May 15th-26th marked the 66th annual Cannes Film Festival, pretty much the most famous and exclusive film festival in the world (the only one not opened to the public at large, only press and local residents). Maybe one day I’ll be able to go and simultaneously take in the splendor of the south of France in springtime and a brilliant comprised list of film programming. A girl can dream. Here are some of the highlights from the 2013 Cannes Film Festival including photos, trailers, a summary of critic reviews, and the winners of the top prizes.
The 2013 Jurors
In order words, the award decision-makers…
Steven Spielberg (director), President of the Jury Daniel Auteuil (actor) Vidya Balan (actor) Naomi Kawase (director) Nicole Kidman (actress) Ang Lee (director) Cristian Mungiu (director) Lynne Ramsay (director) Christoph Waltz (actor)
Film Highlights
Some of high-profile films which represent some of our most anticipated and some which garnered a high profile after its Cannes premiere.
The Great Gatsby (opening selection) Opening night selections are usually the films with a certain cache behind them, ones that have been anticipated by many and have built in excitement. In this way, it was no surprise that Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby was chosen at the opening film. Recent Cannes festival openers have included Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris and Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom. However, open selections are also usually world premiere but the scheduled US release of Gatsby ahead of the festival didn’t deter the programming committee given into the spectacle that is Gatsby, which hasn’t been garnering much critical response either in the US or abroad.
Critical response (including my previous review for the US theaterical release): “Having watched this fantastically unthinking and heavy-handed adaptation, the opening gala of this year’s Cannes festival, I feel the only way to make it less subtle would be to let Michael Bay direct it. As it is, the task has fallen to Baz Luhrmann, the director of Moulin Rouge! and Australia, a man who can’t see a nuance without calling security for it to be thrown off his set.” - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)
Director Baz Luhrmann had a vision for The Great Gatsby; a fact that can not be denied. What can also be said is that Luhrmann chooses to overwhelm the senses rather than caress them. Gone is much of the carefully paced momentum that allowed us to fall into the rhythm of the words of the wonderful F. Scott Fitzgerald and in its place is heavy-handed interpretation that is more spectacle than substance. Luhrmann and Gatsby become one and the same - men with vast imaginations that have trouble fitting into the confines of reality and overtaking even the best of intentions.” - Shala Thomas (Life Between Films)
Director Baz Luhrmann had a vision for The Great Gatsby; a fact that can not be denied. What can also be said is that Luhrmann chooses to overwhelm the senses rather than caress them. Gone is much of the carefully paced momentum that allowed us to fall into the rhythm of the words of the wonderful F. Scott Fitzgerald and in its place is heavy-handed interpretation that is more spectacle than substance. Luhrmann and Gatsby become one and the same - men with vast imaginations that have trouble fitting into the confines of reality and overtaking even the best of intentions. My Grade: C
The story itself is one that has been revisited in many film forms. It describes the attitudes and atmosphere of the 1920s New York City through the eyes of Midwestern-born aspiring writer Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) who moves to fictional West Egg in order to learn the bonds business and make a decent living. It is there that he reconnects with fellow Yale grad, the old-moneyed Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton) and his beautiful wife Daisy (Carey Mulligan) as well as meeting some new people in the New York City elite, including Daisy’s good friend, golf pro Jordan Baker (Elizabeth Debicki). Soon, Nick becomes embroiled in the affairs of his neighbor Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), an enigma who first enters Nick’s life as a shadowy figure outside on the docks and then through widespread talk of the extremely lavish parties that Gatsby has a tendency to throw.
“Gatsby? What Gatsby?” No one really knows who Gatsby really is, not even the hundreds that flock to his mansion to take part in the parties and debauchery. For most, he is more myth than man, residing as the star of colorful tales in the minds and hushed gossip of the people around him. But Nick comes to know him like no other, becoming a pawn in Gatsby’s quest to relive his past and win back Daisy from the cruel and unfaithful Tom. You see, Gatsby has always strived to build the wealth and prestige for himself he dreamed of as a boy; it becomes somewhat of an inconvenience five years prior that he met and fell in love with Daisy before she met Tom. Now, being with Daisy is the motivation for everything he does, spurning on an obsessive hope that threatens to consume him.
No matter if it turns out to be a hit, is bombed by critics and audiences, or falls somewhere in between, one thing is for sure, The Great Gatsby, the reimagining of the great F. Scott Fitzgerld American classic novel by the king of glitzy stylized film aesthetic Baz Luhrmann, is one of the most anticipated movies this year. Anyone who has read the novel can contend that it is a story that smartly delves into the complexities of love, obsession, betrayal, financial status, and social appearances. While we wait for the wide film release, here are some of the best novel to film adaptations starring the cast of The Great Gatsby:
Leo DiCaprio (Jay Gatsby)
Revolutionary Road (2008) It was the movie that reconnected Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet after the massive cinematic hit Titanic. Based on the 1961 novel of the same name written by Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road depicts a married couple, the Wheelers, clinging to what is expected of them regarding ideals of family and career in the American society of the 1950s. We watch as their marriage slowly comes apart at the seams as they come to realize their hopes and dreams of an exciting life which once fueled their love are slowly becoming lost to them. Becoming the embodiment of a man unhappy in his marriage and career, restless with his own dissatisfaction, DiCaprio gives us his interpretation of the character of Frank Wheeler. And as Frank becomes defined by his many affairs and big talk of changing for the better, Leo DiCaprio showed us he can bring a sort of dignity to an otherwise undignified man. Though most of the accolades for performances that year went to Winslet (as wife April Wheeler) and Michael Shannon (as their mentally-disturbed yet surprisingly astute son of their neighbor John Givings), Leo DiCaprio did earn a Golden Globe nomination for his efforts.
*See also Leo DiCaprio’s take on another literary character, U.S. Marshall Daniels, in the great psychological thriller Shutter Island (2010) directed by Martin Scorsese.
Here is a list of mainstream but mostly independent releases that represent the films I most want to see and/or the films I would recommend to others. As always, check back in my Film Calendar section to see related blog posts on these films after I see them.
[May 10]
The Great Gatsby: The reimagining of the great F. Scott Fitzgerld American classic novel by the king of glitzy stylized film aesthetic Baz Luhrmann. One of the movies of 2013 I have been really waiting for. Anticipate this.
… ‘cuz Leonardo DiCaprio’s downfall from the lavish life is imminent.
Previous blog posts and promotion from around the ‘net on my most anticipated film of 2013, the upcoming The Great Gatsby:
Watch this: My favorite trailer for The Great Gatsby
See this: Gatsby (DiCaprio) and Daisy (Carey Mulligan) in a promo photo from The Great Gatsby and more pictures at the new The Great Gatsby tumblr site.
Hear this: Jack White’s cover of U2’s “Love is Blindness” for the soundtrack… you can also read the whole soundtrack listing for the movie and hear samples of all the songs
Want this: Prada designed costumes for The Great Gatsby.. and for the men, the film-inspired Brooks Brothers collection.
Note this: Who loved, killed, desired who as illustrated in a character map
Read this: The best quotes from the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel… or better yet, read the whole novel online… or still better yet, have Jake Gyllenhaal read it to you.
[From the uniquely imaginative mind of writer/producer/director Baz Luhrmann comes the new big screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, which follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan. It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of thehis cousin, Daisy, and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan. It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super-rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.]
I’m still crushed that this movie was pushed back and that I have to wait until May 2013 to see The Great Gatsby (starring an impressive cast headed my two of my favorites - Leo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan) but I will have to contend with this newly released still from the movie to go along with the great stylized trailer that marries contemporary pop culture and music to this classic work of literature (see: Baz Luhrman’s other works including Romeo+Juliet). Anyone who has read the book (I can say that now as I read it a few months back in anticipation for the film; it was such a great read) can contend that the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy is one that smartly delves into the complexities of love, obsession, betrayal, financial status, and social appearances. Truly, love is blindness.You can also see a first look photo of the cast here.
![2013 Cannes Wrap-Up
May 15th-26th marked the 66th annual Cannes Film Festival, pretty much the most famous and exclusive film festival in the world (the only one not opened to the public at large, only press and local residents). Maybe one day I’ll be able to go and simultaneously take in the splendor of the south of France in springtime and a brilliant comprised list of film programming. A girl can dream. Here are some of the highlights from the 2013 Cannes Film Festival including photos, trailers, a summary of critic reviews, and the winners of the top prizes.
The 2013 Jurors
In order words, the award decision-makers…
Steven Spielberg (director), President of the Jury Daniel Auteuil (actor) Vidya Balan (actor) Naomi Kawase (director) Nicole Kidman (actress) Ang Lee (director) Cristian Mungiu (director) Lynne Ramsay (director) Christoph Waltz (actor)
Film Highlights
Some of high-profile films which represent some of our most anticipated and some which garnered a high profile after its Cannes premiere.
The Great Gatsby (opening selection)Opening night selections are usually the films with a certain cache behind them, ones that have been anticipated by many and have built in excitement. In this way, it was no surprise that Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby was chosen at the opening film. Recent Cannes festival openers have included Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris and Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom. However, open selections are also usually world premiere but the scheduled US release of Gatsby ahead of the festival didn’t deter the programming committee given into the spectacle that is Gatsby, which hasn’t been garnering much critical response either in the US or abroad.
Critical response (including my previous review for the US theaterical release): “Having watched this fantastically unthinking and heavy-handed adaptation, the opening gala of this year’s Cannes festival, I feel the only way to make it less subtle would be to let Michael Bay direct it. As it is, the task has fallen to Baz Luhrmann, the director of Moulin Rouge! and Australia, a man who can’t see a nuance without calling security for it to be thrown off his set.” - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian) Director Baz Luhrmann had a vision for The Great Gatsby; a fact that can not be denied. What can also be said is that Luhrmann chooses to overwhelm the senses rather than caress them. Gone is much of the carefully paced momentum that allowed us to fall into the rhythm of the words of the wonderful F. Scott Fitzgerald and in its place is heavy-handed interpretation that is more spectacle than substance. Luhrmann and Gatsby become one and the same - men with vast imaginations that have trouble fitting into the confines of reality and overtaking even the best of intentions.” - Shala Thomas (Life Between Films)
[[MORE]]
Fruitvale Station First time filmmaker Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station, which first gained acclaimed at Sundance 2103 after winning the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award, played in the Un Certain Regard section Cannes and won the Avenir Prize (Prize of the Future) award. This film which charts the real life final day in the life of slain 22-year old Oscar Grant. I did see this film at Sundance and personally think it will be one of the best films released this year; I even spotlighted it in my list of five independent films to watch for in 2013. Critical response (including my previous review from Sundance 2013): “We know that one way or another Oscar is destined to run aground, either as a result of his hair-trigger temper, a trigger-happy cop or some grisly combination thereof. But Coogler’s skill is in showing how he gets there, how life is precarious and how disaster can blow in almost out of nowhere, surprising even the perpetrator himself.” - Xan Brooks (The Guardian)
“It was like poetry on-screen brought to us by 26 year old, first time filmmaker Ryan Coogler, who possibly used his youth and background to identify with this young man and craft this movie as though we are walking together with Oscar Grant.” - Shala Thomas (Life Between Films)
—> Watch the trailer for Fruitvale Station here
Inside Llewyn Davis Are you ready for more dark comedy stylings from the Coen Brothers? The Cannes crowd certainly were. They embraced this film about the eponymous folk singer/songwriter through his struggles in New York’s Greenwich Village in the early 1960s, loosely based on the 2005 memoir “The Mayor of Macdougal Street” by the Davis’ godfather Dave Von Ronk. The film seems to have everything you would want - a deadpan Carey Mulligan, a duet with Adam Driver and Justin Timberlake, and . Inside Lewlyn Davis was so highly revered that the film won the Grand Prix award.
Critical response:“Definitely a bit darker than people might expect, particularly in the latter stages, Inside Llewyn Davis celebrates those whose moment at fame will forever be a phantom. Llewyn Davis is endlessly striving, gets knocked down and picks himself up again, brushes off his rumpled clothes and gives it another go. He’ll make mistakes, he’ll fuck up, he’ll be down and out and perhaps even on top if ever so briefly. But when that light goes on, and you can connect for even four minutes on stage, in a club you’ve played hundreds of times, sometimes that’s enough.” - Kevin Jageranauth (The Playlist)
“The film is open-ended and deliberately confounds our expectations at every turn. It’s as mercurial as its own lead character, who can seem like a self-pitying, aggressive bore one moment and sing like an angel the next.” - Geoffery Macnab (The Independent)
—> Watch the trailer for Inside Llewyn Davis here.
As I Lay Dying Directing and starring the film adaption of the William Faulkner novel As I Lay Dying is just something else James Franco does instead of sleeping. The story follows the death of matriarch Addie Bundren and her family’s quest and motivations to honor her wish to be buried where she wanted. Franco plays Darl, the second oldest of her five children and predominate narrator of the story. Critical response: “The actors are generally surprisingly solid, with one conspicuous exception: Franco himself, who might have been too busy on set to concentrate on his work as an actor and/or to direct himself properly. It doesn’t help, of course, that he’s the only really famous face among his on screen colleagues.” - Boyd van Hoeij (Indiewire)
“Ultimately, As I Lay Dying is another Franco lark that is more of an experiment with form than a fully realized movie. One almost gets the sense that Franco is working out ideas with As I Lay Dying, with the goal of creating a cohesive film as a secondary ambition to simply capturing the feel of Faulkner’s prose.” - Kevin Jagernauth (The Playlist)
Continue Reading —> Filmophilia.com](http://24.media.tumblr.com/a2af803ea57718396ede51533eb25cc4/tumblr_mniuneZsWk1r64wh6o1_500.jpg)
High-res
Revolutionary Road (2008)
![“The Great Gatsby”
[From the uniquely imaginative mind of writer/producer/director Baz Luhrmann comes the new big screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, which follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan. It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the his cousin, Daisy, and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan. It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super-rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.]
I’m still crushed that this movie was pushed back and that I have to wait until May 2013 to see The Great Gatsby (starring an impressive cast headed my two of my favorites - Leo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan) but I will have to contend with this newly released still from the movie to go along with the great stylized trailer that marries contemporary pop culture and music to this classic work of literature (see: Baz Luhrman’s other works including Romeo+Juliet). Anyone who has read the book (I can say that now as I read it a few months back in anticipation for the film; it was such a great read) can contend that the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy is one that smartly delves into the complexities of love, obsession, betrayal, financial status, and social appearances. Truly, love is blindness. You can also see a first look photo of the cast here.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/15c7ad91523cafbef9e0ede39030e4d7/tumblr_mf15z5MTuU1r64wh6o1_500.jpg)
