May 20, 2008Cannes Day Six --Belgians, Brits and JoaquinPhoenixThe Silence of Lorna -- The day begins with one of the moviesI've anticipated the most this fest, the new feature by theDardenne brothers.</p><p> They're Belgian directors and I basicallylove everything they do.</p><p> Typically, their movies are shot withhandheld cameras and stay right on top of the actors in not ayou-are-there style but a you-are-there-and-about-to-bump-into-them style.</p><p> They've triumped at Cannes with "Rosetta" in1999 (the year before I started coming) and again with"L'Enfant." Their characters are invariably down and outerswho make one small decision and then watch helplessly as therepercussions pile on.</p><p> I suppose their earlier stories were prettyextreme -- including the selling of a baby to get some cash --but this film struck me as melodramatic.</p><p> A woman fromAlbania is in the midst of marrying a junkie and thus gainBelgian citizenship.</p><p> The junkie will then be killed so she canmarry a Russian mobster so HE can get Belgian citizenship.</p><p> Shehas regrets once the junkie starts kicking his habit and tries togo clean but trying to get out of such an arrangment is nevereasy.</p><p> And of course anyone who thinks people who will killsomeone to speed up a marriage by a few weeks will then leavesomeone else alive with the knowledge of that murder simplyisn't very bright.</p><p> And that's my main problem with the film: thewoman at the center does seem bright and decent and I couldnever buy into the idea that she had agreed to such amurderous scheme in the first place.</p><p> Their trademark style stillappeals but an even wackier plot twist at the end really ruined itfor me.Of Time and the City -- And here's ANOTHER film I've beenhotly anticipating.</p><p> It's the first new film in eight years from outBritish director Terence Davies, the man behind two of myfavorite films of all time, "Distant Voices, Still Lives" and "TheVisit our other sitesAdvocate.comOut.comOutTraveler.comPopnographyAdvocate GenQMr SardonicAdvocate InsiderOut.com StyleListHereTV.comGayWired.comAdvertisement CategoriesBingham Cup 2008BooksCannes 2008Cannes Film FestivalCelebsCoachellaComic-Con 2007Current AffairsFashionFilmAdvocate Insiderhttp://www.advocateinsider.com/2008/05/cannes-day-six.html 1 of 57/22/09 4:17 PMLong Day Closes." It's a 72 minute documentary about hischildhood town of Liverpool, though documentary isn't quitethe right word for this very personal reverie.</p><p> Docu-poem,perhaps? Fans of Davies will feel right at home from the get-go:it begins in a movie palace with the curtains parting for a showand some grand old music on the soundtrack.</p><p> But two thingsare new: much of the film is composed of found footage and weget the addition of wry, wickedly funny narration by Davieshimself.</p><p> And who knew he wasn't a Royalist? I would haveassumed the pageantry would have won him over, but Davies isscathing about "The Betty Windsor Show" and Betty & Phil,disparaging the Queen for living so lavishly while Britian hadsome of the worst slums in Europe.</p><p> I loved his quote from anold court ruling condemning two men for naughtiness whichsaid not only were they guilty of gross indecency but they haddone so it noted with dismay "under one of London's mostbeautiful bridges." Davies also refers to horrible public housingarchitecture and the "British genius for the dismal." Later heamusingly recalls fetes in the better neighborhoods where they"sandpaper their H's" and a race where a runner collapses fromheatstroke because the temperature rose "a few degrees abovezero." Catholic guilt, furtive homosexuality, old movies andafternoon teas all put in a show.</p><p> Newcomers should still beginwith "The Long Day Closes" (preferably on a giant moviescreen) but this is a fine addition to his body of work.Serbis -- Then I caught up with "Serbis" aka "Service," aFilipino film that -- it's safe to say -- has received the worstreviews of any film in Competition.</p><p> So why did I go? Because Islept in (till 9 am, mind you, after getting to sleep at 4 am), onlyto find out it was filled with queer action.</p><p> Indeed it was.</p><p> Set in acrumbling movie palace that is truly rambling and houses anextended family, the movie shows a constant stream of rentboys, old queens (really, there's no other way to describe thebusload of older men who flounce about so aggressively thatthey're flaming even by flaming queen standards) andtransvestites all getting it on in one way or another at the movietheater.</p><p> There's one son who gets a blowjob from a prostitutethat certainly looks like a girl but is referred to as a "faggot" andanother who has gotten his girlfriend pregnant but is moreconcerned about a big boil on his butt.</p><p> People run up and downthe countless stairways again and again and again and it allbecomes very wearing.</p><p> It doesn't help that the location theyshot at is apparently in the middle of the loudest intersection inAsia -- most of the soundtrack contains an overwhelmingamount of street noise and honking cars, with the characterssometimes shouting their dialogue.</p><p> It had a compelling sort ofFilm FestivalsFood and DrinkIowa 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...</p><p> 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, andMamaAdvocate Insiderhttp://www.advocateinsider.com/2008/05/cannes-day-six.html 2 of 57/22/09 4:17 PMawfulness about it.</p><p> But good? No, 'fraid not.Sanguepazzo -- Up next is an Italian film by the director of "TheBest Of Youth," an Italian miniseries that played triumphantlyat Cannes and remains one of my happiest viewing memorieshere.</p><p> I keep seeing his movies, but this melodrama (which isputting it politely) is the latest sign that Marco TullioGiordana's skills don't compress well into a two hour movie.</p><p> Setduring World War II, it follows three people: a beautiful womanfrom a simple background who wants to be a star (MonicaBelluci), the gay producer/director who makes her a star andloves her in his way and the wildly hammy actor who makespassionate love to her when not doing drugs.</p><p> The gay director(who is never seen with a man or even acknowledges hisgay-ness) joins the Italian resistance.</p><p> The actress and the actorare swept up by the Fascists and mingle with them but don'treally care for them.</p><p> The movie begins with the actors capturedby the resistance towards the war's end and facing trial andexecution for being collaborators.</p><p> We flashback to get theirstories.</p><p> Luca Zingaretti is notably awful as the hammy actor.</p><p> Inone scene, he's supposed to be goofing around at a dinnerparty, mocking and taunting the other guests with his hilariousChaplinesque cavorting and it's so embarrassingly unfunny Ihad to turn away.</p><p> He acts loud, louder and (usually) loudest,making this the most Italian film I've seen in a long time.</p><p> Theyscream at each other when they're happy and scream even morewhen they're sad.</p><p> It descends into soap-y ludicrousness by theend.</p><p> Throughout the ENTIRE film we watch the actor carryaround rolls of film he shot, which we soon discover isdocumentation of the cruel colaborator who did torture patriotsand the whore-ish woman who apes the famous actress's everyoutfit and taunted the men who were dying. (In one scene, theactress sleeps with her rabid fan to get more drugs for theactor.) You might think that at some point during the trial -- inwhich the actor and actress are accused of the very crimes hehas footage showing others committing -- the actor might say,"Hey, let's look at this footage that exonerates me and my lovercompletely." But no, he says not a word and the footage is lostin the rubble of Italy as partisans take revenge.</p><p> It's that kind ofabsurd movie.Two Lovers -- The final film of the night was a raucousfree-for-all.</p><p> The Italian film started half an hour late, throwingeverything into turmoil. "Two Lovers" -- the James Gray filmstarring Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Vinessa Shaw-- was playing in two theaters next to each other.</p><p> The larger,more comfortable DeBussy was supposed to begin first but thatgot switched to the Bazin when the Italian film ran so late.vimax on Awards Night: Miniskirts, Musicals, andMamaomar on Amman SegregatesArchivesSeptember 2008July 2008June 2008May 2008April 2008March 2008February 2008January 2008December 2007November 2007September 2008SunMonTueWedThuFriSat 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930 Subscribe to this blog's feedAdvocate Insiderhttp://www.advocateinsider.com/2008/05/cannes-day-six.html 3 of 57/22/09 4:17 PMPeople mobbed the DeBussy, then rushed over to the Bazin,only to find the guards saying absolutely nothing and notrevealing until the last moment that the theater was full andthen everyone rushed back to the DeBussy, crushing each otherunderfoot, kicking and biting to get into a theater...that hadhundreds of empty seats and could have easily held everyone.But it was all so mismanaged that everyone was on edge andfrantic.</p><p> The film itself was an improvement on the woeful "WeOwn The Night" and Gray continues to attract top talent andmake good-looking movies.</p><p> Best of all, he's ventured beyondthe criminal world that had offered diminshing returns from hissolid debut "Little Odessa" to the mannered "The Yards" andthe total misfire of "We Own The Night." This movie has thesame quiet intensity and eye for detail while telling the story ofa bi-polar suicidal (but damn good looking) young man wholives with his parents and suddenly finds himself juggling twowomen.</p><p> One (Vinessa Shaw) is the daughter of his father'sfuture business partner, warm, stable and wonderfullyunderstanding; the other (Gwyneth Paltrow) just wants to be afriend because she's a drug addict live wire having an affair witha wealthy married man who pays for her apartment.</p><p> No bonuspoints for guessing which one Phoenix falls harder for.</p><p> All tooobvous where it's headed, the film fails to generate any tensionor interest or even believability.</p><p> Paltrow, a good actress, hasnothing to play here with this one-note character and everyoneelse is adrift.</p><p> We're not sure what to think at the end -- notbecause the movie is particularly ambiguous but because it'shandled so vaguely.Posted at 03:44 PM in Cannes 2008 | PermalinkTrackBackTrackBack URL for this entry:http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341ca4b653ef00e55260f7498834Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Cannes Day Six--Belgians, Brits and Joaquin Phoenix :CommentsIs this reviewer also PopSurfer of ALfred NY on Netflix? Because thesame review appears in both venues, yours and theirs.Posted by: Twerpette | December 03, 2008 at 04:05 PMYes, my personal website is www.popsurfing.com.</p><p> I'm based in NYCbut my friend in Alfred likes to keep up on what movies I recommendand posts all my reviews onto Netflix.</p><p> Thx for mentioning, though -- Ihave found websites illegally posting articles of mine and had tobadger them into taking the articles down.Advocate Insiderhttp://www.advocateinsider.com/2008/05/cannes-day-six.html 4 of 57/22/09 4:17 PMPosted by: Michael Giltz | December 03, 2008 at 04:40 PMVerify your CommentPreviewing your CommentPosted by: | This is only a preview.</p><p> Your comment has not yet been posted.</p><p> Post Edit Your comment could not be posted.</p><p> Error type:Your comment has been posted.</p><p> Post another commentThe letters and numbers you entered did not match the image.Please try again.As a final step before posting your comment, enter the lettersand numbers you see in the image below.</p><p> This preventsautomated programs from posting comments.Having trouble reading this image? 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