The Cannes Film Festival 2005

Familial Intruders Make Their Mark            
By Cole Smithey

Cannes -- Whether with dreams of familial contentment or with concealed intentions of greed and bloodlust, there was an overwhelmingly recurring theme of unpredictable characters inserted into family situations in the films at Cannes this year.

In Woody Allen's first foray into a London-set story Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays an opportunistic former tennis pro who marries into an upper crust British family with the idea of stealing Scarlett Johansson away from his new brother-in-law. When murder enters into the equation the movie hits a diminished minor chord that resonates well against Allen's "Crimes And Misdemeanors." Although it played outside of competition "Match Point" was the festival favorite.

"L'Enfant" (Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne), the winner of this year's Palme d'Or, presents the audience with a challenging teenaged protagonist in the guise of Bruno (Jeremie Renier) a French street criminal who's recently fathered a son by his immature but loving girlfriend Sonia (Deborah Francios). The film delivers a sucker punch when the seemingly attentive Bruno spontaneously decides to sell the couple's baby on the black market.

Jim Jarmusch's crowd pleasing "Broken Flowers" portrays Bill Murray as Don an aging bachelor who goes on a journey to visit his ex-girlfriends in search of a son he may have sired 20 years ago. Don's bizarre experiences during his unannounced visits make for some very funny minimalist cinema.

Writer/director David Jacobson ("Dahmer") takes Ed Norton on an imposter's path in "Down In The Valley" in which Norton plays Harlan a self-professed cowboy from the Midwest transplanted in the San Fernando Valley. Harlan uses his fish-out-of-water soft spoken charm to seduce the teenaged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) of a single father (David Morse). But Harlan is not what he appears and his sudden shift to violence negates everything he's disclosed in this well-acted but false-ringing film.

The extraordinary Sam Shepard and Jessica Lange appear together in Wim Wenders' "Don't Come Knocking" about a washed up Hollywood cowboy actor who discovers he may have a son from a long ago fling with a woman in Butte, Montana. Shepard's character nearly bites off more than he can chew as he's forced to discard the emotional crutches of his past to make peace with the present.

From Michael Haneke's cinema of confrontation comes "Cache" ("Hidden") which won the Cannes award for Best Director. Georges (Daniel Auteuil) is the host for a literary review TV program when he isn't tending to his wife Anne (Juliette Binoche) and young son. The family is threatened when anonymously sent surveillance tapes and childish drawings point to a person from Georges' childhood who may be out to destroy the family. The implications subtly expand to include possible governmental intrusion as Georges inadvertently induces a shocking act of ultimate violence while the source of the surveillance tapes remains an enigma.

Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) lives a quiet life in Millbrook, Indiana with his wife (Maria Bello) and two children until an attempted robbery at the diner he runs exposes a "history of violence" in Tom's character that's inconsistent with who his family believe him to be. David Cronenberg's stylized cinematic adaptation of John Wagner's and Vince Locke's graphic novel, with a script by Josh Olsen, is a darkly funny and entertaining action thriller.

The ubiquitous Gael Garcia Bernal ("The Motorcycle Diaries") turns in another pitch-perfect performance in this disturbing movie about Elvis Valderez a 21-year-old man freshly discharged from the Navy who returns to his hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas to finally meet his biological father David Sandow (William Hurt) - a man he's only heard about from his now-deceased Mexican mother. After being rebuffed by his Baptist minister father, Elvis shifts focus to seducing his unsuspecting stepsister Malerie (Pell James). But Malerie's righteously minded brother Paul (Paul Dano) attempts to interfere in the relationship and blood is soon spilled. Like "Down In The Valley," "The King" is a well-acted movie with an insufficient story to support its solid performances.

In Tommy Lee Jones directorial debut "The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada" (for which he won Cannes' Best Actor Award) Jones plays Pete Perkins a Texas rancher who befriends a Mexican immigrant named Melquiades Estrada who entrusts Pete to bury him in his hometown in Mexico when he dies. Pete's brotherly duty comes all too soon when a border guard (Barry Pepper) shoots and kills Estrada. The Peckinpah-inspired tale of redemption that follows is the stuff of cinema legend.

In Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu's "Peindre Ou Faire L'Amour" ("To Paint Or Make Love") William and Madeleine are a happily married couple who test the waters of sexual freedom after their daughter goes away to college. After moving into an old house in the countryside the couple is gently seduced by their blind neighbor and his attractive wife into a game of sexual swapping that turns their world upside down.

For as determinedly anti-cinematic and grueling as Lars Von Trier's "Dogville" was "Manderlay," the second film in his trilogy about America, cooks on all four burners of execution, polemic, performance and emotional impact. Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) takes leave of her gangster father (Willem Dafoe) in 1933 to help a group of slaves take control of their future on a Alabama plantation that refused to abolish its use of slavery. Grace attempts to plant the seeds of democracy among the group of slaves who gradually begin to trust her intentions. "Manderlay" is a conversation provoking film that commands repeated viewing. Danny Glover and Isaach De Bankole give mesmerizing performances.

Although this year's festival lacked the plethora of political documentaries of last year's festival, there was one documentary that addresses the subconscious reasons for so many films about people with hidden agendas working their ways into familial environments. "The Power Of Nightmares" was initially a three part television series for the BCC. In it, director Adam Curtis establishes the way that the U.S. government has changed from offering its citizens a great society, to offering noting but protection from vague evil forces. Curtis makes his final and clearest point when he proves that "Al- Qa'ida" is a complete and utter fiction created by the US Justice Department. Curtis asserts that there is no such global network of terrorists working together to undermine societies. Perhaps soon we will see the words "Al-Qa'ida" only ever prefaced with the word "fictional." If the Buzzcocks were a band forming today they might write a song called "There Is No Terror In This World Anymore" with the refrain, "not like in the states."

Cannes Roundup 2005

Oscar winners Hillary Swank and Morgan Freeman graced the French Rivera's newly upholstered Palais du Cinema to present the winner of this year's Palme d'Or. After sharing a joke about the Palme d'Or as an award that neither of them has won they turned to the Jury, led by Emir Kusturica, to learn the name of the film that would prevail over David Cronenberg's impressive "A History Of Violence," Wim Wenders' compelling "Don't Come Knocking" and Lars Von Trier's yeasty "Manderlay" the second in his trilogy of films about America.   

Palme d'Or: "L'enfant" ("The Child")
(Belgium-France)
Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne's deeply flawed and simplistic movie about a young petty thief who sells his girlfriend's baby is the unworthy winner of this year's Palme d'Or.

Grand Prix: "Broken Flowers"
Bill Murray revisits his minimalist performance from "Lost In Translation" in Jim Jarmusch's crowd pleasing film about an aging bachelor's journey through a litany of ex-girlfriends in search of a son he may have sired 20 years ago. 

Jury Prize: "Shanghai Dreams"
("Qinghong" -- China)
Writer-director Wang Xiaoshuai's semi-autobiographical drama about a family preparing to return to Shanghai after leaving there more than 20 years earlier is an elegant meditation on conflicting ideologies as seen through a personal context.

Prix Un Certain Regard: "The Death Of Mr. Lazarescu" ("Moartea Domnului Lazarescu" -- Romania)
A slowly dying man endures being moved through a series of different hospitals in this darkly comic satire.

Prix d'Interpretation Femine:
Hanna Laslo won the Best Actress Award for her performance opposite Natalie Portman in "Free Zone," about the physical and philosophical divide between Israel and Jordan,.

Prix d'Interpretation Masculine:
Tommy Lee Jones won the Best Actor Award for his iconic performance in his directorial debut "The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada."

Prix De La Mise En Scene:
Michael Haneke took the prize for Best Director for "Cache" ("Hidden") about a couple intimidated by anonymously sent surveillance tapes.

Prix Du Scenario:
Screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga won the Best Script Award for his Sam Peckinpah inspired "The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada." 

Opening Cannes: 2005

By Cole Smithey

Cannes -- During a moment away from his responsibilities as Jury President of the Un Certain Regard award category, Alexander Payne struts down a Cannes backstreet wearing large black sunglasses and his head cocked back like a tall bobblehead doll lost in a reverie of self adulation. Payne's immodest attitude is symptomatic of Cannes' circus-like atmosphere where every film professional has his or her reciprocal collaborator waiting with baited breath to fulfill their part of the roundelay film festival game. Celebrities have their greedy fans and photographers, film distributors have their buyers, actors have their directors, but watching films is one activity that unites them all.

In recent days, the red carpet stairs leading into the Palais' Grand Theatre Lumiere have been awash in the glow of celebrity charm with actresses like Catherine Denueve, Sharon Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Scarlett Johansson, and Natalie Portman keeping their composure amid an army of shouting paparazzi. French superstar actress Sophie Marceau inadvertently spiced up her red carpet occasion when the dress she was wearing fell from her shoulder revealing a bare breast. No one was offended as Ms. Marceau diffused all embarrassment with gentle laughter from her infectious smile.

The rumor mill in Cannes is inescapable. Public conversations, about opinions of movies, have immediate effect on screenings to be favored or avoided. Woody Allen's new movie "Match Point" played outside of competition, but has received unanimous praise.

The inside bet for this year's Cannes Palme d'Or award veers towards Lars Von Trier's "Manderlay," the second installment in his scathing trilogy on America. Since making "Dogville," Von Trier has polished the stylistic sticking points of that film's inaccessible delivery to reveal "Manderlay" as a powerful cinematic parable about slavery in America. It's a stunner.

Cannes Preview

Cannes Film Festival 2005 Embraces Proven Auteurs
By Cole Smithey

Dubbed the Year of the Auteur, this year's 58th Cannes Film Festival (May 10 - 22) will present films by Woody Allen, David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan, Mike Figgis, Michael Haneke, Jim Jarmusch, Gus Van Sant, Lars Von Trier, and Wim Wenders.

Of special interest from the films in competition is David Cronenberg's "A History Of Violence," a graphic novel-based film about a family whose father commits murder in ostensible self-defense. Viggo Mortensen and Robert Duvall star.

Canadian director Atom Egoyan's "Where The Truth Lies" follows a young journalist (the gifted Alison Lohman) as she uncovers a past entertainment scandal involving Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth.

Screenwriter Shane Black ("Lethal Weapon") makes his directorial debut with "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang," an action/comedy staring Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer.

Tommy Lee Jones adds his name to the auteur list with "The Burials Of Melquiades Estrada," a road movie in which Jones plays a ranch hand making good on a promise to bury his best friend in Mexico.

Critical darling Wim Wenders steps into Western territory with
"Don't Come Knockin' " wherein Sam Shepard is an aging cowboy star on a journey of self discovery. Tim Roth, Jessica Lange and Sarah Polley co-star.

"Manderlay" is Lars Von Trier's sequel to his controversial "Dogville" and employs Bryce Dallas Howard ("The Village") in the role that Nicole Kidman played in the trilogy's first installment. Willem Dafoe, Danny Glover and Lauren Bacall will also star.

Jim Jarmusch's comedy "Broken Flowers" finds confirmed bachelor Bull Murray on a road trip across America to look up ex-girlfriends who might have clue about a 19-year-old son he's purported to have. Julie Delpy, Jessica Lange and Sharon Stone contribute to the film's colorful cast.

Mike Figgis will challenge audiences with "Coma," a documentary about his experience making a film from scratch during a weeklong master class with 20 filmmakers from all over Europe. 

The feature films in competition for this year's coveted Palme d'Or will be judged by a jury presided over by actor/director Emir Kusturica. On the jury will be Toni Morrison (Author - America), Nandita Das (Actress - India), Salma Hayak (Actress - Mexico), Agnes Varda (Director - France), John Woo (Director - China), Faith Akin (Director - Germany), Javier Bardem (Actor - Spain) and Benoit Jacquot (Director - France).