Dardenne brothers, Nicolas Winding refn and rotten king
The Cannes forum is close to final. In the competition program remained less movies than fingers on a hand, and observers Ribbon.<url>” begin to summarize. In the current year are not encouraging. The first half of the show pleased and sometimes delighted, since the middle of the festival turned into a competition of favorites of the Cannes selectors, and not the best quality.
Igor Igritsky about the competitive program
Towards the end of the festival I’m increasing bewilderment. The impression is that the Cannes selectors, headed by Thierry Fremaux after the departure of Gilles Jacob as President of the festival has finally relaxed. Here you have a pool of Directors, which once opened in Cannes, and have their films be required to include in the program, regardless of quality. Dardenne brothers, Almodovar, Mungiu, Nicolas Winding refn, the same young Dolan — whatever was removed, all bring here, in competition, and how?. It looks at least strange, if not to assume at all that the organizers simply make friends with these authors, and movies don’t watch them.
Well, what’s so only in the endless repeating themselves from the Dardenne brothers to each film to get them to compete on the Cote d’azur? That “Unknown girl” with Adel Enel starring Dardennes decent, but very average picture level. Yes, another social movie, on health. Young doctor opened the door some black stranger and the next day Tu was found dead. The doctor feels guilty, and she begins her own investigation to find out the name of the deceased. Enel with a complex expression on his face goes everywhere with a picture of the victim with cameras at the entrance, stupidly asking local until it becomes clear who was the immigrant from Gabon and why she died. It turns out, by the way, something pretty random and implausible. The film is about guilt and its consequences could be a revelation early in his career filmmakers, but after 30 years of work is perceived as dull, overlong, overly moralistic example of what is possible for life to mark time, reaping the laurels. And I want to say — gentlemen, we have all realized with your movie, stop, stop, don’t drop the credibility. The current heroine has absolutely no sympathy, the conflict is completely absent, just continues the endless durdenevsky running in a circle, and the characters are all stilted truths are driven a stake in the head, bad socialising rushing like a TV screen. Yeah, filmed everything for a penny, the actress is good, the quality of the games is not discussed. But it is a step backwards even in comparison with last “Two days, one night” with Marion Cotillard, and certainly at least “Unknown girl” — it’s not Cannes level, especially from two-time winners of the “Palm d’or”. They would have to award the prize to the honorary members, after which once and for all to calm down.
Frame from the film “the Unknown girl”
Nor can we say that another favorite of the festival, who then in 2011 the prize for best Director Nicolas Winding refn struck his “Neon demon”. Rather, it is a step back even compared to its previous tender film, an eclectic Thriller “Only God forgives” (2013), not to mention “Drive” received five years ago, in addition to the Cannes awards, even an Oscar.
Fortunately, in “the Neon demon” no longer plays Ryan Gosling, but he’s there and not needed. The film is about girls with very long limbs, size, 90-60-90, and in this case has starlet Elle fanning, who’s only in April turned 18. On her almost angelic image is concentrated all the audience’s attention. The story of glamorous drama, invented by the Director, suggests the conclusion that the author is not very respectful of women fashion industry. Refn is a Director with a strong aesthetic bias, which the picture is much more important than history, so to describe the plot of his latest tape is difficult. Sometimes it’s a video installation on the theme of high fashion, where severely ridiculed not only the usual cliches of mass consciousness, but is moving and not the deep thought of the fact that any upstart, even if it is widely admired, it could end badly (in all senses of the word). Sometimes, on the contrary, some too mundane story of rootlessness and loneliness of the heroine.
Still from the film “Neon demon”
The role of an ideal model Refn invited really spectacular, even slightly cloying younger of the fanning sisters and very cautiously, if not timidly, tried to tell about the career of an aspiring model. And all literally, as for the other Actresses of this movie is utterly confusing — perfect beauties, — the author turned out to cheer. And with the main character not so much given her almost nothing to play, El is not even shown in all its glory (I think the contract with a minor fault). The film is the star of last year’s “Love” Carl Glusman, and yet for some reason, Keanu Reeves, depicting just some filthy “pants”. However, there is a scene of lesbian copulation with a corpse, and even getting into the Motel room a wild Puma. But why, you ask? Apparently, harder to make fun of the world of glossy magazines, because at some point it becomes absolutely not clear where is the dream character, and where reality, as in the magazine “cosmopolitan”.
In General, it is interesting from a visual point of view, but very deliberate and pretentious spectacle, deliberately drawn-out and extremely uneven rhythm. And although the rapture “Neon demon” is, there is just something to think about besides whether mandatory to take the competition any work of Danish upstarts.
Denis Ruzaev about the expansion of government and the people
At that time, as in the competition programme, the situation was confused: Refn and Dolan, almodóvar and Dardenne collect feedback directly opposite, for out-of-competition picture this year at the Cannes selectors deserve an extraordinary prize. So, on the days it showed a playful film-a will secret a French classic Fields of Peccioli “Stupid,” in which the local legend of parallel cinema he played an elderly ladies ‘ man, comically and whimsically moving to the finale of life. In another, very recent out-of-competition picture of the dying person is not less remarkable. Catalan albert Serra in “the death of Louis XIV” took the starring not somebody, and the great Jean-Pierre Leo — legend of the French new wave greetings at the premiere a standing ovation. Various applause and laughter was on the final credits received, and the film itself.
Still from the film “Death of Louis XIV”
Serra measured, stringy, mesmerizing film shows exactly what is stated in the title: Louis XIV (Leo), “the sun king”, in the first scene some more, breathing fresh air, and after that it just dies, lying in furs and velvet, surrounded by a bustling throng of clueless doctors and Ministers, priests, courtiers and hangers-on. Force leave of the monarch, again incredibly, from the point of view of the spectator, slowly. Serra only occasionally admits some action, as well as for the metronome, measuring out the absurdist humor, but the task that confronts a Catalan film Director, and is not in fascination. No, it is, of course, tends, in the manner of Sokurov, through the physiological process of dying to show the decomposition of total absolute power. King, reviewsi themselves with the heavenly bodies, lying in the middle of luxury and dies from a small wound on his leg — and his subordinates, accustomed to follow every whim of the ruler, wasting time on nonsense and try to treat Louis Jell-o and quack elixirs. Slowly the wound turns gangrene, and the author chooses the metaphor of decomposition unrestrained, paternal power becomes a literal — and now the king literally rot in front of the audience. That is, to blame the servants simply lost the habit of taking at least some decisions because in the final, after the death of the master, can only look at the screen and promise next time to do better.
That the power dissipation leads to decay and the people, in their own way told and tender film by Christian Mungiu “Prom” is the second Romanian picture, this year competing for the “Palme d’or”, after “Sierranevada Christie Puja. The protagonist of “Graduation” — the doctor from Cluj, whose daughter rents in the last school exams. Excellent grades will enable her to obtain a scholarship in London, that is, the idea of parents, out of the Romanian life, which is so tightened and broke them. But the day before the first exam on the girl near the school attacked by the rapist — not with such terrible consequences, as it could be, but the nerves spoiled to graduate serious. Not wanting to risk the future of his daughter, the father through a friend in the police and the mayor’s office decides the desired outcome of the examination to ensure (supposedly, you can also understand, just such circumstances), not even a bribe, but the old innocent pull. The consequences of dishonesty, however, will be unpredictable.
Still from the film “Prom”
Mungiu gradually escalate the pace and thicken around the character of paint — a social drama turns into a paranoid Thriller, the Central character is consistently losing ground. It’s a powerful premise for a film, but unlike the Puja with his multi-faceted, multi-figure compositions, Mungiu is working on a single note — his picture of the total razevshey all levels of society corruption is too much pressure on one point. He dispenses with a minimum of irony, a bit manipulated under the idea of plot twists, some events of the painting emphasizes, but did not dare to explain (the hero even before his offense every time someone hurts, hits the windshield of the car window — but who, we never learn). Life is still more varied and absurd — corruption is concerned, too, but here instead of a full cast of society (as, for example, of Brillante Mendoza’s “MA rose” to the same, more or less, subject), it turns out the saying about how terrible of Romanian life, turning a relatively honest man the Creator of his own downfall.
