Festival Circuit 2017

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Omensetter
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#101 Post by Omensetter » Mon May 22, 2017 9:55 pm

More films yet to screen, etc. Cannes juries are not that unpredictable; they generally award a slate of well-received films (with usually an Amat Escalante-esque outlier)---it's more a matter of which film will receive which prize. That 2016 jury was an utter anomaly.

I'm not convinced first-timer Campillo will take it, especially with Cannes veteran Almodóvar at the helm, but he seems a good Grand Prix candidate. Regardless of jury member predilections (ah, hell naw), they all seem to coalesce around the Palme as something important. I'd go with Loveless as the one to beat, although I'm firmly in Loznitsa's cheer section. Haynes still seems a solid choice for Director. Haneke will go home empty-handed and no one will complain. If it seems like Palme speculation is premature (I mean, everyone does before the festival starts), the rest of the festival seems to be drifting into genre films.

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thirtyframesasecond
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#102 Post by thirtyframesasecond » Tue May 23, 2017 11:29 am

TMDaines wrote:Congratulations to Haneke on his 3rd Palme d'Or.
He can't win three Palme D'Ors in a row, surely?

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hearthesilence
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#103 Post by hearthesilence » Tue May 23, 2017 12:59 pm

It's out of competition, but the reviews so far has me looking forward to Claire Denis's new film, Un Beau soleil intérieur. It sounds like quite a change, and a potentially welcome one in the sense that it finds her exploring new (and surprisingly light hearted) territory.

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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#104 Post by JabbaTheSlut » Tue May 23, 2017 1:59 pm

It's crazy that the best of the current French directors, Denis, Dumont and Garrel are in the sidebar sections. And with films that are getting great reactions too!

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dda1996a
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#105 Post by dda1996a » Tue May 23, 2017 2:18 pm

Have they? From what I read, Denise and Dumont haven't been getting the best reviews out there

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Cremildo
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#106 Post by Cremildo » Tue May 23, 2017 2:34 pm

Last edited by Cremildo on Tue May 23, 2017 2:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

JabbaTheSlut
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#107 Post by JabbaTheSlut » Tue May 23, 2017 2:35 pm

Denis more consistently, Dumont is very polarized (from masterpiece to amateurish bullshit). In my mind a good reaction is a strongly polarized reaction :D

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hearthesilence
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#108 Post by hearthesilence » Tue May 23, 2017 4:45 pm

Varda's new film has also garnered enormous praise, so that's one more possibly great film that played out of competition.

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domino harvey
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#109 Post by domino harvey » Tue May 23, 2017 6:56 pm

Rodin is the first universally acknowledged flop of the fest. Chloe Zhao's the Rider, though not in the main competition, received some of the most fervent praise of the fest and has been picked up by Sony-- Herzog said it renewed his faith in cinema!

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Omensetter
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#110 Post by Omensetter » Wed May 24, 2017 12:34 pm

I guess Rodin and Kawase were convenient enough titles to bury under the 70th Anniversary ceremony. I wish the montages were online, but here's video, if anyone's curious. Here's an account as well, with the highlight being Huppert calling for the return of Gene Hackman.

That Zhao news is absolutely lovely and one of the more feel-good deals of the festival in what appears to be a dry market. At the Quinzaine, Sean Baker's newest film sounds fascinating and seems to be playing. I'd rather he edged his way into Competition and its accompanying spotlight over the Safdies and Coppola, but he needs distribution first.

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dda1996a
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#111 Post by dda1996a » Wed May 24, 2017 1:47 pm

Kawase must have one hell of a connection, as every time she plays in Cannes I only hear bad things regarding her films (haven't seen any).
Can you not play in competition unless you have a distribution plan beforehand?

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hearthesilence
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#112 Post by hearthesilence » Wed May 24, 2017 2:33 pm

It's not playing in competition either, but Amy Taubin thought Sean Baker's new film was the best so far. Her comments are somewhere in this podcast but here's another report on it from Tim Grierson at Screen Daily.

That roundtable podcast is a nice listen in general.

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Omensetter
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#113 Post by Omensetter » Wed May 24, 2017 3:55 pm

dda1996a wrote:Kawase must have one hell of a connection, as every time she plays in Cannes I only hear bad things regarding her films (haven't seen any).
Can you not play in competition unless you have a distribution plan beforehand?
On Kawase, it always feels like a matter of Fremaux being unable to say no. Her 2014 film received the same shrug and no U.S. distribution, Fremaux maintained his relationship with her and gave her the "coveted" opening UCR slot in 2015 (really to protect her film from the sharper knives of back-to-back Comp. years), and now she's back. Year-in, year-out, Fremaux is adamant that he doesn't do quotas, but it feels like he keeps inviting her back for no other reason. Or maybe he's doubling down since she isn't panning out like Loznitsa or Mungiu.

You don't have to have distribution to play Cannes (many don't!). I was just bemoaning the as-of-now reality that Baker's film lacks distribution.

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dda1996a
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#114 Post by dda1996a » Wed May 24, 2017 5:08 pm

Do you mean quotas for countries? I mean he could easily slot her films into UCR and I doubt many would really mind. What is the process of Cannes accepting your film and then slotting you into competition or to UCR? I mean how can Sean Penn's film which was trashed get in other than having a starry cast?

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Ribs
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#115 Post by Ribs » Wed May 24, 2017 5:18 pm

There's always the possibility that somebody on the selection committee or whatever just really liked it despite the fact that most didn't. Because no one has perfect taste or a perfect eye (and, yes, the starry cast probably helped too).

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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#116 Post by yoshimori » Thu May 25, 2017 1:32 am

Here's a summary of some of the major critics polls so far. I'll try to update them once la commedia è finita!

SCREEN [11 high-profile international critics]:

B+: Zvyagintsev
B-: Ostlund, Haynes, Campillo, Hong, Safdies
C: Baumbach, Coppola, Bong, Haneke, Lanthimos, Loznitsa, Kawase, Mundruczo
D: Hazanvicius, Doillon

LE FILM FRANCAIS [15 major French critics]:

A-: Campillo
B-: Zvyagintsev, Hazanavicius, Ostlund, Desplechin
C+: Doillon, Coppola, Hong, Haynes, Bong
C: Safdies, Baumbach, Lanthimos, Ozon, Kawase
D: Loznitsa, Haneke, Akin, Mundruczo

TODAS LAS CRITICAS [46 mostly Spanish critics]:

A-: Hong
B: Baumbach, Campillo, Desplechin, Haynes, Safdies
C+: Coppola
C: Bong, Ostlund, Zvyagintsev, Haneke
D: Ozon, Kawase, Lanthimos, Doillon
F: Loznitsa, Hazanavicius, Mundruczo, Akin

They also do UCR, the Fortnight, etc. Here are the scores for films that got at least 12 votes:

A-: Baker, Grisebach, Garrel
B+: Denis
B: Balagov, Amalric
C+: Dumont, Hong [Claire’s Camera], Kiarostami, Cantet, Mitre, Mitchell
C: Kurosawa, Sheridan, Lanzmann
F: Franco

RURBAN online critics poll:

B: Campillo, Safdies, Baumbach, Hong
B-: Coppola
C+: Bong, Haynes, Ostlund, Ramsay, Zyagintsev
C: Haneke, Lanthimos, Desplechin, Ozon
D: Loznitsa, Kawase, Hazanavicius, Mundruczo
F: Doillon

They also do UCR, the Fortnight, etc. Here are the scores for films that got a significant number of votes:

A-: Baker, Grisebach, Garrel
B: Denis, Safdies, Hong [Claire’s Camera], Kiarostami
B-: Zhao, Dumont
C+: Grassadonia and Piazza [Sicilian Ghost Story]
C: Miike, Cantet, Amalric, Serraille, Sheridan, Mitre, Kurosawa, Mitchell, Surya, Lanzmann
D: Franco

____

And fwiw, my ratings:

B+: Lanthimos, Haneke, Ostlund
B: Desplechin
B-: Zyagintsev, Ramsay, Campillo
C: Mundruczo, Kawase
D: Ozon, Polanski, Loznitsa, Hong, Bong

Skipped: Coppola and Baumbach (as I’ll see one of them later), Doillon (trailer), Hazanavicius (bomb threat), and Safdies (no interest).

And non-comp films:

B+: Yoshida Daihachi [market screening of Beautiful Planet]
B: Surya [Marlina, The Murderer in Four Acts]
B-: Lynch [disappointing, but still ...]
C: Mitre, Campion, Serraille, Kurosawa, Zhao, Denis, Sheridan, Franco
C-: Amalric
D: Mysius, Grisebach
F: Dumont, Balagov, Li Ruijun
Last edited by yoshimori on Sat May 27, 2017 2:41 pm, edited 7 times in total.

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hearthesilence
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#117 Post by hearthesilence » Thu May 25, 2017 1:54 am

I've heard nothing but awful things about Hazanavicius's film - I wasn't exactly a fan of his work, so I can't say I'm surprised.

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tenia
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#118 Post by tenia » Thu May 25, 2017 6:06 am

hearthesilence wrote:I've heard nothing but awful things about Hazanavicius's film - I wasn't exactly a fan of his work, so I can't say I'm surprised.
What I've read in France was a mixed bag, but also that Cannes might not have been the best place for this kind of movie.

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hearthesilence
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#119 Post by hearthesilence » Thu May 25, 2017 10:22 am

It's hard to see how he could make anything compelling on Godard based on what he's done before. When I first heard he was doing it, I pictured an intellectually bereft pastiche of New Wave films. Maybe it'll appeal to moviegoers who only know Godard from reading his name in a history book.

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knives
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#120 Post by knives » Thu May 25, 2017 10:27 am

I'm interested in it as a piece of historical fiction like Shakespeare in Love. Something fun if not great.

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tenia
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#121 Post by tenia » Thu May 25, 2017 11:14 am

hearthesilence wrote:Maybe it'll appeal to moviegoers who only know Godard from reading his name in a history book.
The critic I read said pretty much the opposite : you probably can't understand the tone of Godard's depiction without knowing the political and cultural context of that time.

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Omensetter
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#122 Post by Omensetter » Thu May 25, 2017 2:08 pm

Or maybe they just needed another French film to pair with Rodin and Ozon's to shut out Denis again.

Godard's a ripe subject for satire, but I've heard nothing that it even works as a frothy pastiche, with at least two critics pointing out that a running gag about Godard breaking his glasses (uh oh!) isn't even funny. I don't know what one would expect from a filmmaker who made James Bond parodies in the 21st century and is really only still around because The Artist (perhaps influenced by Weinstein, who had just picked it up) got a last-second bump from UCR to Competition in 2011.
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Loznitsa's latest seems to be receiving the divisive reactions one truthfully seeks from a festival audience. He, of course, brought his formalist rigor and we'll see who picks it up.

Good Time is receiving the good notices one would expect from a seemingly well-made genre film at the end of the festival. I don't intend to disparage; I look forward to seeing it when it opens.

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tenia
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#123 Post by tenia » Thu May 25, 2017 2:32 pm

Omensetter wrote:I don't know what one would expect from a filmmaker who made James Bond parodies in the 21st century
I don't see what it has to do with anything here. Eg, Jordan Peele is mostly known for his comic work, and yet, he made Get Out which is both very good and yet very far from anything comic he did in the past.
As for Redoutable, here is what the journalist wrote :

"It's a very delicate and extremely precise piece, some fetishist cinephile thing that is hard to properly appreciate in Cannes' fury. And as Hazanavicius mocks Godard, it's only logical to have some journalists who takes the opportunity to buy themselves a cinephilia diploma by proclaiming how Odious it is to mock Godard's stupid gauchist turn. And these are only faced by bloggers who won't understand a thing because he doesn't know either the era and its experimentations to laugh about them.
This being written, it's a very well done comedy, with lots of style, light-weight, charming while also very grating, and incredibly interpreted."

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Omensetter
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#124 Post by Omensetter » Fri May 26, 2017 12:28 pm

Distribution update:

Netflix: The Meyerowitz Stories, Okja
Amazon: You Were Never Really Here, Wonderstruck
SPC: Happy End, Loveless, The Rider
Magnolia: Ismael's Ghosts, The Square
Focus: The Beguiled
Cohen: Rodin, L'Amant Double, Redoubtable
IFC: Let the Sunshine In
A24: Good Time, How to Talk to Girls at Parties, The Florida Project
Orchard: 120 BPM

I feel like I'm missing something.
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Ozon's revered in some quarters for its seemingly unabashed campiness. Those who don't have time for it, understandably don't have time for it.

Akin's looks fairly generic and is getting middling reviews. If not for promising new films from Ramsay and Polanski (co-written by Assayas), we'd call it a Cannes.

Loznitsa's remains the most interesting title thus far and I'm cheering for it to take the Palme, in part so it could secure U.S. distribution.

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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#125 Post by JabbaTheSlut » Fri May 26, 2017 1:19 pm

First rumours leaking out: Ramsay's "You were never really here" is a serious Palme d'Or -contender.

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