CANNES, France -- Making a movie about a donkey,or to be more specific, from a donkey's point of view is an audacious project. But that's just what Jerzy (pronounced "Ya-shee") Skolimosky did and his film, a slow and oppressive rumination on humans and their relationship to the animal world was screened here on Thursday. A circus troupe. A grey donkey and his handler Kassandra. The animal seems ... more >
ARCHIVES
CANNES FESTIVAL: “EO,” no animals were harmed in the making of this film
Produced by Skopia Film and Jeremy Thomas
Sandra Drzymalska, Isabelle Huppert and Lorenzo Zurzolo
Directed by Jerzy Skolimowsky
CANNES FESTIVAL – A so-so “Frankie” gets elevated by a great performance by Isabelle Huppert
"Frankie" is in the running for a Palme D'Or
An exotic locale in beautiful Portugal, an unaffected and powerful performance by a star actress and existential worriment. This is what you can expect from “Frankie,” an ensemble film directed by Ira Sachs that’s asthmatic and lacks energy but fascinated me, nevertheless, because of its main actress Isabelle Huppert and her incredible on-screen presence. Huppert is one of France’s ... more >
“Elle,” fiction about survival and bourgeois boredom, closes CANNES FESTIVAL
Paul Verhoeven's first French-language film
“Elle,” last to be shown in competition, isn’t the best or the most accomplished film. It made sense to show it last in the festival for several reasons, however: the storied career of Paul Verhoeven, its director (at 77, Verhoeven is the oldest filmmaker among this year’s competition directors and has two major hits under his belt, “Basic Instinct,” 1992 and “Starship Troopers,” 1997), the cast, ... more >
BERLINALE | FACT CHECK
Who's who at Berlin this year? Read on
Gallic cinema's three most visible actresses, Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Huppert, will be present at the Berlin Film Festival (a.k.a. "Berlinale") next month, their latest films having been selected for the festival as announced by the festival’s organizers just before the weekend. Catherine Deneuve will be presenting “Elle S’en Va” (“She’s leaving,” in French) by ... more >
62ND BERLINALE – Captive
A new film from Serbis director Brillante Mendoza
Inspired by the 2001 Dos Palmas kidnapping of foreign tourists and missionaries by the Islamic separatist group Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, Philipino director Brillante Mendoza (Kinatay, Serbis) Captive excruciatingly follows the twenty hostages as they are dragged at gunpoint from their hotel, spirited onto a fishing boat and led through various towns and jungles for over a year. Isabelle ... more >