May 18, 2008Cannes Day Two -- Women In PrisonAlmost every day at Cannes begins with a major screening at8:30 am in the Lumiere, the biggest screen at the festival.Perhaps hundreds of movies are shown daily at Cannes, frommajor premieres to cheesey B movies screened on dingy sidestreet cinemas.</p><p> But the 8:30 am movie is always a must-see forjournalists, which cramps your fun the night before.</p><p> On the wayto the film you can pick up the "trades" -- Variety, HollywoodReporter and five or six international magazines -- to catch upon reviews and news you haven't tracked online.</p><p> No one verymuch liked "Blindness," which is a shame since the bookseemed so promising as a bleak fable.</p><p> Then again, Camus's"The Plague" has never made a good movie either.Leonera -- The first screening of the day is Argentina's"Leonera," which I know is about a woman serving time inprison while giving birth to her son.</p><p> What I didn't know wasthat she was serving time after waking up one morning in abloody mess with her husband murdered and his gay loverawkwardly sharing their bed, severely wounded.</p><p> Like everyman in the film, the gay lover is not to be trusted and ourheroine takes the fall, thugh she isn't even sure what happened.I wouldn't say the woman realizes she's queer, but in a classiccase of situational lesbianism, she is hit upon aggressively byother prisoners till bonding with an older woman andestablishing the first genuine and satisfying relationship of herlife.</p><p> Director Pablo Trapero's wife Martina Gusman is widelyacclaimed for her performance as the lead, Julia, and while it'sfoolish to make predictions so early, she will certainly be acontender for Best Actress given the role and the general dearthof strong female leads (though Angelina Jolie might havesomething to say about this).</p><p> I've based this all on reviews andreports from friends who saw the film.</p><p> I accidentally oversleptand never was able to catch any of the repeat viewings.Visit 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-two.html 1 of 37/22/09 4:20 PMLater that day, I get a glimpse of a hilarious poster on theCroisette: Jim Carrey is cuddling with Ewan McGregor and themovie is called, "I Love You Philip Morris." Apparently, it'sbased on the true story of a married father in Texas who wassent to jail, became obsessed with his cellmate and after the guywas released broke out of prison four times to be with him.</p><p> Theposter alone is hilarious, with a style akin to Steve Carrell's"goofy The 40 Year Old Virgin" poster.Hunger -- Next is the mainstream debut of British artist andavant garde filmmaker Steve McQueen, who has made worksplaying wth queer themes (his "Bears" shows McQueen andanother large man trading suggestive glances) and who citesAndy Warhol as a major influence.</p><p> His film is "Hunger," aboutthe IRA prisoners who went on hunger strike and died in theearly 80s.</p><p> If you can call a movie beautiful which has scenes offeces-covered prison cells, then "Hunger" is beautiful.</p><p> Itundermines expectations the entire way.</p><p> The movie begins byfocusing on one of the guards who works at the prison, switchesto a new prisoner entering the cells and only after aconsiderable amount of time lights upon the most famoushunger striker of all, Bobby Sands.</p><p> Very little dialogue is usedin the film; in fact, I wondered if people unfamiliar with thestory would quite follow one of the key demands of theprisoners -- that they be allowed to wear their own clothesrather than the prison uniform of criminals, which had been thecase until the Thatcher government decided to "criminalize" theIRA's acts of violence.</p><p> Then there's a bravura scene that lasts atleast ten minutes if not longer: Bobby Sands and a priest shootthe breeze, debate the ethics of the hunger strike and so on, allwith the camera framing the two men face to face, nevercutting, never moving until those ten or so minutes have passedand then focusing on Sands while he tells a childhood anecdotethat lasts another four or five minutes about stumbling on to awounded deer and drowing it to put it out of its misery.</p><p> Noglimpses of the outside world or the turmoil the strikeengendered, only a brief acknowledgement at the end thatSands had been elected a Member of Parliament while thestrike was going on, no depiction of his famous funeral whereperhaps 100,000 people lined the funeral route in stark,remarkable silence.</p><p> Critics were polite if divided on the film,though there's no question McQueen has genuine talent (not tomention a last name perfectly suited to the movies).Other films today include "Waltz With Bashir," an animateddocumentary about a massacre in Lebanon in the early 80s(which is effective because of its form not its content) and theFilm 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? 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