Cannes Diary – Day 5
Soho House Party
This morning was all about trying to stay awake after last night’s excellent Soho House party. About this party: Soho House throw an annual party in Cannes which is notoriously difficult to get into. If you are lucky enough to be invited, a stunning French chateau a few miles up the coast awaits. A lavish bash, with a great spread, not surprisingly, it tends to be the night when everyone really lets their hair down.
Quentin Tarantino, whose INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS is in competition later this week, was definitely the main man at the party. A big fan of Picturehouse cinemas, and in particular the Cameo in Edinburgh, he was all too happy to send his best wishes to the cinema, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.
Quentin Tarantino and Jo Blair
Great to see rockers Anvil, who are performing a secret gig tonight in Cannes. My personal highlight of the evening was meeting the team behind PRECIOUS. A very friendly bunch, they’ve promised to do a Q&A with the film at one of our cinemas when it opens in the UK.
Today’s films: Johnnie To’s Macao/Hong Kong actioner VENGEANCE kept us awake at 8.30 this morning. Big on its visual stylings and even bigger on its gun-totting, this was a bit of fun first thing with an amusing Johnny Hallyday sporting an excellent dyed hairdo.
Gabriel with Precious director Lee Daniels and screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher
Alejandro Amenábar’s AGORA stars Rachel Weitz as Hypatia, a philosopher in 4th century A.D. who devotes her life to study as violent religious conflict rages around her. The sandal and sword epic gets turned on its head with this sumptuous study of the worlds first great female mathematician as its heroine. Shot on a massive scale, largely on location, the film includes a stunning recreation of the Library at Alexandria. Let’s just hope it can make its clearly massive budget back, on release.
Brillante Mendoza’s KINATAY was slow, dull and increasingly brutal, precipitating an early departure for something better. That something was AMREEKA, a Palestinian mother and son relocate to an American suburb for a, supposedly, better life. What we saw (we had to leave early) was really quite enjoyable; POLYTECHNIQUE is Denis Villeneuve’s dramatisation of the Montreal Massacre of 1989 in which a lone gunman killed fourteen students. Disturbing and utterly gripping; Eva Dahr’s THE ORANGE GIRL is a quirky and engaging ode to love from Norway, and not a film about someone being tangoed! CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH is a powerful account of the Japanese invasion of Nanking in 1937, in which over 300,000 Chinese were slaughted. Beautifully staged, shot in monochrome and incredibly visceral, the film painfully depicts the realities and confusions inherent in battle and the atrocity that was The Rape Of Nanking.
View from the BFI reception
The BFI hosted their annual launch party this evening for the 53rd London Film Festival on the rooftop of the Palais Stephanie Hotel. A great gathering for the British movers and shakers in Cannes and an opportunity to catch up with some good friends. The BFI London Film Festival announced they are to receive an additional £1.8m from the UK Film Council Lottery funding over the next three years, which will significantly boost audience access and international profile of the event.
Picturehouse Top Five (no change today)
- PRECIOUS
- A PROPHET
- POLICE, ADJECTIVE
- BRIGHT STAR
- UP
