2014 Festival de Cannes Screening Schedule

Today organizers released the screening guide and to my surprise one of my favorite movies is scheduled to screen last, which is a position that usually does not favor any movie in competition. Sigh. Yes Leviathan and well, Sils Maria both are to be screened on Friday, May 23.

If we believe that jury fatigue do happen then the film that has the best position in this sense is the one that has the best odds to win the Palme d'Or, Winter Sleep by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. So let's see if all this hocus pocus makes sense when we learn the winners on Saturday, May 24.

In schedule we finally have the movies at the Cinema de la Plage and will list them at Pinterest here, but let you know that there are films by Tarantino, Waters, Frankenheimer, Leone and of course, Federico Fellini plus more.

Here is the Schedule Guide for the Official Selection and in the parallel sections.

And here is the Pocket Guide with ALL daily screenings.

2014 Cannes Check #9: Alice Rohrwacher

The other female filmmaker in competition that with her second film -competes for the Camera d'Or- La Meraviglie comes to Cannes for the second time after her first feature film, Corpo Celeste, was screened in the 2011 Directors' Fortnight. A very short filmography and a very successful story with Cannes as only with her second feature she made it to the competition that counts. Great!!!

Her filmmaking background is mainly working as an editor and cinematographer of documentaries and short documentaries, which in a way is a style you can still see in her first film and image will still be in the second; but her developing style is a mix of documentarian realism with symbolic magic done with great compositions and some extraordinary visual/magic imagery.

As her first film, the second also seems to have some autobiographical touches, which to me only means that she really knows what she is talking about in story, as she is the daughter of a German father that worked as a beekeeper in Castel Giorgio where she spend her childhood along her older sister, renown Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher. So I do expect another story that will play with lots of symbols, will not face directly themes that are sensitive for her and why not, also for viewers, just as she did in Corpo Celeste.

No idea if this movie -the only Italian film in competition- will bring la Palme d'Or to Rohrwacher and absolutely refuse to even think that just because the jury president is a woman, women filmmakers will have an advantage -as many news are speculating. Prefer to believe the betting odds that give the film a 14/1 odds which is in the middle just after Mr. Turner by Mike Leigh and before the Dardenne brothers movie. Not bad at all to be in the middle of two master filmmakers. Definitively Alice Rohrwacher is a filmmaker that I am following and look forward to see her films and how she develops more her particular cinematic style.

Basic Info about La Meraviglie (The Wonders)
Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Scriptwriter: Alice Rohrwacher
Language: Italian
Runtime: 110 min
Production countries: Italy, Switzerland and Germany
Production companies: Tempesta, Amka Films Productions, Rai Cinema, arte, ZDF, Pola Pandora Filmproduktions, RSI-Radiotelevision Svizzera and more.
Starring: Monica Bellucci, Alba Rohrwacher

Plot Summary
Fourteen-year-old Gelsomina lives in the Umbrian countryside with her sweetly dysfunctional family. Her secluded microcosm is shattered by the arrival of Martin, a young German criminal on a rehab program. Le meraviglie tells a small but cruel love story between a father and daughter, their torments, jealousy and shyness. They give abundantly, and betray each other painfully. It tells of the ties that bind one family together, and a land undergoing a profound transformation. It is also the story of a great failure, through which they all gather strength.

If you wish to explore the movie site and read a very long summary go here, available in English and Italian.

The Trailer

Big Picture: "THIS EPISODE IS PART OF THE PROBLEM"

The Escapist : The Big Picture : This Episode is Part of the Problem

2014 Cannes Check #8: The British

A group with two well-known directors that have won the Palme d'Or and are regulars of La Croisette.

#8.1 Ken Loach

With a very particular filmmaking and storytelling style Ken Loach has been entertaining and yes, educating us with many movies that definitively are universal food for thought even if story is based on true people that lived in real cities in Britain and surroundings. Loach is recognized as one of the few filmmakers that are able to bring to life social issues very vividly, so much that audiences are moved while watching but when is over you tend to rethink what you saw, rethink it within your own experience, which I find absolutely amazing.

Ken Loach has a large filmography as large as long is his history with Cannes, a history that starts in 1970 when his second feature film, Kes, is screened in a parallel section. This year is the ninetieth time Loach is in Cannes and thirtieth time one of his films is in competition. He has won multiple awards in Cannes including the Palme d'Or in 2006 with The Wind That Shakes the Barley and three times the Jury Prize with The Angel's Share in 2012, Raining Stones in 1993, and Hidden Agenda in 1990; the list continues from winning his first FIPRESCI Prize in 1979 for Black Jack to many more. Sigh.

I have enjoyed many of his movies with some making me laugh loud while others making me shred a tear or two, but all making me think about so many social issues that seem not many care to talk about even when happen all over the world. So when he announced his retirement from feature films I was highly disappointed as believe he still has many stories to tell. To my great surprise last week Loach announced that he has another story in his mind and that he will do it. Great!

I'm not rushing to see his latest film Jimmy's Hall that is in competition this year as I know that I have to find the right time and mood to see his films so I won't suffer too much while watching whatever he is going to show us this time. Still after quite light The Angel's Share I hope this movie also has the same type of lightness while telling a sobering story. Will this film bring a second Palme d'Or to Loach? From trailer and film stills seems that film has similar style to the movie that gave him one and perhaps the eclectic jury could be prone to recognize his mastery as many directors in jury understand this cinematic language. But last week betting sites gave Loach very low odds, so maybe the odds will change during the festival and if movie is not screened towards the end of the fest.

Basic Info about Jimmy's Hall
Director: Ken Loach
Scriptwriter: Paul Laverty
Language: English
Runtime: 106 min
Production countries: UK, Ireland and France
Production companies: Sixteen Films, Element Pictures, Why Not Productions, Wild Bunch, Film4, the BFI, and Bord Scannán na hÉireann/Irish Film Board

Plot Summary
In 1921, Jimmy Gralton's sin was to build a dance hall on a rural crossroads in Ireland, where young people could come to learn, to argue, to dream... but above all to dance and have fun. Jimmy's Hall celebrates the spirit of these free-thinkers, while telling the true story of political activist Jimmy Gralton who was deported after building a dance hall on a rural crossroad.

The Trailer



#8.2 Mike Leigh

Yes, I am very familiar with Ken Loach and yes, I am not that familiar with Mike Leigh perhaps because have seen mostly his recent feature films and all his early work is unknown to me. Still his Secret & Lies, Topsy-Turvy, Vera Drake and most of all, Happy-Go-Lucky are films that I have liked quite a lot; unfortunately cannot say the same about Another Year. If you ask me for a Leigh style I will have a hard time defining one that encompasses his different films, but tends to be realistic more than anything else.

Mike Leigh already has a Palme d'Or with Secrets & Lies from 1996 and previously in 1993 won Best Director for Naked; but in general his Cannes history is short as started in 1993, then 1996, 2002 with All or Nothing, 2010 with Another Year and 2014 with Mr. Turner.

I don't have a clear idea of what to expect from biopic Mr. Turner, except for compositions that will look like Turner paintings where film is used as a canvas to represent paintings, hopefully many beautiful paintings by Turner. After all this film is commissioned by the Tate Britain in a series called Film meets Art where Chirs Nolan does Francis Bacon, Ken Loach does William Hogarth and Mike Leigh does JMW Turner. Then I am no fan of movies about painters as many have highly disappointed me but admit I'm curious to find the reason why this movie made it to Cannes competition.

Still seems that film could have an interesting story IF is about the painter's "imbecile" years, when Turner turns 60 in 1835, the age believed at the time when senility started. But will be interesting to see how Leigh tells his story as the Tate is trying to overturn "the myth his mind and hand increasingly failed" and instead reposition those late works as that of a "challenging and daring artist".

Basic Info about Mr. Turner
Director: Mike Leigh
Scriptwriter: Mike Leigh
Language: English
Runtime: 149 min
Production countries: UK
Production companies: Film4, Focus Features International (FFI), Lipsync Productions, Thin Man Films, Xofa Productions, BFI,

Plot Summary
Mr. Turner explores the last quarter century of the great if eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner. Profoundly affected by the death of his esteemed father, loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea, where he dies. Throughout all this, Turner travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so that he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty.

Mike Leigh talks about the project

2014 Cannes Check #7: The Canadians

A group with two directors, one was not born in Canada but grew up there and another is a true Canadian. Both have movies that I like and many more that I do not particularly like.

#7.1 Atom Egoyan

Born in Egypt to Armenian parents and raised in Western Canada, he began shooting short films at the University of Toronto until in 1984 his first feature film, Next of Kin traveled the festival circuit and became known to critics plus world audiences. Is in 1989 with Speaking Parts that he first comes to Cannes in a parallel section and in 1994 with Exotica is his first time in competition

The Captive is his tenth time in Cannes and sixth in competition; he already has won awards: in 1994 Exotica wins the FIPRESCI Award and in 1997 wins the same award again but also the Grand Prix with The Sweet Hereafter, a movie that truly impressed me and one of the few I really like, as for example his previous film, The Devil's Knot, was truly unbearable to watch, not for the story but for the Egoyan's storytelling style.

Then The Captive story seems too similar to another Canadian recent movie by Denis Villeneuve that ALSO is about a father looking for his kidnapped daughter; but, know that has to be different as Villeneuve style is a lot more twisted and interesting than Egoyan's style. Movie has a star that I do enjoy when he does "good" movies, Ryan Reynolds and hope his performance here will be great.  Odds for this film are extremely low as last week was at the very end of the odds list, but everything could change -or not- once the press sees the movie.

Basic Info about The Captive
Director: Atom Egoyan
Scriptwriter: Atom Egoyan and David Fraser
Language: English
Runtime: 112 min
Production countries: Canada
Production companies: Ego Film Arts, Film Farm,

Plot Summary
A pick up truck pulls off the highway at a diner. Confident that his young daughter is safe in the back seat and promising to return with ice cream, the father slips out of his truck and into the diner. When he returns, she is gone.
The psychological thriller, The Captive examines how this kidnapping destroys the relationships among those involved. As the film teases out the complex threads weaving together the victim, her family, the predators and the investigators, the mystery of what happened to the child, during the eight years she was missing, is revealed.

The Trailer



#7.2 David Cronenberg

Not many directors upset me for how they changed their careers but David Cronenberg is one of them as he was making very interesting movies but very violent; I do not like violence in movies BUT Cronenberg's style was hypnotic and so intense as a drama that his films captured me, kept me feeling lots of emotions and when over, released me in a big bang. Sigh. You have no idea how much I miss his particular style.

To me all started with A Dangerous Method, got worst with Cosmopolis and have no hope for Maps to the Stars even if the story seems interesting; not only his style changed as he explores different type of stories but also his "muse" is an actor that truly can NOT act, Robert Pattinson, and he is again in his latest film. Admit that I do enjoy the other actors like Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, and Olivia Williams so maybe narrative will be not as bad as Cosmopolis. But I have no high hopes.

Even if he started in the late 60's to make movies it is not until 1996 that he comes to Cannes for the first time and his film Crash is screened in competition giving him his only award in Cannes, the Special Jury Prize. Since then he has been in Cannes four more times and in his fifth brings a Hollywood story that wonder how will be received. If last week betting odds remain the same, then Cronenberg's movie seem to be a big contender to win the Palme d'Or as was in second place, after Nuri Bilge Ceylan's film.

Basic Info about Maps to the Stars
Director: David Cronenberg
Scriptwriter: Bruce Wagner
Language: English
Runtime: 112 min
Production countries: Canada, USA, France and Germany
Production companies: Prospero Pictures, Sentient Entertainment, SBS Productions, Integral Film

Plot Summary
The Weiss family is the archetypical Hollywood dynasty: father Stafford is an analyst and coach, who has made a fortune with his self-help manuals; mother Cristina mostly looks after the career of their son Benjie, 13, a child star. One of Stafford's clients, Havana, is an actress who dreams of shooting a remake of the movie that made her mother, Clarice, a star in the 60s. Clarice is dead now and visions of her come to haunt Havana at night... Adding to the toxic mix, Benjie has just come off a rehab program he joined when he was 9 and his sister, Agatha, has recently been released from a sanatorium where she was treated for criminal pyromania and befriended a limo driver Jerome who is also an aspiring actor.

The Trailer

New in May: Getting Adventurous (2014)

Minya, can you hear me?

If you like action and adventure, then this is your month. Perhaps in an effort to compete with Hollywood's big spring releases, Netflix is bulking up on its escapist fare. From the high cheese of Fantastic Voyage and all things Godzilla (including Rodan!) to the thrills of the Romancing the Stone flicks and the artful splatter of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, there are any number of ways to get your streaming action groove on. Oh, and did I mention the latest return of Bond, James Bond? Yep, 007 is back again (some of him, anyway), although if recent history is any guide, he won't be around for long�so take advantage of that license to kill before it inevitably gets revoked. (Click here for an earlier rundown of select Bond titles.)

Raquel, I'm over here!

There's a little something for every taste, from every decade since the 1950s. Want to gawk at a miniaturized Raquel Welch, shrunk down and wetsuited to enter a dying man's bloodstream? Apparently, a lot of people did in 1966, which is where the aforementioned Fantastic Voyage comes in. Feeling the urge to bone up on the many moods and manifestations of Godzilla before the latest remake hits the big screen? Then plan to spend a lot of time sitting in front of the little screen, because over half a dozen Godzilla films have reemerged from the earth's core after being buried in January. Most of these are pretty crappy (including what's arguably the worst of all, Godzilla's Revenge), but if you take your monsters seriously�and prefer to avoid a talking baby Godzilla�then stick with the first installment, Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956) or 1964's Godzilla vs. Mothra. Or, go ahead, queue up Godzilla's Revenge. As long as you're prepared to uncork a bottle of Awwws (and guff-awws) to randomly hurl at your screen. Talking baby monsters, indeed...

Read more �

2014 Cannes Check #6: Made in France

The number six is a group of four directors that were made (born) in France and I group them, to be honest, because none of the French directors in competition excites me as much as other French directors that are NOT in Cannes this year. From the group perhaps the one that I do really like is Jean-Luc Godard but a much younger Godard (like his photo), the one from the 1960's as in my opinion he has changed during the last four decades in a direction that I do not necessarily appreciate. Sigh.

So let's review each briefly.

#6.1 Jean-Luc Godard

It is his seventh time in competition but his nineteenth visit to Cannes; his history started with Cleo de 5 a 7 by Agnès Varda where he was in competition as an Actor. Was in 1970 when he started visiting the Croisette with Vent d'Est in a parallel section and in 1980 when he had his first film, Sauve qui peut (la vie), in competition for the Palme d'Or.

The Godard I highly enjoy is the one that directed extraordinary films like Pierrot Le Fou (1965), Vivre sa Vie (1962), À bout de souffle (1960) and almost all Godard films with Anna Karina in the lead that were black and white. I know he evolved to great honors at the Berlinale and Cannes, but those were the kind of films I enjoyed from him.

This year Godard has two films in Cannes, one a short in the Bridges of Sarajevo omnibus and Adieu au langage 3D (is his 39th feature film) that is in competition. Will he win his FIRST award in Cannes this year? I do not know, he is getting old (was born in 1930) and well maybe he should get a prize, but I do not think should be the Palme d'Or. Then if he wins something then will be one of the few times (or a first?) a 3D film wins something in Cannes.

Basic Info about Adieu au langage 3D (Goodbye to Language)
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Scriptwriter: Jean-Luc Godard
Language: French
Runtime:70 min
Production countries: Switzerland and France
Production companies: Wild Bunch

Plot Summary
A married woman and a single man meet. They love, they argue, fists fly. A dog strays between town and country. The seasons pass. A second film begins…

The trailer



#6.2 Olivier Assayas

Not a fan of monsieur Assayas as his first film that called my attention was a one made for TV as a miniseries and after watching the original version had to admit that I appreciated more the first installment as the other two were not that much interesting. Yes I'm talking about Carlos that was in Cannes Out of Competition in 2010.

Still it is the sixth time one of his films is in competition and the fourteenth time he is in Cannes since 1983 when his film was screened in a parallel section. So he does not have a short history with Cannes but is one that I have not noticed that much. Sigh.

My high and true interest in Assayas latest movie is related to who are the stars of the film Sils Maria. First and foremost we have Juliette Binoche an actress that I adore, have seen almost everything with her -the latest being A Thousand Times Good Night- and will not miss a movie with her not matter the director or any other tech spec. But if you add that one of my favorite young actresses (if you regularly read the blog you know it) is playing along Binoche, then film becomes absolutely must be seen for me. Of course I'm "dying" to see Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart playing together and just hope that is as good as when Stewart played besides Jodie Foster.

If this film could (should) win an award, definitively has to be Best Actress; but every time Binoche is in Cannes I always hope she will win the actress top award (she has been 6 times before this year). Was in 2010 when she got the Palme for Best Actress for Copie Conforme by Abbas Kiarostami.

Basic Info about Sils Maria (Clouds of Sils Maria)
Director: Olivier Assayas
Scriptwriter: Olivier Assayas
Language: English
Runtime: 124 min
Production countries: France, Switzerland and Germany
Production companies: GC Cinéma, CAB Productions, Ezekiel Film Production, Pallas Film Vortex Sutra, arte France Cinéma, Orange Studio, Radio Télévision Suisse
Starring: Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, Chloë Grace Moretz

Plot Summary
Maria Enders (Binoche) has a successful acting career and a loyal assistant Valentine (Stewart) but when a young actress (Moretz) interpreted a role in a new movie – the same role which had made Enders famous – her world starts to crumble. Haunted by her past life, she withdraws herself along with her assistant in Swiss town of Sils Maria.

Film still



#6.3 Bertrand Bonello

I "met" Bonello in 2011 when his film L'Apollonide (Souvenirs de la maison close) was in competition at Cannes; the film impressed me for the its beauty, the unconventional story and great performances by known young actresses. Somehow -and still today- I'm not interested in learning about his previous films but definitively I'm interested in his feature films after 2011.

Has a short history with Cannes that starts in 2003 with Tiresia in Competition, so Saint Laurent is his third film to be in competition but is his fourth time in Cannes as in 2005 he was out of competition with a short film Cindy: The Doll Is Mine.

Saint Laurent is the second film about Yves Saint Laurent that is released within a year and comes without the approval of Pierre Bergé, which does not mean much as the other film that has his approval, the one by Jalil Lespert is more a biopic of Bergé than of Saint Laurent. I do have expectations for Saint Laurent by Bonello, first hope that film is about Saint Laurent and no other character near him; second, expect scenes that look/feel like paintings, like haute-couture paintings or period situations, and third, an entertaining unconventional story. All elements related to L'Apollonide, but in general I expect great visuals.

Still most of all I'm ALSO looking forward to see Léa Seydoux, Louis Garrel, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Jérémie Renier, Dominique Sanda, Jasmine Trinca and more well-known actors performances.

Will Saint Laurent give an award to Bonello? Last week odds are very low as shares the last place along with The Captive by Atom Egoyan. Maybe the odds will improve once the fest begins but I believe that this is not the right time for Bonello winning, soon we will know if I'm right or wrong. The perhaps could win the Queer Palm, but think is too unconventional for that award.

Basic Info about Saint Laurent
Director: Bertrand Bonello
Scriptwriter: Bertrand Bonello and Thomas Bidegain
Language: French
Runtime: 135 min
Production countries: France
Production companies: EuropaCorp, Mandarin Cinéma, arte France Cinéma,

Plot Summary
Centered on the life of Yves Saint Laurent from 1965 to 1976, at the top of his creativity genius and the bottom of his personal life.

Film Still



#6.4 Michel Hazanavicius

Not a fan of Michel Hazanavicius as I did NOT appreciate much his much honored film, The Artist, and have not seen anything else by him (not interested). As a matter of fact not even The Search that is in competition this year calls my attention as is a remake of 1948 The Search by Fred Zinnemann and starring none other than Montgomery Clift.

Seems that Hazanavicius version will change the story to make the lead a woman instead of a man and switches the story from post-war Berlin to Chechnya, but wonder if that will be enough to NOT make comparisons as yes, I have seen the other movie. Still having Annette Bening playing "Raissa" makes the film more interesting and yes, watchable for me.

Basic Info about The Search
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Scriptwriter: Michel Hazanavicius
Language: French, English, Russian and Georgian
Runtime:
Production countries: France
Production companies: La Petite Reine, Worldview Entertainment, La Classe Américaine, Georgian Filme Investment Group, Sarke Studio, France 3 Cinéma

Plot Summary
The Second Chechen War. 1999. THE SEARCH recounts, on a human scale, a powerful story of conflict told through four lives that will be brought together by a shocking twist of fate. After his parents are killed in their village, a small boy flees, joining the flood of refugees. He meets Carole, a European Union delegation head and little by little, with her help, he will return to life. At the same time, his elder sister Raïssa searches tirelessly for him amongst the civilian exodus.
Then there's 20-year-old Kolia... A recent Russian Army recruit, he will gradually be overwhelmed by the daily life of wartime.

Film Still