Day: May 24, 2019

“…to take a break from their conscience. That’s what I see when I look at Trump’s rallies, his spewing lies at [those] people and [those] people saying ‘I gotta believe in somethin” and he said he’d bring my manufacturing job back and she didn’t, and I’m all in.

“But at the end of the day, aside from ‘I don’t wanna pay taxes’, it’s race. It’s race. This is about the Republican party, or a wing of it, going ‘this is our last chance to save the party’. And the only way they could do that was to tape the race button and say ‘go ahead, it’s okay.'” — To Kill A Mockingbird star Jeff Daniels on or about 5.20, speaking to MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace.

I watched a portion of this during the Cannes Film Festival, didn’t have time to focus in until this morning.

So why wasn’t Robert Eggers‘ The Lighthouse offered a Cannes competition slot? Jordan Ruimy‘s French-speaking festival whisperer, who’s been fairly accurate this year, confirms that it was fiat–out rejected for competition by Cannes topper Thierry Fremaux. A midnight slot was offered as compensation, but Eggers and A24 decided instead on a Director’s Fortnight slot. It all worked out in the end.

In a chat with Indiewire‘s Anne Thompson, Luca Guadagnino mentioned the persecution of Woody Allen. He said he frowns strongly upon “the perverted and primordial enjoyment of a kind of ‘Scarlet Letter’ trial of a man. I still am a believer in [the] state of rights. Mr. Allen went through many investigations 20 years ago and was cleared.

“[And] the Woody Allen legacy –— those movies are there, and they are fantastic. Anyone who denies that Another Woman is a masterpiece is stupid!”

I can’t honestly say that Another Woman, released in October ’88, burns all that brightly in my memory. My most vivid recollection is a romantic confession moment with Gene Hackman, whose part is relatively small. Gena Rowlands has the lead role; Ian Holm and Mia Farrow costar. 31 years ago the film was regarded as Ingmar Bergman-esque, and specifically a riff on Wild Strawberries.

Now I want to see it again, except the only way I could do that would be to buy the 18 year-old DVD.

The primary focus of the Thompson chat was Luca’s The Staggering Girl, a 35-minute short which I saw and favorably reviewed last Tuesday. Its submission to Directors Fortnight led to Guadagnino’s first Cannes invitation. “I’m a Venice man,” said Guadagnino. “I am a nouvelle vague person, [and] this is my first time in Cannes. [But] I felt at home. Maybe this is the beginning of a new phase for me.”

Mid-afternoon: I endured a miserable Cannes-to-Marseille journey earlier today on an overcrowded 2nd class car…awful. Now on a less crowded SNCF train, surging smooth and fast toward Paris. Expected arrival at 6:30 pm. Late evening: Arrived at the Paris apartment (22 rue Saint-Claude) around 8 pm, and was surprised to discover it’s a lot smaller than the Airbnb photos indicated. Tatyana’s 19-year-old son Gleb was already there. Alas, no Tatyana yet. Gleb and I went out for groceries, stopped by Cafe Charlot on rue Bretagne.

Too pooped to boogie, too whipped to think. Whatever I can add to the conversation will have to keep until tomorrow morning.

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