Cannes 2013 Blog: Days One, Two and Three; The Rain-Soaked Journey Thus Far

May 18, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in General News Leave a comment

Three days in to the 66th Cannes Film Festival and I’m feeling much more relaxed than I did last year. There is a comfort to knowing the press badge caste system, where you have to queue for the different strands, and that it isn’t the end of the world if you don’t get your review up in less than an hour after a screening.

“The Great Gatsby” opened the festival on Wednesday but was released in the US last Friday. I was hugely disappointed with Baz Luhrmann’s film, describing it on Twitter as “if Baz Luhrmann watched a Baz Luhrmann film and then decided to imitate Baz Luhrmann.” It was the wrong side of gaudy and garish – and the 3D did nothing to help the pic, instead detracting from what could have been a gorgeous film.

CANNES REVIEW: Marine Vacth is a Breakout in Francois Ozon’s Coming of Age Tale “Jeune et Jolie”

May 17, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Reviews 1 Comment

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“Jeune et Jolie” (“Young and Beautiful”) was the first In Competition film I saw at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and it couldn’t have been a better film to start with. A contemplative tale on female sexuality and the burgeoning discovery teenagers go through, its star Marine Vacth is a joy to watch and someone we all need to keep our eye on over the next few years.

Director Francois Ozon‘s tale is set over four seasons and four Francois Hardy songs, following Vacht’s Isabelle, a seventeen year old girl who turns to prostitution as she explores the power of her femininity and what her body can do for others. This is not a moral tale, nor a story on right and wrong but an honest portrayal of a complicated time.

Watch: Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck Fight and Make Up in First Clip from “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”

May 16, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos Leave a comment

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Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara walk and talk and fight and make up against a gorgeously shot backdrop of trees and sunshine in the first clip from Sundance hit “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”, released today by Entertainment Weekly.

David Lowery directed the film about Mara and Affleck as an outlaw couple whose crime spree comes to an end with him going to jail and her going free to give birth to their daughter. It picks up four years later when he breaks free and she’s not sure if she still wants him back in her new little family’s life. The film won a Special Jury Prize for Cinematography for Bradford Young at Sundance, it’s easy to see why in this first glimpse of the slow-moving Texas-set film that’s drawn comparisons to Terrence Malick.

Watch the first clip of Mara and Affleck below. We’re hoping to catch the film at the Cannes Film Festival this week, and everyone can watch it when it’s released in theaters on August 16th.

CANNES REVIEW: “Fruitvale Station” Rises and Rises With Michael B. Jordan

May 16, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Reviews Leave a comment

The based-on-a-true story “Fruitvale Station” is very much 2013′s “Beasts of the Southern Wild” – a first time director, Ryan Coogler, taking Cannes Film Festival by storm following a world premiere at Sundance Film Festival, with an impressive awards-worthy performance from a rising star. And please Academy, award Michael B. Jordan with that Oscar nomination like you did for Quvenzhane Wallis.

An intimate film like “Fruitvale Station” rises and falls with its lead, and Jordan is hugely successful in holding us captive as we follow a day in the life of Oscar Grant (Jordan), a young man who was subjected to police brutality in the early hours of New Year’s Day in 2009.

CANNES REVIEW: “The Bling Ring” is a Cautionary Tale for Our Time, and Pretty to Look At Too

May 16, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Reviews Leave a comment

Sofia Coppola’s “The Bling Ring” opens with a scene those of us familiar with popular culture will recognize – young teenagers on CCTV apparently breaking into someone’s house. It is of course the aforementioned Bling Ring, five teenagers who spent several months entering – but never actually breaking in to – celebrity houses and stealing clothes, bags, shoes and jewelry. Today’s generation is the generation of no consequences and director Sofia Coppola and her cast of young newcomers, in dramatizing these real events that took place in Los Angeles, make this very clear.

Watch: First Clip of Juno Temple Breaking Down in Thriller “Magic Magic”

May 15, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Videos Leave a comment

Following it’s premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival we were pleased to see thriller “Magic Magic” would be playing during Cannes Film Festival’s Director’s Fortnight, and now we have our first clip of the film featuring Juno Temple.

Also starring Emily Browning and Michael Cera, the Sebastian Silva film follows Temple’s Alicia, a young girl who heads to Chile to stay with her cousin (Browning) and her cousin’s boyfriend and friends. Alicia is slowly unravelling though and her cousin and friends begin to notice something is wrong much too late.

In this first clip via The Playlist, we see Alicia on the phone to her cousin, clearly in the middle of a breakdown. Lots of close camera shots here and what looks like another great performance from Temple who having been an indie mainstay for several years has been making her way in to Hollywood with last year’s controversial “Killer Joe”, supernatural thriller “Horns” opposite Daniel Radcliffe, and two high profile blockbusters – “The Dark Knight Rises” and next year’s Disney’s Sleeping Beauty redo “Maleficent” opposite Angelina Jolie.

Watch: First Trailer for James Franco’s Southern Gothic Adaptation “As I Lay Dying”

May 13, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Videos 1 Comment

They said “On The Road” was unfilmable but Walter Salles succeeded, and at next weeks’ Cannes Film Festival we’ll discover if James Franco has been successful with another ‘unadaptable’ novel, William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying“. For now, today’s newly released trailer, via Yahoo, suggests that Franco will definitely be offering us a taste of the Southern Gothic for which Faulker was famous for – and has upped my anticipation for an adaptation of a book I couldn’t finish.

Franco has directed, produced, scripted, and cast himself, in this American classic which follows the trials of the Bundren family as they attempt to bury their matriarch in the town of Jefferson. It sounds simple enough but the major challenge for Franco, as both director and screenwriter, comes where Faulkner uses fifteen different points of view over the course of the novel.

Joining Franco though is a cast of rising stars including Danny McBride in a dramatic role unlike his usual comedic characters, and Logan Marshall-Green, so we’re hopeful that this proves to be a hit for audiences at Cannes before a wider release date is set.

Check out the trailer below.

First Poster for Sundance Winner “Fruitvale Station” Starring Michael B. Jordan

May 7, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images Leave a comment

fruitvalepostersm It was the big winner of out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival and remains one of our most anticipated of the year, and today we have the first poster for Ryan Coogler’s true life crime drama “Fruitvale Station” starring Michael B. Jordan.

“Fruitvale Station” (formerly just “Fruitvale”) swept the US Dramatic Competition category at Sundance, winning both the Audience Award and the top prize of the night: The Grand Jury Prize. The film, which co-stars Octavia Spencer, Ahna O’Reilly and Melonie Diaz, won rave reviews with its gritty retelling of the true story of Oscar Grant (Jordan), who was tragically fatally shot by police in a scuffle in the Bay Area on New Year’s Eve 2009. It’s next headed to the Cannes Film Festival, where it will play in the Un Certain Regard sidebar.

The film will be released on July 26th and the first poster can be viewed below.

Watch: Emma Watson is a Firm Believer in Karma in New Trailer for “The Bling Ring”

April 23, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos Leave a comment

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Emma Watson goes full blown Valley Girl in the newest trailer for Sofia Coppola’s Cannes-bound “The Bling Ring”, an exploration of the wealth and celebrity-obsessed youth culture of Los Angeles. And it’s based on real events, of course. Newcomers Israel Broussard and Katie Chang lead the gang of ditzy, spoiled Los Angeles teenagers who decide to rob a string of celebrities’ homes, for fun, and then revel in a bit of celebrity themselves.

Coppola has always been adept at exploring the inner workings of the lives and minds of bored youths, and this looks like no exception. Can’t. Wait. “The Bling Ring” will be released on June 14th and will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival next month, where it will open the Un Certain Regard sidebar. See the full length trailer below.

Ryan Gosling, Emma Watson, Michael B. Jordan Among Young Stars Heading to Cannes Film Festival

April 18, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in General News Leave a comment

A bevy of rising stars are headed to the Cannes Film Festival next month as Festival director Thierry Fremaux announced the main lineup of the 66th Annual event this morning. Carey Mulligan, already heading to the Croisette for opening night film “The Great Gatsby”, will also premiere the Coen Brothers’ 1960s folk music drama “Insie Llewyn Davis”, also starring Oscar Isaac, Justin Timberlake and Garrett Hedlund.

The duo of Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling, who previously premiered the beautiful and violent “Drive” at the festival in 2011, have reteamed again and will show “Only God Forgives” in competition. “Saturday Night Live” alum Will Forte has a big potential breakthrough moment as he shows off his serious acting in Alexander Payne’s father-son roadtrip drama “Nebraska”, while James Gray’s “The Immigrant”, previously “Lowlife”, brings Jeremy Renner and Marion Cotillard to the Croisette. Cotillard will also appear in Guillaume Canet’s English-language remake “Blood Ties”, which is playing out of competition and which also stars Zoe Saldana and Mila Kunis.

We already knew Sofia Coppola’s “The Bling Ring” will open the Un Certain Regard section of the fest, and will welcome young stars Emma Watson, Taissa Farmiga, Israel Broussard and Katie Chang, and now joining them in the sidebar will be Sundance’s big winner “Fruitvale”, Ryan Coogler’s feature directorial debut starring Michael B. Jordan.

The full lineup can be found below.

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