Showing posts with label The Wonders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Wonders. Show all posts

Monday, May 26, 2014

Cannes in the Can/The Cannes Critique/Cannesalysis

Welcome to Monday!

CANNES IN THE CAN



They're done in France.  The 67th Cannes Film Festival came to a close Sunday with re-screenings of films from throughout the week.  Saturday evening the Jane Campion-led Palme jury announced its choices for prizes:

Palme d'Or: "Winter Sleep" dir: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Grand Prix: "The Wonders" dir: Alice Rohrwacher
Jury Prize: (Tie) Goodbye to Language" dir; Jean-Luc Godard and "Mommy" dir: Xavier Dolan
Director: Bennett Miller, "Foxcatcher"
Screenplay: "Leviathan"
Best Actress: Julianne Moore, "Maps to the Stars"
Best Actor: Timothy Spall, "Mr. Turner"

Un Certain Regard prizes included:

UCR Prize: "White God" dir: Kornel Mundruczo
Jury Prize: Turist (Force Majeure) dir: Ruben Ostland
Special Prize: "Salt of the Earth" dir: Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribiero Salgado
Ensemble: "Party Girl"
Actor: David Gulpilil, "Charlie's Country"


Check the complete list of all prizes for all sections here from Variety:

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/winter-sleep-wins-palme-dor-cannes-1201191262/


THE CANNES CRITIQUE



Here are the final critical compilations for the 67th Cannes Film Fest  with the top three films listed for each source:

Ioncinema:

1) Two Days, One Night
2) (tie) Mr. Turner
2) (tie) Winter Sleep

http://www.ioncinema.com/news/film-festivals/2014-cannes-critics-panel-day-9-assayas-doubles-down-with-sils-maria-zvyagintsev-drinks-to-sweet-tragic-notes-with-leviathan

From http://cannes-rurban.rhcloud.com/2014

1) Goodbye to Language
2) Winter Sleep
3) Two Days, One Night

From http://www.todaslascriticas.com.ar/cannes

1) Goodbye to Language
2) Winter Sleep
3) Clouds of Sils Maria

And from http://criticsroundup.com/cannes-2014/

1) (tie) Two Days, One Night
1) (tie) Wild Things
3) Goodbye to Language


Critically, the big winners seem to have been: Godard's "Goodbye to Language" (Jury Prize), "Winter Sleep" (Palme d'Or) and "Two Days, One Night" (bupkes). The Dardennes snub seems curious.  I would have thought Cotillard was a lock for Best Actress if the jury wasn't awarding the film an overall prize.

"Out of Competition" films that did well in critical analysis:

From the Un Certain Regard section both "The Blue Room" and "Juaja" did very well with critics...neither were prize winners.

"How to Train Your Dragon 2", "Silver Watered-Syria Self Portrait", "The Owners", "Maidan", "Cold in July", "Gett" , "National Gallery", "A Hard Day", "Mange Tes Mort", "Le Counte De La Princesse Kaguya", "P'tit Quinquin", "It Follows", "Red Army" and "The Kindergarten Teacher" all received steady critical acclaim.

CANNESALYSIS



And after the two weeks at Cannes are done...what do we know vis-a-vis the 41st Telluride Film Festival.  Mostly that the films that I thought were likely are probably still likely.  The acquisitions of Sony Pictures Classics of "Leviathan", "Jimmy's Hall", "Saint Laurent" and "Wild Tales" during the festival raises their T-ride profile. As of yesterday, SPC had also acquired "Salt of the Earth".

Going into Cannes, I had been pointing at certain films that, assuming they played well, had a reasonably good Telluride profile.  It seems to me that "Mr. Turner" and "Two days, One Night" fit that bill.  Through the course of the I think "Leviathan" and "Red Army" both became very real possibilities.

I suspect that both Dolan's "Mommy" and Cronenberg's "Maps to the Stars" will exclusive to the Toronto fest.  I don't have any insider info, it just feels that way to me.

"Foxcatcher" remains something of an enigma.  It all depends on how SPC perceives its Oscar chances as a result of a Telluride play and the expectation that should they play the film at Telluride that it will play Toronto in a less-than -prime slot.

Of course, they could chose to bypass Toronto altogether as "Nebraska", "Inside Llewyn Davis" and "All is Lost" did last year (all three played in Cannes as well).  Though you could make a strong case that that strategy didn't work particularly well.

As to Oscar repercussions...from Cannes...."Foxcatcher" and "Mr. Turner" seemed to be the most likely films with that potential before and after the fest.  I expect a number of films to be a part of the Foreign Language film Oscar convo depending on what countries make which choices.  For example, "Leviathan" seems like a no-brainer as the choice for Russia in terms of quality but its critique of the Mother country is not likely to sit well in Putin's "throwback" Russia.

It'll be fun to watch this summer.

SPEAKING OF SUMMER



I'll be back to a six-post-a week schedule beginning next Monday, June 2.  Let the full tilt Telluride obsession begin!

More on Thursday!




Thursday, May 15, 2014

Howell Brings It Home/Trailers, Clips and Photos for the Cannes Films/major Outlets and Their Pre-Cannes Final Thoughts/Odds and Ends

You're in Thursday...look around...yup, it's Thursday...


HOWELL BRINGS IT HOME



Jake Howell writing for Movie City News has concluded his project of counting down the Palme competition films for the 67th Cannes Film Fest which opened yesterday with Nicole Kidman in "Grace of Monaco".

Here are the links to the last set of those capsules at MCN:

"Clouds of Sils Maria" dir; Olivier Assayas

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/05/countdown-to-cannes-olivier-assayas/

"The Wonders" dir: Alice Rohrwacher

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/05/countdown-to-cannes-alice-rohrwacher/

"Wild Tales" dir: Damian Szifron

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/05/countdown-to-cannes-damian-szifron/

"Mr. Turner" dir: Mike Leigh

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/05/countdown-to-cannes-mike-leigh/


Things get serious today with screenings of the first of the films in competition.  Mike Leigh's "Mr. Turner" (which is definitely on the MTFB T-ride "watch list") and Abderrahmane Sissako's "Timbuktu" are the first two out of the gate in the Main category.  The Un Certain Regard section also launches today with "Party Girl" and "The Lovely Girl".

TRAILERS, CLIPS AND PHOTOS FROM CANNES FILMS



I've linked a bunch of new material or re-worked material for several Cannes films from The Playlist.  Beginning with a link to their story featuring a new clip from Tommy Lee Jones Palme d'Or challenging sophomore directorial effort "The Homesman"  Looks good.  Check the story and the clip here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-tommy-lee-jones-hilary-swank-square-off-in-first-clip-from-cannes-drama-the-homesman-20140512

The Playlist also provided a link to a trailer from Zhang Yimou's "Coming Home" with English subtitles.  It looks intriguing.  Check it here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-new-trailer-for-zhang-yimous-cannes-film-festival-drama-coming-home-starring-gong-li-20140506

Next a link to a clip from "Two Days, One Night" from the Dardennes.  It's in french...but it does feature Marion Cotillard.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-first-clip-from-dardennes-cannes-drama-two-days-one-night-starring-marion-cotillard-20140512

And finally, a series of new photos from Olivier Assayas' "Clouds of Sils Maria":

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/new-pics-from-olivier-assayas-cannes-competition-pic-clouds-of-sils-maria-starring-kristen-stewart-juliette-binoche-20140512


MAJOR OUTLETS AND THEIR PRE-CANNES FINAL THOUGHTS

Hilary Swank in Tommy Lee Jones' "The Homesman"


Variety polled their three film critics and asked them what films they were looking forward to the most for the next two weeks in France.  Their responses and that article are here (surprise, no one film landed on everyone's list):

http://variety.com/2014/legit/news/cannes-variety-critics-on-films-they-cant-miss-1201178519/

HitFix, which has at least a couple of people on the ground in Cannes, has 11 Questions to be answered over the next fortnight:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/11-big-questions-we-want-answered-at-this-years-cannes-film-festival

 And IndieWire posted 10 films that they think have the best shot to surprise or shock the film world as they screen on the Croisette:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/the-10-films-that-might-surprise-or-shock-us-at-the-2014-cannes-film-festival

Meanwhile, this reminder from MTFB...the crossover between Cannes and Telluride is significant.  You can expect (if history is any guide) 7-10 films from Cannes to play T-ride on Labor Day weekend.  While that's a small portion of the entirety of the Cannes lineup; it does result in as much as 20-25% of Telluride's lineup.


ODDS AND ENDS



Variety's Scott Foundas has a big piece up about Oscar winner Marion Cotillard as her "Two Days , One Night" is about to land in the south of France and her collaboration with James Gray, "The Immigrant" is set to open in limited release here in the U.S. tomorrow.  Take a gander here:

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/marion-cotillard-two-days-one-night-1201178636/


And this about one of the more intriguing film stories, at least to me, of the past year or so.  Multiple sources have reported that Open Road has nabbed distribution for Jon Stewart's (of The Daily Show) directorial debut, "Rosewater'.  I have passingly mentioned it once or twice in this space as an outside Telluride prospect and now with the securing of distribution and a promised fall release date that possibility seems at least marginally more real.  The Dissolve actually mentions the Telluride possibility in its post regarding the Open Road acquisition:

http://thedissolve.com/news/2216-jon-stewarts-rosewater-picked-up-by-open-road-for-/

Here's the rub...Open Road hasn't any history with Telluride...

More on Monday...including some of the first reactions from early films at Cannes.

Monday, May 12, 2014

The Cannes Countdown Speeds Up/Trailering "The Wonders"/"Madding Crowd" Moves Out of the Crowd

Welcome to Monday...and a belated Happy Mother's Day!

THE CANNES COUNTDOWN SPEEDS UP

"Two Days,One Night" Marion Cotillard directed by The Brothers Dardennes


I'm continuing to link to Jake Howell's capsules of each of the Cannes Palme d'Or competition films in today's post for Movie City News.  Howell and MCN have added several since my last post on Thursday including a couple of films that have some serious Telluride potential (thinking the Dardennes brothers and Hazanavicius).  Here are the links:

"Timbuktu" dir: Abderrahmane Sissako

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/05/countdown-to-cannes-abderrahmane-sissako/

"Levathan" dir: Andrey Zvyagintsev

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/05/countdown-to-cannes-andrey-zvyagintsev/

"Two Days, One Night" dir: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardennes

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/05/countdown-to-cannes-jean-pierre-and-luc-dardenne/

"Saint Laurent" dir: Betrand Bonello

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/05/countdown-to-cannes-bertrand-bonello/

"Goodbye to Language" dir: Jean Luc Godard

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/05/countdown-to-cannes-jean-luc-godard/


"The Search" dir: Michel Hazanavicius

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/05/countdown-to-cannes-michel-hazanavicius/

"Jimmy's Hall" dir; Ken Loach

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/05/countdown-to-cannes-ken-loach/


TRAILERING "THE WONDERS' OR "THE MARVELS"


Photo via The Playlist

Depending on which translation you read the title of Alice Rohrwacher's competition film at Cannes is either "Wonders" or "Marvels".  Either way, The Playlist posted a trailer for the film this week and I am passing it on to you here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-first-trailer-for-cannes-competition-drama-the-wonders-starring-monica-bellucci-20140506


"MADDING CROWD" MOVES OUT OF THE CROWD

Photo via Thompson on Hollywood


Fox Searchlight announced this past week that Thomas Vintenberg's "Far From the Madding Crowd" has been dated for limited release on May 1, 2015.  That pretty much nukes the notion that it will be a Telluride choice.  After the splash Vintenberg's "The Hunt" had made in Telluride in 2012 I thought there was a good chance that we'd see this film.  The fact that it's in the hands of Fox Searchlight prodded me to think of it as a possibility as well.  Finally, there had been a lot of speculation that it would be a Cannes selection led me to think that we could see it at the end of August but the release date tends to make me believe that it's off the tale.

Here's the story from Thompson on Hollywood:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/far-from-the-madding-crowd-to-open-from-fox-searchlight-next-may-video


More on Thursday...