For me, the standout quote of the press conference for the Cannes Film Festival jurors (held at 2:30 pm) came when a Scandanavian journalist asked for comments about the reported suicide death of Searching For Sugar Man director Malik Bendjelloul, and Nicholas Winding Refn said it was very sad and tragic news, adding that “life is a beautiful gift.” (I vaguely recall his saying “very beautiful” but I wasn’t taking notes.) That immediately struck me as an unexpected thought coming from the director of Only God Forgives, but once I got past this I suddenly reconsidered who Refn might really be deep down. Because I was more than half-convinced after seeing God that he was the proverbial chubby kid who likes to pull the wings off flies.

Reminder: Last November I got an email from Refn‘s assistant, informing that Refn’s wife, Liv Corfixen, “is making a documentary about what life is like married to an artist like Nicolas surrounding the making of Only God Forgives. She has footage of Nicolas reading aloud a portion of your review of OGF that was published on Hollywood-Elsewhere.com and would love to include it in the film. Copied on this email is Nicolas’ producing partner Lene Borglum. She would like to have your permission to use the quote from your review and can answer any questions you have.” My reply: “Funny. Sure, use away.”

The juror chairperson/honcho is director Jane Campion (i.e., white hair). The others are Carole Bouquet, Iranian actress Leila Hatami (A Separation), Willem Dafoe, Gael Garcia Bernal, Nicholas Winding-Refn, director Sofia Coppola, South Korean actress Jeon Do-yeon and Chinese director Jia Zhangke.