Cannes 2009 Day Two Precious Vampires Genocide and Despair

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Michael Giltz: Cannes 2009 Day Two: Precious, Vampires, Genocide and Despair! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/cannes-2009-day-two-preci_b_203705.html [6/23/2009 6:12:52 PM] JUNE 23, 2009 HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING STYLE GREEN WORLD COMEDY 23/6 NEW YORK CHICAGO VIDEO BLOGGER INDEX ARCHIVE Make HuffPost Your HomePage Get Email Alerts Michael Giltz Freelance writer and raconteur Posted: May 14, 2009 04:45 PM BIO Become a Fan Get EmailAlerts Bloggers'Index Cannes 2009 Day Two: Precious, Vampires, Genocide and Despair! Read More: Cannes Film Festival, Documentary , Movies, Rwanda , Sapphire , Uk, Entertainment News I could be seeing Francis Ford Coppola's new movie Tetro , but instead I'm talking to you. That's often the dilemma at the Cannes FilmFestival, where there are so many movies playingon so many different screens that it's impossible to see them all and invariably the film you skip becomes the one everyone is talking about. Soyou have to choose: should you sleep past 7:30 orcatch the new movie by UK director Andrea Arnold? Grab a bite or see Korean vampires bite each other? Take a nap in your apartment or takea nap during a documentary on Rwanda's post- genocide society? (Tacky, but I've seen worse happen.) Usually, with me, the movies win. The economy has definitely impacted the fest. There's a notable lack of hoopla: very few parties, very few big Hollywood blockbusters hoping to stir up buzz, very few announcements of new projects. But I don't like hoopla so that suits me well. Some people come to Cannes and do nothingbut go to parties. Some people come to Cannes and never see the sun. That's me. So here are my first reactions to the four movies I saw today. FISH TANK *** (out of four) -- This British film is set in the "fuck you!" world of lower class England. it's a rundown setting where indifference is the closest anyone gets to affection. Our young heroine head-butts another local girl in the first few minutes, curses out her hapless mother,gets cursed out by her foul-mouthed little sister and generally stomps about. If you've seen anumber of these kitchen sink movies in recent years (or perhaps tenement sink-hole would be more accurate), then this milieu feels awfully familiar. Director Andrea Arnold showed promise with her first film, "Red Road," a technically assured film with strong performances that wasemotionally distant and went off the rails plot-wise. She improves here with a story that's far more involving and still marvelously subtle. When the mum's new boyfriend tucks our girl in for the night, it's a quiet surprise that he doesn't fondle her in some way -- in other words, you're Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick RevealTwins' Names READ MORE Robert Pattinson Films by Day, Prowls by Night READ MORE Gosselins Go Their Separate Ways READ MORE More Celebrity News at People.com Don't Miss HuffPost Bloggers Gavin Newsom The Nation's Most Ambitious Recycling Law T. Boone Pickens Propane and the Pickens Plan Popular Stories on HuffPost Johnny Depp As MadHatter, Helena Bonham Carter's RedBIG NEWS : Jon & Kate Plus 8 | Celebrity Skin | Tom Cruise | Celebrity Kids | More... LOG IN | SIGN UP Be the First to Submit This Story to Digg Get Breaking News Alerts Share Print Comments never spam FAKE! Jon & Kate Divorce Papers: Lived 'Separate And Apart' TWO YEARS PHOTOS: Miley Cyrus Photo Uproar: Innocent Or Too Sexy? (POLL) Phil Spector In 'Sensitive Needs' Area Of Prison Michael Giltz: Cannes 2009 Day Two: Precious, Vampires, Genocide and Despair! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/cannes-2009-day-two-preci_b_203705.html [6/23/2009 6:12:52 PM] constantly kept on edge and well aware of all the emotions churning away unspoken. Everyone dances in this movie -- the girl, her mom, their friends, the people on TV and it even seems like a way out: our hero is staking it all on an audition for a local club, too clueless to realize they'relooking for exotic dancers. Clueless isn't quite fair. She's so far out of the loop that clues simplyaren't on the agenda, much less hope or succor. There's a very unnerving twist later in the film that is suspenseful and completely earned: unlike Red Road, mysteries aren't withheld from the audience to create false tension. Real tension arises because we are so invested in the charactersthat we can believe they'd do almost anything, even if they are basically just confused and angry, rather than bad. It's not a triumph, but Fish Tank proves the Cannes programmers are right to have faith in Arnold. MY NEIGHBOR, MY KILLER *** -- This absorbing documentary is about the gacaca trials in Rwanda. These unprecedented attempts at justice gathered people in local villages to let the relatives or victims of genocide confront the people who slaughtered their families. As Philip Gourevitch has written, it's probably unprecedented in history for the surviving victims of genocide to be expected to live side by side with the people who did it. But that's the almost surreal situationin Rwanda, where filmmaker Anne Aghion interviews mostly women who describe the horrors theysaw and then strolls a few huts away where the men who did them blithely or self-consciously deny it. In fact, it's surprising that anyone was killed at all in 1994 since virtually every single person Aghion speaks to maybe saw the slaughter or helped in a minor way but denies completely actuallymurdering anyone. I'm speaking to the director on Sunday and will have more on this film later. Iwill say something about the half-empty screening: everyone says "never again" but even at a film festival devoted to high art, so many people would rather see anything BUT a movie that tackles such a terrible deed head on. THIRST ** -- It's a vampire flick and anyone who has seen the Swedish vampire movie Let The Right One In will find it hard to enjoy this or any other similar film for a while. Let The Right One In just set the bar too high. Still, it's a modest step in the right direction for Korean director Park Chan-wook, who had a success with the oddball thriller Old Joy and then delivered two flops. This isn't much better, but at least it feels more like a real film. In it, a priest volunteers for a medicalexperiment and accidentally gets vampire blood. As if feeding on flesh wasn't bad enough (he triesto stick to people in comas and other "easy blood" sources), he falls for a girl and breaks that vow too. Not that priests take a vow to avoid becoming vampires, but you know what I mean. Concurrently, he becomes a source of veneration by Christians who find out he was the only one of500 to survive that experiment. That already makes Thirst sound more interesting than it deserves: it's sort of funny, sort of creepy, sort of religious, sort of gothic, sort of hip but not REALLY any of these things. Just unsatisfying. PRECIOUS ** 1/2 -- This film by director Lee Daniels received a ton of acclaim at Sundance, so I'm in the minority for not being blown away by it. However, I do think this story of a large teenage girl pregnant with her second child (both fathered by her biological dad) and finding a ray of hope in an alternative school is a serious leap forward by Daniels. It captures the pugnacious, dreaming, hopeful tone of the book by Sapphire very well and contains a clutch of good performances,including the lead (Gabourey Sidibe), Mariah Carey (!) and especially Mo'Nique as Precious'shateful mother. She's so good it's possible she'll even get an Oscar nomination. I can't wait to see the next film by Daniels. It's called Tennessee and it stars Carey. So there. 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Related Blogs On Huffington Post: Michael Giltz: Cannes 2009 Day One: "Up" Review Cannes kicked off with a gentle, sweet even sublime film: Pixar'sUp. Michael Giltz: Cannes 2009Preview: Things Are Looking "Up?" While starlets may be in shortsupply, the number of promising films from major talent is exceptionally strong. On paper,this looks like the most tantalizing fest in years. Michael Giltz: Cannes Exclusive Video: Mariah Carey Fools Photogs! Mariah Carey made the paparazzilook foolish today at the Cannes Film Festival. Michael Giltz: Cannes 2009 Day Three: A Romantic Poet, A Troubled Cop and a Closeted Jew atWoodstock A very confusing, wet and rainy day at Cannes. Here are my initialimpressions of three more films that screened today. And don't miss my... More Blog Posts: « First Prev 1 2 Next Last » More in Entertainment... 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HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES Michael Giltz: Cannes 2009 Day Two: Precious, Vampires, Genocide and Despair! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/cannes-2009-day-two-preci_b_203705.html [6/23/2009 6:12:52 PM] Comments are closed for this entry Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to View Comments: Newest First Expand All YouDisgustMe I'm a Fan of YouDisgustMe permalink i actually saw "precious "earlier this year...absolutely AMAZING. monique and mariah should at least be nominated for oscars (i truly believe they deserve to win) PorkBelly I'm a Fan of PorkBelly permalink Park Chan Wook directed OldBoy, not Old Joy. He then followed it up with Sympathy for LadyVengeance, which was huge in Korea and internationally, not a flop. If you are going to write about film, get your facts straight. SILVANUS I'm a Fan of SILVANUS permalink Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I don't see a "L'Avventura" yet. You must be logged in to reply to this comment. Log in or Ads by Google The Geneva IO-MBA A unique MBA focused on IOs & NGOs Come find out more for yourself! www.iomba.ch HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING GREEN STYLE WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY FUNDRACE ARCHIVE Advertise | Log In | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Jobs | FAQ: Comments & Moderation | FAQ: Huffpost Accounts | Contact Us Copyright © 2009 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | Archive | User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Powered by Movable Type Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:23 AM on 05/16/2009 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:55 AM on 05/15/2009 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:43 PM on 05/14/2009

Cannes 2009 Day Two Precious Vampires Genocide and Despair

📄 Cannes 2009 Day Two Precious Vampires Genocide and Despair

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