seong-Hun Kim
National Gallery, dir: Frederick Wiseman
Queen And Country, dir: John Boorman
Refugiado, dir: Diego Lerman
These Final Hours, dir: Zach Hilditch
Tu Dors Nicole, dir: Stéphane Lafleur
Whiplash, dir: Damien Chazelle
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, dir: Tobe Hooper (4K restoration)


CRITICS WEEK
Opening Film: Faire L’Amour, dir: Djinn Carrénard (France)
Closing Film: Hippocrate, dir: Thomas Lilti (France)

Special Screenings
Respire, dir: Mélanie Laurent (France)
L’Institutrice, dir: Nadav Lapid (Israel)

Critics’ Week Features
Più Buio Di Mezzanote*, dir: Sebastiano Riso (Italy)
The Tribe*, dir: Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy (Ukraine)
It Follows, dir: David Robert Mitchell (U.S.)
Gente De Bien*, dir: Franco Lolli (Colombia)
When Animals Dream*, dir: Jonas Alexander Arnby (Denmark)
Hope*, dir: Boris Lojkine (France)
Self Made, dir: Shira Geffen (Israel)

Chien, any of these film-makers you're familiar with and excited about?