Cannes Film Festival Roundup

Well folks, the awards have been dispersed, the stars are packing up and heading home, the 2013 Cannes Film Festival is over. As your resident insomniac with too much time on his hands, I have listed the award winners as well as some news that I thought was pretty cool, because boy oh boy did shit go down at this years festival!

Eyes on the prize people.

For those out of the film festival loop (membership requirements: one scarf), the Cannes Film Festival is arguably the most famous of its kind. Along with the Berlin and Venice Film Festivals, Cannes is an important stopping point on the awards circuit for Hollywood and international films. This circuit begins with Berlin, then Cannes, with Venice and Toronto rounding out the year before the world holds its breath at the 2014 Oscars. However Cannes holds a special place in our hearts as the glamorous middle of the circuit, where the stars shine in couture styling and the marketing machines pick up steam for awards glory, in this case the coveted Palme D'or.

How am I doing so far? Sweet.

2013 seemed to want to shake things up a bit. Barely a day into the festival proceedings reports came in of a daring $1 million jewelry heist. Jeweler Chopard, who like many operators loan out jewelry to celebrities for use on the red carpet, had their hotel suite broken into in a daring example of life imitating art.

The 'Bling Ring' strikes again!

If that wasn't enough, a crazed man fired a starting gun at a press conference, a Psy impersonator crashed several events and screenings in full costume, and of course wardrobe malfunctions were a plenty.

Poor Naomi Harris, fooled again!

Well enough with the haps from the festival, what about the films! There are several competitions held during the festival, the Main Competition, Un Certain Regard and several acting, directing and technical awards. I also wanted to quickly highlight the films which I most want to see from the Main Competition, specifically those who I predicted we'll see again at the Oscars next year.

Awards

Palme D'or - Blue Is The Warmest Color (France) 

Abdellatif Kechiche took home the top prize with his universally acclaimed queer drama film Blue Is The Warmest Color (La vie d'Adèle). The award was handed to not only the director but the film's two stars, completing a heartfelt journey that swept Cannes by storm. "The film is a great love story that made all of us feel privileged to be a fly on the wall, to see this story of deep love and deep heartbreak evolve from the beginning," said Cannes Jury President Steven Spielberg. "The director didn't put any constraints on the narrative, on the storytelling. He let the scenes play in real life." I'll let my pro American cinema tendencies slide here as I agree with the jury in awarding a positive showcase of gay characters in cinema. Truly brings a tear to my eye/

Oh the feels! Somebody hold me!

Grand Prix - Inside Llewyn Davis (USA)

The Coen Brothers latest effort (currently the highest rated film of 2013) picked up what is regarded as the runners up prize this year. Personally I would have seen this film pick up the top gong, were the subject matter of Kechiche's film not so important. Chronicling the life of a singer-songwriter in New York's 1960s folk scene, one can't help but think of the modern bard Bob Dylan, so I know I will love this film! The film looks to be American cinema's strongest showing this year.

Best Director - Amat Escalante for Heli

Best Actor - Bruce Dern for Nebraska

Bruce Dern with his daughter Laura, such an awesome family!

Best Actress - Bérénice Bejo for The Past

Main Competition Highlights

Only God Forgives - dir. Nicholas Refn

Boy oh boy this film has a rough road ahead of it. Expectations were high after the smashing success of Refn's previous meisterwerk Drive (also with Ryan Gosling), however the reception has been anything but abysmal, like actually awful reviews. There was a chorus of boos at its premiere, and criticism has been levied at its gratuitous violence and 'all style no substance' approach. However it looks simply stunning in a technical sense, and I will see this purely for Kristen Scott Thomas' turn as Mob Wives meets Donatella Versace character.

Behind the Candelabra - dir. Steven Soderbergh

This is going to be somewhat emotional, not for the obviously camp and gay as a door knob subject of the film that is Liberace, but as this is supposedly director Steven Soderbergh's last film. He's become a seminal figure in American film making and will surely go out with a bang! Or an explosion of sequins...winner.

Nebraska - dir. Alexander Payne

Legendary actor Bruce Dern won the Best Actor prize for his role in this film, Payne's follow up to critic favorite The Descendants. Looks to be a stirring and heartfelt film.

Only Lovers Left Alive - dir. Jim Jarmusch

The other 'Only' film at the festival, you have vampires, Loki and Tilda Swinton, what more can you ask for?! Still a better love story than Twilight.

AND THAT'S A WRAP! Let's meet back in August for the 70th Venice Film Festival. Until then party on film lovers!

Asia Argento, my new spirit animal.

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Trance

Trance (2013) - dir. Danny Boyle

The mind has become hot property in cinema these days. Following the smash success of Inception and it's dream within a dreams shtick, movies have been foraying deeper into the mind with hopes to: A) challenge audiences with the complexity of its unconventional narrative and structure; and B) Take your money. With Trance, Danny Boyle has opted to fail at both of these, and thrown in a sub par heist movie to boot. However as with any film that seeks to whack you smack in the head, at least there is a some enjoyment to be found once the initial headache has passed.

The film begins with a recognizably Boyle-esque opening, heavily laden exposition presented with style and flair. Fine art auctioneer Simon (James McAvoy, in a manner reminiscent of Trainspotting, introduces us to his life and work at an auction house. Almost immediately this introduction is interrupted by a group of art thieves led by Franck (Vincent Cassel) intent to steal a priceless artwork, and after a series of dizzying cross cuts, swooping camera transitions and thumping soundtrack, Simon winds up with a serious blow to the head and the painting in question gone. For Franck and the thieves it is clear Simon knows where the painting is, but due to the head trauma he sustained (whose smart idea was this anyway?) he cannot remember. This is where the heist film ends, and the mind melting Inception plot begins. But pray what does Trance do different? Instead of dreams within dreams, we have hypnosis, as the team "randomly" selects professional hypnotist Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson) to dig out the whereabouts of the painting from poor Simon's subconscious.

Unfortunately this is where the film lost me, as Danny Boyle just abuses the limit that the audience can suspend its belief whilst leaving plot holes the size of houses and a litany of unanswered questions that left me frustrated. Trance invariably suffers from the current trend of directors in this post-Christopher Nolan/Inception/The Dark Knight-world, in which films emphasize flair and style in order to give the appearance of depth and complexity. Nonetheless this still belies a clear lack of substance to back up the flair. The key twists you can guess from miles away. This includes the key background behind *SPOILERS* Simon and Elizabeth's prior relationship, I mean the films initially presents Elizabeth as an out of the blue side character, yet from the very first interaction she has with Simon (and her emotional breakdown after this meeting) it is clear there was something bigger and darker there. The rest of the movie's twists and turns just fall together like missmatching puzzle pieces. I could not help but think that facts were deliberately withheld from the audience (which for this sub-genre is self-defeating and is my biggest pet peeve), but this conflicts with lazily letting other twists be left out in the open to be easily deciphered.

The many issues I took with the plot just made me recall Star Wards for some reason. My anger, led to hate, hate led to suffering, which is a slippery slope to the dark side of film reviewing. However if you put the aggravating plot aside, lock it in a box and throw it into a river if you will, there are many things that I highly enjoyed!

First, as with any film from Danny Boyle, this film looks beautiful. Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle really deserves plaudits for his work, as does much of the production side of Trance. The editing, though dizzy, is perfect for a head trip. The sets are as ersatz as the funhouse from The Man with the Golden Gun meets Tron: Legacy (a stretch I know but bear with me!). And the colors, OH THE COLORS! I love any film which so liberally splashes primary colors such as red and blue about, though my head was reeling my eyes were certainly entranced! Furthermore I cannot in good conscious neglect to mention Rosario Dawson's performance. She is a presence to be reckoned with in this film! Every scene I was just drawn to her, both for subtle power she brought to her character (the most interesting) and her simply stunning beauty. A key scene sees her appear in full front nudity, but rather than vulgarity as per ever nude scenes in film, here she glows like picturesque beauty from the paintings to which this film revolves around. Simply beautiful. To top off the fantastic production, Boyle has brought in Rick Smith (from Underworld fame) to give us a pulsating, lively and table-smacking awesome soundtrack! As Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers and Chromatics have shown, films should continue utilizing electronic artists for their soundtracks.

It's clear I have quite a bit of bile to vent about this film, and I just know that you will walk out of this film either wowed as you were with Inception (oh lord) or just plain frustrated. That being said, there were some things to be enjoyed in this migraine of a film, though you won't see me coming back to this anytime soon. Oh Danny Boyle, you've done so much better. 5/10

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