Elephant (2003)

Elephant DVD

Cannes Film Festival 2003

Won Best Director	Gus Van Sant
Won Cinema Prize of the French National Education System	Gus Van Sant
Won Palme d'Or	Gus Van Sant

Fine Line Features
Directed by Gus Van Sant
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, HBO)

As teenagers go about their daily routines in a typical American high school, two of them quietly plan a massacre. The camera floats behind a budding photographer, a shy girl who works in the library, a jock and his girlfriend and others. Some are destined to be killed, others survive, in the inexplicable outburst of violence that ends the film. We get only hints of their motivation: they play first person shooter video games, watch old documentaries of Hitler, get bullied in class, but the viewer is mostly left to their own conclusions. Van Sant repeats scenes from different points of view and incorporates subtle background music and natural sounds to build a sense of dread, which are extremely effective.

Barton Fink (1991)

Barton Fink DVD

Cannes Film Festival 1991

Won Best Actor	John Turturro
Won Best Director	Joel Coen
Won Palme d'Or	Joel Coen Unanimously.

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Joel Coen
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Fox)

Playwright John Turturro, fresh off a Broadway success, accepts an offer from a Hollywood producer to become a contract writer. He develops a case of writer's block while holed up in a run down hotel. He befriends neighbor John Goodman, an insurance salesman, and fellow writer John Mahoney. He falls for Mahoney's girlfriend, but when she turns up dead in his hotel room he begins to suspect Goodman is not all he appears. Strange, fascinating tale set in early Hollywood, with the usual Coen brothers penchant for odd characters.

Missing (1982)

Missing DVD

Cannes Film Festival 1982

Won Best Actor	Jack Lemmon
Won Palme d'Or	Costa-Gavras Tied with Yol (1982).

Universal Pictures
Directed by Costa-Gavras
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Universal)

A young writer goes missing in a South American country during a military coup. His wife and father search for him in vain. The local American representatives claim to be concerned but the facts suggest they are actually lying. Their search ultimately leads to the truth, which is emotionally devastating for them and politically explosive for the Americans. Costa-Gavras' political drama tries hard to make its point but lacks an edge. It plays more like a TV-movie than a work for the cinema. Jack Lemmon is good as always but his conservative character is grating.

The Barbarian Invasions (2003)

The Barbarian Invasions [DVD + Digital]

Cannes Film Festival 2003

Won Best Actress	Marie-Josée Croze
Won Best Screenplay	Denys Arcand
Nominated Palme d'Or	Denys Arcand

Miramax
Directed by Denys Arcand
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Netflix)

Friends and family of a dying man gather to make his final days as comfortable and pleasant as possible. Stuck in a run down Canadian hospital, his millionaire son pays to renovate an unused wing for a private room. His ex-wife and former lovers cheerfully recall their sexual past as if nobody was hurt. A young girl is paid to obtain heroin to ease his pain. Meanwhile he laughs, drinks wine and flirts with the nurse until the very end. This lead character is so self-absorbed and unlikable that I really did not care about his situation, and as a result the film fell flat for me.

If.... (1968)

If.... (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Cannes Film Festival 1969

Won Palme d'Or

Lindsay Anderson

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Lindsay Anderson
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Criterion Collection)

Set in an English boarding school for boys, new arrivals are tormented and bullied in typical juvenile ways. Among the older boys, the power struggle is more serious. Tradition gives some the right to punish others for seemingly trivial matters. When that right is abused, the others rebel. It's hard to tell what is fantasy and what is reality, even with the abrupt changes from color to black and white which is supposed to indicate it. There is almost no plot, and the final massacre hits a little too close to home for modern audiences, dulling its effect.

Two Days, One Night (2014)

Two Days, One Night [Blu-ray]

Cannes Film Festival 2014

Nominated Palme d'Or

Jean-Pierre Dardenne Luc Dardenne

Sundance Selects
Directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Netflix)

Workers at a small business are forced to choose between a cash bonus or allowing a young woman on leave for depression to have her job back. Most choose the bonus, but the woman visits each of them over the course of a long weekend to plead her cause. She gets a wide variety of reactions: some are immediately sympathetic and change their vote, some ignore her, others are violent. It's an interesting glimpse at the lives of everyday working people in suburban Belgium.

Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas (2013)

Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas [Blu-ray]

Cannes Film Festival 2013

Nominated Palme d'Or

Arnaud des Pallières

Music Box Films
Directed by Arnaud des Pallières
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Netflix)

A horse trader is swindled out of some of his best stock by a baron while trying to cross a river. After he finds the horses have been mistreated and his loyal servant beaten by the baron's men, he files a complaint with the court through his lawyer. The baron's influence gets it rejected and his wife is beaten to death. The horse trader assembles a group of locals to get justice as well as revenge on the baron. Based on a German legend, the story is marred by unnecessary explicit sex scenes and graphic violence. Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen is aloof as the lead character.

The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971)

Cannes Film Festival 1972

Won Palme d'Or	Elio Petri Tied with The Mattei Affair (1972).
Won Special Mention	Gian Maria Volontè For Il caso Mattei For his performance.

New Line Cinema
Directed by Elio Petri
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Assembly line worker "Lulu", the fastest and most liked-worker in an Italian factory, loses his finger one day in an accident. Student activists and the unions try to come to his aid but they cost him his job instead. He joins their cause but without a job or money his home life falls apart. Mariangela Melato has great role as Lulu's neglected wife. The numbing effects of factory work are convincingly and imaginatively portrayed, but the politics are dated and weigh the film down.

The Knack... and How to Get It (1965)

The Knack... and How to Get It [Blu-ray]

Cannes Film Festival 1965

Won Palme d'Or	Richard Lester
Won Technical Grand Prize - Special Mention	Richard Lester

United Artists - Lopert Pictures
Directed by Richard Lester
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Kino Lorber)

Shy schoolteacher Michael Crawford wonders how one of the renters in his house is so successful with women. The suave, well-dressed musician has a never-ending procession, at least in Crawford's fantasies. Wide-eyed, innocent Rita Tushingham first day in the big city leads her in search of an apartment and she ends up at Crawford's house. Crawford falls for her while the musician tries, unsuccessfully, to seduce her as does an artist also renting a room. The three of them compete for her affections in a succession of increasingly absurd situations. Rita has the last laugh with one little word in a hilarious denouement. Somewhat dated now, but frenetic pacing and daring subject matter was unheard of in a mainstream movie of 1965.

The Son's Room (2001)

The Son's Room DVD

Cannes Film Festival 2001

Won FIPRESCI Prize	Competition Nanni Moretti For its depiction of a united family's destruction following the death of a child
Won Palme d'Or	Nanni Moretti

Miramax
Directed by Nanni Moretti
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Netflix)

A psychoanalyst raises his family in a modern Italian city. When his teenage son unexpectedly dies in a diving accident, it threatens to tear it apart. He has difficulty carrying on with his practice: listening to the incessant complaining of his patients becomes a chore and he resents one of them who called him away on the day his son died. His wife struggles to keep her composure. His daughter has problems at school. A few months later they receive a letter from a girlfriend of their dead son and decide to contact her. She at first refuses but then later shows up at their house unexpectedly while hitchhiking with her new boyfriend. They befriend the family and give them some closure. Nanni Moretti directs himself and wrote the screenplay in this realistic, if depressing, drama.

Kagemusha (1980)

Kagemusha (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Cannes Film Festival 1980

Won Palme d'Or

Akira Kurosawa Tied with All That Jazz (1979).

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Netflix)

In medieval Japan, a thief with an uncanny resemblance to a warlord proves useful when the warlord is killed by a sniper while his army attacks a rival castle. He is used as a double to keep the warlord's death a secret and deceive their enemies. Spies suspect otherwise, but the thief's performance convinces them. Back home, the double manages to convince most of the household he is really the warlord, but problems arise with a rival during a council meeting about the ongoing wars.  He manages to improvise and is given command of the clan's forces. However, his real identity is revealed when he falls off a horse and he is driven out of the palace. The command of the clan is given to the rival for the climactic battle sequence. When it fails, the double makes a final act of loyalty. Kurosawa's film is spectacularly beautiful, but the characters fail to keep us engaged. The thief is too dumb to care about and his rivals to ambitious. The final battle scene is anticlimactic, with much of the action implied rather than shown. Somewhat of a disappointment.

Welcome to Sarajevo (1997)

Welcome to Sarajevo DVD

Cannes Film Festival 1997

Nominated Palme d'Or

Michael Winterbottom

Miramax
Directed by Michael Winterbottom
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Netflix)

International journalists risk their lives to obtain footage in Sarajevo in the early stages of the Bosnian War. A British reporter becomes determined to save children at an orphanage. He eventually arranges for most of them to be bused to Italy but brings one of them home with him to England. He intends to adopt her, but must return to Sarajevo to convince her mother. A gripping and important story, but the focus on children is borderline exploitation. Incorporates real footage which is very graphic and difficult to watch.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)

The Wind That Shakes the Barley DVD

Cannes Film Festival 2006

Won Palme d'Or

Ken Loach

IFC First Take
Directed by Ken Loach
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, IFC Films/Genius Products)

Residents of an Irish village are harassed by the brutal British soldiers who occupy their country. One day they kill someone and the men of the town organize a militia to resist and fight back. They eventually force the British into a treaty which will stop the fighting but not give them full independence. This fractures the resistance into those who support the treaty and the purists who refuse to give up. More violence follows, but this time it's Irish against Irish, brother against brother. Powerful anti-war message manages to rise above all of the shouting.

Lawless (2012)

Lawless (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy)

Cannes Film Festival 2012

Nominated Palme d'Or

John Hillcoat

The Weinstein Company
Directed by John Hillcoat
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Netflix)

Three brothers in Depression era Virginia run a bootlegging business. They clash with a new police deputy assigned to wipe out the bootleggers by any means necessary. Sadistically violent film revels in explicit gore and torture. Characters are little more than caricatures, most notably Jessica Chastain who was little to nothing to do other than be the girlfriend of one of the brothers. Anachronistic soundtrack ruins the otherwise good period detail, one of the film's few virtues.