In today’s roundup of Cannes news ‘n’ notes from around the web, festivalgoers develop skewed priorities, and Mike Leigh wins best of the fest so far.
David Gritten finds himself in a state he dubs The Festival Bubble, in which Ridley Scott’s failure to appear at the premiere of “Robin Hood” is more important than the new government taking power in London. “The festival bubble’s an insidious thing,” he says, though I’d place more credence in his show of perspective if he seemed a little more troubled by his position in the middle of that bubble. (The Telegraph)
Manohla Dargis sums up the first few days at Cannes, starting with the movers and shakers at the Vanity Fair-Gucci party. One intriguing conversation: Sony Classics’ Michael Barker talking to “Rush Hour” director Brett Ratner about, said Barker, “the parameters for … a lower-budget film.” Dargis then sums up the films she’s seen, from the good (“Inside Job,” “A Screaming Man,” “Aurora”) to the ones she found unimpressive (“Wall Street,” “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger,” “Another Year”). (The New York Times)
Though Dargis was not knocked out, Roger Ebert says that Mike Leigh’s “Another Year” (right) is the film that “everyone I talk to loves the most.” In the latest of Ebert’s Cannes roundups, he calls the film “beautifully sure and perceptive” and predicts that it’ll be difficult for anything else to win the Palme d’Or. Then he goes on to call Takesi Kitano’s “Outrage” “as bad as ‘Another Year’ is good.” (Roger Ebert’s Journal)
Anne Thompson takes part in a panel with Oliver Stone, and posts a six-part video in which the director talks about “Wall Street,” international finance, Fidel Castro, and his upcoming 10-part “Secret History of America” for Showtime. Thompson thinks that “Wall Street” isn’t a sure-fire Best Picture nominee, but that it could sneak in (as could supporting players Carey Mulligan and Frank Langella) if it’s a hit and picks up raves. It hasn’t done that at Cannes, but maybe it could outside the bubble … (Thompson on Hollywood)
The writer of “Persepolis,” Marjane Satrapi, is spending five days in Cannes to announce her new film, “Chicken with Plums.” And, she says in the Guardian, she’s enjoying herself – the movies, the glamour, and the goody bags. Especially the goody bags. (“There’s nothing you can actually use, but I like it anyway.”) But she’s worried about marketing taking over the movie business, and squeezing out any possibility of innovation. Oh, and she doesn’t buy the 3D revolution. “I am in 3D,” she says, sensibly enough. “That doesn’t make it interesting.” (The Guardian)
The best film he’s seen at Cannes, writes Todd McCarthy, is also the oldest: Luchino Visconti’s “Il Gattopardo” (“The Leopard”), which screened in a newly-restored version on Friday night. After raving about the restoration done under the auspices of Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, McCarthy recalls a flight he took between Los Angeles and Mexico City back in 1986, when he found himself sitting next to a sombrero-clad Burt Lancaster. The critics admiration for Lancaster’s performance in “The Leopard,” it seemed, helped break the ice. (Todd McCarthy’s Deep Focus)
After presenting the restored “Il Gattopardo” at Cannes on Friday night, Martin Scorsese sits down with Jay A. Fernandez to talk about a new documentary he’s making about George Harrison. Collaborating with Harrison’s widow Olivia, Scorsese has been assembling material for three years, from well-known footage to previously unheard recordings. Explaining his affinity for the story, Scorsese sounds positively Harrison-esque: “The more you’re in the material world, the more there is a tendency for a search for serenity and a need to not be distracted by physical elements that are around you.” Given how wonderful Scorsese’s Bob Dylan documentary was, there’s certainly reason to feel optimistic. (The Hollywood Reporter)
More Beatle-related Cannes news: Liam Gallagher, the singer from Oasis, showed up in Cannes in the new guise of movie exec. Xan Brooks writes about the rocker who’s joined with Revolution Films to make a film of “The Longest Cocktail Party,” a 1972 memoir from Richard Di Lello, a teenager who worked at Apple Corp as the Beatles were breaking up. But Gallagher says the Beatles won’t be in the movie … and that once this film is done, he won’t be making any more movies. It’s just that he’s attracted to this one: "I like the failure, the sadness of something being so great.” As the leader of a hugely popular band that many think never fulfilled its own enormous potential, he would. (The Guardian)
Read full Cannes coverage at Report From Cannes and WaxWord Cannes
