Cannes 2004

[bonanzataz]

interesting. as of late, EVERY TIME i turn on IFC they are playing ghost world or happy accidents (a movie, i guess, that they are trying to build up some kind of fanbase with, b/c i don't think ANYBODY saw that movie)

[mutinyco]

Godard's new movie is showing.

So that, and the Won Kar Wai, are all that matters.

Somehow, your not being an Almodovar fan doesn't shock me.    I, however, would put him right up there with (at least in the vicinity of) the other two. Pauline Kael called him "first-rank," "the most original pop writer-director of the eighties," and "Godard with a human face," one of the few times I can unequivocally agree with Kael (Brian de Palma being my other notable Kael concurrence).

Many of you will find this really ignorant, but I just can't help it... this is the reason why I won't watch Almodovar:

compare his actions at the Golden Globes with Scorsese. Pedro goes up and imo talks a bunch of bullshit, trying to push a cause. Marty goes up and thanks who he gotta thank, says some nice things about cinema, and sits down. Class. The former exactly what I hate most about art-house filmmakers. The latter what I strive to be like.

The problem is: Of those 2, Almodovar deserved his award that year.

[El Duderino]

interesting. as of late, EVERY TIME i turn on IFC they are playing ghost world or happy accidents (a movie, i guess, that they are trying to build up some kind of fanbase with, b/c i don't think ANYBODY saw that movie)

those and some old samurai movies, i only saw ghost world on there once, but happy accidents seems to be on like every day.

[SoNowThen]

... this is the reason why I won't watch Almodovar.

Just to clear up, not to get off course again. No, I haven't seen anything by him, and probably won't unless somehow I manage to watch EVERYTHING else I ever wanna see (if that makes any sense). But maybe one day, when I have no other movies to watch, I'll rent one of his and be completely blown away. For now, I fear his personality will come through in his work and I'll wanna punch in my tv screen.

BTW, for the record, I was obviously kidding before. There's a shit load of interesting movies at Cannes, and I envy whoever gets to go.

[cron]

... this is the reason why I won't watch Almodovar.

Just to clear up, not to get off course again. No, I haven't seen anything by him, and probably won't unless somehow I manage to watch EVERYTHING else I ever wanna see (if that makes any sense). But maybe one day, when I have no other movies to watch, I'll rent one of his and be completely blown away. For now, I fear his personality will come through in his work and I'll wanna punch in my tv screen.

BTW, for the record, I was obviously kidding before. There's a shit load of interesting movies at Cannes, and I envy whoever gets to go.

SEE "TALK TO HER". PLEASE. AT LEAST.

[NEON MERCURY]

... this is the reason why I won't watch Almodovar.

Just to clear up, not to get off course again. No, I haven't seen anything by him, and probably won't unless somehow I manage to watch EVERYTHING else I ever wanna see (if that makes any sense). But maybe one day, when I have no other movies to watch, I'll rent one of his and be completely blown away. For now, I fear his personality will come through in his work and I'll wanna punch in my tv screen.

BTW, for the record, I was obviously kidding before. There's a shit load of interesting movies at Cannes, and I envy whoever gets to go.

SEE "TALK TO HER". PLEASE. AT LEAST.

..i agree, sonowthen......you should see 'talk to her'.....i'm not a fan of pedro's politics ..but that film is incredible.....you owe it to yourself as a film lover to watch it... ....i'd like to see what you think about it...

[Chest Rockwell]

Talk to Her is rather great. I don't really know his personality outside film, but Talk to Her was too beautiful, too real, to imply some asshole radical. It makes no political statements of any kind that I saw.

[ono]

Definitely see Talk to Her.  I know of at least one scene in the film that you'll probably love.  Gallo is an asshole, but that didn't stop me from seeing Buffalo '66.  Not too sure about The Brown Bunny though.  Hehe.  Ditto with Lars Von Trier.  A lot of times, assholes make the best films.

[El Duderino]

i think he should start with Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down, and if he likes that, he should move to All About My Mother, then Talk To Her. Pedro needs some getting used to at first.

[ono]

Only film I've seen of his so far is Talk to Her.  He'll be fine.  And TTH is his best according to most, so this'll be an indication if he wants to pursue other works of his.  But that's just me.  And yeah, I really wanna see Atame! and Todo sobre mi madre.

[Chest Rockwell]

All I've seen by him is TTH, as well. I love that Cucurrucu Paloma song in it...I wanted to cry.

[Pubrick]

save ur breath, he won't see it. sheesh, can't u see how intent he is on condemning almodovar for sum stupid speech?!

i would say he's being ridiculous if it wasn't so lame, ignorant and childish. the dude's made sum of the best movies of all time, and cos of one thing he said and an obnoxious fan, suddenly his work is worthless?

yeah, whatever, so u acknowledged it was ignorant, it's still ignorant, and combined with how u loved to chime in on the Passion of Christ discussion without having seen the movie, i gotta say u've discredited urself conclusively from any critical discussion.

jesus, two pages wasted on a person's ignorance, this is how that donnie darko thread got so long. oh, and hav u heard almodovar speak at any other time? that's how he acts, confidently effeminate, maybe that's what u were objecting to.. considering u want to compare him to Scorsese (a Man's man).

[SoNowThen]

i gotta say u've discredited urself conclusively from any critical discussion.

So, am I effectively banned from the Grapevine and Now Playing Threads?  

that's how he acts, confidently effeminate, maybe that's what u were objecting to.. considering u want to compare him to Scorsese (a Man's man).

Hmm, that's interesting. Yeah, that's probably some of it. I just think award shows are such bunk to begin with, go up there, thank who you gotta thank, and get off stage. But you may have hit on something there...

[MacGuffin]

Tarantino Jury Gets Diverse Cannes Lineup

PARIS (AP) - With the Cannes Film Festival a few days away, it's time again for the annual guessing game: What will catch the fancy of the jury president, who this year is the unpredictable Quentin Tarantino?

The gentle green ogre of "Shrek 2''? Michael Moore's deeply critical look at U.S. President George W. Bush, "Fahrenheit 9/11''? Or will he go for something more in his own edgy style, like the South Korean kidnapping thriller "Old Boy''?

Tarantino's nine-member jury includes actresses Kathleen Turner and Tilda Swinton. When Cannes starts Wednesday, jury members will have to choose between 18 films competing for the top prize, the Palme d'Or. "Bad Education'' by Pedro Almodovar, about boys at a Roman Catholic school in Spain in the 1960s, opens the festival, but it's not in competition.

It's a diverse year at Cannes. Selections range from "The Motorcycle Diaries,'' a new road movie by Brazil's Walter Salles ("Central Station''), to Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai's "2046,'' a time-travel fantasy. He reportedly is scrambling to have it ready in time.

Festival President Gilles Jacob says he faced criticism, especially from Americans, after last year's competition showcased many French movies - five out of 20.

"We limited the number of French films in the main theater to three, and the number of French jury members to one,'' he said.

When it comes to choosing winners, however, nobody can accuse Cannes of playing favorites with homegrown films. In more than three decades, only one French film has won the top prize: Maurice Pialat's "Sous le soleil de Satan'' (Under the Sun of Satan) in 1987.

Agnes Jaoui's "Comme une image,'' (Like an Image) about a self-conscious teenager who finds happiness learning to sing, is one of the three French movies competing. Jaoui won a 2001 Academy Award nomination for best foreign film for "The Taste of Others,'' a clever comedy of manners about what happens when opposites attract.

For the first time, a Thai movie is in the main competition. Apichatpong Weerasethakul's "Tropical Malady'' is about a voyage into the jungle.

Germany has its first movie in competition in a decade. Daniel Bruehl, the star of the tenderhearted "Good Bye, Lenin!'' will appear in "Edukators,'' about a love triangle between German activists.

Last year, Cannes was criticized for a lackluster lineup, and Gus Van Sant's divisive "Elephant,'' about teenage gunmen who attack a high school, took the top prize.

The Riviera festival is sometimes criticized for putting too many dark and morose films in competition, and this year it's lightening up with two animated films - "Shrek 2'' and Japan's "Innocence.''

Protests are expected to provide another diversion. France's part-time show business workers, such as actors and technicians, are upset about cuts to their unemployment benefits and plan disruptions as stars glide up the red carpet on the way into premieres.

Demonstrations will likely be creative and quirky. In the past, protesters blasted fog horns at concerts and stormed the set of a prime-time newscast.

There will be other doses of politics at Cannes. Filmmaker Alexandra Kerry, the daughter of U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry, will show a short film about a family dealing with the aftermath of the Vietnam War.

Two years after Moore got a standing ovation at Cannes for "Bowling for Columbine,'' he's back with another documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11,'' which criticizes Bush's handling of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

[godardian]

i gotta say u've discredited urself conclusively from any critical discussion.

So, am I effectively banned from the Grapevine and Now Playing Threads?  

that's how he acts, confidently effeminate, maybe that's what u were objecting to.. considering u want to compare him to Scorsese (a Man's man).

Hmm, that's interesting. Yeah, that's probably some of it. I just think award shows are such bunk to begin with, go up there, thank who you gotta thank, and get off stage. But you may have hit on something there...

I really hope he hasn't, though, because that would confirm some of my worst suspicions about you that I was actively trying to think against (i.e., give you credit for not knee-jerk reacting against a great filmmaker who's not a "man's man," which is well beneath any thinking person). It wouldn't be the first time I've been disappointed from that quarter, but it would be the worst, because it so directly has to do with what we're all here to talk about.

I don't find Scorsese a "man's man," to be honest. He's not fucking Clint Eastwood or Mel Gibson, with some kind of painfully obvious, nail-biting complex about his gender! No "man's man" would ever enthuse about something "artistic" in the often articulate but always passionate way he does in his Personal Journey. I find Scorsese masculine yet down-to-earth and human, none of which goes for the other two I mentioned (macho hardly equals masculine- think about it).

I'm pretty sure Scorsese would kick anyone's ass who who even thought themselves capable of rejecting a filmmaker and his entire voluminous, unique, and eminent body of work because he's "confidently effeminate," though. That pretty thoroughly undermines the credibility of someone who wants to think they're a cinephile.