May
16
Cannes Day Four: Mr. Hulot, Taking Woodstock
I finally slept in this morning, missing one of the favorites of the festival so far (of course), Jacques Audiard's two-and-a-half hour prison picture A Prophet, which will likely be scooped up by the likes of Sony Pictures Classics or IFC. (Here's Justin Chang's review.) I also missed Monica Belluci and Sophie Marceau (pictured) in Ne Te Retourne Pas.
Instead, I indulged myself with the pristine Cinematheque Francaise/Thomson/Technicolor restored print of Mr. Hulot's Holiday, originally shot in black-and-white in 1953 and reedited by Jacques Tati in 1978. This sojourn on the Atlantic coast of France stars the director as the pipe-smoking, awkward, impish Hulot, who pulls up in a rickety jalopy to join a group of vacationers, some likable, some not. One shot of a little boy carefully, slowly walking up steps with a fresh ice cream cone in each hand is indelible.
The out-of-competition Australian film Samson and Delilah tells a grim tale of two teen Aborigines living in poverty in the Outback who fall in love and run away. Less romance than primal survival story, the gritty drama is tough to watch. Micro buyers seem interested.
People who seem to have money are magnets for partygoers and people who assemble movies. The Abu Dhabi party Friday night was hopping until all hours, and on Saturday evening, as many parties were under way along the marina, the Barclay's yacht looked like it was about to tip over.
At Saturday's groovy Majestic Beach after-party, Focus Features topper James Schamus was all smiles, having survived the red carpet Palais screening of a movie he not only financed and will release, but actually wrote: Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock. The BBC reports on the press conference.. Variety liked it better than IndieWire. The question is, can they improve the misleading ad campaign? The movie doesn't spend much time at the actual event.
Partygoer Tilda Swinton flew into town to support Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Foundation. She has an affiliated cause of her own, the 8 1/2 foundation, which will send 8 1/2 year olds the classic film of their choice. Other party attendees included Woodstock rookie movie actor Demetri Martin, juror Robin Wright Penn, Humpday star Mark Duplass, O-Scope's Adam Yauch, and Antichrist's Willem Dafoe.
The L.A. Times digs into why The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus hasn't sold, even with Heath Ledger starring in his last role. Buyers are waiting for the price to go down, for one thing. In the Cannes market, several buyers including Sony Pictures Classics were duped into watching some reportedly execrable footage of a movie purportedly directed by Paul Verhoeven. Turns out it was his cousin.
Variety rounds up the unusual indie summer suspects.
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"...'Mr. Hulot's Holiday', originally shot in black-and-white in 1953..."
Uh, Anne, it's still IN black-and-white, right? [No one has dared add color to Tati's wonderful film, I hope.]
Posted by: Griff | May 17, 2009 at 08:37 AM
yeah, yeah, yeah.
Posted by: anne Thompson | May 17, 2009 at 05:48 PM