Congratulations Cannes 2011 Winners; an Exciting List

One of the films I am most highly anticipating this year impressed the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival.

France, Denmark, Belgium, Israel, Argentina, Ukraine, Turkey, and the United States were among the nations represented in the Winner's Circle tonight.


This year's Festival was especially interesting to me, because the films were unusually intriguing, and seemed to have excellent chances of reaching a wider American audience.  In addition to the winners, there was well received work like Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris", which is getting Allen some of his best notices in years.

Of the winners, the black-and-white silent film "The Artist" will certainly be on my list of must-sees, for what appears to be a risky yet successful homage to silent films and the advent of sound, not to mention an affecting performance by Jean Dujardin, and a reportedly delightful appearance by a Jack Russell Terrier. 

Also on my list: "Drive", Cannes' Awarded Directorial effort, starring the always watchable Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan.

And then there's tonight's big winner, "Tree of Life", a film of purportedly such high ambition, visual splendor, and maddening ambiguity, that its victory seemed inevitable. 

I can't wait. 

Even though it is unlikely to connect with a mass audience, it still seems to have more popular appeal than the last 2 Palme d'Or winners, Germany's "The White Ribbon" and Thailand's
 "Uncle Boonmee...", both of which I was privileged to have seen this year.

Now, before we jump the gun and start the Oscar oddsmaking (or mudslinging), it's worth noting that only one time did a Palme d'Or winner win a Best Picture Oscar: "Marty", in 1955.  And Terrence Malick's film will no doubt polarize some viewers and prompt millions of disparaging words on-line between now and February.  The well is already being poisoned, and the film hasn't even been released in most cities yet. 

Congratulations to the following winners, with best wishes that all of them find appreciative audiences:

—Palme d'Or (Golden Palm): "The Tree of Life" by Terrence Malick (United States)



—Grand Prize: Shared between "The Kid with the Bike" by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Belgium) and "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey)
—Jury Prize: "Poliss" by Maiwenn (France)
—Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn for "Drive" (Denmark)
—Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, "The Artist" (France)
—Best Actress: Kirsten Dunst, "Melancholia" (film from Denmark, actress from United States)
—Best Screenplay: Joseph Cedar, "Footnote" (Israel)
—Camera d'Or (first-time director): "Las Acacias" by Pablo Giorgelli (Argentina)
—Best short film: "Country" by Maryna Vroda (Ukraine)

When Film Critics Are Baffled by Art, and Originality, and "Life"

While reading about this year's Cannes Film Festival, and the violently diverse reception given to some of the new work on display, I reflected on the essays and reviews of one particular film:

"...(It) reached its initial audience slightly in advance of their expectations; acceptance of the film’s radical structure and revolutionary content was slower to come....  While seeing a new use of film, (critics) reacted with responses geared to conventionally shaped films...."


"...The most common complaint of early press reviews ...was its long length and slow pace...."


"...a “crashing bore...”


“...morally pretentious, intellectually obscure, and inordinately long...”


“...a thoroughly uninteresting failure and the most damning demonstration yet of (the Director's) inability to tell a story coherently and with a consistent point of view...”


“...trash masquerading as art....  monumentally unimaginative...the biggest amateur movie of them all...”

No, these are not the critics' comments about Terrence Malick's highly anticipated "Tree of Life", which prompted a round of "boos" along with a chorus of cheers and applause, after its premiere screening at Cannes.

Rather, these are from the original essays and reviews from 1968's "2001: A Space Odyssey", Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, to which "Tree of Life" has been compared.   Not only that, but these are from critics that I respect, and regard as mentors for my own film criticism; people like Joseph Morgenstern, Andrew Sarris,  Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and even Pauline Kael.

Kael's dismissal of this ground-breaking work is especially surprising, given her championing of another classic that was highly misunderstood in its initial release: "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967).  Kael's defense of "Bonnie and Clyde" heralded a new openness to cinematic innovation and risk-taking from within the ranks of professional film critics.  She helped save the film from early obscurity, and defined a new way of considering cinematic art.

It is understandable that even astute movie reviewers and critics were lost, when the critera they used to define greatness proved ineffective when analyzing and evaluating a wholly original work like "2001".

Here is a film that entered the consciousness in unfamiliar ways; visually of course but not linearly...it aroused a sense of ambiguity and awe, and was so well-controlled, that sensitive viewers were inspired. 

It unreeled on the screen like poetry on the page.  And, like poetry, it was impervious to a literal interpretation. 

And after the movie haunted viewers, and had a chance to settle; and as the implications of it began to come into focus, the resulting exhilaration---and repeat viewings---guaranteed its classic status.

Film poetry, done well, is rare.

That excitement of connecting to a film's ambiguity, to understand it first of all in your gut, and then later in your head, is an experience I live for at the movies. 

Altman's "Nashville" was like that for me.  And Bergman's "Persona".  David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive".  "The Red Balloon".  "Fellini Satyricon".  Terrence Malick's "Thin Red Line".  Most recently,  "Black Swan" and "Uncle Boonmee". And of course "2001."

I am not in the habit of "reviewing" a movie that I am anxious to see before it's even released. It's not fair to the film, and prevents me from going in with an open mind.  But wow, I am really excited about the release of "Tree of Life".

Let's just say that I am grateful that there's one film artist out there whose work will be unlike the typical plastic Hollywood output.  That there's at least the promise of a summer moviegoing experience that will stimulate the creative juices, and be concerned with matters of heart and mind first and foremost.  Directors like Terrence Malick, even when they fail, deserve support for their originality, wisdom and ambition, from movie-lovers like yours truly!

And, like "2001", there will be the bafflement of professional critics who are not moved by it, or whose criteria to define greatness are rooted in fantasy, or in action that is spelled out and explained...without those, they have nothing at which to Marvel...

I will come back to "Tree of Life" after I screen it in June.  I hope it proves to be half as exhilarating as my anticipation of it. If not...guess I'll have even more to write about, to understand why. 

A Cannes Preview: 2011 Competition, and the 2010 Palme d'Or

The 2011 Cannes Film Festival runs from May 11-22.  From my reading about the upcoming event, there's a lot to look forward to.  

This year, among the 22 films in competition are works by three of my favorite filmmakers: Terrence Malick, Pedro Almodóvar, and Woody Allen.  World cinema is also represented by countries such as Japan, Turkey, and Australia, as well as European cinema powerhouses like  France, Italy Denmark and the United Kingdom.

The competition Jury President this year is Robert DeNiro, and among the Jury members are Jude Law, Uma Thurman, and Lin Ullmann, writer and daughter of Liv Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman.

Apart from the familiar directors and personalities, I am anxious for the possibility of an unknown film by an unfamiliar director to make an impression and break out for international distribution.

For a complete list of the competing films, click here .

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Coming Soon: A review of the 2010 Palme d'Or winner, the unusual and meditative "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives", which finally opened in Chicago for a limited run.