| Cannes Film Festival 1987 Jury President: Yves Montand Other Jurors: Theo Angelopoulos, Gerald Calderon, Daniele Heymann, Elem Klimov, Norman Mailer, Nicola Piovani, Jerzy Skolimowski, Jeremy Thomas |
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| Palme d'Or: | Under the Sun of Satan, France, dir. Maurice Pialat |
| Grand Jury Prize: | Repentance, Georgia, dir. Tenghiz Abuladze |
| Jury Prize: | Shinran: Path to Purity, Japan, dir. Rentarô Mikuni Yeelen (Brightness), Mali, dir. Souleymane Cissé |
| Best Director: | Wings of Desire, Wim Wenders |
| Best Actress: | Shy People, Barbara Hershey |
| Best Actor: | Dark Eyes, Marcello Mastroianni |
| Best Artistic Contribution: | Prick Up Your Ears, Stanley Myers, composer |
| Technical Grand Prize: | Le cinéma dans les yeux, France, dirs. Gilles Jacob & Laurent Jacob |
| 40th Anniversary Prize: | Intervista, Italy, dir. Federico Fellini |
| FIPRESCI/International Critics Prize: | Repentance, Georgia, dir. Tenghiz Abuladze |
| Prize of the Ecumenical Jury: | Repentance, Georgia, dir. Tenghiz Abuladze |
| Camera d'Or (first feature): | Robinsonada, or My English Grandfather, Georgia, dir. Nana Dzhordzhadze |
Competition Films I Have Seen:Ranked in order of preference
My Palme d'Or
Under the Sun of Satan (France, dir. Maurice Pialat) - Eerie, muscular, hypnotic. Conjures divinity as a fathomless mystery, cruel myth, and brute, tactile fact.
Wings of Desire (Germany, dir. Wim Wenders) - Stunningly nuanced lensing, boldly mytho-historical conception, subcutaneous tenderness. Grandiose but sublime.
Repentance (Georgia, dir. Tenghiz Abuladze) - Surreal-judicial epic of Soviet despotism flaunts real fire and gutsy conceptions despite rough patches, blunt last act
Dark Eyes (Italy/Russia, dir. Nikita Mikhalkov) - Handsome lensing and palette gratify even when they overpower thinnish story or erratic tone. Mastroianni in his element.
Yeelen (Brightness) (Mali, dir. Souleymane Cissé) - Odd blend of Africa for Export and defiant opacity, for better (mostly) and worse. Rhythms entrance. Iffy gender codes.
The Belly of an Architect (UK, dir. Peter Greenaway) - As ever, Greenaway's prodigious qualities give onto his ponderous demerits. Robust, ambitious, unwieldy.
Barfly (USA, dir. Barbet Schroeder) - Bukowski's poetics keep eluding screen translation, but full-circle structure pays off, as do Müller's, Dunaway's industry
Shy People (USA, dir. Andrei Konchalovsky) - As in Runaway Train, Konchalovsky gets some juice from his seedy, overwrought clichés, but the whole is still dubious.
Prick Up Your Ears (UK, dir. Stephen Frears) - Familiar Frears-y blend of intriguing off-rhythms and desultory construction. Oldman's good, Molina's overripe
The Glass Menagerie (USA, dir. Paul Newman) - Newman's professed desire to film the play as written yields a defensible but dutiful drama. The women thrive.
Aria (UK, dir. Miscellaneous) - Off-pitch. Grab bag never jells; some bits feel like real clinkers. Jarman, Godard, and crazy Ken Russell keep us interested.
Sidebar Selections I Have Seen:Ranked in order of preference
Something Wild (Out of Competition: USA, dir. Jonathan Demme) - Demme's still learning to ground antic energies, but deliciously loose Daniels and Griffith lead a colorful charge
Raising Arizona (Out of Competition: USA, dir. Joel Coen) - First third makes such blazing comic impression that manic, less charismatic remainder sails by on charm, goodwill
Matewan (Directors' Fortnight: USA, dir. John Sayles) -
Babette's Feast (Directors' Fortnight: Denmark, dir. Gabriel Axel) - A bit thin relative to its reputation, but an understandable popular favorite with rich flavors and candlelit tones
Un Zoo la nuit (Directors' Fortnight: Canada, dir. Jean-Claude Lauzon) - Neon, involving blend of Jacques Audiard and Atom Egoyan, evading obviousness or airlessness whenever they encroach
I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (Directors' Fortnight: Canada, dir. Patricia Rozema) - Mini-budgeted, gently eerie, gallery-set Canadian charmer is fun aunt to Cheryl Dunye, Miranda July
Street Smart (Directors' Fortnight: USA, dir. Jerry Schatzberg) - Direction, writing, feints at auto-critique all wobble. But study of self-debasement engages, and lead actors excel.
Radio Days (Out of Competition: USA, dir. Woody Allen) - After long, errant start—lame voice-over, stale jokes—film gradually coheres via rich look, tangy mix of ardor and rue.
The Whales of August (Out of Competition: UK, dir. Lindsay Anderson) - Gish's treasured, still-agile face can't save this over-lit, under-written wisp. Nobody's line readings work.
Competition Films I'm Curious to See:
Ranked in order of interest; more on this year's lineup here (opens in a new window)
Zegen, Japan, dir. Shôhei Imamura
Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Italy, dir. Francesco Rosi
Shinran: Path to Purity, Japan, dir. Rentarô Mikuni
Subway to the Stars, Brazil, dir. Carlos Diegues
The Family, Italy, dir. Ettore Scola
A Man in Love, France, dir. Diane Kurys
| Also in Competition: |
Field of Honor, France, dir. Jean-Pierre Denis The Last Manuscript, Hungary, dir. Károly Makk Pierre and Djemila, France, dir. Gérard Blain |
Sidebar Films I'm Curious to See:
Listed alphabetically; more on this year's lineup here (opens in a new window)
| Un Certain Regard: |
Blind Chance, Poland, dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski The Distant Land, Austria, dir. Luc Bondy Epidemic, Denmark, dir. Lars von Trier The House of Bernarda Alba, Spain, dir. Mario Camus A Month in the Country, UK, dir. Pat O'Connor Robinson, or My English Grandfather, Georgia, dir. Nana Dzhordzhadze |
| Directors' Fortnight: |
Diary of a Mad Old Man, The Netherlands, dir. Lili Rademakers Heaven, USA, dir. Diane Keaton Home of the Brave, USA, dir. Laurie Anderson Rita, Sue, and Bob, Too!, UK, dir. Alan Clarke Shadows in Paradise, Finland, dir. Aki Kaurismäki Wedding in Galilee, Palestine/France, dir. Michel Khleifi Wish You Were Here, UK, dir. David Leland |
| Critics' Week: |
Yam Daabo, Burkina Faso, dir. Idrissa Ouedraogo |
| Out of Competition: |
Fellini's Intervista, Italy, dir. Federico Fellini Tough Guys Don't Dance, USA, dir. Norman Mailer |
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