Although many films by Cannes-loved directors, such as Ozon, Denis, To and Miike seem to always make there way to the French Riviera in May, there are also some notable absences from this years festival. Most notably for me is Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive. Jarmusch, being loved by Europeans and is always a staple at the festival winning numerous awards for his films, possibly may not have his film finished yet or maybe the programmers did not want a vampire tale this year. Another omission is Bong Joon-Ho's Snowpiercer. He, having directed two successful and interesting films, The Host and Mother, surprises me of not being there but it could easily still be in post-production. Also, the absence of Ari Folman's The Congress not being in the festival is somewhat of a surprise with the enormous appreciation of his animated film Waltz with Bashir.
We already knew that Cannes regulars Pedro Almodovar and his newest I'm So Excited, and Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine were not going to be in the festival per the directors requests. The only other films that I'm disappointed are not being shown at the festival are Steve McQueen's Twelve Years a Slave, probably a more realistic and honest approach to slavery than Tarantino's Django Unchained, and the Sundance favorites Before Midnight from Richard Linklater (probably because it opens May 24th) and Ain't Them Bodies Saints from David Lowery. Lowery's film still could be added though.
I'm sure there are more films that would have been nice to hear word from that are not playing at Cannes but before to long Telluride, Venice and Toronto will be upon us.
No comments:
Post a Comment