Kicking The Cannes

By Kimberly Gadette (doddleNEWS)

For the 69 years of the Cannes Film Festival, it’s always a toss-up as to where the most engaging drama will occur. Will it be on-screen? Or off?

Between anti-terrorist military actions, controversy, critical reactions, incendiary films and head-shaking awards, this year it was the off-screen drama that took the cake. Or, in Cannes parlance, the Palme d’Or. (More on that particular award later.)

WarGames:

Prior to the beginning of the 69th Annual Cannes Film Festival, in preparation of potential terrorist attacks, the city staged a shoot-em’-up action in the streets that was reminiscent of the best of Bourne, Rambo and Bond. The multi-terror scenario utilized volunteers to play “dead” on the main boulevard (the Croisette), detonated car bombs outside the festival’s main headquarters (the Palais), and employed a band of masked gunmen to rush the red carpet. Cannes hired an additional 500 professionally trained security agents.

Other than the loud jeering heard from the theaters, all was quiet.

A-List Dust-Ups:

Woody Allen’s third, record-setting time to have his film chosen as the festival’s curtain raiser wasn’t exactly the same old, same old. During Cannes’ opening night, prior to the premiere of Mr. Allen’s Café Society, Master of Ceremonies Laurent Lafitte addressed Mr. Allen by remarking, “You’ve shot so many of your films here in Europe and yet in the U.S. you haven’t even been convicted of rape.”

And then it got worse. About an hour prior to Allen’s promotional news conference for the film, The Hollywood Reporter published a column written by Allen’s son, Ronan Farrow, in which he blamed the news media of choosing to ignore the rape accusations made against Allen by Farrow’s sister Dylan.

Café Society, while pleasantly received, suddenly took a backseat to Allen’s never-ending scandal. Maybe he should make a bio-pic about it. And, of course, have it debut at Cannes.

Stepping away from the above, Money Monster star Julia Roberts decided to flaunt her bare tootsies in reaction to last year’s “Heel Gate,” in which women were turned away because they were wearing flats,”violating the dress code.” Though the festival ultimately, um, shooed away the rule last year, Roberts chose to hold Cannes’ feet to the fire. Taking Roberts’ lead, Kristen Stewart opted to walk the walk on the red carpet, outfitted in Chanel and a snappy pair of sneakers. May no one dare utter the words, “Heel thyself.”

By the Numbers:

Every year, as critics, journalists and industry professionals make their way into the Palais for the early morning screening, it’s a time-honored custom to grab a fresh morning copy of the international publication of Screen International/Screen Daily in order to scan the “Jury Grid.” This grid reflects the opinions of approximately a dozen elite international critics who have rated the prior day’s film on a scale between 1 to 4 stars. Along with the individual ratings, the average score is calculated.

Looking at the worst, the best and the great divide between the critics and the Cannes Feature Film Jury headed by George Miller:

- For Sean Penn’s The Last Face (white international aid workers struggle to sustain a romantic relationship in war-ravaged Africa), the jeers and boos were often interrupted by derisive laughter. Per one critic, “a stunningly self-important but numbingly empty cocktail of romance and insulting refugee porn.” The film recorded a 13-year low on the Grid with eight X’s (i.e., no stars whatsoever). Screen Daily’s Jury Grid final score: 0.2

- For Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon (a tale of cannibal fashion models in L.A.), one critic shouted “Trash!” as the lights came up. It includes a lengthy necrophilia masturbation scene, eyeball-eating and menstrual floods. Per Refn on describing his direction of a particular scene, “Can‎ you stick your tongue in the mouth of the actor playing a corpse? Can you get more saliva on her? And after that, we found the character.” Screen Daily’s Jury Grid final score: 1.5

- For Xavier Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World (über family dysfunction occurs when a terminally ill writer returns home to announce his impending death), the aspersions flew fast and furious. Among the critics’ reactions: “the least endurable film in competition.” Per Variety’s Owen Gleiberman, “endless close-ups that are like metastasizing selfies,” and further, “should be shown in film schools all over the globe as a quintessential example of how not to do it.” Screen Daily’s Jury Grid final score: 1.4

And yet: Dolan received the Cannes Grand Prix (second place) award. Per L.A. Times’ Kenneth Turan: “In my 11 years of attending Cannes I cannot recall a worse jury decision than this one.” Manohla Dargis of The New York Times reported that as the award was presented, the press – watching the live feed from an adjoining theater – booed throughout Dolan’s acceptance speech.

- For Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann (a comic family drama, somewhat inspired by comedian Andy Kaufman), the critical community was over the moon. The film not only received the highest score on the Jury Grid, a 3.7 out of a possible 4, but registered the highest rating in the Grid’s history. The consensus was that this breakout film would most definitely win the top prize of the Palme d’Or.

And yet: The Cannes Jury bypassed Toni Erdmann altogether.

Instead, the Palme d’Or went to Ken Loach for I, Daniel Blake (a 59-year-old carpenter with a heart condition fights a Kafka-esque bureaucracy in order to hold onto his welfare benefits). Yet the critics gave it a lukewarm reception. Per the Jury Grid, it came in tied at 11th place, with a score of 2.4.

Note that this was Loach’s second Palme d’Or (prior to The Wind That Shakes the Barley), and his 16th appearance at Cannes. So much for new faces.

However, there is a bright spot: In the secondary “Un Certain Regard” competition, the Best Director award went to Matt Ross for his sophomore feature, Captain Fantastic. Starring Viggo Mortenson, the movie has been described as Little Miss Sunshine meets The Swiss Family Robinson. Much about this movie is unusual, if not fantastic. Such as the fact that the film made the rare trajectory from Sundance to Cannes; that this is the filmmaker’s debut entry into the festival; and that writer/director Ross is also a well-known actor (Silicon Valley‘s Gavin Belson; Big Love‘s Alby Grant). Finally, in this contentious year, the award and the enthusiastic reception were in perfect accord.

Cannes 2016 is indeed in the can. Dare we hope for better in 2017?