Author: Robert Koehler

Cannes 2010 Awards: The Future of Cinema Wins

Commentary, Film festival

By Robert Koehler

You would have to go back to either 1999–when the Dardennes won for Rosetta–or 1997–when Abbas Kiarostami won for Taste of Cherry in a tie with Imamura Shohei for The Eel and when Tim Burton was a member of the jury–to find a Palme d’Or winner quite as satisfying and unconventional as tonight’s prize for Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s endlessly inventive, mystical and funny Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.

Going in, there were plenty of concerns about a jury comprised of such wildly disparate personalities as Tim Burton, Victor Erice, Alberto Barbera, Benicio Del …

Read more

Cannes 2010: Before the Awards

Commentary, Film festival

By Robert Koehler

Less than an hour before the announcement of the Palme and other prizes, rumors are swirling over possible winners based on sightings of who’s in Cannes….and who’s not.

In the latter category, count Mike Leigh, which makes Another Year unlikely to win any prizes. Based on who has returned or stayed in Cannes, look to the following as strong contenders for awards: Apichatpong for his masterpiece on Monkey Ghosts, catfish, rookie monks who can see themselves and the infinite recyclings of life, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (pictured above); Xavier Beauvois for the widely …

Read more

Cannes 2010: Favorites

Film festival

Robert Koehler submitted his favorite titles to Fotogramas‘ Manu Yáñez:

Competition:
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Poetry
Des Hommes et des dieux

Out of Competition:
The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaucescu
Carlos (based on viewing the first 100 minutes)

Special Screenings:
Chantrapas

Un Certain Regard:
The Strange Case of Angelica
Tuesday, After Christmas
Aurora
I Wish I Knew
Film Socialisme

Quinzaine:
Le Quattro Volte
Todos vós sodes capitáns

Semaine:
Belle épine
Rubber

ACID:
Cuchillo de Palo / 108…

Read more

Cannes 2010: Day Godard

Film festival, Film review

By Robert Koehler

Jean-Luc Godard (and his Les Inrocks interview) marked the starting point for this year’s Cannes blogging, partly because I anticipated that his Film Socialisme would certainly be one of the major films at the festival. It is that, and more, since the film’s impact will long outlast the mere week and a half of Cannes. Godard retains his tendency to upset conservative-minded critics, such as the army of Anglo-Saxon writers (with the anticipated exceptions like the New York Times‘ Manohla Dargis) who continue to refuse to allow that the movies can be anything more than be …

Read more

Cannes 2010: Day 4

Film festival

By Robert Koehler

German director Christoph Hochhausler–whose name Thierry Fremaux struggled with in the introduction seen here–disappoints with his Un Certain Regard film, Under the City. It’s the first misstep in one of the most interesting careers among those filmmakers which have been (correctly in Hochhausler’s case) associated with the Berlin School. But Under the City represents a retreat, I think, into the kind of bland, bloodless drama which dominated German cinema a decade ago. The depiction of corporate life in Frankfurt, the elements of a (thoroughly unmotivated) affair and a mechanical dramatic structure creates a curiously vacuous experience. …

Read more

Cannes 2010: Day 3

Film festival

By Robert Koehler

(Click on the thumbnails for larger pictures.)

A view of the Palais red stairs before the madness begins on day three.

The cast and crew of Cristi Puiu’s Aurora assembles on the Debussy stage with Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux. (Very tiny, for sure; this iPhone lacks telephoto.) Aurora isn’t in the black comic vein of Puiu’s The Death of Mr. Lazarescu or Stuff & Dough–it tracks the initially inexplicable behavior and actions of a man who works at a metal factory, and yet doesn’t seem to live exactly anywhere, yet also has multiple addresses he …

Read more