Hard to pick a favorite, as usual. While this film lover obviously didn’t get to see even close to all of the in competition flicks at the 2014 Festival de Cannes, we figured it wouldn’t hurt to do a quick tally on the ones that we did.
Kazakhstan meets Wes Anderson meets Napoleon Dynamite meets surrealism meets tragedy as three orphaned siblings struggle and fail to keep a roof over their heads. Everyone I was with hated this film. I quite liked it, mainly for it’s absurdist and surreal approach to tragedy. An art piece that’s as infuriating as it is hysterical.
Ken Loach shot this 1930’s Irish countryside drama on 35mm film. And that was about the best part of it, which was massively disappointing considering the rather important cultural and socio-economic themes at play. The potential was present for epic uprising and wind-swept romance, but what should’ve been massively dramatic and heart-wrenching moments repeatedly fell flat or missed the punch.
A woman tries to convince her co-workers to give up their end of year bonuses so that she can keep her job, and that is exactly what you get for 95 minutes as you witness in real time the struggle of a woman to keep her job while also keeping her dignity. A film of zero flare but also very few flaws, Marion Cotillard is solid, as is the film as a whole.
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby
Full disclosure: I hadn’t seen the other films in this trilogy. But with James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, and the beauty and tragedy found in films like Blue Valentine, you really can’t go wrong.
Run to a theatre. Be charmed, be haunted, be in awe of Tommy Lee Jones’ and Hillary Swank’s badassery.
The king of uncomfortable is at it again, but this time, with a horrifying set of fake teeth and a serious self worth problem. I was trying to remember if there was ever a movie or show Steve Carrell hadn’t made me feel uncomfortable in, and I came up blank. All discomfort aside, Carrell will and should get an Oscar nom, and the film is so beautifully and hauntingly put together, wouldn’t be surprised to see it in the lineup of Best Picture nominees come February.
This film was poorly reviewed (and I think I know why), but it was my favorite of the festival and I think is one of the more important films I’ve seen in the past 10 years. The film examines war and hatred from three different storylines, a young soldier, an orphaned boy, and a political ambassador trying to fight on the inside. To me, it was everything Zero Dark Thirty should’ve been but wasn’t – it was a strong but vulnerable female protagonist fighting for change, it was a young boy finding peace in a world of trauma, and it was a young man transforming from an innocent bystander into a ruthless killer. It wasn’t a perfect film, but had it not been for the existence of Annette Benning’s character, I think the film would’ve avoided a lot of the criticism it received for being preachy and melodramatic.
