Pictured: Javier Bardem and Juliette Binoche, winners for "Biutiful" and "Certified Copy," respectively.
A few weeks ago, May 23d to be exact, while I was weeping over the Lost finale, the Cannes film festival concluded with its 63d annual presentation of the Palme d’Or. This year the top prize went to the Thai film “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (and no, I did not just press random letters on my keyboard, that is his full name). The film appears to have polarized its audiences, not an unusual occurrence at Cannes, after all this is where Antichrist made its public debut, for which Charlotte Gainsbourg took home the Palme d’Or for acting in 2009.
This year Best Actress went to the ever lovely Juliette Binoche for the film “Certified Copy” by Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami. Best Actor was a tie between Javier Bardem in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “Biutiful” and Elio Germano in “Our Life,” an Italian film by Daniele Luchetti. Bardem made a bit of a PR splash in his speech, when he openly dedicated the award to longtime girlfriend Penelope Cruz, who has notoriously refused to discuss their relationship in public. But Bardem, usually on board with this policy, dashed pretense aside as he opened his speech by saying, “I share this with my friend, my mate, my love, Penelope.” Cruz, taken totally off guard, immediately burst into tears and began blowing kisses in his direction.
In other news, the first handful of stills from the upcoming American adaptation of “Let The Right One In” (retitled “Let Me In”) have been released, and quite frankly, I am pleased. Granted, anyone looking at that photograph who has seen the original Swedish film will realize that is almost an exact replica of a shot in that film, but at least we know they’re staying faithful to the barren atmosphere that made the story so effective rather than making a slightly creepier Twilight movie. Two more photos can be found at the following link: http://bigfanboy.com/wp/?p=3050
It has now been reported that Keira Knightley and Matt Damon have tentatively been cast in an adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel “Tender is the Night.” As is true with virtually all Fitzgerald novels, the story heavily reflects the relationship between Scott and his own wife Zelda. Therefore I think it’s safe to conclude that Knightley’s attachment to this film means that “The Beautiful and the Damned” is officially getting scrapped. I am not pleased.
Gwyneth Paltrow has officially dropped out of the upcoming film "The Danish Girl" about painter Eimar Wegener, the first recognized transgendered individual. I'm very intrigued by this film, largely because of the interesting casting choices. Nicole Kidman has been cast as Eimar both as a man and a woman. But it seems the role of Greta, Eimar's wife, is somewhat cursed. First it was Charlize Theron, then Paltrow stepped in, and now it's being reported that Uma Thurman is taking over. Most are crediting this sudden withdrawal from Paltrow to her strained marriage to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. There have been some reports of animosity between the two lead actresses, but they seemed little more than tabloid fluff. But what is particularly confounding is that Paltrow dropped out in the middle of production, meaning reshoots are in order with a new actress, who has yet to be confirmed as Thurman. I don't think it will get shelved, but it is being delayed significantly. Regardless, this seems like a missed opportunity for Paltrow as the film simply wreaks of Oscar potential. Especially for Kidman.
Other than that I am developing a list of films I really want to see this summer, especially ‘The Killer Inside Me’ and ‘Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky.’ I'm hoping to see 'Ondine' next weekend, so hopefully a substantial review of something is coming. In the meantime, here is a less-than-one-sentence review of Robin Hood: Watch Braveheart. Or Gladiator. Or King Arthur. Or...eh you get the point.
Also, new layout! huzzar!
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