The rest...

The Festival ended Sunday and we're all anxiously awaiting the post-Festival depression that's bound to set in. Actually, I'm looking forward to the next leg of my trip. We'll be based more in Juan-les-Pins and have the chance to do some exploring here. Unfortunately, my digital camera was stolen, so I'll try to post friends' pictures when I can get them. If not that, I'll post some more when I get home (I'm carrying the brand new deluxe Kodak disposable these days...awesome!).

Here's a list of the other movies I saw during the Festival...

X-Men 3 - Which I hated. Okay, I didn't *hate* it because, if nothing else, it gave me the chance to look at Hugh Jackman for two hours. But overall it was pretty bad. Brett Ratner (Rush Hour 1 and 2) took over so Bryan Singer could do Superman. I'm convinced everything that's wrong with the movie is Brett's fault. He actually compared Magneto and Xavier's approaches to mutant rights to Malcolm X and MLK's to civil rights. I bet he thought all day about what he could say to make himself sound brilliant.

The movie has a great plot (a cure has been developed for mutancy), but the follow-through is just nothing to be proud of. The actors seem to be on auto-pilot (I feel like a better director would have recognized that and inspired them to greatness), the special effects looked hokey and unfinished, and there is absolutely no character development.

I had such high hopes after the second one and I was totally disappointed.

Hardcore - This was a mocumentary from the UK about a young director making an adult film in order to finance his "real" projects. As horrible as it sounds, it was actually the most laugh-out-loud film I saw in the whole festival. Despite the subject matter, there was very little nudity and no graphic sex scenes. The guy who played the director played it absolutely straight, even when everything around him was totally absurd. I can't say I would recommend it to everyone, but I found it completely hilarious!

Lying - This is the movie by M Blash that I was looking so forward to (see previous post "Directors" for more info). Unfortunately, it was the worst film I saw. Maybe the worst film I've ever seen. The filmmakers used only natural light which made the picture sort of grainy. It was actually a lovely visual effect. What was not lovely was the constant straining to hear the dialogue (what there was of it). One critic correctly guessed they used mics from the local Radio Shack for the production. The film was just utterly uninspired and boring. With such a compelling subject matter and such a great introduction from the director (M said he wanted to make it because, though he's sure we're all good people, we've all been lied to or done some lying of our own), I was so excited about this film. But it was so bad. I still heart M Blash because he's just so darn cute, but he made an absolutely horrendous movie.

2:37 - This Australian movie was made by a first-time director and with an entire cast of first-time actors. It was so good! Switching back and forth between the storyline and an interview-like setting with each character, the director really showed a lot of creativity and style. It's about a group of high school students all with varying teenage problems. In fact, my only critique is that it reads sort of like a checklist of teen angst (sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy, repressed homosexuality, relationship problems, parental approval issues, suicide). There's a twist at the end, however, that I never saw coming and that totally redeemed the film, in my opinion.

Free Jimmy - A Norwegian animated film starring the voices of Woody Harrelson, Jim Broadbent, and others, about a drug-addict elephant trapped in the circus. Sounds awesome, right? :) It was actually really funny, but very adult. A lot of parents had brought their children and were disappointed with the language and sex (yes, animated sex) in the first few moments. We watched this one on the beach, projected onto a huge screen, on a beautiful evening. It was lovely!

Babel - Other than X-Men, this is probably the only movie on this list that will get any real play in the US. It stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett as an American couple on holiday in Morocco. Cate is accidentally shot on a tour bus by some youngsters playing with a rifle in the hills. The US government assumes it's a terrorist attack and things escalate from there. The movie is sort of along the same lines as Crash, but not nearly as effective. Brad Pitt does an absolutely amazing job acting in it and the music and direction is really great. However, the convoluted story lines are confusing and unneccessary.

So, those are the movies I saw at the Cannes Film Festival. Most were ones I liked and ones I may not have otherwise had the chance to see. I still can't believe I was priveleged enough to be here.

Peace. Out.