As one of the most highly anticipated film festivals on the planet — the Olympics of cinema as it were — each spring the looming arrival of the Cannes Film Festival line-up brings with it a near feeding frenzy of anticipation (except for those actually awaiting the summer tentpole season).
But the Cannes line-up which was announced this morning, is generally divided into two sections: 1) the pre-announcement speculation which always makes the festival sound like its going to have every titan of cinema on board and 2) the reality of the situation which is the slightly less awesome line-up announced this a.m. This generally leads to the thinking that “XYZ director/film got snubbed!” when its simply more of a case of the trades making much ado about nothing, and/or simply talking a certain film up too much.
Regardless, let’s look at some “awol” filmmakers and what may have happened to their selections. And lastly, let’s not forget that there are three remaining Cannes competition slots open, likely being saved for filmmakers that are trying to finish up on time. And while some of these could potentially snap up those few spots, most of them likely will not, here’s why.
David Cronenberg‘s “A Dangerous Method”
The absence of this drama about the friendship, rivalry and love triangle between Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and a mentally ill patient — Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender and Keira Knightley respectively — was once mentioned in connection to Cannes, but its “omission” is easy to track. Cronenberg is Canadian and the Toronto International Film Festival generally gently pressures their homegrown talent to debut their wares at home (Atom Egoyan does not debut films outside of Toronto International Film Festival any longer for example). Be sure to expect Jason Reitman‘s “Young Adult” drama at TIFF as well, being that he is also a Canuck and has debuted all his features there so far.
Final Verdict For Potential Arrival At Cannes: No way
Wong Kar Wai‘s “The Grandmaster“
The notoriously slow and methodical Wong Kar Wai, somewhat akin to the Hong Kong version of Terrence Malick given his slow pace of shooting and editing films, famously delivered a dripping wet print of “2046” in 2004 and legend has it one of the last reels was still being shipped on a train while the first reel of the film was playing to audiences. His delivery was right down to the wire. Similarly, the filmmaker has been working on and seemingly toiling away at shooting his martial arts epic starring Tony Leung for what feels like forever. The film was delayed countless times and was still filming early into the new year in what appeared to be fits and starts. Rumored for Cannes, it soon became apparent there was no way the picture would be finished in time, with Wong Kar Wai still tinkering away. It’s possible the film may arrive during the fall film festivals, but like Malick’s incessant toying, we’ll believe it when we actually see it.
Final Verdict For Potential Arrival At Cannes: Nope
Brilliante Mendoza‘s “Captured“
Filipino film director Brillante Mendoza has made a whopping ten films since 2005 and his 2009 picture “Kinatay” won the award for Best Director at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival despite the fact that half the audience walked out during each of its screenings. His latest stars that year’s jury president Isabelle Huppert, geez, do we need to even go any further? The picture tells the true story of a French woman (Huppert) who worked for a humanitarian organization on Palawan Island in the Philippines only to be kidnapped by mistake along with a colleague, while transporting equipment to Puerto Princesa, by the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf, who are fighting for Mindanao independence. So let’s see, it can’t be any worse than “Kinatay” which never even received the smallest kind of U.S. distribution, it features a beloved Cannes director and a beloved Cannes actress and jury head.
Final Verdict For Potential Arrival At Cannes: Hell yes. This will likely grab one of the third slots if unless it’s not ready. Filming only wrapped in March so it’s possible the film won’t be done on time, but Mendoza is obviously quite fast and will have until mid-May to be ready for Cannes.
Alexander Payne‘s “The Descendants“
Some are asking why Payne’s George Clooney starrer “The Descendants” is missing from the Cannes line-up, but frankly, the chances of it debuting at Cannes in the first place are slim. Fox Searchlight will already have its hands full with “The Tree of Life” and “Martha Marcy May Marlene” (which is also in competition) and since the film is already set for a December 16th bow in the U.S., it’s Oscar-bound, so there’s likely no way that Searchlight was letting it out of the bag this early (while many assume “Tree Of Life” is an Oscar shoo-in as well, that’s actually not the case and it may be too experimental for the Academy, hence debuting the picture at Cannes). Toronto Film Festival seems like a smarter bet otherwise the buzz will be let out too soon.
Final Verdict For Potential Arrival At Cannes: Not a chance.
Micheal Haneke‘s “Love” (formerly known as “These Two“)
Again, the 2009 Cannes festival rears its head once more with Austrian minster of cinematic fear Michael Haneke whose “The White Ribbon” won the Palme d’Or for best film that year. His latest essentially centers on the humiliation and pain of growing old. Fun stuff, right? Typical of Haneke to explore the misery of barely being able to keep yourself alive. The picture focuses on a cultured octogenarian married couple and retired music teachers (Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva). Their daughter (Isabelle Huppert), also a musician, lives abroad with her family, but then has to attend to her mother after a minor stroke leaves her paralyzed down one side of her body. “The love that binds this old couple will really be put to the test” is apparently the description so prepare for ugly, bitter resentment. Again, fun stuff. “Love” was one of the early films that Cannes director Thierry Frémaux was eyeing, but then there were discussions that the film wasn’t quite ready.
Final Verdict For Potential Arrival At Cannes: Undoubtedly something the Cannes selection committee is waiting on. Whether it’s ready on time is another story.
Yorgos Lanthimos‘ “Alps“
Greek filmmaker Lanthimos’ pitch-black, twisted and disturbing/funny “Dogtooth” was the hit of the Un Certain Regard section winning the top prize there and with great reason. It announced the arrival of a filmmaker who turned into must-watch on only his second-length feature. His follow-up, “Alps,” stars “Dogtooth” actress Aggeliki Papoulia, and chronicles “a group of people who agree to stand in for the lost loved ones of others, replicating their behavior and gestures, ostensibly to help with grieving.” Okay, whatever that means, but the director did say the film would be darker and more extreme than “Dogtooth” which is saying a lot.
Final Verdict For Potential Arrival At Cannes: There’s a strong chance he very well may be one of the three Cannes is waiting for.
Well, this appears to be a one-line synopsis of some official stature. Still quite vague but definitely sounds … um … Ki-Dukian?
\”of course cannes plays films that have been released outside of france (actually, it’s just the other way around: it can’t play films that have already played someplace else in france).\”
That isn\’t what I meant at all. I meant it won\’t take a film that\’s already opened outside its country of origin. If \”The Turin Horse\” had already played in Hungary, even as a commercial release, Cannes would still take it. But playing in another country rules it out. This was the whole issue behind the \”Tree of Life\” UK release fiasco — opening in the UK ahead of the festival would put it in violation of Cannes\’ rules. But Fox could open it in the U.S. today and it would still be okay.
(note this applies to the official selection, it\’ll almost certainly be shown in the market)
\”What about Bela Tarr’s The Turin Horse? That premiered at Berlin, but won’t it play other festivals as well? Why wouldn’t it come to Cannes?\”
Cannes won\’t take a film that\’s already played outside its home country. I\’m pretty sure Berlin and Venice won\’t either.
@thomas Not exactly true. \”Blue Valentine\” played Sundance before going to Cannes.
of course cannes plays films that have been released outside of france (actually, it\’s just the other way around: it can\’t play films that have already played someplace else in france). most famously nanni moretti\’s \”stanza del figlio\” won the golden palm, although it had already been in general release in italy. what cannes can\’t (and would never) do is playing a film that had already been in the official selection of another a-festival. which cancels out tarr\’s movie.
cronenberg\’s \”a history of violence\” played in cannes, so no: cronenberg doesn\’t wait for toronto with his films (although \”eastern promises\” played there). actually, it\’s surprising that the film\’s not in cannes, being a european production and all (it\’s a well known fact that berlin wanted to have it and apparently had cronenberg on their side, who played \”existenz\” there, but were turned down by the producers or world sales agents or whoever – so everyone believed cannes had snapped it up).
What about Bela Tarr\’s The Turin Horse? That premiered at Berlin, but won\’t it play other festivals as well? Why wouldn\’t it come to Cannes?
thanks for the article. I am very excited to see where Brillante Mendoza will take his next movie \”Captured\”. In his last interview, he was not sure about the final title yet. However, he is quite prolific, so I have high hopes for its inclusion.
I hope it wont be as radical as Kinatay and Serbis. I feel that it will be more \”commercial-friendly\”, considering that it is prime time for the producers to bank on his talent, eh?
@ben It\’s called \”Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,\” by the way.
Thanks for the info Kevin!
Really looking forward to that movie!
Thanks, man
TTSS is in post-production and not expected to be finished until the fall.
anybody know any info on Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor?
I know, you wept up a storm. It\’s ok bro. :hug:
Yeah, I told my mom, too, and she didn\’t care either.
actually considering the length of the New Yorker article and the two side-bits we threw in there from that opus, it wasn\’t that much. If anything it helped promote something that the average movie reader wouldn\’t read. But it was amusing to see you posting that on Anne\’s site and to anyone who would listen.
There\’s nothing wrong with reading magazines and writing about them, there was just so MUCH of the New Yorker piece in The Playlist post(s), I was surprised you guys didn\’t just save time and photocopy the thing.
Read comments sections around the web, twitter and ours, people have been asking where certain films are and why they were snubbed. That\’s what spurned on this piece.
The alternate headline was 6 Filmmakers whose films may still debut at Cannes (or not). You can just pretend that\’s the headline if you like or you can\’t take up your complaint with the Internet Misleading Bureau that also doesn\’t allow people to read magazines and then write about them.
What \’bout Christophe Honoré\’s The Beloved?!
*is on anyone\’s mind.
I know you explain how none of these filmmakers WERE snubbed, but I still think the \”Snubbed?\” title is misleading, as it asks a question that I don\’t think anyone is on anyone\’s mind.
Do people really think Cronenberg, etc. got snubbed? I\’ve always thought these things were about scheduling.
Kevin Smith not getting in with \”Clerks\”, that was a snub. Or, really, common sense.
How about Lou Ye’s “Love and Bruises” ?
what’s wrong with this one ?