Not Booed at Cannes: Robert Redford in All is Lost

Robert Redford has good reason to be beaming: his new pic All is Lost, unlike Only God Forgives, has received (mostly) glowing reviews at Cannes. Directed by J.C. Chandor (Margin Call), it's a one-man, lost-at-sea survivalist tale where astonishingly, Redford practically speaks no dialogue for the entire running time. Being a fan of stripped-down, limited-location movies, I totally can't wait for this. It sounds like the movie Life of Pi should've been instead of the flashy, waffly CGI spectacle that we were given. There's no trailer yet but here's a short clip from the film...

Only God Forgives Booed at Cannes

Nicolas Winding Refn's new film Only God Forgives, which reunites him with his Drive star Ryan Gosling, has been greeted with boos at Cannes. Reports say the film's extreme violence has prompted walk-outs and even one viewer to loudly exclaim, "This is shit!" during the screening. At the AV Club, critic Mike D'Angelo called it "the worst movie" he'd seen all year, "by a good margin." By all accounts, it appears those tender moments from Drive that balanced out all the brutal stuff is nowhere to be found in this new film, which many have cited as being an exercise in pure style without any substance. Click here for some crowd reactions.

Trailer: The Dance of Reality

Now this is exciting: visionary Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky, responsible for surreal midnight movies such as El Topo and The Holy Mountain, has just premiered his new film The Dance of Reality at Cannes. Now 84 (!), Jodorowsky apparently received a standing ovation for the semi-autobiographical film, which is his first in 23 years and being hailed as a return to form. Watch the French trailer below -- it's chock full of the kind of weird, playful carny-esque imagery we've come to expect from him.
Some early reviews: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian, Indiewire. Fingers crossed the NZFF will get it!

Cannes You Dig It?

Howdy, here's a quick Cannes round-up if you've been missing all the fest action:

•  Leos Carax's Holy Motors seems to be the talk of the town at the moment. No one can seem to really explain what it is - nor do I care to read too much about it right now - but they're all calling it "bug-nuts" or "bonkers", which means it's just topped my must-see list for the next year. Usually hard-to-please critic Mike D'angelo's tweet pretty much sums it up: 

• David Cronenberg's hotly anticipated adaptation of Dom DeLillo's novel Cosmopolis, starring R-Patz as a billionaire trying to get across Manhattan for a haircut, hasn't wowed critics as much as I'd expected, leaving most of them cold. Looking forward to the avalanche of tweets from Twilight fans going WTF is this.
• Click here for a full list of the winners, with Michael Haneke's Amour being particularly notable for winning the Palme d'Or since he also won the prize back in '09 for The White Ribbon.

 Let's hope we get to see some of these films at the NZFF later this year.

Trailer: Drive

Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive is probably my most anticipated film of the year thus far; it's a real bummer that it's not out until November here, and only playing at the Wellington Film Fest. I actually considered catching it in on the closing night of the Melbourne Film Fest when I'm there next week but tickets are a 100 smackeroos!! The film, an "existential heist movie" about a stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver for the mob, received great reviews since playing at Cannes, and Refn picked up Best Director prize too. Without further ado, here's the damn fine-looking red-band trailer... man, what a cast: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks...

The Tree of Life Wins Palme D'Or

Terrence Malick's long-gestating The Tree of Life has won the prestigious Palme D'Or at Cannes. By all accounts a mind-blowingly cosmic, if expectedly divisive work, the film combines dinosaurs, planets and period family drama into something that definitely should probably be experienced on the biggest screen possible. It hasn't been confirmed yet for the NZFF, but I can't see how it won't play - it has to!! An excellent round-up of critical reactions can be found here, and feast your eyes on the trailer:



Yet with all the anticipation and hype around The Tree of Life, I'm finding myself more excited about Nicolas Winding Refn's actioner Drive, starring Ryan Gosling as a getaway driver for the mob. Check out Mike D'Angelo's rave report ("pure genre bliss"), and this sneak peek:

Lars von Trier: "I understand Hitler"

Oh Lars, what have you done now. Dunst's reaction - priceless.



Story here, and trailer here.

The Coming of Antichrist

Lars von Trier's art-horror pic Antichrist, the most controversial, critically polarising film at this year's Cannes Film Festival, has been confirmed to close the NZFF!! Terrific news, 'cos after leafing through the guide several times last week I thought that the programming really could've done with a jolt, something that would grab you by the throat and cause a bit of kerfuffle (The confirmation of this film - which stars Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg - might even see the return of David Lane and his moral watchdog fraternity, the so-called "Society for the Promotion of Community Standards", who've been pretty quiet in recent times).

Apparently making the film was a therapeutic process for the often-derided, often-divisive Danish arthouse titan, who was battling depression for a couple of years. I think of all the press I've read about the film, the most illuminating might be Roger Ebert's blog where he says "Lars von Trier's new film will not leave me alone". Obviously it's not a film for all tastes, but if you're a von Trier buff or a sucker for confrontational art movies, I'd say seeing Antichrist on the big screen with a crowd is something not to be missed. Here's the trailer (again, do not watch if you're squeamish or easily offended):