slider

HE’s personal preference list of Cannes ’19 films comes to 27, and that’s not counting the Cannes Classics roster (Loves of a Blonde, Easy Rider, The Shining, Seven Beauties, Moulin Rouge, the Bunuel trio). 27 to 30 films in 11 days, and that’s leaving out a lot. Which films should I downgrade and which omissions should I include? Tell me this isn’t one of the most exciting Cannes rosters in years, at least on paper.

Top Ten: (1) Quentin Tarantino‘s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, (2) Abdellatif Kechiche‘s Intermezzo, (3) Robert Eggers‘ The Lighthouse, (4) Jim Jarmusch‘s The Dead Don’t Die, (5) Pedro Almódovar‘s Pain & Glory, (5) Marco Bellocchio‘s The Traitor, (6) Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne‘s Young Ahmed, (7) Terrence Malick‘s A Hidden Life, (8) Ken Loach‘s Sorry We Missed You, (9) Dexter Fletcher‘s Rocketman (out of competition), (10) Kantemir Balagov‘s Beanpole.

Second Group: (11) Asif Kapadia‘s Diego Maradona, (12) Nicolas Winding Refn‘s Too Old To Die Young – North Of Hollywood, West Of Hell, (13) Nicolas Bedos‘ La Belle Epoque, (14) Jessica Hausner‘s Little Joe, (15) Corneliu Porumboiu‘s The Whistlers, (16) Ira Sachs‘ Frankie, (17) Xavier Dolan‘s Matthias And Maxime, (18) Arnaud Desplechin‘s Oh Mercy, (19) Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles‘ Bacurau, (20) Gaspar Noé’s Lux Aeterna.

Third Group: (21) Larissa Sadilova’s Odnazhdy v Trubchevske, (22) Gael García Bernal’s Chicuarotes, (23) Luca Guadagnino‘s short film The Staggering Girl, (24) Leila Conners’ Ice on Fire, (25) Dan Krauss’s 5B, (26) Bong Joon-ho‘s Parasite, (27) Diao Yinan‘s The Wild Goose Lake.

Loveless composer Evgeny Galperin, whom I met in Cannes two years ago, says that he “worked” for (presumably composed the musical score for) Kantemir Balagov‘s Beanpole, which will show in Cannes under Un Certain Regard.

Evgeny will be in Cannes for a couple of days to attend the Beanpole screening and, I presume, take a few bows. He assures that Beanpole, a melodrama about two women struggling to survive in the 1945 aftermath of the German siege of Leningrad, is an “absolute masterpiece.” He’s also urging that I see Kirill Mikhanovsky‘s Give Me Liberty, which will screen at Directors’ Fortnight.

Balagov’s controversial Tesnota (Closeness) screened in Cannes two years ago. The 26 year-old director’s decision to include footage from an actual snuff film prompted some press-screening walkouts, and resulted in the ruffling of critical feathers. Todd McCarthy‘s Hollywood Reporter review reflected this reaction.

Tatyana saw Tesnota/Closeness at Telluride ’17. She told Evgeny this morning that she found it “brilliant” and a “true masterpiece” and knew right away that “a new, very talented Russian film director had been born.”

Long Beanpole synopsis via Wild Bunch: “1945, Leningrad. World War II has devastated the city, demolishing its buildings and leaving its citizens in tatters, physically and mentally. Although the siege – one of the worst in history – is finally over, life and death continue their battle in the wreckage that remains. Two young women, Iya and Masha, search for meaning and hope in the struggle to rebuild their lives amongst the ruins.

“26-year-old Kantemir Balagov follows Tesnota, winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, with a powerful period drama.”

At long last, World of Reel‘s Jordan Ruimy has posted results of a top-rated films of the 20-teens poll. Not entirely critics but 250 “critics, programmers, academics and distributors“, as Ruimy puts it.

George Miller‘s Mad Max: Fury Road — a high-grade, brilliantly choreographed apocalyptic action flick — has emerged with the highest tally. Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life came in second, Barry Jenkins‘ overpraised Moonlight ranks third, Richard Linklater‘s Boyhood is fourth and David Fincher‘s The Social Network emerged as #5.

Of the top 20 favorites, a little less than half — Fury Road, Moonlight, Jordan Peele‘s Get Out (#10), Todd Haynes‘ Carol (#12), Spike Jonze‘s Her (#18) and Luca Guadagnino‘s Call Me By Your Name (#19) — could be called Joe Popcorn-friendly.

The others are studied, formidable, sophisticated, in some cases ultra-dweeby, New York Film Festival-y, non-popcorny “critics movies” such as Jonathan Glazer‘s Under the Skin (#12), Kenneth Lonergan‘s Margaret (14), Maren Ade‘s overpraised Toni Erdmann (#15), Apichatpong Weerasethakul‘s Uncle Bonmee (#16), Joshua Oppenheimer‘s The Act of Killing and Leos Carax‘s brilliant Holy Motors.

#6 through #10 are The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson), Roma (Alfonso Cuaron), Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson…get outta town!), A Separation (Asghar Farhadi…yes!) and the perfectly composed Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel Coen).

HE opinion (reposted): Moonlight is a very good film, but it was over-showered with praise by way of virtue-signalling and p.c. kowtowing. Now that the post-Twilight Zone truth about Jordan Peele has begun to settle in, Get Out‘s rep is almost certainly undergoing a reassessment.

HE’s TOP ELEVEN OF THE LAST NINE YEARS: Manchester By The Sea, A Separation, The Social Network, Zero Dark Thirty, Call Me By Your Name, Son of Saul, The Wolf of Wall Street, Leviathan, The Square, Moneyball, Diane.

Read more

A Washington Post-ABC News poll says that 54% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have no particular preference for any candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, Joe Biden included.

Think about that for five or ten seconds. For months and months it’s been “Biden and Bernie in front, Biden and Bernie in front, Biden and Bernie in front” and yet — and yet! — 54% of likely Democratic voters are saying “no one in particular” when asked to name a candidate they currently support.

This means that support for Biden is soft. It means the majority is still sniffing around and kicking the tires with no strong passion for anyone.

On the other hand there’s a new Emerson poll stating that Biden is doing best against Trump in Texas, with Beto O’Rourke polling nearly as well.

Until yesterday I hadn’t realized that Kamala Harris is only 5′ 2″. I’m sorry but that changes things slightly. Hillary Clinton (5’4″ or 5’5″) appeared to be fairly short in her debates with the 6’2″ Trump, but Kamala is two inches shorter. That’s visually worrisome.

Beto O’Rourke is obviously going through a rough patch, but he’s the only front-polling Democratic candidate who is clearly taller than Orange Cheeto. He’s got him by two if not three inches. Don’t kid yourself: One of the reasons that Michael Dukakis lost to George H.W. Bush (Willie Horton and tank video aside) is that fact that next to Bush he looked like Rocky the Squirrel.

Read more

HE correspondent Mark Smith has forwarded impressions of the Tribeca Film Festival’s screening of Francis Coppola‘s Apocalypse Now: Final Cut, which was shown this evening at Manhattan’s 3000-seat Beacon Theatre:

“From what I could tell, there is NO NEW FOOTAGE of anything.

“The French Plantation scene is IN — since I’ve only seen Redux once, I’m not sure if it was trimmed down, but it felt like 23 minutes (23 months, if you ask me) so I’m assuming it’s the same now as it was in Redux.

“Let’s Stop and Fuck Some Playmates is OUT…gone. Kurtz Reads Time Magazine is OUT. The extra bits with Duvall’s Kilgore are all IN, including the scene where he’s flying over Willard and the crew, them asking for his surfboard back. So as far as I can tell, Apocalypse Now: Final Cut = Redux minus Let’s Stop and Fuck Some Playmates minus Kurtz Reads Time Magazine.

“Picture quality-wise it looks terrific. The screen was huge, and the colors and contrast levels looked great. Whatever was done to the visuals to prepare it for this premiere (4K hyper-digital blah blah) didn’t strike me as a monumental change, but it looked FANTASTIC — make no mistake.

“Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Francis Ford Coppola’s visionary Vietnam War epic when the newly restored Apocalypse Now: Final Cut arrives on 4K Ultra H Combo Pack (4K disc, plus three Blu-ray discs and Digital copy) and on Digital 4K Ultra HD for the first time ever on August 27 from Lionsgate. A special NAGRA myCinema theatrical release of Apocalypse Now: Final Cut can be experienced on the giant screen in select theaters nationwide on August 15.”

“What REALLY leaps off the screen is how otherworldly and exquisite Vittorio Storaro’s photography is. For me this is one of the ten best-photographed movies ever, and seeing a pristine version on a massive screen was an absolute joy.

“As for the sound, I was hoping that the Wagner helicopter attack would blow my kidneys out my ass, and I was not disappointed. Whatever system they set up there was fucking galactic. It was the loudest viewing experience I’ve ever had that wasn’t a rock concert. The bass SHOOK the joint. The sound was the big star of the night for me. Triple A-Plus.

“Coppola brought Duvall out before the screening began, and before they exited the spotlight Duvall bellowed “Charlie don’t surf!” into the mike and grinned like a loon.

“Soderbergh gave props to Walter Murch, who was in the crowd. (Also saw Michael Moore walking around in his Michael Moore costume.)

“The Coppola-Soderbergh q&a will most likely be on the Tribeca Film Festival site, so I won’t try to recap it, but Coppola was lucid and gregarious. When he said he was 80, my eyebrows shot up. What I did notice was that Soderbergh, obviously in awe of the herculean effort it took to make the movie, kept bringing the conversation back to The Set. His overall fascination seemed to be, ‘How the fuck did you manage to make a work of genius under all that pressure?’

“All in all it was a grand moviegoing experience, but I still feel the French Plantation scene should go.

Sent earlier this afternoon: According to Wikipedia Redux runs 3 hours, 22 minutes. Other sources have listed Redux as 193 minutes and 197 minutes. Final Cut (as you know) is listed at 3 hours, 3 minutes.

“I pray that a good portion of French Plantation scene is cut down, but since the difference in running time between Redux and Final Cut is only 19 minutes, and French Plantation runs over 23 minutes (!), I think it’s safe to say French Plantation will be there in some form, but hopefully shorter.

Read more

I’ve been living in the same West Hollywood pad since ’91. The influence of Tatyana has led to all kinds of cleaning and re-painting and throwing stuff out. A month ago we tossed a large glasstop desk and an adjustable up-and-down chair that I’d been using as my default workspace furniture for a good quarter-century. You wouldn’t recognize the place now. Everything, it seems, is fresh, scrubbed and clutter-free.

Ex-wife Maggie and I outside the Picasso Museum in October ’87, either just before or just after getting married at St.-Julien-le-Pauvre.

Near Omaha Beach, Normandy, France — a day or two later.

[Click through to full story on HE-plus]

In the comment thread of my 4.24 Long Shot review, “AuggieBenDoggie” noted the basic premise — dorky, blunt-spoken journalist (Seth Rogen) falls for a dishy Secretary of State (Charlize Theron) who’s way, way out of his league — and asked if it isn’t the same basic idea behind Continental Divide (’81), in which John Belushi played a stocky reporter who tumbled for Blair Brown‘s Rocky Mountain scientist.

In both films the women reciprocate the feelings of the male journalists and actually invite them into their beds. Except that the Belushi-Brown pairing is a lot less of a stretch than the Rogen-Theron romance, which has struck some as fairly ridiculous.

HE reply: Yes, there’s a rough similarity between Long Shot and Continental Divide, but the latter — directed by Michael Apted, written by Lawrence Kasdan — is a much more grown-up, more emotionally earnest comedy — a galaxy apart from Long Shot. As in “actually tethered to a semblance of the real world.” Compared to Long Shot, Continental Divide is a Lubitsch film. And Belushi isn’t half bad as the tough, Mike Royko-like Chicago journalist.

By the way: Here’s a striking photo of Belushi’s sheet-wrapped body being rolled out of the Chateau Marmont in front of a journalist wolf-pack. It kind of reminds me of the last moments of Sunset Boulevard — the same mix of pity, sadness and lurid headlines. The photo is part of a Hollywood Reporter excerpt from Shawn Levy‘s “The Castle on Sunset” (Doubleday, 5.7), which I’ve read and highly approve of.

Read more

Apologies for not posting the exciting news about Robert Eggers‘ The Lighthouse playing under the Directors’ Fortnight banner in Cannes next month. Eggers’ last film, The Witch, is among the five greatest elevated horror films of the 21st Century; The Lighthouse, shot on 35mm black-and-white film and costarring Robert (“RPatz”) Pattinson and Willem Dafoe, is also elevated horror.

A24 calls it a “fantasy horror story set in the world of old sea-faring myths.”

Hollywood Elsewhere is presuming that the source of the horror will never be seen. If it’s shown it’ll be a goblin, ghost or sea creature of some kind. I’m personally leaning toward a sea creature — something without hands or feet, something slick and slithery like a seal, something that squeals. It’s a safe bet that it won’t resemble Guillermo del Toro‘s Creature From the Love Lagoon.

Tweet #1: “I hate admitting this, considering my partly (mostly) negative history with MCU, but Avengers: Endgame is pretty damn decent. A lot better than I thought it would be. Not just a geek-out. And yes, it DOES get you emotionally. I didn’t choke up, but I get why others have.”

Tweet #2: “I guess I could go farther than ‘pretty damn decent’. It’s an expert blend of high-end mythology, ultra-clever writing & breathtaking, super-swanky escapism by way of the Movie Godz. Endgame has definitely joined my MCU pantheon along with Ant Man, the first two Captain America installments, etc.”

Seriously and without checking, the top-of-my-head contenders are Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Beto O’Rourke, probably Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Mean-To-Her-Subordinates, Julian Castro…that’s all I can think of. Eleven. Wait, John Hickenlooper for twelve!

Okay, now I’m looking it up and finding the names of Andrew Yang, Tim Ryan, Marianne Williamson, Eric Swallwell, Wayne Messam, Seth Moulton, Jay Inslee, Mike Gravel, John Delaney. A total of 21.

Ten months from now only five will be standing: Buttigieg, Sanders, Harris, O’Rourke and Biden. If and when Harris can’t cut the mustard (and I’m only saying she might not prevail), the #TimesUp and #MeToo genderists will freak out and throw around charges of a patriarchal conspiracy.

Biden, I predict, will gaffe himself to death and withdraw after the California primary. Sanders is a total pain in the ass, and his followers are worse…how to get rid of him?

Name the Seven Dwarves without checking: Dopey, Sleazy, Doc, Bashful, Grumpy…I’m stuck.

Hugs and condolences to friends and colleagues of Anonymous Content founder and producer Steve Golin, who passed yesterday from cancer at age 64. Obviously way too young, but a life well lived.
How else to describe a guy who produced or significantly assisted Spotlight, The Revenant, Babel, Beasts of No Nation, Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, Boy Erased, Being John Malkovich, The Game, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, et. al.?

Only in the 21st Century film industry can you say with a straight face that a departed professional was “burdened with good taste,” but that was Golin for you. Inexorably drawn to quality-level projects, constitutionally incapable of producing crap and always with the reddish complexion, no hair to speak of, squinty eyes and grubby salt-and-pepper whiskers, Golin lugged good taste around like a bent-over mail carrier…like Charles Bukowski in the ’50s. But he never backed off, and producing ambitious, first-rate, critically hailed films was also his pride and levitation.

Steve’s big hallelujah moment happened in early ’16 when Spotlight won the Best Picture Oscar.

I last ran into Steve at the 2015 Middleburg Film Festival, when he was repping and taking bows for The Revenant and Spotlight. We talked for 35 or 40 minutes in a shuttle van between Dulles and Middleburg. He was a hustler, of course, like any good producer, but he seemed to really understand and believe in the transformative power of great filmmaking.

The film industry could use a lot more Steve Golins, and now it has one less.