By Cole Smithey
Every year, all of my best intentions to see all of the films in the main competition at Cannes are dashed by the end of the second day when the deluge of various different award sections and marketplace screenings begin to pile up between press conferences, interviews, yacht parties, and the need for sleep. The film that opens the festival is always outside of competition for the Palme d’Or and is frequently a Hollywood sacrificial lamb; this year’s "Da Vinci Code" more than fit the bill. At Da Vinci’s opening day press conference, you could see anguish on the faces of Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Jean Reno, Ian McKellen and Paul Bettany as they faced a room full of unmoved critics. It was clear that all of the back-slapping that went on during the film’s production had come back to haunt the director and actors, and there was nothing for them to do but make flat jokes amidst an air of discontent.
Audience scorn took the form of boos and hisses for ("Donnie Darko" director) Richard Kelly’s unreleasable 160-minute fiasco "Southland Tales" and for Sophia Coppola’s uselessly fluffy "Marie Antoinette." While Coppola’s film didn’t sink to the "Battlefield Earth" nadir of "Southland Tales," the young director’s value of style over substance grated on audience nerves.
The Director’s Fortnight, also referred to as the Quinzaine (pronounced ‘can-zan’) des Realisateurs, hit a high note with William Friedkin’s tantalizingly shocking adaptation of Tracy Letts’ play "Bug," about a lonely waitress (played brilliantly by Ashley Judd) who enters into a romantic relationship with a paranoid drifter (played by the play’s original actor Michael Shannon). "Bug" is a horrific allegory, about real and imagined government-driven dangers, that Friedkin uses to ratchet up suspense and shock beyond anything Alfred Hitchcock ever achieved. It was my favorite film of the 33 films I saw at the festival, with González Inarritu’s "Babel" running a close second.
Political documentaries returned with a vengeance to the festival after last year’s hiatus following Michael Moore’s Palme-winning year in 2004. Al Gore’s elucidating and frightening documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," about the imminent threat of global warming, sent up an S.O.S. flare that was redoubled by Aaron Russo’s ("Trading Places") indispensable "America: From Freedom To Fascism," about the IRS’s illegally imposed national income tax, the Federal Reserve Bank’s criminal acts that have devalued the dollar to ".04," and the American Government’s plan to implant every citizen with a tracking device after the National Identity Cards go into effect in 2008.
Although not a documentary, Ken Loach’s politically significant historical drama "The Wind That Shakes The Barley" resonated powerfully as a film of raw emotional passion amid complex social strife.
Sacha Baron Cohen (AKA Ali G) gave the festival a much-needed jolt of hilarity with his Larry Charles-directed movie "Borat," about Cohen’s Kazakhstan-born character Borat’s attempt to make a documentary in America. The movie had the audience howling with prolonged fits of laughter, including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson who attended the screening.
Prominent among the hundreds of marketplace films seeking buyers was writer/director Laurie Collyer’s "Sherrybaby" staring the ever superb Maggie Gyllenhaal as Sherry a recently released ex-con attempting to rebuild her life and reclaim her five-year-old daughter from her protective brother and sister-in-law. The movie caught me off-guard as an insightful and heartfelt drama destined for a theater near you.
Richard Linklater made Cannes history by being the first director in the festival’s history to have two films in competition. With his largely well-received adaptation of Eric Schlosser’s "Fast Food Nation" (in the main competition) and his thoughtful cinematic rendition of Philip K. Dick’s "A Scanner Darkly" (in the Un Certain Regard category), Linklater made an indelible stamp on the festival.
Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson made his way to the French Riviera with 45 minutes of exclusive footage from his upcoming film "Home of The Brave," about a group of soldiers struggling to adjust to normal daily life upon returning home after an extended tour in Iraq. Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Biel and Christiana Ricci star in the drama directed by Hollywood stalwart Irwin Winkler.
Since Vincent Gallo’s notoriously awful "Brown Bunny" in 2002, unsimulated sex made capable steps as an integral narrative device at the festival with John Cameron Mitchell’s cum-stained film "Shortbus" set around a bohemian Brooklyn sex club. Although Mitchell’s movie suffered from amateur performances and lacking technical aspects, it was well received and got caught up in the middle of a distribution bidding war. British filmmaker Andrea Arnold’s film "Red Road" made significant use of cunnilingus as a turning point for the story about a solitary Glasgow surveillance worker who decides to stalk a man from her past.
The Cannes 2006 festival will be forever remembered as the year of Latin films. González Inarritu’s "Babel," Guillermo Del Toro’s "Pan’s Labyrinth," Adrian Caetano’s "Buenos Aires 1977," Pedro Costa’s "Youth On The March," and Pedro Almodovar’s "Volver" all proved to be films worthy of sharing a place in competition for the Cannes grand prize.
The 2006 Cannes Film Festival award winners:
Palme d’Or: "The Wind That Shakes The Barley" (Ken Loach – Britain)
About a group of Irish workers in 1919 that formed volunteer guerilla armies to oppose the merciless ‘Black and Tan’ squads sent from Britain to stop Ireland’s bid for independence. Ken Loach’s longtime screenwriting partner Paul Laverty contributed the script for this exquisitely executed poignant and tragic story.
Grand Prix: "Flanders" (Bruno Dumont – France)
The director of the controversial "Twentynine Palms" uses non-professional actors to tell a story of a young soldier who goes off to war in a distant land before returning to his homeland where manhood still awaits him.
Jury Prize: "Red Road" (Andrea Arnold – Britain)
Writer/director Andrea Arnold fumbles her opportunity at creating a meaningful commentary on surveillance culture with a story about Glasgow City Eye Control Room operator (Kate Dickie) who stalks a man from her past. Although visually compelling, "Red Road" loses its emotional momentum toward its over-leveraged narrative revelation.
Prix Du Scenario (Best Screenwriter Award):
Pedro Almodovar for "Volver"
Cannes vet Almodovar turns Penelope Cruz into a modern-day Sophia Loren with an alternately buoyant and troubled story of three generations of Spanish women coping with the deaths of loved ones in very different yet equally dramatic ways. Chalk up another crowd-pleaser for Spain’s auteur hero.
Prix De La Mise En Scene (Best Director):
González Inarritu for "Babel"
In the bible, people united by a quest to reach heaven built the tower of Babel but their attempt angered God who in turn made each person involved speak different languages before scattering them across the planet. Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael Garcia Bernal, Koji Yakusho, Adriana Barraza, Rinko Kikuchi, Boubker Ait El Caid, and Said Tarchani give outstanding performances in the brilliant film that takes place in four different countries.
Prix d’Interpretation Femine (Best Actress):
The entire female cast of "Volver" (Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Duerias, Bianca Portillo, and Yohana Cobo) won the Best Actress Award.
Prix d’Interpretation Masculine (Best Actor):
The entire ensemble male cast of "Indigenes" (Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem, and Bernard Biancan) won the Best Actor award.
Prix Un Certain Regard: "Luxury Car" (Chao Wang)
Prix Special Du Jury Un Certain Regard: "Ten Canoes" (Rolf De Heer)
Prix d’Interpretation Un Certain Regard (Best Actress): Dorotheea Petre ("The Way I Want To Spend The End of The World" – Catalin Mitulescu)
Prix d’Interpretation Un Certain Regard (Best Actor): Don Angel Tavira ("The Violin" – Francisco Vargas)
Prix Du President Du Jury Un Certain Regard: "Murders" (Patrick Grandperret).
