Cannes 2007 Part 3

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May 22, 2007"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" Photo: GettyCANNES -- May 22, early morningAnother fine film at Cannes, which is proving the most consistentlysolid in memory. This French film is directed by artist JulianSchnabel and is based on the memoirs of the French editor of Elle,Jean-Do, who suffered a massive stroke and could only communicateby blinking one eye. But with that ability he communicatd with theworld (including his wife and mistress, tres French) and wrote abook, which was published 10 days before he died. The film is funnyand warm and inspiring without ever sinking into sentimentality.Schnabel pulls out all the stops here by filming much of the storyfrom Jean-Do's perspective (the moment where his right eye is sewnshut will be hard to forget). You're completely immersed in hisexperience, with flashbacks and the odd moment stepping away fromhis point-of-view to avoid it becoming a stunt. And lead actorMathieu Almaric's performance is clearly a front-runner for BestActor. Usually, at any film festival, you see so many bad films thatyou wonder if you'll ever see a good movie again. At Cannes this year,I'm wondering if I'll see anything truly bad. -- Michael GiltzPosted at 02:40 PM in Books, Cannes Film Festival, Film, FilmVisit our other sitesAdvocate.comOut.comOutTraveler.comPopnographyAdvocate GenQMr SardonicAdvocate InsiderOut.com StyleListHereTV.comGayWired.comAdvertisement CategoriesBingham Cup 2008BooksCannes 2008Cannes Film FestivalCelebsCoachellaComic-Con 2007Current AffairsFashionFilmFilm FestivalsFood and DrinkAdvocate Insiderhttp://www.advocateinsider.com/cannes_ﬁlm_festival/page/3/ 1 of 87/22/09 4:38 PMFestivals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)Zanzibar Defeats Le PinkCANNES -- May 21, late nightLots of filing so I went out with friends for drinks. I've alreadymentioned the brewing battle between Zanzibar (longtime gaywatering hole) and upstart Le Pink, with its Euro-trashy white stoolsbut wonderfully gay name. Well, the battle is over. Tonight, the crowdat Zanzibar is tightly packed and flowing into the street. Three doorsdown at Le Pink? A bored doorman stands around checking out girlswhile a lone couple sit at a table in the front area. It's nice to knowpeople don't always flee an old friend for a pretty new face.Posted at 02:22 PM in Cannes Film Festival, Film, Film Festivals,Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)"Oceans 13" Photo: GettyIowa Caucus 2008LesbianMusicOutfest 2008PartiesPoliticsProvincetown Film Festival 2008Queen Mary 2 Historic CrossingReligionScienceSexSportsSydney Mardi Gras 2008Taylor Hanson for The AdvocateTelevisionThe DinahThe HRC Logo ForumThe L WordTheaterTravelRecent PostsMTV Video Music Awards... Cheap, Or What?Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles: 30 Years YoungEric McCormack Auctions Off Porsche for ProjectAngel FoodWhat is the Advocate Insider? On 90210!OUTFEST REVIEW: Another Gay SequelAwards Night: Miniskirts, Musicals, and Mama"Sordid Lives" Screens to a Sold-Out CrowdOUTFEST REVIEW: The World UnseenOUTFEST REVIEW: The Lost CoastOUTFEST REVIEW: Eleven MinutesRecent Commentscelebrity picture on OUTFEST REVIEW: The LostCoastvimax on Awards Night: Miniskirts, Musicals, andMamapenis enlargement pills on Michael Guest is all smilespenis enlargement on Michael Guest is all smilespenis enlargement on Amman SegregatesLou on Cruise programming we missed...michaelj72 on "XXY" -- Another Terrific Queer FilmAt Cannesvigrx on Awards Night: Miniskirts, Musicals, andMamavimax on Awards Night: Miniskirts, Musicals, andMamaomar on Amman SegregatesArchivesAdvocate Insiderhttp://www.advocateinsider.com/cannes_ﬁlm_festival/page/3/ 2 of 87/22/09 4:38 PMCANNES -- May 21, early eveningAt 6 p.m., I saw an Ocean's 13 screening. The cast is swooping in onthe festival, with Clooney hosting a Darfur benefit Tuesday night andthe official premiere Thursday, but they're doing very little press.Hence, I was only one of three Americans at this sneak peek. (Theyare doing international press, mostly TV.)Posted at 02:18 PM in Cannes Film Festival, Celebs, Film, FilmFestivals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)"The Golden Compass" RoundtablesCANNES -- May 21, afternoonI told you the day was filled with The Golden Compass. Moreawkward answers from all involved whenever religion is mentioned.Everyone but Eva Green, who cheerfully says she wasn't raised"anything" and pauses when asked one of these religious anglequestions and says sweetly, "How the f--- do I answer this question?"I think I like her. Craggy Sam Elliot proved amusingly out of touchwhen his co-star Eva Green answered a query in French during thepress conference. He was absolutely amazed, when of course heshouldn't be: she's French.But what really struck me at this event were the vile journalists.Every roundtable usually includes a few obnoxious people who tryand steamroll over everyone else and ask all the questions. But mytable had three of them all sitting together. I was next to a poorJapanese girl and a guy from Turkey who are desperatey trying to asktheir one question in a second language and these people just blithelyignore them and keep on pounding away with their fourth or fifthquery. Thoughtful stars will sometimes enlist questions fromeveryone by looking around but quite naturally they stick with thepeople who are speaking the loudest. Jeffrey Katzenberg was thebest: he announced he would take one question from each person leftto right and did so, ending all the shouting and jostling and pettybehavior. I really found these people vile. I'd like to see them inJapan trying to get in a word edgewise and how they'd feel if otherselbowed them out of the way.Posted at 02:15 PM in Books, Cannes Film Festival, Film, FilmFestivals, Religion | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)"The Golden Compass" Press ConferenceSeptember 2008July 2008June 2008May 2008April 2008March 2008February 2008January 2008December 2007November 2007September 2008SunMonTueWedThuFriSat 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930 Subscribe to this blog's feedAdvocate Insiderhttp://www.advocateinsider.com/cannes_ﬁlm_festival/page/3/ 3 of 87/22/09 4:38 PMPhoto: GettyCANNES -- May 21, afternoonNow an afternoon devoted to The Golden Compass. I'm really excitedabout the film (which is due out at the end of the year) because thebooks are among my favorites and the look and casting of this movieis very encouraging. It looks like they got everything right.The press conference was in a very large room and there was a bankof TV cameras along the back. Still, I was a little surprised it wasn'tjammed and wall to wall. Plus, I know they've been offering invites totheir party tonight to people that didn't request it, even though theywere previously treating it like gold. Suddenly, they're realizing thatthese books by Philip Pullman - which have sold an exceptional 14million around the world and continue to do very well today) -- don'thave one-tenth the name recognition of The Lord of the Rings, whichis one of the best-selling works of the 20th Century.Every time someone finds out I know the books well, they pepper mewith questions. None of this matters for the movie: it's a fantasy witha little girl and a quest and Daniel Craig, Eva Green and NicoleKidman star. That's all people need to know and the trailer will getthat across. Anyone who liked Narnia should like this better. But thepeople behind it are also defensive about the fact that the books aredeeply and irrefutably anti-organized religion. They get very touchyand give short, abrupt answers when the British journalists (wherethe books are the most popular) try to bring that issue up. It's reallynot a big deal for the first film, because the really controversial stuffdoesn't arise till book two and really book three. But they should bebetter prepared to deal with these questions honestly and withoutembarrassment. -- Michael GiltzPosted at 02:01 PM in Cannes Film Festival, Celebs, Film, FilmFestivals, Religion | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)May 21, 2007Sneak Peek At MondayI've got the new Gus Van Sant film Paranoid Park in the morning,followed immediately by Angelina Jolie's A Mighty Heart, then apress conference and round table for The Golden Compass, ascreening of Ocean's 13 and some stories to file for otherpublications.Posted at 08:40 PM in Cannes Film Festival, Celebs, Film, FilmFestivals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)Advocate Insiderhttp://www.advocateinsider.com/cannes_ﬁlm_festival/page/3/ 4 of 87/22/09 4:38 PMStink! Death! Photo: GettyCANNES -- May 20, late eveningMy final movie for the day is Import Export, a film set in th Ukraineand Austria. Bleak and black humored, this film follows the fallingtrajectories of two people: a young woman in the Ukraine who goesfrom nurse to sex worker to floor sweeper to live-in au pair, as well asfrom the Ukraine to Austria; and a young man who goes fromsecurity guard to petty thief to deliveryman, as well as from Austria toUkraine. Their paths never cross and the worlds they live in --especially the woman's hospital -- are shockingly sad. It has somepowerful scenes -- such as one where the nurse sings a lullaby to thebaby she had to leave at home with her mother and another whereshe mourns the death of a friendly patient. But there are too manydiffuse storylines that never quite gel to convince us they belongedtogether. But boy, when a film ends with an elderly female patientcrying out in the middle of the night, "Stink! Death!" you know you'rein a cineaste's paradise. It may not have been that good, but by God ittried. Even the bad movies inspire polite indifference to me becausenone of them are made in order to conquer the box office or appeal tothe lowest common denominator. It's just stat sometimes the filmsdon't work. That's all. -- Michael GiltzPosted at 08:37 PM in Cannes Film Festival, Film, Film Festivals,Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)The Cinema Is Lies!CANNES -- May 20, eveningAfter the Golden Compass event, I rushed over to the Hilton to tryand catch the Director's Fortnight screening of Caramel, which IAdvocate Insiderhttp://www.advocateinsider.com/cannes_ﬁlm_festival/page/3/ 5 of 87/22/09 4:38 PMbelieve has at least a minor subplot involving lesbianism. It screenedthis morning, but it began at the same time as XXY, which was also ofinterest to queer readers. Now XXY was playing at the third tier"Critics Week" event, which ranks below the Competition, Out ofCompetition, Un Certain Regard and Directors Fortnight as far asattention paid and so on. But the producers of XXY did send out anice color brochure about the film, something most movies at thatlevel couldn't afford. So clearly they were making a statement.Caramel had similar support, as well as a billboard or two. Both weredirected by women but because of the subject matter I knew XXYwould be dominated by a queer storyline while Caramel's ref in itsbrochure to women of various orientations was pretty vague andmight not amount to much. So I chose XXY and was rewarded with aterrific film. (See below.) But I didn't want to miss Caramel either.Unfortunately the line was way too long and I was shut out. (I'mstuck with a lowly yellow badge but even a pink badge probablywould have been fruitless.)Still, the trip wasn't a waste. While people with tickets were stillwalking in, a college age French woman in a sexy dress and sportingsome lovely cleavage (you realy can't avoid discussing these sorts ofthings at Cannes) walked up and down the line with two hand-madesigns. In French, one said "Theater = Truth" and the other "Cinema =Lies." And she was good-naturedly screaming at the people not to goin with an endless tirade about the joys of live theater and how tinythe movies one. One heavy-set older gentleman (my God, someonemight describe me that way, though this man was older and fatterthan me) stepped toward the girl and asked her to repeat her tirade"en englais") which she did in stumbling English, but I think he justwanted to stare at her cleavage. She was great fun, even spitting --SPITTING -- on the ground at the mere mention of film. Gotta loveCannes. -- Michael GiltzPosted at 08:29 PM in Cannes Film Festival, Film, Film Festivals |Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)"The Golden Compass" ScreeningFinally, one of my most anticipated events of the festival arrives: thescreening of footage from the holiday release The Golden Compass.This film is based on the first book in a trilogy by Philip Pullman. Theover-arching title is His Dark Materials, it's a reworking of Milton'sParadise Lost, and the series (completed only in 2000) has alreadysold 14 million copies around the world. It will take its placealongside The Lord of th Rings and the Narnia books as a landmarkof fantasy. (Pullman has no patience for them.) It's also extremelyprovocative in tackling organized religion and reclaiming sex assomething beautiful and good, especially when you get to the thirdbook. But the first book is deceptively simple and straightforwardand overall you are drawn in by the imagination, the wonder and theAdvocate Insiderhttp://www.advocateinsider.com/cannes_ﬁlm_festival/page/3/ 6 of 87/22/09 4:38 PMmarvelous characters.Pullman is a big fan of storytelling, something he thinks has been lostin mainstream fiction. As you can gather, I'm a big fan of the books.I've written about them a number of times and interviewed Pullmanon the phone and at his former home in Oxford. So I was probablymore prepared than anyone else in that room and I found the footage-- basically a ten minute trailer -- very promising. Everyone seems toembody their characters, especially Nicole Kidman as Marisa Coulter(Pullman always had her in mind if a film were to be made) and thenewcomer Dakota Blue as Lyra. She must carry the film and this 12year old girl looks capable of it. The sweep was exciting, the armoredbear (a central character) wholly convincing, the witch (Eva Green)compelling-- really I had nothing to complain about.I am looking forward to this film very, very much. And since TheGolden Compass doesn't venture into heretical territory (believe me,parts two and three do), they can be very faithful to the books withoutoffending anyone. (And by anyone, I mean the vast majority ofpeople, not the fringe folk who condemn Harry Potter and TheWizard of Oz and anything else they disapprove of.) Good fun,though I wish they'd given us a scene to sink our teeth into. Instead itreally was along trailer of highlights that probably made more senseto me than most others.Posted at 08:18 PM in Books, Cannes Film Festival, Celebs, Film,Film Festivals, Religion, Sex | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack(0)Bill Maher Takes On GodOne of the most intriguing projects that surfaced at Cannes isuntitled Larry Charles Project. Charles of course was a major force onSeinfeld and directed the Sacha Baron Cohen smash hit Borat. Hisnew film tackles God and may make Borat look like a Valentine. Theyscreened 10 minutes of footage for the film, which is narrated byardent anti-organized religion comic Bill Maher, who loves skeweringfaith on his show Real Time With Bill Maher. Like Borat, it blendscomedy and docu-style footage, though it's unclear whether the twoare blurred as they are in Borat. In any case, it's been sold in manycountries (though not the US) but the names of the buyers have beenkept secret because of it's controversial nature. It sounds likeChristopher Hitchens has already found his favorite film of 2008. --Michael GiltzPosted at 07:55 PM in Cannes Film Festival, Celebs, Film, FilmFestivals, Politics, Religion, Television | Permalink | Comments (0) |TrackBack (0)Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Community Guidelines | LegalNoticeAdvocate.com © 2008 Regent Entertainment Media Inc. All RightsAdvocate Insiderhttp://www.advocateinsider.com/cannes_ﬁlm_festival/page/3/ 7 of 87/22/09 4:38 PMReserved. Advocate Insiderhttp://www.advocateinsider.com/cannes_ﬁlm_festival/page/3/ 8 of 87/22/09 4:38 PM

📄 Cannes 2007 Part 3

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