It's a beautiful morning in JLP. I am currently sitting at my desk letting the sun creep in with the window open in front of me. Yesterday was a full day, so I didn't have time to write. Je regrette beaucoup.
We left for Cannes around 9ish to pick up our temporary market badges (woo hoo!). Now we have access to the Palais (where many theaters are located and where production companies set up booths and display their one sheets
Jeers and laughter broke out during scenes ranging from a talking fox to graphically-portrayed sexual mutilation.
Many viewers in the large Debussy cinema also appeared to take objection to von Trier's decision to dedicate his film to the revered Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky. Applause from a handful of viewers was drowned out by booing at the end.
Antichrist opens with a heavily stylized, black-and-white, slow-motion portrayal of the child's accidental death set to soaring music by Handel.
Dafoe's character, who is a therapist, tries to help his wife deal with her grief and encourages her to come off heavy medication that sedates her for weeks after the death.
They decide to go to an isolated wooden cabin in an unspecified forest to recover, but the woman Gainsbourg portrays loses control of her senses.
The abuse she submits herself and her husband to drew shocked gasps from the audience.
The reaction suggested that von Trier, who won the top prize in Cannes with "Dancer in the Dark" in 2000, could be in for a rough ride from reviewers and journalists on Monday.
One U.S. critic said he and others found the film "offensive," and questioned why it was included in the main competition of 20 films in Cannes.
In production notes for Antichrist, the 53-year-old director said that the movie was a "kind of therapy" for depression he was suffering from two years ago.
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It was AWFUL. I took copious amounts of notes and wanted to walk out towards the end. I have issues with walking out of movies, though. If I managed to get as far as I did, surely I could make it to the end. The film was on the brink of being pornographic (they showed everything) and it suddenly turned into a SAW movie around the last third of the movie. I can't even say the things I was forced to see...I get lightheaded again. I think someone passed out, because as I was leaving I saw EMTs frantically run in the theater. It wouldn't surprise me. People were exiting the theater in packs during the film. This movie was a perfect example of what Paul Cox meant when he said "There's a lot of shit out there."
ANYWAY
We met with another speaker around 2 named Duane Byrge. He is a critic for the Hollywood Reporter. I actually read his article on The Misfortunates the night before while I was writing my own review. Didn't even realize I would be seeing the guy the next day.
Even though I am not a journalist, I found his discussion very interesting. He got a job working for the Writer's Guild when he was only a second year film student. When that went kaput, he got a call from the Hollywood Reporter shortly after. He told us to take advantage of every opportunity and you never know where you are going to end up. He was a good guy. I liked him.
Afterwards, Sarah and I went to the booth for Lymelife and asked if we could get tickets. The film's executive producer is Martin Scorsese and the cast includes: Alec Baldwin, Keiren and Rory Culkin, Timothy Hutton, Jill Hennessy, Cynthia Nixon, and Emma Roberts. The theater it was playing in only had 40 seats, so we thought our chances were slim. BUT, the lady at the booth said if we came 10 minutes early she would give us tickets.
We went to eat food at Cafe Roma--it was delicious.
A lot of us managed to make it in to Lymelife, and it was pretty good. Very American Beauty-esque. I thought it was cute and kind of quirky. One of those indie movies.
When we walked out of the film, we noticed two women watching one of the TV's on the wall. It was showing who was currently on the red carpet. Once and a while a person would pass in front of them (it was a public space, after all) and one of the ladies would shout a rude comment like "Learn some manners baby" or "Were you raised in a barn?" One woman was about to cross in front of them and the evil lady took her by the shoulders and turned her in the other direction. "Walk around!" she said. We stood in disbelief that this old woman was so rude. Causing a commotion about something as small as a person crossing in front of your view (IN A PUBLIC AREA!) is inexcusable.
Finally, Anna spoke up.
"Maybe you should stand closer to the TV."
"Why are you getting yourself involved in this?"
"Or maybe you could put cones around you..."
"Funny. You're funny."
"Well, you're being really rude."
"You're rude for calling me rude!"
"You just asked that woman if she was raised in a barn!"
"We're so lucky to have your generation following ours."
I won't write Anna's response, but it was hilarious. The woman flicked her off when Anna walked away. That was the second Antichrist. How can people have such a false sense of entitlement? I can't believe people like her exist in this world.
After that ordeal we went to the movie on the beach, which was Ziggy Stardust. The band Blue Foundation played first, and they were awesome. No one was up and dancing, though. Only one guy outside the barrier with a beer in his hand was rocking out. I thought that was unfortunate, and had the impulse to go up and dance. I was a little nervous about dancing alone, but I remembered what Mr. Cox said about fear. So I leapt up and joined the dancing bum. He was pretty filthy and didn't speak a word of English, but the barrier separated us. He was pretty harmless. Elisa joined me after a few minutes and then some guys from Spain decided to come up as well. The rest of the people just watched and smiled. It was fun.
After the Bowie showing, we all went back to JLP and I passed out.
Today, we have a "master class" with the Dardenne Brothers. They did the movie L'enfant, which won the Palme d'Or in 2005. I haven't seen any of their movies, but I've learned from every speaker so far. I haven't decided which films I am going to see today, or if I am going to beg for premiere tickets. It's such an exhausting exercise and you always feel like crap when you don't get a ticket. We'll see.
A demain!
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