comment #1

FNG says ...

Good to see that Steve McQueen is making a comeback.

comment #2

MilkMan says ...

Jeff isn't the only one devastated by Che's loss. My sister, who is 42 years old and four months pregnant, heard about the snub and immediately called her doctor to schedule an second amniocentesis. "That's a horrible view," said my sister. "I should be running this place. I'm always coming up with great ideas."

comment #3

filmfan says ...

The best thing for Che would be for it to land a deal as an HBO mini series. That way it wouldn't be cut.
If it gets a regular theatrical distribution then it will probably get cut. I didn't think it would win the Palm.
There were just too many people who didn't like it.

comment #4

lipranzer says ...

"Good to see that Steve McQueen is making a comeback."

Not only that, the last name of the actor playing Bobby Sands is Fassbender (one letter off, but still).

comment #5

lipranzer says ...

On-topic; the only Cantet film I've seen is HEADING SOUTH, and like Jeff, I wasn't wowed by it. Still, I'll give it a shot when it opens stateside.

comment #6

actionman says ...

Really want to see the Cannes cut of Che; too bad it won't ever see the light of day.

comment #7

btwnproductions says ...

HEADING SOUTH was a misstep for Cantet, though not an uninteresting one. Do see his other films; it's a compelling body of work.

In its present form it's hard to imagine CHE getting any more play than Cantet's film will in this country. Seems like "elite art theatre" fare all the way, no different than the warmer-toned MOTORCYCLE DIARIES in that regard.

comment #8

cjKennedy says ...

Did you see Entre les Murs or is this going to be like last year when you lamented the "Romanian abortion movie" beating No Country for Old Men, only to end up finally seeing the former and changing your tune?

comment #9

Devin Faraci says ...

I'm a little confused... when did CHE definitely become one film? The scripts I have are for two different movies, and everything I've read is that it was intended as a duology. I see why they played in a block at Cannes, and I see why two uncommercial movies are essentially as tough a sell as one uncommercial four hour movie... but is this only being seen as one movie now?

comment #10

JohnCope says ...

"Really want to see the Cannes cut of Che; too bad it won't ever see the light of day."

Why?

comment #11

corey3rd says ...

I was surprised to hear that Gamera - the flying turtle monster from Japan had won at Cannes. Sean Penn must have been in prime Spicoli mode when he was judging. "Dude, that turtle's got flames coming out of his butt! It wins!"

comment #12

MiraJeffAICN says ...

The fact that you didn't care you were sans computer seems to sum up the general attitude towards this year's Cannes anyway. As someone who has never been before, and as Murphy will probably note, will never get to go, lemme ask you Wells, is it worth going to every year? It sounds like this and Sundance are becoming more overhyped and underwhelming with each year. Is that my ignorance speaking or do you find some factuality in that statement? Personally, I'm preferential to Tribeca, but then again, you love what you know, you know?

comment #13

Filipe says ...

Cjkeneddy, Cantet's film was the last one shown on competition, so yes, Jeff is complaining blind again, after last year, he should probably have learn a lesson. Like 4 Months, it was a Cannes rarity: a film pretty much everyone (fothe most snobish to the most middlebrow critic) seems to have liked it, and it seems that most people who saw it predictedas the likely winner.

Devin, I agree, I still don't get why almost no journalist there pointed out the obvious that it's not really a 4h30 film, but two 2h ones. Also, the film was shown there unfinished, so it's obvious that no one else will gonna see this exactly cut again..

comment #14

Wrecktum says ...

Are we going to keep having to have Che shoved down our throats on this site for the next nine months?

comment #15

T. Holly says ...

It's a little pun: spread the word; they spead the awards around. I see Filipe used the Babelfish translator, but I love what he said. "Che" will be this year's "Factory Girl" here.

comment #16

cjKennedy says ...

According to THR, Soderbergh said "What I'd like to do is that if it opens in a town, you can see it for a week as one movie, and then you split it up...To me that would be an event."

comment #17

mutinyco says ...

Also, a lot of people used the fact that it was without credits as proof it was incomplete. However, I believe Soderbergh said he'd prefer it play that way accompanied by a booklet that included the credits. Which, if anybody recalls, is exactly how Apocalypse Now played during its initial run.

comment #18

Bob Violence says ...

So is it also Soderbergh's intention for half the movie to be shown at half-resolution? That seems like a waste of a nice 4K camera.

comment #19

PaulKolas says ...

Since the jury unanimously agreed that "Entre les Murs" was the best film of the festival, I'm far more inclined to side with them than Jeff's pounding "Che" down our throats. After reading the overall reaction to "Che", and measuring it against the luminous regard for "Entre les Murs" I've been reading, all Jeff is doing with his whiny attitude about the outcome of the Cannes' awards, is turning me against a film I haven't even seem. Sound familiar, Jeff?

comment #20

K. Bowen says ...

"According to THR, Soderbergh said "What I'd like to do is that if it opens in a town, you can see it for a week as one movie, and then you split it up...To me that would be an event." "

And when nobody shows up to watch it the first week? Then what?

comment #21

truefaith says ...

Soderbergh's "Che" sounds a lot like Tarantino's "Kill Bill." Wasn't the latter a flop? Or Cimino's "Heaven's Gate?" From what I've seen so far, it doesn't seem like Soderbergh has done anything of substance this decade. Maybe it would've been better for him to have had Ang Lee win the Best Director Oscar for "Crouching Tiger, HIdden Dragon" instead. Because it seem like ever since Soderbergh won the Oscar, it has gone through his head.

comment #22

Kim Voynar says ...

Devin,

Word around Cannes was that no one's yet figured out how to distrib the film -- as one long "Che" or as two separate films. Having seen it in its Cannes iteration, I feel pretty strongly that it really needs to be shown just as we saw it.

You really need the intensity of the first half for the slower pace and Che's increasing hubris in the second half to have any sort of emotional impact.

A group of film journalists we chatted with over drinks after the film felt that the best way to market this film is to take it on the road and pitch it as an "event" as opposed to just doing a straight theatrical release.

They generated much goodwill among the press crowd (and probably kept a lot of folks there for the second half) simply by having a 15-minute smoke-break intermission with the Che goody bags -- sandwiches, bottled water and Kit-Kats.

They could do much the same with the cinephile crowd by giving out sustenance at the mid-point, and maybe a second goody bag at the end with the obligatory "Che" t-shirt or something. I can't see your average movie-goer sitting through 4.5 hours of bloody revolution unless it was pitched as an event like that.

Many of the press at the Cannes screening (myself included) went to it more just because we felt it was a Cannes event not to be missed. Then I ended up loving the film, and Benicio del Toro's amazing performance, and was glad I saw the film for its own merits.

comment #23

LauraReeling says ...

Cantet's "Human Resources" was a very good film and I believe "Time Out" is a near masterpiece. Granted, "Heading South" was a step back, but I am really looking forward to "Entre les Murs."

comment #24

Mgmax says ...

Complete this sentence:

Are we going to keep having to have _______ shoved down our throats on this site for the next nine months?

"According to THR, Soderbergh said "What I'd like to do is that if it opens in a town, you can see it for a week as one movie, and then you split it up...To me that would be an event." "

How many towns in America do you think there are where there's that much interest in a South American revolutionary of the 1960s?