Category: 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. …

By Robert Koehler

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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 …

By Robert Koehler

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Before I check out of the Grand Hotel, I look out the northern view from my room’s veranda balcony. The rain has faded away…

View from the balcony level, looking south to the sea, from the Grand Palais prior to the 8:30am screening of Wang Xiaoshuai’s Chongqing Blues, which drifted into sentimental bathos by the end of it’s humdrum playing time. It was a fairly inexplicable selection for the Competition, no better and no worse than most of Wang’s films to date….

As a further reminder to us all …

By Robert Koehler

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When traveling to Cannes for the festival, I enjoy taking the train straight from Paris De Gaulle (where The Volcano wasn’t interrupting flights, unlike several other Euro hubs) direct to Cannes. Via the French SNCF bullet train aka TGV, which gets you from point to point in a little over five hours. It lets me catch some zzzzz’s (nine time zones can mess you up), and read my favorite French magazine, Les Inrockuptibles. Even better, with Jean-Luc Godard on the cover. (Here’s the magazine, lying on my seat’s desk …

By Robert Koehler

And now Ladies and Gentlemen, your winners of the IndieLisboa 2010 grand prize: Josh and Benny Safdie, directors of Daddy Longlegs (as it’s known in the US) or Go Get Some Rosemary (in rest of world). After nearly a year since its premiere at the Quinzaine–where it was unjustly passed over for prizes–Josh and Benny’s first co-directed feature wins its first major award in Lisbon. It was my pleasure to announce our jury picks from the stage of Culturgest, and the brothers (as can be seen in the next photo) were over the moon with joy. What …