Trailer for The White Ribbon

Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke won the Palme d'Or at Cannes earlier this year for The White Ribbon, which focuses on a children's choir in northern Germany just before World War I. The film is also playing at Telluride and Toronto this month.

The international trailer just recently made its way online, and it looks great. I'm of the opinion that black and white is criminally under-used today. I think it makes for some beautiful imagery when used correctly (the red coat in Schindler's List comes to mind), and I love to see modern filmmakers put it to good use.

Germany selected the film as its official entry to the Academy Awards' Best Foreign Language Film race, and it also picked up the FIPRESCI Best Picture prize last month. It may be the most decorated film of the year so far.

The White Ribbon will hit US theaters December 30th.

Not My Cup Of Tea

In case you can't read that rating strip underneath the title, Lars von Trier's Antichrist contains real sex, bloody violence and self-mutilation.

Clearly the makers of this sad excuse for a poster are aiming to sell the film on its shock value, a tactic that seems to be working, as bloggers and critics everywhere write about their anticipation for its release.

This all in spite of the fact that it caused complete outrage at the Cannes film festival back in May, where its female lead, Charlotte Gainsbourg, took home the Best Actress prize.

Since Oscar tries to make itself as much a stranger to controversy as is possible, I doubt it will receive the same attention from AMPAS next year, and so I plan to skip it. I have to draw the line somewhere.

VOLVER

Written and directed by Pedro Almodovar

Penelope Cruz
Carmen Maura
Lola Duenas
Blanca Portillo
Yohana Cobo
Chus Lampreave

Premiere date: March 17, 2006 (Spain)
R for some sexual content and language.

From two-time Academy Award-winner Pedro Almodovar comes Volver, a comedic and compassionate tribute to women and their resilience in the face of life's most outrageous tribulations.

Raimunda and her sister Sole lost their parents in a tragic fire years ago...or did they? Superstitious villagers claim that the girls' departed mother, Irene, has been seen wandering around their Aunt Paula's home. When Irene appears to Sole, she explains that she has returned to set right her daughters' troubled lives and reveal shocking secrets that will impact everyone! Raimunda has "women's troubles" of her own, least of which is a corpse in the freezer!

Winner of numerous film festival and critics' awards, Volver is a hilarious tale of love, loss, and forgiveness.

Cannes Film Festival
Best Actress - Penelope Cruz
Best Screenplay
xxx
National Board of Review
Best Foreign Language Film
xxx
1 Academy Award Nomination
Best Actress - Penelope Cruz

UP

Screenplay by Bob Peterson and Pete Docter
Directed by Pete Docter

Ed Asner
Christopher Plummer
Jordan Nagal
Bob Peterson
Delroy Lindo

Premiere date: May 13, 2009 (Cannes Film Festival)
PG for some peril and action.

Carl Fredricksen, a 78-year-old curmudgeonly balloon salesman, is not your average hero. When he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America, he finally fulfills his lifelong dream of adventure. But after discovering an 8-year-old stowaway named Russell on his front porch, this unlikely duo soon find themselves on a hilarious journey in a lost world filled with danger and surprises.

AWARDS INFO COMING WHEN AVAILABLE

Cannes Winners

Last time I was here, the Cannes Film Festival was just starting up overseas. Well, obviously, we have a winner. Here's the full list of honored films from the festival.

Palme d'Or: The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke

Grand Prix: A Prophet by Jacques Audiard

Best Director: Brillante Mendoza for Kinatay

Jury Prize: Fish Tank by Andrea Arnold, Bakjwi by Park Chan-wook

Best Screenplay: Spring Fever by Lou Ye

Best Actress: Charlotte Gainsburg in Antichrist

Best Actor: Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds

Lifetime Achievement Award: Alain Resnais

Short Film Palme d'Or: Arena by Joao Salivixa

Short Film - Special Distinction: The Six Dollar Fifty Man by Louis Sutherland

Prix Un Certain Regard: Dogtooth by Yorgos Lanthimos

Un Certain Regard - Jury Prize: Police, Adjective

Un Certain Regard - Special Jury Prize: No One Knows About Persian Cats by Bahman Ghobadi, The Father of My Children by Mia Hansen-Love

Cinefondation: 1st prize - Baba by Zuzana Kirchnerova, 2nd prize - Goodbye by Fang, 3rd prize - Diploma by Yaelle Kayam, Don't Step Out of the House by Jo Sung-hee

Camera d'Or: Samson and Delilah by Warwick Thornton

Camera d'Or - Special Distinction: Ajami by Scandar Copti

The one that shocked me was Best Director going to Brillane Mendoza for Kinatay. Not to say I know anything about Mendoza's directorial skills. I definitely don't. But Kinatay was so severely panned by the press during Cannes that I really didn't think it stood a chance at winning anything. The acclaim may prove to add ammunition to some AMPAS campaigns next year. Specifically for The White Ribbon, A Prophet, and Christoph Waltz's much talked about performance in Tarantino's latest.

Cannes Looking Up

Some news out of Cannes, for you all. I'm not in a position to get to attend, but I hope to someday! For now I'll have to just link ya to all the buzz. Enjoy!

The festival starts tonight, so not much news yet. Refresh your memory on the line-up here.

"Up" is the first animated film and the first film in 3-D ever to open the festival, and people are in L.O.V.E. with it. Take a moment to read some of the raving reviews!

Roger Ebert compliments the film (and rags on the use of 3-D in cinema) at his blog.
Todd McCarthy's review at Variety.
The Hollywood Reporter's take.
USAToday reports Pixarians feelings on their film being chosen as the Cannes opener.
Another glowing response, this one from the Chicago Tribune.

PERSEPOLIS

Based on the comic book by Marjane Satrapi
Written and directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud

Chiara Mastroianni
Catherine Deneuve
Danielle Darrieux
Simon Abkarian

Premiere date: May 23, 2007 (Cannes Film Festival)
PG-13 for mature thematic material including violent images, sexual references, language and brief drug content.

Marjane is an innocent nine-year-old living in Iran, surrounded by a loving but incredibly protective mother and father. She finds comfort in the carefree spirit of her grandmother, as well as music by artists as diverse as ABBA and Iron Maiden. When Marjane's uncle is killed in the Iran/Iraq war, her parents send her to school in Austria, where she can study in safety. But her Middle Eastern appearance frightens people, giving her a harsh lesson in racial prejudice. Somehow, Marjane's fiery spirit doesn't succumb to any of the negativity. Eventually, she returns home to Iranvto be closer to her family. But even though she settles into married life, the tyrannical pressures of Iranian society force her to abandon her country once again, sending her to France for the start of another journey.

Cannes Film Festival
Jury Prize
xxx
National Board of Review
The Bvlgari Award for Freedom of Expression
xxx
1 Academy Award Nomination
Best Animated Feature

Cannes Cannes Cannes

This was announced a couple of weeks ago, but since the Cannes Film Festival is now only a week away, I thought I'd go ahead and post the lineup and the jury members. Here's hoping we'll hear about some possible awards contenders next week.

( * denotes a film I'm particularly excited to hear responses to)

The festival runs from May 13th through the 24th.



OPENING FILM
Up (USA - Directors Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)*

IN COMPETITION
Bright Star (Australia, UK, France - Director Jane Campion)*
Spring Fever (China, France - Director Lou Ye)
Antichrist (Denmark, Sweden, France, Italy - Director Lars von Trier)
Enter the Void (France - Director Gaspar Noe)
Face (France, Taiwan, Netherlands, Belgium - Director Tsai Ming-liang)
Les Herbes folles (France, Italy - Director Alain Resnais)
In the Beginning (France - Director Xavier Giannoli)
A Prophet (France - Director Jacques Audiard)
The White Ribbon (Germany, Austria, France - Director Michael Haneke)
Vengeance (Hong Kong, France, USA - Director Johnnie To)
The Time That Remains (Israel, France, Belgium, Italy - Director Elia Suleiman)
Vincere (Italy, France - Director Marco Bellocchio)
Kinatay (Philippines - Director Brillante Mendoza)
Thirst (South Korea, USA - Director Park Chan-wook)
Broken Embraces (Spain - Director Pedro Almodovar)*
Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (Spain - Director Isabel Coixet)
Fish Tank (UH, Netherlands - Director Andrea Arnold)
Looking for Eric (UK, France, Belgium, Italy - Director Ken Loach)
Inglorious Basterds (USA - Director Quentin Tarantino)*
Taking Woodstock (USA - Director Ang Lee)*

CLOSING NIGHT FILM
Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (France - Director Jan Kounen)

OUT OF COMPETITION
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Canada, France - Director Terry Gilliam)*
The Army of Crime (France - Director Robert Guediguian)
Agora (Spain - Director Alejandro Amenabar)*

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
A Town Called Panic (Belgium - Directors Stephane Aubier and Vincent Patar)
Ne te retourne pas (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy - Director Marina de Van)
Drag Me to Hell (USA - Director Sam Raimi)

SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Petition (China - Director Zhao Liang)
L'epine dans le coeur (France - Director Michel Gondry)*
Min ye (France, Mali - Director Souleyumane Cisse)
Jaffa (Israel, France, Germany - Director Keren Yedaya)
Manila (Philippines - Directors Adolfo Alix, Jr. and Raya Martin)
My Neighbor, My Killer (USA - Director Anne Aghion)

UN CERTAIN REGARD
Samson & Delilah (Australia - Director Warwick Thornton)
Adrift (Brazil - Director Heitor Dhalia)
The Wind Journeys (Colombia - Director Ciro Guerra)
Demain des l'aube (France - Director Denis Dercourt)
Irene (France - Director Alain Cavalier)
Air Doll (Japan - Director Hirokazu Kore-eda)
Independance (Philippines, France, Germany - Director Raya Martin)
Le Pere de mes enfants (France, Germany - Director Mia Hansen-Love)
Dogtooth (Greece - Director Yorgos Lanthimos)
Nobody Knows About the Persian Cats (Iran - Director Bahman Ghobadi)
Eyes Wide Open (Israel - Director Haim Tabakman)
Mother (South Korea - Director Bong Joon-ho)
The Silent Army (Netherlands - Director Jean van de Velde)
To Die Like a Man (Portugal - Director Joao Pedro Rodrigues)
Police, Adjective (Romania - Director Corneliu Porumboiu)
Tales from the Golden Age (Romania - Directors Hanno Hofer, Razvan Marculescu, Cristian Mungiu, Constantin Popescu and Ioana Uricaru)
Tale in the Darkness (Russia - Director Nikolay Khomeriki)
Tzar (Russia, France - Director Pavel Lounguine)
Nymph (Thailand - Director Pen-ek Ratanaruang)
Precious (USA - Director Lee Daniels)*

THE JURY
Isabelle Huppert (Actress - France)
Asia Argento (Actress, director and screenwriter - Italy)
Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Director, screenwriter and actor - Turkey)
Lee Chang-dong (Director, author and screenwriter - South Korea)
James Gray (Director and screenwriter - USA)
Hanif Kureishi (Author and screenwriter - UK)
Shu Qi (Actress - Taiwan)
Robin Wright Penn (Actress - USA)

LA CINEFONDATION AND SHORT FILM JURY
John Boorman (Director, author and producer - UK)
Bertrand Bonello (Director - France)
Ferid Boughedir (Director - Tunisia)
Leonor Silveira (Actress - Portugal)
Zhang Ziyi (Actress - China)