Cannes »

In 2007, a film called Chacun son cinema was created for the 60th anniversary of Cannes (briefly mentioned here). Like a Paris je t'aime for the cinematically minded, the film collected 33 shorts from directors across the world capturing their feelings about cinema. The collection was any movie-lovers dream -- David Lynch, Gus Van Sant, Jane Campion, Atom Egoyan, Elia Suleiman, Wong Kar Wai, Lars Von Trier, and even the Coen brothers.

After Cannes, it screened at TIFF and other film festivals across the world, and got two region 2 DVD releases. But not only has there been no Region 1 disc for the North Americans eager to see the film, the Coens' World Cinema also got shafted -- not appearing on the StudioCanal DVD and not listed on the Pyramide DVD -- even though their short was a part of screenings.

But now the short, in its entirety, has popped up online and it's awesome. The clip stars Josh Brolin (during the days of No Country for Old Men), Grant Heslov (who just helmed Men Who Stare at Goats), and Brooke Smith (Grey's Anatomy). A cowboy of sorts heads to a movie theater to catch a flick, confused about the two art films available to him. Heslov's ticket guy answers his questions, which includes the gem: "Is there livestock in any of 'em?"

Saying any more than that would ruin the magic, so check it out after the jump. And below that, you can check of Lynch's goosebump-inducing Absurda.

Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon recently won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, though most American critics and moviegoers -- those of us who can't afford the trip to France -- haven't seen it yet. Often the Palme d'Or winners seem to be a bit more daring and interesting than the Oscar winners, but not always. I was a bit underwhelmed by last year's winner The Class, though I thought 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) was outstanding. Then there was Ken Loach's The Wind That Shakes the Barley, which I loved when I saw it, though my enthusiasm wore off by the time I drew up my year-end top ten list. But we also have to give the Cannes juries props for awarding great filmmakers ahead of the curve, notably Orson Welles, Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Jane Campion, Joel and Ethan Coen and Quentin Tarantino. The Oscars either belatedly or never recognized those same talents.

So which are the Palme d'Or winners that stand the test of time? Film Comment magazine has conducted a poll of its regular contributors, asking them to vote for their favorites, from a list that goes back to The Third Man in 1949 (though 1946 festival chose a list of ten winners, which included Brief Encounter, The Lost Weekend and Open City).

The version of Inglourious Basterds that played to mixed reviews at Cannes won't be the version we see, for better or for worse. Quentin Tarantino is heading back into the editing bay next month, and giving the film an extra scene or two. (And nothing is harder to write about than a film you and the rest of the moviegoing world hasn't even seen, so bear with me here.)

The director admitted to Variety's Anne Thompson that he felt overfiddling had hurt Death Proof, so he deliberately put Basterds on a Cannes deadline -- but it was one that was so tight that he had to rush "a dripping-wet print" to the festival. As a result, Basterds was 19 minutes less than he needed to retain final cut.

So, he's adding footage back in. One is a scene that he filmed, but hasn't yet assembled that introduces the characters of Michael Fassbender and Diane Kruger's more thoroughly. For those of us who didn't get to see the film at its Cannes debut, that means little. But if you read the script, it comes before the La Louisiane sequence. However, if you're hoping to see Maggie Chung as Madame Mimieux, you'll be disappointed. The scenes between Mimieux and Melanie Laurent's Shoshanna Dreyfuss won't be restored as Tarantino feels they don't add to the narrative.

But the final edit might rest on audience approval. Tarantino's going to be doing some test screenings "outside of California" to see how the film plays to the people, and will fine tune it from there -- but hopefully not to the point of Death Proof fiddling ...

The Cannes Film Festival drew to a close on Sunday evening with the presentation of the Palme d'Or to Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon. Filmed in black and white, it's "a two-and-a-half hour parable of political and social ideas set entirely in a north German village in 1913 and 1914," says Dave Calhoun at Time Out London. Haneke "solidly resists answering the 'what's it all about?' question and makes you work hard to make sense of what you're seeing." David Hudson at IFC's The Daily has gathered the reviews, some of which endeavor to answer the "What's it all about?" question.

As is often the case, the nine-member jury passed out awards to as many films as possible. The Grand Prix (or runner-up) went to Jacques Audiard's A Prophet; Special Jury Prize to Alain Resnais for Wild Grass; and Best Director to Brillante Mendoza for Kinatay. Christoph Walz won Best Actor for his performance in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and Charlotte Gainsbourg won Best Actress for Lars von Trier's controversial Antichrist. The complete list of winners can be easily viewed at indieWIRE. The festival's official site has a great set of award ceremony photos.

Here's a roundup of Cannes films we can expect to see in coming months. Corrections and updates will be appreciated.

CANNES TITLES WITH U.S. DISTRIBUTION

• Antichrist (IFC)
• A Prophet (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Bright Star (Bob Berney and Bill Polhad)
• Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Drag Me to Hell (Universal)
• Humpday (Magnolia Pictures)
• I Love You Phillip Morris (Consolidated Pictures Group)
• Inglourious Basterds (Weinstein Co.)
• Looking For Eric (IFC)
• Precious (Lionsgate)
• Taking Woodstock (Focus Features)
• Tales From the Golden Age (IFC)
• Thirst (Focus Features)
• Up (Disney Pixar)
• The White Ribbon (Sony Pictures Classics)

You can access all our Cannes coverage via this handy link.

It's all over but the shouting. The last two titles in Competition for the Palme d'Or, which will be awarded on Sunday, screened on Saturday to general disinterest as industry attendees continued to flock home. But some were still happy just to be able to see a movie -- any movie -- at Cannes; Roger Ebert tells of a young man who followed the example of Ebert's granddaughter and "begged" for a ticket. He was happy and proud to get in. Ebert shares some photographs; he says: "I have no idea why they are all of beautiful women."

Key Screenings. Competition: Tsai Ming-Liang's Face (Taiwanese filmmaker makes a movie in France), Isabel Coixet's Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (Tokyo fish market employee also works as a hit woman).

Awards. Some observers felt the Un Certain Regard section featured higher-quality selection than the main Competition, so it's of note that Yorgos Lanthimos' Dogtooth won the top prize, according to indieWIRE. The Greek film received warm praise from the few reviewers who have seen it. Karina Longworth of Spout says it's the only narrative she's seen in Cannes "that really feels like it represents the work an emerging new talent." The film revolves around an odd family, in which the three 20-something children have never even left their house, while their parents "have created a complex mythology ... to keep the family together." She called it a "dark comedy," though she also noted that "its depiction of forced incest, two explicitly not-fake images of sex acts, liberation via very bloody self-harm and the on-screen disemboweling of a housecat."

As the festival enters its final weekend, things have grown quieter. That doesn't mean Friday lacked excitement, though. Undoubtedly, the big title of the day was Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, featuring Heath Ledger's final performance. Erik Davis rounded up the first reactions. The director and Verne Troyer (AKA "Mini Me") appeared in support of the film.

Another eagerly-awaited title also debuted: Gasper Noé's Enter the Void. Of course, the interest in Imaginarium has more to do with the stars (Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law stepped in to finish the film after Ledger's untimely passing). Void, on the other hand, created anticipation because it is Noé's first feature-length work since his Irreversible generated considerable controversy at Cannes seven years ago.

Via David Hudson at IFC's The Daily, we learn that Enter the Void has already been compared to the Wachowskis' Speed Racer and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining (by Daniel Kasman in The Auteurs' Notebook). Manohla Dargis of the New York Times also notes the borrowings from Kubrick, while describing it as an "exceptional work [by] an artist who's trying to show us something we haven't seen before." Eugene Hernandez of indieWIRE called it "an endurance test [that] stirred both boos and bravos."

Other Key Screenings. Competition: Elia Sileiman's The Time That Remains. Un Certain Regard: João Pedro Rodrigues' To Die Like a Man, Jean Van de Velde's The Silent Army. Directors' Fortnight: Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani's Ajami, Mikhael Hers' Montparnasse. Special Screenings: Fanny Ardent's Ashes and Blood.

Awards. Xavier Dolan's Canadian film I Killed Your Mother won three of the four prizes awarded by Directors' Fortnight, reports indieWIRE, beating out higher-profile US titles Tetro, I Love You Philip Morris, and Humpday. The complete list can be viewed at indieWIRE.

Terry Gilliam's latest fantastical adventure, titled The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, screened at the Cannes Film Festival a little while ago, and the first reviews are out. The film, which is obviously drawing more press because it features Heath Ledger's final performance, is, like most of Gilliam's films, a little on the weird side (read the full synopsis after the jump). When Ledger passed away without finishing his work on the movie, it appeared as if the Gilliam curse had struck again -- leaving him little choice but to either scrap the entire film or hire a new lead actor and re-shoot all his scenes. Thankfully Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law came to the rescue, and they somehow found a way to have these three gents finish Ledger's remaining scenes by playing alternate-dimension versions of the same character. So what's the final outcome?

"... the film's convoluted curlicues are tiring, insisting too loudly on how "imaginative" everything is. And when it descends into the real world – Lucy out of the sky without diamonds, as it were – the film can frankly be a bit ho-hum, with some very broad acting from the bit-part crowd players. Gilliam's previous movie Tideland showed he still has teeth, and he bares them occasionally here. The dark side reveals itself, time and again, in the ruined, unsentimental locations in London. But this movie, though perfectly amiable, could be for fans only." -- Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

"Synthesizing elements from several of his previous pictures, including "Time Bandits," "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" and "The Fisher King," the often overreaching director addresses a mad hatter of a story with the expected visual panache and what is, for him, considerable discipline. With Ledger onscreen more than might have been expected, the film possesses strong curiosity value bolstered by generally lively action and excellent visual effects, making for good commercial prospects in most markets." Todd McCarthy, Variety

More quotes, a scene featuring Ledger and the synopsis after the jump ...

Thursday seems to have been a quiet day in the south of France, an inevitable, hazy hangover after the four-day frenzy that began with Antichrist on Sunday and leading to the star-fueled red carpet screening of Inglourious Basterds on Wednesday night. "And so the late festival drag set in," writes Eric Kohn at The Wrap. "Fatigue from lengthy days in dark rooms and harsh sunlight generally starts to wear down Cannes attendees after a while, especially once the finish line comes into focus."

At a press conference today, Sam Raimi likened his horror flick Drag Me to Hell to "playing with a jazz quartet" (per James Rocchi at AMC News). Questioned about his latest film, The White Ribbon, Michael Haneke told the assembled journalists: "It's the duty of art to ask questions, not to provide answers. And if you want a clearer answer, I'll have to pass" (per Reuters).

Key Screenings. Competition: Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon (strange events in 1913 at a rural school in Germany), Xavier Giannoli's In the Beginning (small-time crook builds a highway). Un Certain Regard: Henitor Dhalia's A Deriva (teen girl's sexual awakening in the 1980s), Ciro Guerra's The Wind Journeys (retired itinerant accordion player takes a trip). Directors' Fortnight: Sebastian Lelio's Navidad (teen couple in crisis meet a teen girl), Denis Cote's Carcasses (eccentric used auto parts collector). Special Screening: My Neighbor, My Killer (Rwanda genocide reconciliations).

After the jump: Distribution deals for the critically-praised, criminally-minded Cannes Competition title A Prophet and environmentally-friendly Sundance closer Earth Days.

Nothing like a little war movie to bookend a day at the Cannes Film Festival. Lines began forming at the crack of dawn to see the first screening of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds this morning, and, still, many were shut out. (Erik Davis rounded up the first reactions from those who did manage to gain admittance.) Evening brought the glamour, as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie led a parade of celebrities down the fabled red carpet for the black-tie and gown gala presentation. As a cherry on top, Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell screened at midnight.

Films Sold. Amazingly -- or maybe not, when you consider all the free publicity it's already accrued -- Lars Von Trier's highly controversial and divisive Antichrist sold to IFC Films. The company says they will release the same version as the one screened in Cannes, according to indieWIRE. Specific release plans were not announced, but expect it this fall, in order to capitalize on the buzz. Also, I suggest a poster highlighting Willem Dafoe's previous, religiously-titled movie: "From The Last Temptation of Christ to ... Antichrist!"

Much less controversially, IFC also picked up Ken Loach's Looking for Eric, which the company describes as the director's "most accessible, crowd pleasing film." More details at indieWIRE.

Key Screenings. Competition: Alain Resnais' drama Wild Grass, starring Mathieu Amalric (the reviews so far, collected by David Hudson at IFC's The Daily, range from reserved to rave). Un Certain Regard: Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's supernatural-tinged drama Nymph (Todd Brown at Twitch reviews), Luc Mullet's Land of Madness. Directors' Fortnight: Axelle Ropert's The Wolberg Family (a small town mayor's obsession with his family), Ho Tzu Nyen's Here (a middle-aged man deals with life as a patient in a medical institution).

Quentin Tarantino's long-awaited WWII epic Inglourious Basterds premiered at the Cannes Film Festival mere hours ago, and so far critics seem to be finding the film entertaining, sure, if a tad too talkative. Would you expect anything less from the man? Here's a rundown of some early thoughts, and we've posted three new clips in between some of the quotes.

"Inglourious Basterds is great fun to watch, but the movie isn't entirely engaging. And it is defiantly an art film, not a calculatedly mainstream entertainment. Tarantino throws you out of the movie with titles, chapter headings, snatches of music. You don't jump into the world of the film in a participatory way; you watch it from a distance, appreciating the references and the masterful mise-en-scene. This is a film that will benefit from a second viewing. I can't wait to see it again." -- Anne Thompson, Variety

"The
 film is by no means terrible -- its running time of two hours and 32 minutes 
races by -- but those things we think of as being Tarantino-esque, the long
 stretches of wickedly funny dialogue, the humor in the violence and outsized 
characters strutting across the screen, are largely missing." Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter



"Forget what you think you know is such a cliché, but here it more than applies. Tarantino has made a career out of subverting expectations – this is the man who made a heist flick without a heist, after all – but he's outdone himself with Basterds. It's an action movie that has barely any action. The Basterds themselves, including Brad Pitt's Lt. Aldo Raine, are off-screen for long periods of time. And it takes wild liberties with history." -- Chris Hewitt, Empire

More quotes and clips after the jump ...