64th Cannes Film Festival

The official selection of films to be screened at the 64th Cannes Film Festival was released today! The festival will take place from May 11 to 22. I'm super excited! Here are some of the films I'm looking forward to (slash these are pretty much all the trailers that I could find and I pretty much like all of them...):

Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris will be opening the festival and be Out of Competition.

This seems like a very fun, spontaneous film. I love the ensemble cast. In case you were wondering, yes! French First Lady, Carla Bruni, is in this film! I love how Woody Allen is making these beautiful cities the backdrop of his films; Barcelona in 2008 and now Paris.

Australian novelist Julia Leigh makes her debut as a director with Sleeping Beauty which will be In Competition.

With Jane Campion's name attached to it, this shall be amazing! I must know what happens in this film!

American director, Terrence Malice's The Tree of Life will be In Competition.

Absolutely stunning! Stupendously cerebral! Of all these trailers, this one is definitely my favorite. Just from the trailers, I will be placing my bets on Terrence Malice winning the Palme d'Or. I'm a bit surprised by Brad Pitt's involvement in this film. I always think of him as a box office superstar but never an award winning actor. But the choices he has made lately are phenomenal! Babel, Benjamin Button, and now this.

Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope) by Italian director Nanni Moretti will be In Competition.

Not quite certain what this film is about without a synopsis or subtitles. But I appreciate what seems to be a whimsical, lighthearted, and touching film on an institution that is all too serious.

The Yellow Sea by South Korean director Na Hong-jin will be competing in Un Certain Regard.

A dramatic, intense trailer that had me on the edge of my seat. Seems to be a heart gripping thriller. If you, like me, is still interested in the film after the trailer please read the synopsis here!

Jodie Foster's The Beaver will be screened Out of Competition.

I like Jodie Foster. I really do, mainly because of her role in The Silence of the Lambs. Let's just face it--she's probably never going to be as great as when she starred as Clarice, but I'm still rooting for her. This could be a comeback from both Jodie and Mel!

One last film that I am looking forward to is called We Need to Talk about Kevin directed by British film director Lynne Ramsay and starring Tilda Swinton. Although it has yet to release a trailer it sounds to be a promising film. The premise of the film, as taken from Wikipedia, is about "a mother recount[ing] the events leading up to and following her son's massacre of students and teachers at his high school." Intriguing, right? The film will be In Competition.

And so that is that! Looking forward to May 11!

Cities of Love/Anthologies

Paris, Je T'aime



Paris, Je T'aime seems to have started the run of anthology films about cities back in 2006. 18 short stories make up Paris, Je T'aime--each about a different arrondissement in Paris. (Wouldn't it be perfect if there were only 18 arrondissements so each district get their own story? Sadly 2 arrondissements got left out.) I really liked the film. The music used is brilliant, goes really well with the mood of each story. And the way the shorts are stringed together in the end is touching, somewhat dainty.

Having watched it over 2 years ago, I still remember liking, in particular, the Quais de Seine, Tour Eiffel (story about mimes that inspired my Halloween costume sophomore year), Parc Monceau (clever, single continuous shot story directed by Alfonso Cuaron), Pere-Lachaise, Faubourg Saint-Denis (Natalie Portman!), and 14e arrondissement shorts. The film not only features an ensemble cast but some of the most relevant directors today: Gus Van Sant, the Coen brothers, Christopher Doyle (Wong Kar-wai's long time cinematographer...although I really didn't like his feature), Olivier Assayas, Wes Craven, and Alexander Payne.

What Paris does really well is show the beauty and romance of Paris whether it's through a bittersweet breakup, a mother losing her child, love stories, or the city's racial diversity.

New York, I Love You



I anticipated the premiere of New York, I Love You for quite a long time. I did a Looking Forward post about it back in 8/12/09 and I finally watched it last month. I think it went through some sort of distribution problem, and the release date kept getting pushed back. Anyways, this anthology was a huge letdown.

The way the short films is tied together is an embarrassing cliche. The music is not memorable unlike Paris, Je T'aime's soundtrack. And the stories themselves are not as interesting nor do they feature the boroughs of New York City in a way that lets the characteristics of each borough shine.

Of the 10 shorts, there is only one that I truly liked. It's the 7th section directed by Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth & Elizabeth: The Golden Age) and written by Anthony Minghella (who unfortunately passed away 2 years ago). This short features Shia Labeouf, Julie Christie, and John Hurt. It's really beautiful, ambiguous, and a must-see. Rent the dvd or find it online but just skip to this short feature!

Tokyo!



Tokyo! doesn't really belong to the Cities of Love franchise that includes Paris, New York, and will include Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Jerusalem, Venice, and Timbuktu. (I really don't know how they are going to do all this. The two produced so far have been financial flops.) But Tokyo! follows the trend of these anthology films. This one is slightly different with just three segments; and while they are about love, the way each feature treats Tokyo is strangely unappealing and negative.

Honestly, I don't think I like any of the three features. Bong Joon-ho, who directed two of my favorite films, The Host and Mother, directed the feature Shaking Tokyo. The story is about hikikomori, "the phenomenon of reclusive people who have chosen to withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement." (Wikipedia) It's somewhat interesting and the best of the three films in terms of the style, story development, and characters. But I don't know if I would want to watch it again.

Bummer...these anthology films just keep getting worse and worse huh?

Mother

South Korean director Bong Joon-ho did it again with his latest film Mother, which I have been highly anticipating since hearing about it at last year's London Film Festival.

If you haven't heard of Bong Joon-ho, I wonder if you live under a rock. His most famous film, The Host, premiered at the Cannes in 2006, landed on several 2007 top ten lists, AND is the highest grossing South Korean film ever! So before you watch Mother, you should watch The Host or after...up to you.

To me, Bong Joon-ho is emerging as one of the most refreshing auteur. His films have such a great balance of drama and dark comedy. While watching his films, I often found it absurd that I am laughing at some of the scenes because they are so dark and serious yet awkward. I don't think I have experienced the same feeling while watching films by any other filmmaker. In addition, Bong's films are never dull; the pace is so well balanced, and the music always so perfectly paired with every scene.

Anyways, Mother is about a mother who tries relentlessly to save his slightly slow adult son from imprisonment. Her son, who is known as a gentle, harmless person in town, is accused of murdering a girl. Running around town, collecting evidence, sneaking around at night, the elderly mother (the mother is actually never given a name) discovers scandals, secrets, and crosses path with some interesting characters. The ending of the film is one that is highly rewarding and twisted; it adds a powerful punch to the film. Also, did I mention the acting by Kim Hye-ja, the mother, is brilliant?

Oldboy

Hi everyone. I'm back from a hiatus. I graduated, and I am now back home. Hopefully by the end of the summer, I will be employed; but in the meantime I will be restarting my Netflix subscription.

I have been meaning to watch Oldboy since January when I went back to school. At brunch, my friend Sandra recommended this movie. She raved about the psychological aspect of the film and how incredibly the storyline comes together at the end.

And after watching the film, Oldboy sure is twisted. The film is about a person's revenge by imprisoning and torturing the protagonist then unleashing him to search for the reason why he was imprisoned for 15 years. I was not particularly interested in the middle of the film as Oh Dae-su, the protagonist, tries to find the reason behind his kidnapping. I think my screening of the film was hindered by the fact that the film was dubbed in English on Netflix. Because of this, I was not as focused on watching the film as I should have been.

On the other hand, the beginning and end are definitely worth watching. The penultimate scene where Oh Dae-su begs for forgiveness is fantastic--it is sick and twisted but it does a powerful job showing the boundary humans might go to achieve something. The end left me uneasy feeling that I am now burdened with a secret that Oh Dae-su tried to forget. In addition, I loved the soundtrack of the film and the dark, strange humor that is sprinkled throughout the movie. Look out for one of the early fight scenes--it is unusually amusing.