Nick's Flick Picks: The Cannes Film Festival

<BODY text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFCC" link="#003399" vlink="#003399" leftmargin="35" rightmargin="35"> <table width=680><tr><td> <br> <TABLE cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0> <TR><TD width=60% valign=center><Font Face=Garamond Color="#003399" Size=+3><b>Cannes Film Festival 1987</b></Font><br> <B><Font Color="#660066">Jury President:</Font> Yves Montand</b><br> <Font Color="#660066">Other Jurors:</Font> Theo Angelopoulos, Gerald Calderon, Daniele Heymann, Elem Klimov, Norman Mailer, Nicola Piovani, Jerzy Skolimowski, Jeremy Thomas</TD> <TD width=40% align=right valign=center><img src=cannes87tab.jpg></TD></TR></TABLE> <hr> <br> <TABLE cellpadding=3> <TR><TD width=33%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Palme d'Or:</b></Font></TD><TD width=66%><a href=ussatan.html><b>Under the Sun of Satan</b></a>, France, dir. Maurice Pialat</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=33%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Grand Jury Prize:</b></Font></TD><TD width=66%><a href=repent84.html><i>Repentance</i></a>, Georgia, dir. Tenghiz Abuladze</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=33%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Jury Prize:</b></Font></TD><TD width=66%><Font Color="#003399"><i>Shinran: Path to Purity</i></Font>, Japan, dir. Rentar&#244 Mikuni<br> <a href=yeelen.html><i>Yeelen (Brightness)</i></a>, Mali, dir. Souleymane Ciss&#233</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=33%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Director:</b></Font></TD><TD width=66%><a href=wingsdes.html><i>Wings of Desire</i></a>, Wim Wenders</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=33%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Actress:</b></Font></TD><TD width=66%><a href=shypeopl.html><i>Shy People</i></a>, Barbara Hershey</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=33%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Actor:</b></Font></TD><TD width=66%><a href=darkeyes.html><i>Dark Eyes</i></a>, Marcello Mastroianni</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=33%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Best Artistic Contribution:</TD><TD width=66%></b></Font> <a href=prickup.html><i>Prick Up Your Ears</i></a>, Stanley Myers, composer</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=33%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Technical Grand Prize:</TD><TD width=66%></b></Font> <Font Color="#003399"><i>Le cin&#233ma dans les yeux</i></Font>, France, dirs. Gilles Jacob & Laurent Jacob</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=33%><Font Color="#003399"><b>40th Anniversary Prize:</TD><TD width=66%></b></Font> <Font Color="#003399"><i>Intervista</i></Font>, Italy, dir. Federico Fellini</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=33%><Font Color="#003399"><b>FIPRESCI/International<br>     Critics Prize:</TD><TD width=66%></b></Font> <a href=repent84.html><i>Repentance</i></a>, Georgia, dir. Tenghiz Abuladze</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=33%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Prize of the Ecumenical Jury:</b></Font></TD><TD width=66%><a href=repent84.html><i>Repentance</i></a>, Georgia, dir. Tenghiz Abuladze</TD></TR> <TR><TD width=33%><Font Color="#003399"><b>Camera d'Or (first feature):</TD><TD width=66%></b></Font> <Font Color="#003399"><i>Robinsonada, or My English Grandfather</i></Font>, Georgia, dir. Nana Dzhordzhadze</TD></TR> </TABLE> <hr> <br> <img src=cannes87uss.jpg align=right width=200 height=75><Font Face=Garamond Color="#660066" Size=+1><b>Competition Films I Have Seen:</b></Font><br> <Font Size=-1><b>Ranked in order of preference</b></Font><br> <Font Size=-2>  <br></Font> <Font Color="#003399"><b>My Palme d'Or</b></Font><br> <a href=ussatan.html><i>Under the Sun of Satan</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(France, dir. Maurice Pialat)</Font> - Eerie, muscular, hypnotic. Conjures divinity as a fathomless mystery, cruel myth, and brute, tactile fact. </Font><br> <br> <a href=wingsdes.html><i>Wings of Desire</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Germany, dir. Wim Wenders)</Font> - Stunningly nuanced lensing, boldly mytho-historical conception, subcutaneous tenderness. Grandiose but sublime. </Font><br> <br> <a href=repent84.html><i>Repentance</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Georgia, dir. Tenghiz Abuladze)</Font> - Surreal-judicial epic of Soviet despotism flaunts real fire and gutsy conceptions despite rough patches, blunt last act </Font><br> <br> <a href=darkeyes.html><i>Dark Eyes</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Italy/Russia, dir. Nikita Mikhalkov)</Font> - Handsome lensing and palette gratify even when they overpower thinnish story or erratic tone. Mastroianni in his element. </Font><br> <br> <a href=yeelen.html><i>Yeelen (Brightness)</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Mali, dir. Souleymane Ciss&#233)</Font> - Odd blend of Africa for Export and defiant opacity, for better (mostly) and worse. Rhythms entrance. Iffy gender codes. </Font><br> <br> <a href=bellyarc.html><i>The Belly of an Architect</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(UK, dir. Peter Greenaway)</Font> - As ever, Greenaway's prodigious qualities give onto his ponderous demerits. Robust, ambitious, unwieldy. </Font><br> <br> <a href=barfly.html><i>Barfly</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(USA, dir. Barbet Schroeder)</Font> - Bukowski's poetics keep eluding screen translation, but full-circle structure pays off, as do Müller's, Dunaway's industry </Font><br> <br> <a href=shypeopl.html><i>Shy People</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(USA, dir. Andrei Konchalovsky)</Font> - As in <i>Runaway Train</i>, Konchalovsky gets some juice from his seedy, overwrought clichés, but the whole is still dubious. </Font><br> <br> <a href=prickup.html><i>Prick Up Your Ears</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(UK, dir. Stephen Frears)</Font> - Familiar Frears-y blend of intriguing off-rhythms and desultory construction. Oldman's good, Molina's overripe </Font><br> <br> <a href=glasmg87.html><i>The Glass Menagerie</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(USA, dir. Paul Newman)</Font> - Newman's professed desire to film the play as written yields a defensible but dutiful drama. The women thrive. </Font><br> <br> <a href=aria87.html><i>Aria</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(UK, dir. Miscellaneous)</Font> - Off-pitch. Grab bag never jells; some bits feel like real clinkers. Jarman, Godard, and crazy Ken Russell keep us interested. </Font><br> <br> <hr> <br> <img src=cannes87sw.jpg align=right><Font Face=Garamond Color="#660066" Size=+1><b>Sidebar Selections I Have Seen:</b></Font><br> <Font Size=-1><b>Ranked in order of preference</b></Font><br> <Font Size=-2>  <br></Font> <a href=somthwld.html><i>Something Wild</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Out of Competition: USA, dir. Jonathan Demme)</Font> - Demme's still learning to ground antic energies, but deliciously loose Daniels and Griffith lead a colorful charge </Font><br> <br> <a href=raisariz.html><i>Raising Arizona</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Out of Competition: USA, dir. Joel Coen)</Font> - First third makes such blazing comic impression that manic, less charismatic remainder sails by on charm, goodwill </Font><br> <br> <Font Color="#003399"><i>Matewan</i></Font> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Directors' Fortnight: USA, dir. John Sayles)</Font> - </Font><br> <br> <a href=babettes.html><i>Babette's Feast</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Directors' Fortnight: Denmark, dir. Gabriel Axel)</Font> - A bit thin relative to its reputation, but an understandable popular favorite with rich flavors and candlelit tones </Font><br> <br> <a href=zoolnuit.html><i>Un Zoo la nuit</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Directors' Fortnight: Canada, dir. Jean-Claude Lauzon)</Font> - Neon, involving blend of Jacques Audiard and Atom Egoyan, evading obviousness or airlessness whenever they encroach </Font><br> <br> <a href=ivheardm.html><i>I've Heard the Mermaids Singing</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Directors' Fortnight: Canada, dir. Patricia Rozema)</Font> - Mini-budgeted, gently eerie, gallery-set Canadian charmer is fun aunt to Cheryl Dunye, Miranda July </Font><br> <br> <a href=strsmart.html><i>Street Smart</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Directors' Fortnight: USA, dir. Jerry Schatzberg)</Font> - Direction, writing, feints at auto-critique all wobble. But study of self-debasement engages, and lead actors excel. </Font><br> <br> <a href=radiodys.html><i>Radio Days</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Out of Competition: USA, dir. Woody Allen)</Font> - After long, errant start&#151lame voice-over, stale jokes&#151film gradually coheres via rich look, tangy mix of ardor and rue. </Font><br> <br> <a href=whaugust.html><i>The Whales of August</i></a> <Font Face="Arial Narrow">(Out of Competition: UK, dir. Lindsay Anderson)</Font> - Gish's treasured, still-agile face can't save this over-lit, under-written wisp. Nobody's line readings work. </Font><br> <br> <hr> <br> <Font Face=Garamond Color="#660066"><b>Competition Films I'm Curious to See:</b></Font><br> <Font Size=-1><b>Ranked in order of interest; more on this year's lineup <a href="http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/1987/allSelections.html" target="_new">here</a></b> (opens in a new window)</Font><br> <Font Size=-2>  <br></Font> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094370/"><i>Zegen</i></a>, Japan, dir. Sh&#244hei Imamura<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092800/"><i>Chronicle of a Death Foretold</i></a>, Italy, dir. Francesco Rosi<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0170569/"><i>Shinran: Path to Purity</i></a>, Japan, dir. Rentar&#244 Mikuni<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094183/"><i>Subway to the Stars</i></a>, Brazil, dir. Carlos Diegues<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093004/"><i>The Family</i></a>, Italy, dir. Ettore Scola<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094208/"><i>A Man in Love</i></a>, France, dir. Diane Kurys<br> <br> <TABLE border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=5><TR><TD valign=top><Font Color="#660066" Size=-1>Also in Competition</Font>:</TD><TD> <Font Size=-1> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092739/"><i>Field of Honor</i></a>, France, dir. Jean-Pierre Denis<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092143/"><i>The Last Manuscript</i></a>, Hungary, dir. K&#225roly Makk<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091754/"><i>Pierre and Djemila</i></a>, France, dir. G&#233rard Blain<br> </Font> </TD></TR></TABLE> <hr> <br> <Font Face=Garamond Color="#660066"><b>Sidebar Films I'm Curious to See:</b></Font><br> <Font Size=-1><b>Listed alphabetically; more on this year's lineup <a href="http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/1987/allSelections.html" target="_new">here</a></b> (opens in a new window)</Font><br> <Font Size=-2>  <br></Font> <TABLE border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=8><TR><TD valign=top><Font Color="#660066">Un Certain Regard</Font>:</TD><TD> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084549/"><i>Blind Chance</i></a>, Poland, dir. Krzysztof Kie&#X15b;lowski<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094305/"><i>The Distant Land</i></a>, Austria, dir. Luc Bondy<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092972/"><i>Epidemic</i></a>, Denmark, dir. Lars von Trier<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092729/"><i>The House of Bernarda Alba</i></a>, Spain, dir. Mario Camus<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093562/"><i>A Month in the Country</i></a>, UK, dir. Pat O'Connor<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091580/"><i>Robinson, or My English Grandfather</i></a>, Georgia, dir. Nana Dzhordzhadze<br> </TD></TR> <TR><TD valign=top><a href="http://www.quinzaine-realisateurs.com/archives/1987/" style="text-decoration:none" target="_new"><Font Color="#660066">Directors' Fortnight</Font></a>:</TD><TD> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092816/"><i>Diary of a Mad Old Man</i></a>, The Netherlands, dir. Lili Rademakers<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093166/"><i>Heaven</i></a>, USA, dir. Diane Keaton<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091216/"><i>Home of the Brave</i></a>, USA, dir. Laurie Anderson<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091859/"><i>Rita, Sue, and Bob, Too!</i></a>, UK, dir. Alan Clarke<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092149/"><i>Shadows in Paradise</i></a>, Finland, dir. Aki Kaurism&#228ki<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094229/"><i>Wedding in Galilee</i></a>, Palestine/France, dir. Michel Khleifi<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094331/"><i>Wish You Were Here</i></a>, UK, dir. David Leland<br> </TD></TR> <TR><TD valign=top><a href="http://www.semainedelacritique.com/EN/films/1987/1987_selection.php" style="text-decoration:none" target="_new"><Font Color="#660066">Critics' Week</Font></a>: </TD><TD> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092258/"><i>Yam Daabo</i></a>, Burkina Faso, dir. Idrissa Ouedraogo<br> </TD></TR> <TR><TD valign=top><Font Color="#660066">Out of Competition</Font>:</TD><TD> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093267/"><i>Fellini's Intervista</i></a>, Italy, dir. Federico Fellini<br> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094169/"><i>Tough Guys Don't Dance</i></a>, USA, dir. Norman Mailer<br> </TD></TR></TABLE> <hr> <Font Face=Garamond> <table cellpadding=12><tr> <td>Trackbacks:</b></td> <td><b><a href=cannes87.html target="_top">Permalink</a></b></td> <td><b><a href=cannes.html target="_top">Cannes Page</a></b></td> <td><b><a href=movies87.html target="_top">1987</a></b></td> <td><b><a href=movarchs.html target="_top">Home</a></b></td> <td><b><a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com" target="_new">Blog</a></b></td> <td><b><a href=email.html target="_top">E-Mail</a></b></td> </tr></table> </Font> </center> </body>