Do the Cannes-Cannes!!
Speaking of Summer…
Every year around this time, I tell this at least once: the Cannes Film Festival is pronounced Can Film Festival; and if someone pronounces it Con Film Festival, they’re pretentious and ignorant; and if anyone puts an S on, they’re just ignorant.
Now, in the past, I’ve pronounced it a number of ways, all of the above. But when I read this, and then made a tally of who pronounced it how, finding that the most respectable seemed to agree - a window was opened, I was in the know, I was part of it. A little bit.
A window, yeah. I look out greedily. This time of year, I dream of Cannes. It’s like a paradise to me. I gobble up the stories, I drool over pictures, I crave the movies. The beaches, the cameras, the red carpets, the American celebrities, the British celebrities, the French celebrities, the Danish celebrities , the warm air, the cafes, the food, the overflowing hotels, the million languages, the parties and parties and parties, the wheeling and dealing, the press screenings, the formal showings in the Lumiere. I’m salivating.
For the rest of the year, Cannes is usually just a reference for me - oh yeah, this was a big splash, so-and-so won this award, this got a thirty minute standing O. But right now? Right now, I can’t get it out of my mind. I want to BE there.
Did you hear about Antichrist, the new Lars von Trier flick? A movie about a grieving husband and wife torturing each other horrifyingly in a place called Eden? Have you seen the trailer? Oh my god. I cannot wait to see this. Some people HATE this movie. And the rest really don’t seem to know what to think other than to say that the actors (Willem Dafoe being one) are fearless and brave and so on.
I can imagine the feeling of being in one of those screenings, being assaulted so wildly by one of the most visceral of modern directors. I know I probably won’t enjoy it - von Trier does not make movies to be enjoyed. But I know that I will never forget the experience. I want it now.
Did you hear about the movie from the Philippines Kinatay that was hated hated hated by EVERYBODY, but then went on to win for best direction?
I want to hear more about Inglourious Basterds without hearing too much. I love that a movie like that from a director like that is the biggest splash.
I love the that the thing opened with Pixar’s Up - which opens tomorrow!!
I want to hear more about Thirst - the vampire movie from Chan-Wook Park whose Oldboy I think is an explosive masterpiece. It was booed for winning. So was Kinatay. The press corps at Cannes? They boo. All the time. Isn’t that great?
Anyone can read about being at Cannes, but I want to be there. Anyone can go to see the movies in Toronto or at Sundance - but only the winners, the big-timers, the sharks, the international superstars, the cream of the crop press, the extraordinarily assiduous nobodies…or the Europeans…can experience Cannes.
