Rainy Day Blues: Cannes Report: May 18, 2013
After duds “Jimmy P.” and “Grand Central,” the Coen brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis” saves the day for Barbara Scharres.
Archives
Only Connect: Cannes Report, May 17
Asghar Farhadi (“A Separation”) returns with another look at unsolvable dilemmas, an erotic thriller goes all the way, and Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Nobody Knows”) tells another gentle tale of family life.
Cruisin’ Together: Cannes Day Three
Michał Oleszczyk falls for offbeat gay thriller “Stranger by the Lake” and gloriously eccentric essay-film “A Story of Children and Film.”
Cannes review: Marcel Ophüls puts his memoirs on film in “Ain’t Misbehavin (Un Voyageur)”
Two very different documentarians, Marcel Ophüls and Clio Barnard, premiere new work at Directors’ Fortnight.
Artifice and Real Life: Cannes Report, May 16, 2013
Barbara Scharres has a few choice words for François Ozon’s “Young & Beautiful” and Sofia Coppola’s “The Bling Ring,” but finds a gem in Ryan Coogler’s “Fruitvale Station.”
Cannes review: Ari Folman turns to sci-fi with “The Congress”
Ben Kenigsberg reviews the new sci-fi reverie from the director of “Waltz with Bashir.”
Breaking and Entering: Cannes Day Two
Michał Oleszczyk catches up with two takes on troubled youth: François Ozon’s “Young & Beautiful” and Sofia Coppola’s “The Bling Ring.”
To “Heli” with “Gatsby”: Cannes Day One
Michał Oleszczyk contrasts the opulent excess of opening night film “The Great Gatsy” with the grimmer realities of Amat Escalante’s “Heli.”
Opening Night: Cannes Report, May 15, 2013
Power is rarely discussed at Cannes, and it’s ostensibly all about
art, although careers can hang on critics’ approval, and whether films
are sold here, and to how many regions of the world. The annual jury
press conference on the opening day is the first and foremost love-fest
in which the concept of competition is downplayed and jurors find novel
ways to sidestep the question of comparing one film to another in order
to award the Palme d’Or in ten days.
Rival tendencies: As Steven Spielberg gets ready to chair this year’s Cannes jury, we prepare for an alterna-Cannes.
Ben Kenigsberg looks forward to the parallel programs at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Moving Forward
Mother’s Day I awakened to spirited calls from my children
and grandchildren. As Roger wrote in his memoir, “Life Itself,” I came from a
large family of nine, and I had four brothers and four sisters. I lost two
brothers and two sisters, so I have become a mother figure to some of my nieces
and nephews. Those who live in town
usually join with us in celebrating the day.
Roger Ebert will receive the Sundance Institute Vanguard Leadership Award
Los
Angeles, CA:
Sundance Institute will remember and celebrate journalist and film critic Roger Ebert by
honoring him with the Vanguard Leadership
Award in Memoriam, in recognition of his advocacy of independent cinema. He
was a frequent attendee of the Sundance Film Festival, where he discovered and
supported films like Hoop Dreams, Man Push Cart, Come Early
Morning, Longtime Companion, Metropolitan, The Brothers
McMullen, Crumb, Picture Bride, American Movie, and The
War Zone. Sundance alumni who count him as an advocate include Steve James,
Spike Lee, Kathryn Bigelow, Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, Errol Morris
and Werner Herzog.
My homages to Ray Harryhausen: age 9 to 19
Ray Harryhausen told us, time and again, the story of how he saw the original “King Kong” (1933) on the big screen when he was just a kid, of how he was inspired by Willis O’Brien’s pioneering special effects, and of how that led him to his grand career in the field of stop-motion animation. In some sense, Harryhausen inspired me in the same way that O’Brien did him. I’m not exaggerating when I say that he changed my life.
My Ten Greatest Movies
Dedicated to memories of Roger Ebert, for the simple reason that talking about movies is so thrilling. He did not like lists, but I love his lists.
I Miss Roger’s Reviews
Saturday, May 4, was one month to the day that Roger left this earthly
plane. In honor of Kentucky Derby weekend I am posting this photo of
Roger and I proudly sporting our hats at Churchill Downs. There have
been several photos of us wearing hats over the years. For some reason
hats delighted us to no end. And Roger was particularly fond of some of
the more outrageous hats we wore. That day while we were watching the
races we were so pleased that we could wear our hats both in doors and
out. You can’t wear a hat in a movie theater.
