Recently in Cannes Category

Saturday marked the first AFI Fest screening of upcoming IFC First Take release 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days by Romanian director Cristian Mungiu. The 2007 Cannes Palm d'Or winner (and prohibitive favorite for a best foreign language Oscar nod) has been getting rave reviews and since I missed it at the New York Film Festival last month, I decided I had to catch it here (and did so on Monday). I wish I'd seen it before the dinner so I could have told Mungiu what an extraordinary film he's made, but I suspect I'd not have been the first. More on this moving and delicate film in another post but as for the dinner, despite a few more attendees than planned for (extra tables were the order of the evening) the dinner was a pleasant gathering of friends new and old. The wine flowed and my head hurt the next morning.

Photos top to bottom: SXSW Film Festival producer Matt Dentler; editors in chief of indieWIRE.com and Screen International (l to R) Eugene Hernandez and Colin Brown...(Colin is not a giant and Eugene is not tiny. It's just a little forced perspective in action); The poster for the film.

Believe it or not, Roger Friedman writes on FoxNews.com that Michael Moore's lates film, Sicko is "brilliant and uplifting." The film recently had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and early reviews are positive, but maybe not quite that positive. What are the odds that Foxnews.com has the best early reviews of a Michael Moore film? Yeah, that's what I thought. Time to place bets on Paris Hilton winning the Indy 500.....

This is quite possibly a sign of the apocalypse, but then again, someone once said something about gift horses....

Inspired by Tom Hall's post today about Cannes, I feel compelled to mention that I, too, am not on the Riviera this year. After going in 2003 with the Hamptons International Film Festival and again last year as a journalist, I fully expected to be back this year, but alas, non.

As a member of the international film community, I must confess to feeling a bit of a fraud, not being there and I must also confess to being a little bit bitter about that.

I hope it rains every day. No, I don't really mean that. Sort of.

Ok, so I have finally gotten around to switching from Buzznet (they are so '05) to Flickr and am in the process of posting pix, some with witty bon mots, even! So far, it starts at the indieWIRE anniversary party in late November 2006 up to Berlin, 2007. Keep checking back, as by the end of next week I hope to have a few years worth of pix loaded, most of which have never been in this blog before and many of which include you. Yes, you!

So come on by and check them out and comment, comment, comment!
Even better, join Flickr, put your own pix up and be my friend!

Thanks.

So with a bit of prodding from a friend, I've decided to start doing some video blogging and this is the first, rather rough example. Be gentle with me, folks!

I set out to write about what films to see this weekend and clearly I failed. It's after midnight on Sunday morning and here I am with almost 600 words about Ken Loach's The Wind that Shakes the Barley and fuck all about any of the other films I was going to recommend. I'll get better at this "doing things at the right time" thing, I promise. So, then, take as you will, this longer than expected review of Ken Loach's excellent offering (albeit a week or 2 late):

Ken Loach's beautiful and stirring epic of the years leading up to and including the Irish Civil War is the best film of the year to date and this 2006 Cannes Palm D'or winner is certain to be on many critics' top ten lists, come December. Often criticized (not by me) for being heavy-handed with his politics, Loach is less so, here. While there's no doubt as to who the bad guys are in the first part of the film, the lines are blurred once the story moves from British occupation to civil war. Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty have personalized this historical drama with the story of Damien and Teddy O'Donovan, two brothers deep in the Irish resistance. Damien (Cillian Murphy) begins the film all set to leave for London to work as a doctor, while older brother Teddy (Padraic Delaney) is already a veteran member of the struggle against the British occupation. Two particularly vivid acts of brutality by the Black & Tans, paramilitary squads drafted by the English to help quell the rising rebellion in Ireland, inspire Damien to stay in Ireland and join the resistance.

After the letdown that was Fast Food Nation and given the risky source material (a Philip K. Dick novel) and filmmaking technique involved (rotoscoping animation), I was excited and very wary when I sat down for an afternoon screening of Richard Linklater's 2nd Cannes entry, A Scanner Darkly. While I haven't yet read A Scanner Darkly, I am a fan of Dick's wholly original style of writing and Blade Runner aside, I have not been impressed with the adaptations of his work to date. Sure, Total Recall was a bit of popcorn fun, but it was certainly a far cry from a faithful recreation of Dick's story, We Can Remember It For You Wholesale. I need not have worried. Linklater's dark and engrossing film stands on its own as a work of exceptional depth and understanding and those familiar with Dick's dystopic vision of the world will not be disappointed.

The whole evening was magical and while my cinematography and sound recording don't quite do it justice (I was using a Canon digitial elph, for Christ's sake!) this was one night to remember. Without further ado, a verse from the now-classic "Wig In A Box."

Related Blogposts:

Shortbus Party At Cannes - 1st Video Blog
2nd Shortbus Cannes Video - Shoo Bee Doo Bee Doo Wop!
3rd Shortbus Cannes Video - Ça Plane Pour Moi!

John Cameron Mitchell, Justin Bond and the Shortbus All-Stars (my name) kick things up a few notches with this rollicking duet. Again, I plead for the existence of a full recording of this night!

p.s. Those of you familiar with David Bowie's Earthling tour may see an eerie resemblance in the initial still from this video clip!

Related Blogposts:

Shortbus Party At Cannes - 1st Video Blog
2nd Shortbus Cannes Video - Shoo Bee Doo Bee Doo Wop!
Final Shortbus Cannes Video - Wig In A Box

Shoo Bee Doo Bee Doo Wop! Jay Brannan overdid it at the soda shop....

This one is kinda ruined by my choosing to record only the sing-along verse of the song instead of one where you could hear him sing. Actually, it wasn't really as much of a decision per se as it was just really bad instinct.

Anyway, I did get the funny bit at the beginning, which I guess counts for something. I hope someone out there has full video of this show, as this, along with all the rest of the songs performed would make a great DVD (hint! HINT!).

Related Blog posts:

Shortbus Party At Cannes - 1st Video Blog
3rd Shortbus Cannes Video - Ça Plane Pour Moi!
Final Shortbus Cannes Video - Wig In A Box

One of the fun things about any good film festival is the sheer number of parties and this year's Cannes was no exception. Even if they aren't particularly exciting affairs, they are often a good place to refill your body's important food and booze stores and everyone knows that keeping your hooch and vittles levels in good balance (about 3:1 is a good ratio) is the key to surviving a 2 week film festival. With some days in Cannes filled literally from lunchtime to 4am or 5am with multiple events, some picking and choosing is of course required. This year I picked well on two occasions, the first of which was the party for John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus.

I am on record (or will be, as soon as my 4th IFCtv.com post is published) as being full of regret for missing the Cannes screening of Shortbus but I did not miss the party and a fantastic affair it was. My aforementioned IFC report will include many words, words, words (and a few pix) on the subject, but here's where I get to try out a new feature of The Rabbi Report...video! In this post you will find the first of 4 clips of performances (of varying quality and zero editing) from the party which was one of the highlights of my 13+ years of film festival going. ("Film festival going?" Ugh.)

After the party my statement that I'd never been more proud to be a fag stag earned me a peck on the cheek from PJ DeBoy, an act that made a few friends in the crowd just a wee bit jealous. Don't be too green, boys. It was the only "action" I got all festival!

Anyway, the two pics above are, top to bottom John's triumphal pose at the end of the show (is it just me or do you think he'd do a fantastic version of David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust? - Click on the pic for a larger version) and Jay Brannan performing at the party. After the jump, a clip of the beautiful and talented Sook-Yin Lee performing part of a beautiful Chinese song. Alas, my camera didn't have the memory to record entire numbers, but part is better than none, no? The other three clips will each have their own post above this one and include: a bit of "Wig In A Box" from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a duet between JCM and Justin Bond on Plastic Bertrand's Ça Plane Pour Moi/Elton Motello's Jet Boy-Jet Girl and a chorus of Jay Brannan overdoing it at the "I don't know when to stop sock hop."

Yesterday I emailed my third Cannes post for IFCtv.com from Madrid during a layover and my ever patient editor Alison Willmore posted it quickly and even came up with a snappy title that I forgot to add!

As always, some pix now and after the break!

(L to R): indieWIRE's Eugene Hernandez and Brian Brooks with Bart Mueller, costume designer (with Kurt Swanson) of John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus at the Shortbus party in Cannes.

Palme d'Or:
The Wind That Shakes The Barley by Ken Loach

Grand Prix:
Flandres (Flanders) by Bruno Dumont

Prix du Scénario (best screenplay):
Pedro Almodovar for Volver

Prix de la Mise en Scène (best director):
Alejandro González Iñárritu for Babel, a very well received film at this year's festival. In fact, I ran into a young Swedish director after she had just seen the film and she was shaking and barely able to talk. I didn't see it and am regetting it more and more with each passing day!

Prix d'interprétation masculine (best actor):
The ensemble cast of Rachid Bouchareb's Indigènes (Days of Glory): Jamel Debbouze, Samy Nacéri, Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem, Bernard Blancan)

Prix d'interprétation féminine: (best actress):
Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, Chus Lampreave, the entire female cast of Pedro Almodovar's Volver!

Prix du Jury (Jury Prize):
Red Road by Andrea Arnold
Ok, so I was wrong which prize she was going to win....

Caméra d'Or (best first feature):
A Fost sau n-a fost? (12:08 East of Bucharest) by Corneliu Porumboiu

Short FIlm Palme d'Or:
Sniffer by Bobbie Peers. The Short Film Jury presided over by Andrei Konchalovsky also gave the Jury Prize to Primera Nieve by Pablo Aguero and a Special Mention to Conte de Quartier by Florence Miailhe.

The awards for the 59th annual Cannes FIlm Festival will be announced starting at 7:30pm, CET/1:30pm EDT. Watch this space for updated winners as they are announced. Reload the page to see the latest from the Palais de Festival!

Andrea Arnold, director of Cannes competition entry Red Road has just arrived on the red carpet and told cameras that she was asked to return to Cannes by the festival. Clearly her film is going to win something and bets are on the Camera d'Or, the award given to a filmmaker for their debut feature film. Last year's award was split between Miranda July for Me, You and Everyone We Know and Vimukthl Jayasundara for the French/Sri Lanka coproduction Sulanga Enu Pinisa (The Forsaken Land).

The jury has finally arrived at the Palais, 4 minutes before the scheduled arrival time. They apparently walked down the Croisette, rather than take the chauffered limos. Wait until you see Monica Bellucci's dress!

After many trials and tribulations, including a lost cell phone and various unpleasant publicists who shall remain nameless, I have finall completed not only my second report for IFCtv.com, but also my first for E! Online (separate post). Whew.

Was Fast Food Nation one of the films you were looking forward to hearing about in Cannes? Do you like Wilmer Valerrama? Will you read it simply out of loyalty to your faithful scribe?

Well if so, click here and enjoy!

After the jump, as always, a pic or two from Cannes!