Arts & Culture
Originally published on Wednesday, 25th May 2011
Cannes in a Can
The suits are shiny, the yachts are gold and the lips are as inflated as the egos that trawl the Croisette from early morning meeting to late night party. And yet, despite the beguilingly bling crowd that frequents the year’s biggest event in cinema, the Cannes Film Festival somehow always manages to churn out some of the most discerning art house films that are likely to reach our cinemas. So, we donned the dark shades (yes, even in the darkness of the cinema auditoria) to bring you our five favourite picks from this year’s offerings.
VOLCANO
Did you know that Iceland produces the most films per capita in the world? This is largely helped by having not many capitas in the first place so don’t be alarmed if Iceland’s burgeoning film scene is yet to feature on your cultural radar – but you could do much worse than pop your arctic film cherry with this bleak, yet beautiful number. Written and directed by Oscar nominee Rúnar Rúnarsson, Volcano, (or Eldfjall in Icelandic) tells the story of the recently retired and world-weary Hannes who is forced to draw upon his depleting emotional resources to care for his wife when she falls ill. It’s a small yet touching story and the brilliant performances are unmistakably Icelandic.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
If you weren’t one of the hordes of people reading the book on the tube back in 2003, this story tackles the nurture-versus-nature debate as Eva gives birth to a kid who seems to be inherently bad – or perhaps the kid behaves diabolically in a subconscious reaction to knowing that she didn’t really want him. Whichever way you lean, go and watch this film, it’s pure poetry in filmic form thanks to Scottish director Lynne Ramsay, and Tilda Swinton as Eva is as brilliant and captivating as ever.
WHERE DO WE GO NOW?
In a small village in Lebanon the Christian and Muslim people live together in total harmony, that’s until nearby fighting erupts and conflict spreads like wild fire. It’s up to the women of the community to placate and unify their sparring husbands and sons with hash cake and belly dancers. Yes, really. With a few songs thrown in for good measure, this is a charmingly off-beat film written, directed and acted by Nadine Labaki that’s as dark as it is light and totally engrossing from beginning to end.
TOOMELAH
Australia produces some ruddy good soap operas but this year at Cannes it showed the world that it’s more than a mere launch pad for Hollywood actors who are good at American accents. With four films in competition this year (four more than last year), Toomelah is the one not to miss. Made single-handedly by Ivan Sen, non actors are cast to tell this story set in an aboriginal community in Queensland. It centres on 10 year old wannabe gangster Daniel whose fearlessness gets him involved in a crowd of local ne’er-do-wells struggling to find their way. It’s a strikingly authentic-feeling snapshot into this way of life in remote northern Australia.
THE ARTIST
Tipped to be a surprise hit when it comes out in cinemas, The Artist is a French silent film about a movie star George Valentin (Jean Dujardin, awarded Best Actor this year) whose career is threatened to be left behind by the advent of talkies and usurped by a beautiful and young new actress on the scene. It’s a love story mainly, but it’s also at times funny, devastating and surrealist. Plus, it stars a Jack Russell as Uggy, who has just picked up the Palm Dog award for best canine performance in Cannes. What more can you ask for?