CANNES FILM FESTIVAL DAYS 8-12

DAY 8, May 18

I really wanted to watch the Dardenne brothers' "La Fille Inconnue (The Unknown Girl)" and Na Hong-jin's "Goksung (The Wailing)," [poster above] which are both in competition. I only ended up getting a ticket for the latter, but I wasn't too upset, because it was amazing. I was constantly thinking about the movie for about a week after seeing it. It's a supremely well-made movie, one I think everyone, even those who can't handle horror films (like me) should see. Though I was horrified by the gore on the screen, I couldn't pull my eyes away. I wrote a full-length movie review on "Goksung," watched it for a second time in Korea, and am thinking of buying the movie and watching it over and over again (I never buy movies; so far, only Joe Wright's "Pride and Prejudice," which I'd say changed my life, has achieved this honor). It's been sold to 97 countries, so check if it's playing in your country!

"La Tortue Rouge (The Red Turtle)" was a collaboration between Michaël Dudok de Wit and Studio Ghibli, and I'm a huge fan of the latter, so I was very excited to see this film. I was pretty captivated by its ability to keep me interested for so long, without any dialogue. But two-thirds of the way through, I'd had enough. The plot was much too simplistic for me and borderline offensive: Man is stranded on island, but struggles to escape multiple times, but everything is okay when a giant red turtle dies and turns into a women who bears him a child, because hell, a woman is all that a man needs in life, right? I didn't hate the film, it's very "meh" for me, though the soundtrack was great.

"Umi Yorimo Mada Fukaku (After the Storm)," according to others who saw it with me, was a great film. What I saw of it was also great. I really tried to stay awake as hard as possible, but I couldn't help myself.

DAY 9, May 19

I started off the day with Laura Poitras's "Risk," an excellent documentary about the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange. As always, the Marriott theater delivered good movies. WikiLeaks section editor Sarah Harrison and WikiLeaks affiliate, who are both featured prominently in the documentary, and Poitras were present for a Q&A after the screening, which was really cool.

After, I wanted to watch "Juste La Fin de la Monde," but chose to watch "Madame B, Histoire d'une Nord-Coréenne" instead, as I'd have a lesser chance of viewing it outside the festival. A part of the Acid sidebar festival that highlights indie films, the North Korean documentary was screened in Studio 13 near the Cannes Youth Center, which made for quite a journey. Since I've been working with Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) since high school, I already knew about the horrors North Korean defectors experience in China due to their undocumented status, like being sold as brides, but this documentary highlighted a different aspect of the issue. Though Madame B, having two children and a husband waiting for her in North Korea, initially planned to run away from her husband, she grew to care for him. She's now reunited with her former husband and children in South Korea, but says she wants to return to China and live with her Chinese husband. As far as I know, this kind of situation is not the norm, because many Chinese men who purchase such brides are abusive. However, I was touched by the respect and care Madame B's Chinese husband and parents-in-law showed her. They didn't push her to have more children, and even gave her money before she embarked on her journey to South Korea, saying she'd need it for her children. I also learned about a lot of complications defectors faced getting to South Korea and receiving governmental support from its government. It was well worth the lone trek.

Afterward, we watched some short films, which I was really impressed by. I also tried to sneak into a screening of "Umi Yorimo Mada Fukaku (After the Storm)" held in Salle Bazin, which we can only gain entry via invitations, but I gave up as the line was too long, and Salle Bazin is a smaller theater.

Then, Erin and I watched French director Houda Benyamina's debut film "Divines" at the Marriott. I LOVE THE MARRIOTT THEATER. This was my favorite movie of the entire festival! It was the only movie I wanted more, though not because the movie lacked anything, but simply because I was so invested in the story.

Taking place in a Paris banlieue, the film centers around the friendship between inseparable teenagers Dounia (Oulaya Amamra) and Maimouna (Déborah Lukumuena) as they lunge themselves into the local drug scene, run by Rebecca (Jisca Kalvanda), who seems to have all the material possessions they could wish for, including a scantily clad, blonde trophy boy toy. To say that Amamra carries the film would not be an understatement. Dounia is charismatic, fearless, intelligent, and incredibly resourceful, and quickly evolves from an irascible, disre spectful teen to someone, even as her actions grow wildly reckless, the viewer is rooting for until the end. I don't think my words could capture how incredible this film was, or how blessed I felt to be able to experience the rush of something completely new and unknown yet so terrific. I don't believe this movie will be released i the US, but I want to buy it on Amazon Video so I could show it to everyone I know. (The male lead, Kévin Mischel, is also wildly, inhumanly attractive...just FYI).

DAY 10, May 20

Paul Schrader's "Dog Eat Dog" starring Nicholas Cage was, in my opinion, an absolute mess that didn't' have any cinematic merit. I wanted to walk out or wished I could fall asleep several times. However, it actually got good reviews...which I haven't read because that's how little I cared for the movie. To each their own?

I was excited to have gotten an invitation to "The Neon Demon" starring Elle Fanning, but also terrified. I cannot do horror movies! I'm someone who was terrified by No-Face from Mizayaki's "Spirited Away" for seven years, although the most menacing thing he does is eat a frog (which doesn't die) and he eventually turns good in the end. When Rachel got her ticket right before the screening began, I moved up to sit next to her. I initially loved "Neon Demon," but as with the "The Red Turtle," I'd had enough two-thirds of the way through. The visuals were absolutely sumptuous, but they felt like a series of disjointed fashion videos rather than parts of a cohesive story. The movie also succumbs to cannibalism, necrophilia, unbelievable misogyny, and sheer ridiculousness the further it progresses. It's so far-fetched, it didn't even seem terrifying.

I then watched, Sean Penn's "The Last Face" starring Charlize Theron, which was universally panned by critics, with some even joking it was probably the cause of the celebrity couple's split. It tried to do too much, cramming in everything "Africa"-ish--from an unnecessary AIDS scare to child soldiers to fly-infested mounds of dead bodies to privileged white people getting disillusioned and wanting to leave Africa, because they, unlike its inhabitants, can simply leave after ruffling everything up, to privileged white people advocating stopping on-site medical care in favor of indirect aid, screaming "The West can help!" Oh, since when has that not caused more problems than it solved? Charlize Theron also repeats throughout the movie she was only "an idea of a self" before she fell in love with an all-star surgeon who's a lowkey hero in Africa (Javier Bardem). Don't waste your time with this movie.

DAY 11, May 21

Today was a very relaxed day (a.k.a another day during which I only viewed one film, this one again at midnight). But I guess it was good to have some time off to explore Cannes. We went to the beach near the Radisson Blue and a great bar called Zoa, where I wish we could have gone back to before we left.

At midnight, we watched "Blood Father" starring Mel Gibson (but why?). All I'll say is: Just watch "Taken" instead...if you haven't already seen the entire trilogy.

DAY 12, May 22

The film didn't end until 3 a.m. yesterday, and though I was able to wake up early, I just couldn't bring myself to wait in line for the 9 a.m. screening of "Paterson." Other students from the program said they waited over two hours to get in. Instead, I just had a leisurely morning writing blog posts.

Rachel, Justin, and I also tried to watch "Toni Erdmann" but narrowly missed it, though I was well accustomed to this kind of feeling by now. It was just frustrating because all competition films were being re-shown today, but Cinephiles only had access to one theater which was hosting only three screenings.

So it was another one-movie day. We watched the press screening of the awards ceremony in the Salle Debussy, where we certainly witnessed much more vocal reactions than if we'd just live streamed the footage in our apartment. Olivier Assayas (rightfully, in my opinion) got booed upon receiving the Best Director Award, because, well, my main problem with the movie was the lack of direction. Houda Benyamina won the Camera d'Or for "Divines," which I was ecstatic about!

After the ceremony, we viewed the customary screening of the winner of the Palme d'Or, Ken Loach's "I, Daniel Blake." The film is an effective critique of Britain's welfare system, and I absolutely loved Ken Loach's acceptance speech (which he gave in both English and French), but I'm not sure it should have received the honor over the twenty other films that were competing. I'm not discounting the movie by any means, but I just didn't feel as though the film had "it." The plot, acting, cinematography, and soundtrack were all fine, but I didn't feel like anything was spectacular. Professor Mason also said it wasn't her favorite Ken Loach film, either.