Cannes Film Festival disappoints critics
Grantland writer Wesley Morris is at the Cannes Film Festival and fills us in on what’s going on.
On the vibe at Cannes:
The vibe is, “What happened to the movies?” We saw “Mad Max” on the first day, and we’ve been trying to see “Mad Max” ever since. It is amazing. It is the best movie, and very little that we’ve seen since then has been as great, especially in the main competition.
On the artistic direction of the movies being shown:
The financing for these movies has really compromised some of the artistic choices that a filmmaker can make…. You have money coming from all over the world, and it dictates certain things. Like, if you’re a Greek director and you’re getting Irish money, then you have to take Colin Farrell with the money you get, which happened. It happened at a movie this year!
On making movies in different languages:
There are a number of other directors, maybe like six other directors, making movies for the first time or maybe the second time, not in their native language. And the results are kind of mediocre. You wonder if that has something to do with it.
On people getting turned away for not wearing the right thing:
It’s not the scandal that people are making it out to be. It’s not happening every night, but everybody’s got a story about how it happened to them or someone in their party …where you were denied entry because you were not appropriately dressed. It has caused a great deal of consternation and a greater deal of comedy. It is one of the pleasures of coming to this festival. You need some ridiculous thing to happen if you can’t get a great movie.
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