Cannes Sunset

No Country for Old Men

The 60th Cannes Film Festival has nearly come to an end. The bright red carpet is dimmed by innumerable celeb footsteps, the hired tuxedo have been returned to the boutiques on the Croisette. But the Closing Gala is just round the corner and everyone is eager to know which film will win this year’s Palme d’Or.

Most of the films have caused a sensation and stirred mixed opinions, above all Tarantino’s Grindhouse segment Death Proof, hailed by some as creative and intelligent, bashed by others as misogynistic and self-indulgent.

At the press conference lead actor Kurt Russell complained that Grindhouse is being sold as two separate films (this by Tarantino and Planet Terror by buddy Robert Rodriguez), wishing the audience could get the whole experience; prompting producer Harvey Weinstein to jump on his seat and enumerate the assets of the two segments as works with own personalities. Even Cannes-darling Wong Kar-wai’s much awaited My Blueberry Nights polarized the critics, who called it either inspiring or plain boring; but Wong is not new to these reactions, since his 2046 had the same welcoming on the Croisette three years ago.

But there are a few films that much of the press agrees on. In competition, heart-wrenching drama 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days by Cristian Mungiu confirms the power of the New Wave of Romania: a girl helps a friend to have a necessary abortion; but this is illegal in 1987 Romania and exposes the two girls to all kinds of risk.

The clarity of the sombre mise en scene and the gripping story make the film intense and almost painful to watch (also thanks to a graphic scene of a foetus)

A totally different but equally valid work is the brothers Coen’s comeback after the disappointing The Ladykillers: their latest No Country For Old Men is a ballsy, gutsy, bloody noir taken from the homonymous novel by Cormac McCarthy and stars Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem.

After a drug deal goes seriously wrong, two dangerous villains are after the same bag of dollars. As one can expect from the Coens, this crime thriller is sprinkled with black humour and recalls the heyday of Fargo: but will it convince the jury?

All will be revealed tomorrow.

So to other parts of the festival: these films may not compete for the big award, yet show an original and compelling view of the world.

At the Director’s Fortnight Anton Corbijn’s Control; Corbijn, a celebrated music video director for U2 and Depeche Mode, makes his debut in features with an uncompromising biopic of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis played by Sam Riley.

The film takes the baton from 24 Hours Party People, turns it black and white - and tragic, and makes Britain big in Cannes. The UK is also represented by Michael Winterbottom and his A Mighty Heart, out of competition: many eyebrows raised when he decided to cast Angelina Jolie as Mariane Pearl, but the Hollywood superstar proves a sensitive actress and Winterbottom’s direction is focused and powerful as always. Two highlights from the section Un Certain Regard: the first is The Flight Of The red Balloon, a risky but ultimately poetic project by Hou Hsian Hsien, shot in Paris and featuring a radiant Juliette Binoche as a puppet theatre master. But the real protagonist is the red balloon, followed by the camera and bearing witnesses to the minutae of human behaviour. The other: is You, The Living by Swedish maestro Roy Andersson. Whereas his second to last work Songs From The Second Floor mixed tragedy and comedy, here his view of mankind is strictly comedic if drowned in a pseudo-expressionist image composition. A bizarre masterwork.

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