CANNES FILM FESTIVAL DAYS 4-7
Yes, I saw RYAN GOSLING.
DAY 4, May 14
I had to fly back to Paris to take a final exam (many thanks to Sciences Po for being terrifically inflexible) in the SIEC Maison des Examens, which literally translates to House of Exams. I was devastated I couldn't watch Park Chan-wook's star-studded lesbian drama "Mademoiselle," starring Kim Min-hee, Jo Jin-wung, newcomer Kim Tae-ri, and Ha Jung-woo (!!!), but my friend Justin managed to get some fantastic pictures of the cast.
Ha Jung Woo. OMG
DAY 5, May 15
We walked over to the Marriott hotel to a film at the sidebar festival, International Critics Week (Semaine de la Critique), since Cinephiles can gain entry with just our badges. Israeli writer-director Asaph Polonsky's "One Week in a Day" follows a middle-aged couple as they cope with the death of their 25-year-old son, Ronnie. Shiva, a weeklong Jewish tradition of mourning the dead, has just ended, forcing the couple to resume their lives they'd put on hold. It's a very calm movie, which allows it to effectively portray the reality of mourning without any frills, though it's not without mild moments of comedy, such as when both husband and wife resort to marijuana (which neither know how to smoke) as a coping mechanism at different points of the movie. But it was perhaps a bit too calm for me to have any strong feelings about it.
Otherwise, it was another frustrating day of rejection, but we "attended" the premieres of "American Honey" and "Nice Guys."
For "American Honey," we just stood by the last minute line, which is not too far from the red carpet. Unfortunately, I didn't have my DSLR with me, and my iPhone 5's camera, especially with zoom, is of pitiful quality, so I couldn't really get good pictures, but I did get a video of the cast dancing. Kristen Stewart also came, which made for an awkward moment when the crowd was more excited to see her than the entire cast of the movie...
We actually waited in the last-minute line for the premiere of "Nice Guys" for three hours, and though we were one of the first 10-15 people in line, we didn't get in. We saw a lot of people with invitations also getting turned away, but still. We scarfed our sadness down with greasy fast food and milkshakes at Steak and Shake, which is practically an institution (restaurant review coming later!), and headed back to theater to take pictures of the cast as they exited the theater.
MATT BOMER, the embodiment of male perfection, and grumpy pal (If it were even possible to be mad walking the Cannes red carpet with Bomer, at least one could respect the occasion and keep the grouch in check at least until inside the car?)
DAY 6, May 16
Anurag Kashyap's "Psycho Raman (Raman Raghav 2.0)" was a terrible, terrible film, by far the worst movie I've seen at Cannes. The acting was alright but not superb, and the story, with the ambiguity surrounding who really was the "bad guy," had a lot of potential, but it didn't achieve it. The editing was unbelievably tacky, with the film separated into chapters with title screens that didn't seem to add any sort of meaningful structure to the film. Though I don't think title screens are ever not tacky, their placement in the film didn't add any meaning or group subplots in a way that furthered the film's message. The rock (?) soundtrack, which seemed as though it belonged in a cobweb-filled garage with an angsty pre-pubescent teen brooding about his life, was often unbearably loud. Honestly, I hated this movie. It felt like a waste of my time.
In the evening, we watched "Hell or High Water." Never did I imagine I'd have to depend on the French subtitles because I couldn't decipher the English accent... This film surprised me, not only because the Texas Midlands accent was so hard to understand, but because though it's true to is western genre in that it includes robberies, gunfires, and lots of male ego, it was ultimately about family values. It also showcased a drastically different (and good) side to pretty boy Chris Pine.
DAY 7, May 17
Olivier Assayas's "Personal Shopper," was perhaps the most unfocused film I've seen during the festival. It's hard to even summarize the movie without making it sound ridiculously disjointed, because, well, it is. Maureen (Kristen Stewart) is a begrudging personal shopper for foul-tempered top model Kyra, but she's also kind of a medium, someone who can interact with ghosts. She thinks her recently deceased twin brother Lewis will try to send her a message, so she spends several creepy nights in his large, forested mansion. She does't meet her brother's spirit, but she does run away from an anachronistic female ghost dressed in Victorian clothing who wreaks havoc on the house. The viewer is rewarded some connection between these two "jobs" the she receives text messages from an Unknown number she thinks may be Lewis, but then the viewer is subjected to twenty minutes of "Who r u" and "R u alive?"
I normally dislike Stewart's acting, and though her acting in "Personal Shopper" is still very much signature Kristen Stewart, I wasn't bothered by it at all. In fact, Stewart's acting and the fashion were the film's only redeeming qualities. Having spent the past semester in Paris, I also enjoyed instantly knowing which parts of Paris were shown on screen. For example, I knew Stewart was going on the Eurostar train to London as soon as the film showed Gare du Nord, though it wasn't identified as such. It weirdly held my interest for the duration of the movie, but the more I thought about it afterward, the more terrible of a movie it was. Professor Mason said Assayas may have been trying to say something about the how the prevalence virtual communication has left us feeling so lonely, it's driven some to seek company in the spiritual world. It's an interesting concept, but I think it may be giving the director more credit than what he did.
I then watched French-Swiss animation "Ma Vie de Courgette (My Life as a Courgette)," which was adorable, and Youssef Chahine's 1985 film "Adieu Bonaparte," which Professor Mason had been trying to watch for nearly twenty years.