In the Cannes

IN COMPETTION - FEATURE FILMS
Palme d'Or
ENTRE LES MURS by Laurent Cantet

Grand Prix
GOMORRA by Matteo Garrone

Prize of the 61st Festival de Cannes
Catherine Deneuve for UN CONTE DE NOËL by Arnaud DESPLECHIN
Clint Eastwood for L’ÉCHANGE (The Exchange)

Award for the Best Director
ÜÇ MAYMUN (Three Monkeys / Les Trois Singes) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Jury PrizeIL
DIVO by Paolo Sorrentino

Prix d'interprétation masculine (Best Actor)
Benicio Del Toro for CHE by Steven SODERBERGH

Best Performance for an Actress
Sandra Corveloni for LINHA DE PASSE by Walter SALLES, Daniela THOMAS

Award for the Best Screenplay
LE SILENCE DE LORNA by Jean-Pierre et Luc DARDENNE


IN COMPETTION - SHORT FILMS
Palme d'Or
MEGATRON by Marian Crisan

Jury Prize
JERRYCAN by Julius Avery

CAMERA D'OR
HUNGER by Steve McQueen (Un Certain Regard)


UN CERTAIN REGARD
Un Certain Regard Prize
TULPAN by Sergey Dvortsevoy

Jury Prize
TOKYO SONATA by Kurosawa Kiyoshi

I'm a big fan of Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Seance, Bright Future, Doppelganger). Nice to see the bigwigs think he's award-worthy but is he still trending toward goofy comedy and away from those crazy intense thrillers? I like the humorous touches of his films and his oeuvre in general but I don't speak Japanese and wit often fails to translate (my best guess as to Pulse). And his thrillers are tight and creepy when the Japanese tendency has already Hollywood-ed itself into overkill.

Do the Dardenne Brothers win every year? And I take it that's not the Steve McQueen that's dead?

Benicio Del Toro's award-winning performance will have to wait for the DVD, apparently the 4 hour cut that played Cannes won't be making the rounds at your local cinema. Will the DVD be a sought-after classic or dud on arrival? With Soderbergh that could go either way, huh?

Laurent Cantet's The Class takes the top prize, the first time since 1987 a French film has won. And before you go 'wait a minute, the Dardenne Brothers win every fuckin' year!--oh yeah, they're Beligan. The last French film to win was Maurice Pailat's Under the Sun of Satan, a film I caught a few years back in one of my viddy store tours of duty. The premise was interesting: A priest (Gerard Depardieu) has the ability to heal but rather than using it for good, he thinks its a sign from Satan. No, he doesn't become a carefree cat burglar rather he sits around and feels sorry for himself because of this 'gift'. The film was pretty boring, as I recall, lots of brooding and soundtrack swells and never developed any action, visual style or intriguing ideas. Hopefuly Cantet's work is better than that. Never seen any of Cantet's films, though Time Out has been on my gonna-watch list for years.