Who will win the Palme at Cannes? [2012 edition]

this thread semi-inspired me to look up previous palme winners - biggest wtf was the mission getting it in 1986

The Mission soundtrack/score is amazing. That's the only reason/justification I can think of for that.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Koehler handicaps

http://www.filmlinc.com/blog/entry/handicapping-the-palme-dor

holy motors getting raves

trailer - http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/mediaPlayer/12214.html

press kit - http://www.festival-cannes.fr/assets/Image/Direct/045904.pdf

Not following reviews too closely this time around, but does it seem most of them are getting tepid reax?

seems that way so far

No boos as far as i've heard

ppl seem mad for Haneke, and jeez, JEFF WELLS liked the Kiarostami.

That's bad news.

Holy Motors is the only one I've read so far to get pretty much unanimous raves.

five-star review of the haneke here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/may/20/amour-haneke-film-review

any reviews of the carax?

this thread semi-inspired me to look up previous palme winners - biggest wtf was the mission getting it in 1986

― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, May 9, 2012 8:29 AM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

fahrenheit 911 iirc

Both were incredibly bad choices, but at least F911 made sense in the moment.

although i really don't like michael moore's film, i remember being impressed by tarantino's explanation for why they (he was head of the jury that year) chose it.

anyway any reviews of holly motors? i hope for the best, but fear the worst.

again, here's peter bradshaw on the Carax:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/may/23/holy-motors-review?newsfeed=true

really psyched for it and i pretty much loved Pola X.

Haneke pic was very well received. Supposedly an uncharacteristically humane film for him. Looks like that and the Carax are front-runners at this point.

i sorta tell myself that everyone at festivals is just psyched for the masterpieces so zones out whenever something meanders or doesn't go all out. i can handle a minor kiarostami, which is what it sounds like the kiarostami was, or a weird elliptical reygadas, which is what it sounds like post tenebrax lux is.

Meanwhile the Lee Daniels sounds like a fucking hoot:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/cannes-film-festival/9287238/Cannes-2012-The-Paperboy-review.html

wow the carax sounds fucking balls to the wall nuts. not that i expected much less but...

you know there's a miniseries-length version of pola x, called pierre ou les extremites, that aired on european TV and is supposedly (per jean-michel frodon and others) really great? but i have _never_ been able to find even a shit-quality copy.

i sorta tell myself that everyone at festivals is just psyched for the masterpieces so zones out whenever something meanders or doesn't go all out. i can handle a minor kiarostami, which is what it sounds like the kiarostami was, or a weird elliptical reygadas, which is what it sounds like post tenebrax lux is.

― blossom smulch (schlump), Thursday, May 24, 2012 5:32 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think it's just in the nature of cannes festival and its role in film culture that people generally like to award big, thematically ambitious films. though frankly there are plenty of exceptions: rosetta and pulp fiction, for example.

apparently the carax features a vintage sparks deep track

http://enchantedmitten.blogspot.com/2012/05/from-cannes-interim-crix-poll-results.html

Looks like there's very little going on of interest this year. Average, zzzzzzzz.

if you bleeve CRITICS that is

I believe crix more than the selection committee.

critical unanimity is a big alarm bell for me often as not.

True, buzz around The Artist started at Cannes last year iirc.

is there anything you guys ever consider a GOOD sign

If you or Armond White hate it is usually a good start.

sheesh

that carax film will never come to theaters here. i'll probably have to see it in chicago or wait for DVD.

frankly, still waiting for "deep blue sea" to come here and i don't think it's gonna happen.

that's what happens when the "art cinema" reduces its "art" programming to a single screen.

So, Cosmopolis also gets middling marks (from those I follow anyway).

it's a book Michael Mann would have been perfect for (although it's maybe plot-wise already too close to collateral).

cosmopolis sounds like a stinker.

todd mccarthy's review: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/cosmopolis-review-robert-pattinson-cannes-329230

the loznitsa sounds good.

Really, The Paperboy is the only thing to emerge from this mess I want to see.

+ Carax

is it really any more of a mess than many other years?

I dunno. When was the last really great year at Cannes supposedly?

I also admit I find it pretty hard to get very excited about any of these movies knowing many won't even get here for another year maybe.

most won't get here, period, except maybe at our festival.

i always want to see the ones that get the most violent negative reactions

like that shakey-cam snuff film about corrupt cops (or whatever) that ebert was apoplectic about a couple years ago

unfortunately this approach has, in past years, led me to watch lats von trier and bruno dumont movies

Counterpoint on the Cronenberg:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/cannes-review-david-cronenbergs-cosmopolis-robert-pattinson-don-delillo-paul-giamatti-samantha-morton-juliette-binoche-20120525

'course I'm hoping extra hard that'll be good since I'm seeing it Monday morning.

http://www.vulture.com/2012/05/kanye-west-cruel-summer-cannes-2012.html

As I exited the arena to an outdoor party with Champagne and sushi that then led to an after-party in a crazy French nightclub where Cudi, Big Sean, and Pusha T performed, I unexpectedly found myself standing next to Jay-Z. What was his review? "Amazing!" Had he ever seen a movie like this before? "Have you?" he asked me back, and laughed and laughed while rubbing my back. (My review of that: amazing!) Had Kanye talked to him about this? "Yeah, about the idea, but to see it come to fruition is great, because the execution of idea is everything." So what did he think the film meant? He got deep: "It's about the things that separate us — race and class in society and things like that. But the only thing that really binds us is true love." He continued to rub my back. I got nervous. I tried to ask another question. "No, no, hold onto that," said Jay-Z. "That's what I'm going to leave you on." He laughed some more and walked away, and as he did, I think I finally got what he meant about true love.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/may/29/venice-film-festival-slims-down-sober

The new director of the Venice film festival has promised a "more sober, less glitzy" event for the 69th edition later this year.

Artistic director Alberto Barbera, who was appointed in December, has revealed plans to cut the number of films showing on the Lido. There will be fewer than 50 films in total at this year's festival, with only 18 showing in competition, he told Italian reporters.

The Death of Cinema pt. 94

rlly looking fwd to Reygadas after all those pans

word

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQJrVEgOPRk

Two interesting tidbits:

Carax said about the leading role which had been written specifically for Lavant: "If Denis had said no, I would have offered the part to Lon Chaney or to Chaplin. Or to Peter Lorre or Michel Simon."

The soundtrack includes Minogue performing the original song "Who Were We?" written by Carax and Neil Hannon, as well as previously existing music by Dmitri Shostakovich, Sparks, Manset, R. L. Burnside, and the track "Sinking of Bingou-Maru" from Godzilla.