Guests of the Cannes festival, including the correspondent “Tapes.<url>”, finally caught up with the first serious disappointment: failed wunderkind Xavier Dolan. This fact, however, brightened multidir Studio Ghibli, incredible Korean Thriller with the devil and outright master class of the great Director William Friedkin.
Igor Igritsky of the outstanding cartoon fiasco and Xavier Dolan
Canadian Xavier Dolan was opened a few years ago at the Cannes film festival. The Prodigy (Xavier was born in 1989) he was in a “Special look” of 2009, was favored by the jury, received prizes, and seemed to be the next world sensation. But after the success of “Moms” two years ago, this year his competition film “It’s only the end of the world” (with a bunch of French stars Marion Cotillard, Natalie Bay, Vincent Cassel, Lea seydoux and Gaspard-Ulliel in the lead role) is perhaps the worst in the main program among those that I saw. He uses a technique which could surprise except that up to last year’s “Son of Saul”: in almost any medium and even more so of an overall plan, all built on the faces of the actors, barely fit in the frame. Visual “bullies” compounding and completely incoherent, hysterical atmosphere of the play (film, theatrical and scripted, the action is based on infinite acting outputs-dialogues).
A scene from the movie “It’s only the end of the world”
36-year-old, apparently, the writer who comes to his native land to report mother, sister, brother and sister-in-law about some of his mysterious deadly disease (we never learn which) and stumbles upon a family business for some quite trifling occasions. Somebody someone something not so has told, and off we go: the screams, curses, insults, and so on. Our writer looks at the hysterical howls and, of course, upset. Along the way, the author hints at the existence of whether unspoken passion for his wife’s brother, whether the former connection with his sister, and also about some strange competition with overexcited (not clear on what grounds) big brother… Storm in a glass of Bordeaux, and only. In General, the main advantage seems a ninety-minute format of this tape, it is not clear why and for whom removed (with the exception of the festival jury). None of the characters in the film at all desire could not sympathize, and the only thing that attracts in this tape, brooding face of Gaspard Ulliel (in the male characters, the Director being openly gay, knows a lot about — and I say that without irony), not saying for the entire movie more than one sentence in a row. But the guy is really beautiful, and the only one not yelling, not sputter and not rotate the eyes. Perhaps in the nineteenth century, when a hysterical discourse was the basis of the theatrical art, such a tape would have caused a lively response. But the last hundred years we live in the realm of depression, and such exercise look just some anachronism. And when you consider that it takes a man not even thirty, will be left to wonder just like the cocktail: depression author’s message (everyone will die) and so the hysterical embodiment of this simple thoughts on the screen. In General, it is very a pity to watch over and over again, as fiasco Directors, which are waiting for discoveries if not, then at least not as outright failures.
But in the program “Special sight”, and the second most important competition at the Cannes festival where, unfortunately, only one award — for best film, showed the debut full-length the man who shot one of the most amazing cartoons — “Father and daughter”. We are talking about the Dutch Oscar winner 2000 micaele Dudoc de Vite, which is shortly before the festival finished at the Studio, Miyazaki Hayao Ghibli his new film “Red turtle”. I’m afraid that the animation can not compete with a feature film and win an award (which, of course, unfair), but the fact that the product of Dudok de Vita is competing with feature films on one of the main competitions of the planet speaks volumes.
Still from the film “Red Turtle”
Those familiar with the work of this amazing master, after watching “the Red turtle”, will easily understand that he, like many great Directors, shoots a single film of a lifetime. Stylistically, this full-length film — entirely painted — reminiscent of his own short films, but aesthetically it is much richer, due not only to the 80-minute format, but also the participation of Japanese producers, including Miyazaki, who launched the project eight years ago. What happened as a result, de Vita, or how the magic can not be named. It’s surprisingly gentle, though sad to tears a story of love and loneliness, which is not pronounced a single word. Only music, color and movement.
Man suffers shipwreck, his left on a desert island. He’s trying to build a raft and escape, but once sailed from the coast, bottom splits some unknown creature. And so three times. People running wild, chasing his hallucinations. Trying to leave the island, he found in the sea and the reptile, which did not allow him to sail away. A giant sea turtle washed up on shore, killed by his hands, and the man crying with despair: the enemy is defeated, but there was no more hope. Then the story is impossible to tell: the myth and reality mingle, the story turns into a philosophical parable, where love and death go hand in hand.
The artist uses the same technique that a “Father and daughter”, creating parallel worlds, what, in fact, justified by appeal specifically to the animation. It would seem that the Crusoe can just take off with actors that’s been done many times. But it is the conventional hand-drawn world creates the universe where life is short and art is long, where meanings are generated through image and sound. De wit holds the ability to appeal to the human soul, bypassing it, penetrating into the brain directly, using special cinematic metalanguage. This movie can not be called good or bad, it is difficult to give the regular valuation and to put marks. It exists in some other dimension, beyond critical eye, like an artifact. I can’t even say that “Red turtle” is the best movie that I ever saw in my life, but more importantly, what it’s doing, reconciles us with reality.
Denis Ruzaev about the Korean masterpiece and a living classic
The title of the wild — and in a good way — the film festival has developed a leading contender. Korean To Hong-Jin, the author almost the best crime thrillers of the twenty-first century “Stalker” and “the Yellow sea”, presented out of competition his new film “Lament” (original title Gokseong coincides even with the scene — a provincial protected area, luxurious forests). My expectations from her were extremely high, but Hong-Jin simply put them under a powerful charge of dynamite. “Lament” begins in the familiar territory of rural Thriller: after the appearance of a visiting Japanese man with a fishing rod in a quiet village where even the police are allowed to be cowards and mattresses (still nothing happens), local begin to rapidly fall apart and destroy each other the most insane and inhumane ways. One of those cops-mattresses trying the rising tide of murders to investigate and at first sinned on a mass poisoning with mushrooms.
Still from the film “Lament”
Then, however, pumped up by the psilocybin like the film itself. To Hong-Jin takes genre history, traditional rural detective, and rapidly pushes the borders of genre. They suddenly fit in ordinary paranormal and quite a hell of an impenetrable mystery in the vein of “twin peaks” (again on heavy hallucinogens), and Comedy, and even social satire (historically founded distrust of Korean to Japanese invaders quickly grows into obsession, until it starts to look manic). The story is so unpredictable and takes such crazy turns that is logical, clear the ending would have looked here is not very appropriate. To the credit of the hon-gin, nothing regular in the final film: he turns entrancing and mocking unsolvable puzzle that each viewer will lay out for himself. The better — full of thrillers, and enough so, and took something much more long-lasting, and disturbing, in the manner of a nightmare, absurd.
William Friedkin
Photo: Joel Ryan / AP
Another shock of the day with a “plus” — a master class of the great Director William Friedkin, I went reluctantly and with the understanding that because of this certain to miss the beautiful “Red turtle” Dudok de Vita. Well, “Turtle”, hopefully, will get to the Russian screens — and another two hours to listen to the author of “French coherent” and “the Exorcist”, “to Live and die in L. A.” and “Sorcerer” may not be issued. The more that Friedkin was, quite frankly, in shock. Revelations about the profession and respect for life, recognition of the tendency towards paranoia and irrational fear, anecdotes from half a century already working biographies and turned into a series of killer gags capricious reaction to the question of the leader, the criticism of Michel Simon, about the “career started with four failures” — that is simply the most interesting two hours for the entire festival. Among the best moments: criticism of Marlon Brando for ruining several generations of American actors, a heart-warming tale about the beneficial relationship of the Creator and of our failures in detail retold the case of meeting with Howard hawks (via his daughter, kitty, with whom Friedkin had met in the early 1970s), the history with the filming of his main masterpieces. If the Directorate of the festival de Cannes will post a video of the master class in Internet, she will make an invaluable gift to moviegoers around the world — one a night like this is worth six months of film school.
