Cannes: (Not) For the Love of Movies?

‘Where’s your love for movies?’ someone asked me when I expressed a lack of excitement for the next Cannes screening. Clearly waning. Judging from the paltry number of movies I watched in their entirety over the course of four days and nights in Cannes (only about eight), I can surmise that if a film didn’t grip me in the first 30 minutes, I was done with it. I even walked out of some perfectly good movies, either because they didn’t fit my desire for something different (“Father of My Children”) or felt too mainstream for my tastes (“Vengeance”).

I can always blame daily deadlines for two publications, a delayed flight (thank you British Airways) and a particularly backloaded festival for what felt to me like an uninspired Cannes. And poor judgement, too. I probably should have seen Marco Bellochio’s “Vincere” instead of going out to dinner on Monday night. But damn, I was hungry. Such is Cannes. I guess being at the world premiere shockfest of “Antichrist” alone made the trip worthwhile, especially since who knows what version of the film will end up Stateside, but I just wish I saw more better movies.

Here’s a rundown:

Worth Seeing (in vague order of interest):
“Police, Adjective”—read review here.
“Antichrist”—read review here.
“A Prophet”—read review here.
“Bright Star”
“Looking for Eric—read review here.
“The King of Escape”

Muddled, But Flashes of Brilliance
“Mother”

Enjoyed, But Had to Leave Early for Flight
“Broken Embraces”

Shut Out
“Taking Woodstock”

Walk Outs
“Kinatay”
“Vengeance”
“Tsar”
“Irene”

Avoided Based on Bad Word of Mouth
“Agora”
New films from Marina de Van and Michel Gondry

anthony posted on May 21, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Comments

What about Andrea Arnold’ s FISH TANK?  I would have wanted to see that.  And what about “THIRST” or Kore-ada’s AIR DOLL? I want to see those too.  And man, what about Noe’s ENTER THE VOID?  I need to figure out somehow to go to Cannes and just see movies. 

There are always better movies elsewhere.  How do we get what we want when we want it where we want it?  How will we know how to find them?  Whom can we trust to bring them to us?

By Ted Hope on May 25, 2009

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