That Cannes-do spirit

The glitz, the glamour, the gratuitous spectacle; it's all happening at this year's Cannes film festival, currently underway in France. Despite the world medias' tendency to focus on Brangelina or the token blockbuster launch (it's the fourth Pirates Of The Caribbean movie this year, by the way), there is also a handful of films from the world's greatest living filmmakers premiering. Woody Allen's latest Midnight in Paris opens the festival tonight, but the real attention is on the 20 films in competition for the festival's grand prize; the Palme d'Or. Here are my picks for the six most likely contenders:

Terrence Malick: The Tree of Life

Everyone loves a recluse, especially when they pop out of the woodwork with masterpieces such as Badlands and The New World every seven-years or so. Terrence Malick's latest, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, sets to be just as beautiful, poetic and complex as his previous films and early buzz has Malick tipped to take home the top prize, 32-years after his first Palme d'Or nomination for Days Of Heaven.

Julia Leigh: Sleeping Beauty

Oscar-winning director Jane Campion presents this erotic retelling of the classic fairytale. Australian beauty Emily Browning swaps the samurai sword and school girl outfit of Sucker Punch to play a college student drawn into a mysterious, hidden world of prostitution. Written and directed by Australian novelist Julia Leigh, this is a triumph of female filmmaking and the poignant, beautifully crafted story should appeal to the A-List jury.

Nicolas Winding Refn: Drive

The black sheep, or black Cadillac rather, of the finalists is Drive; an action movie with art house sensibilities. It stars international film festival favourite Ryan Gosling as a Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman and discovers a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong. It doesn't sound like the usual Palme d'Or fare, which is exactly why it might work. It also stars Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Bryan Cranston and Oscar Isaac.

Lars Von Trier: Melancholia

Von Trier blew everyone away with his sexually graphic and emotionally horrific film Antichrist at last year's Cannes, which divided critics and audiences alike. His latest and eighth Palme d'Or nominated film Melancholia looks to be a safer bet with Kristen Dunst and renowned French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg starring as sisters who find their relationship challenged as a nearby planet threatens to collide into the Earth.

Pedro Almodóvar: La Piel que Habito (The Skin that I Inhabit)

Bizarre. That's the first word that springs to mind when watching excerpts from acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar's latest about a plastic surgeon (Antonio Banderas) on the hunt for the men who raped his daughter. Part horror, part thriller, all parts dramatic, this is one of the more left-field, artistic offerings amongst the 20 finalists.

Takashi Miike: Ichemei (Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai)

The prolific and controversial Japanese filmmaker's newbie will be the first 3D feature to compete in Cannes and is a re-imagining of Masaki Kobayashi's 1962 film Harakiri. With over 70 titles to his name, Miike's films range from violent and bizarre to dramatic and family-friendly, with this being his first to screen at the famous festival. It's an outside chance to take home any of the major prizes since its biggest coup was getting selected for competition in the first place.

Out of competition films to keep an eye on throughout the course of the festival are Australian serial-killer drama Snowtown, the controversial Princess Diana documentary Unlawful Killing and Oscar-winner Gus Van Sant's latest Restless, starring talented Aussie actress Mia Wasikowka. The Cannes film festival wraps on May 22. In the meantime, I suggest you check out the Restless trailer below because, put simply, it looks amazing.

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Stone the crows

Okay, granted the above title is pretty shitious but it was either that or `lets get Stone-ed’. Sigh.

I did an interview with the incredibly lovely Julia Stone today in the lead up to the release of the new Angus & Julia Stone album Down By The Way. For those of you who don’t have ears, Julia is one half of the Aussie brother-sister folk/acoustic duo (above). I’m huge fans of the pair who make beautiful, beautiful music and their last album A Book Like This is literally imprinted on my heart. Their vocal combinations, exquisite lyrics and sweet melodies make for an unforgettable act and I suggest you check out the video to their latest single And The Boys.

Anyway, being the cinephile I am I got a little side-tracked during the interview and ended up discussing movies with Julia. I enjoyed what she had to say so much, I thought I’d share it with you also.

Movie Mazzupial: So, this may be getting a little off topic but I’m curious to know; what are some of your favourite movies?
Julia: Ah, that’s a hard one. There are so many, gosh. Me and You and Everyone We Know, I love that. I saw a movie the other day French Film, I think that’s what it’s called. It was about this French film director and a journalist who had to write about him even though he thinks he’s a real twat. He hates the French and how they think they know everything about love, but at the same time he’s in a relationship that’s falling apart and he comes to realise that maybe what he thought he knew about love is different to what it actually is. Hmm, what else? There are so many great ones…what are some of your favourites?

MM: Mine?
J: Yeah.

MM: (Laughs) Oh god, that’s an impossible question for me. It’s like saying `which one of your children do you love the most?’ Um, there are heaps and heaps but right at the top of the list would be Brick, it’s amazing.
J: Wait, did you say Brick?

MM: Yeah, it’s directed by Rian Johnson and is this brilliant little indie, noir-esque detective drama set in a high school.
J: Okay, cool, I’m writing that down.

MM: And The New World by Terrence Malick is mind blowing, definitely one of my favourite films of all time. It’s about the story of Pocahontas but shot in this beautiful, naturalistic way.
J: Ohhh, is it dark? I could imagine that story being quite dark.

MM: Yeah, I guess elements to it are dark but it’s made more like a raw, documentary kind of thing.
J: Have you seen Let The Right One In?

MM: Oh my goodness, yes! I love that movie! It was one of my favourite films of last year. It’s so beautiful and creepy.
J: That was great, it was really good.

MM: And I loved the effect the blood had against the whiteness of the snow. Visually it was very impressive.
J: And even the little noises she made like *attempts to make sucking noises* tccht tccht tccht. It was great.

MM: Yeah, but now they’re going to destroy it by doing an American remake. It’s in the works at the moment.
J: What? It only just came out. Oh, that’s a shame. They have to ruin everything, don’t they? Like, Angus and I are big Ricky Gervais fans and why they would ever think they could do an American version of The Office…I don’t know. I’ve seen it and it’s okay, it’s funny, but it completely misses the raw awkwardness of the British version.


And that, my friends, concludes the movie rant. Personally I’m just chuffed to hear her sweet voice say “twats”. Hilarious.

Angus & Julia Stone’s new album Down By The Way is out in Australian on March 12 and later overseas. I’ve heard a preview copy and trust me, it’s just as beautiful as A Book Like This and in many ways more superior. But hey, I might just be biased because she was awesome and chatted about movies with me. Meh.

You can check out their MySpace page here.

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Margaret and David Summer Special

Most of you would be aware I’m a big fan of At The Movies with Margaret and David on ABC. As all loyal fans of said show would know, at the end of every year before they go on a two month sabbatical Margie and Davey (as I like to call them) put together a summer special which includes reviews and interviews regarding all the up and coming summer releases. I haven’t seen the point in doing a wrap up of their latest summer special because majority of the films weren’t being released for a few more weeks. However, now most of them are currently screening at the movies or about to in the next few weeks so here’s a quick run on the results of the Margaret and David Summer Special. In the one hour show the super-duper duo reviewed a total of 10 films and their worth according to stars is listed below.

Milk

Margaret: * * * * 1/2

David: * * * * *

Twilight

Margaret: * * * *

David: * * * 1/2

Madagascar 2: Escape To Africa

Margaret: * * *

David: * * * *

The Wrestler

Margaret: * * * * *

David: * * * * 1/2

The Class

Margaret: * * * *

David: * * * * 1/2

Frost/Nixon

Margaret: * * * * 1/2

David: * * * *

Igor

Margaret: * * *

David: * * * 1/2

Revolutionary Road

Margaret: * * * *

David: * * * *

Slumdog Millionare

Margaret: * * * * 1/2

David: * * * * 1/2

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Margaret: * * *

David: * * *

Looks like it’s going to be an interesting summer. No doubt Slumdog Millionare and The Class are worth a look given their high ratings but . . . . WHOA! Both Margie and Davey dished out a 5 star out of 5 star rating each! That’s awesome! As you can see Margie was over the moon with The Wrestler and gave it 100%. The last time I can remember her giving a movie 5 stars is back in 2005 for Terrence Malick’s The New World (my ultimate favourite movie). Not to be out done, Davey also dished out 5 stars to Gus Van Sant’s latest Milk. The last time I can remember him giving a movie 5 stars is . . . well, never. I seriously can’t remember him ever giving a movie 5 stars. I’m sure he has and my dramatic statement is incorrect, however, personally I have never seen an episode where he has dished out the 100% score. Needless to say I’m desperate to catch both The Wrestler and Milk now they have achieved a rare 5 star review. A notable mention should also go to the two animated films on the list with Davey giving kudos to Madagascar 2 for making him laugh out loud several times. He also applauded the poorly advertised Igor which he said was an interesting twist on the monster genre and Frankenstein movies. You can download a vodcast of the At The Movies with Margaret and David Summer Special from their website here.
Enjoy.

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Six on the beach

For no other reason besides the fact I can, I’ve complied a list of my top six favourite directors. If I provided explanations behind my choices this post would probably end up three times the size of `The Power of Levitt-ation’ and nobody wants to go through that. The following are in no particularly order and I’ve also included a few notable mentions of directors I love but not as much as those featured in the top six. Some, like Ben Affleck and Rian Johnson still have to prove themselves but from their debut directorial offerings I’m a fan.

Movie Mazzupial’s Top Six Favourite Directors

Robert Rodriguez

Tim Burton
Hayao Miyazaki Terrence Malick Quentin Tarantino
Ang Lee

Honourable mentions: Guillermo del Toro, Clint Eastwood, Brad Bird, Wes Craven, Chris Nolan, Alfred Hitchcock, Peter Jackson, Rian Johnson, Tim Robbins and Ben Affleck.

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