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F R I D AY, M AY 1 9 , 2 0 0 6Cannes Day FourHeading to the first film of the day at 8 in the morning. The churchbells are ringing, as if a Quasimodo of Cannes is pulling on the ropesand yelling, "Cinema! Cinema!" Or as my friend put it more simply,we're being called to prayer. The Lumiere is jammed because today isthe premiere of Almodovar's Volver. Will this be the year he finallywins the Palm d'Or?VOLVER *** or *** 1/2Maybe this will be his year. Almodovar's movie gets solid applause andwill be the front runner throughout the festival. Entertaining,satisfying. With Almodovar, crazy events seem quite natural -- ghosts, adead body in the freezer, Penelope Cruz mopping floors -- it all seemsperfectly reasonable. It plays like an old Hollywood movie thoughwithout any melodrama, with Cruz in the Joan Crawford role of amovie who has to take care of things when her daughter stabs herdead-beat dad after he tries to rape her. (She's adopted.) Men barelyregister in this film -- it's all about the women. And Cruz's lovelybreasts deserve equal billing with her fine performance: onlyAlmodovar could have come up with the frankly appreciative overheadshot that shows Cruz washing dishes -- the only image in the frame isthe sink, the dishes, her hands and those wonderful breasts. Almodovaris a momma's boy in the best sense of the phrase.BOFFO! *Apparently, when Stephen Spielberg was filming "Jaws," themechanical shark wasn't working and he had to come up with all themysterious, tension-building shots where the shark attacked but wedidn't see it -- the shots that made the film a classic. And if thatanecdote is news to you, you might enjoy this supremely superficialdocumentary in whcih loads of Hollywood players are asked banalquestions about the industry. (I had a bet with friends about how longit would take someone to quote William Goldman's truism that inHollywood nobody knows anything. I lost, because they saveddiscussion of that uber-quote for its own section at the 60 minutemark.) I swear the filmmakers held a gun to the heads of the peoplebeing interviewed and said, "Cliches only! Be superficial or you die!"Bearable (just) because of the film clips, most of which aren't thatNext Blog»sal1mineo@hotmail.comSEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOGFOLLOW BLOGP O P S U R F I N G . C O MS U R F I N G T H E WAV E S O F P O P U L A R C U LT U R EB Y M I C H A E L G I LT Z & F R I E N D SPOPSURFING.COM: Cannes Day Fourhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/05/cannes-day-four.html
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FAV O R I T E L I N K SAmericablogFive O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's BlogThe Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPNRadioCine-Blog -- George Robinson's BlogDocuments On Art & Cinema - DarylChin's BlogBrucie G's Wondrous Blog OfAdventure and Mystery -- BruceGreenspan's BlogB L O G A R C H I V E▼ 2009 (17)▼ July (3)1939 -- The Greatest Year ForMoviesSwimming Bans Those Hi-TechSuits!Best Movies Of The Year -- TheMaster List► June (3)► May (1)► March (2)► February (1)► January (7)► 2008 (86)► 2007 (781)► 2006 (2412)► 2005 (5)C O N T R I B U TO R SAaronMichael in New YorkBiboy POPSURFING.COM: Cannes Day Fourhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/05/cannes-day-four.html
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POPSURFING.COM: Cannes Day Fourhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/05/cannes-day-four.html
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