By Jake Howell jake.howell@utoronto.ca

Countdown to Cannes: Audiard, Carax, Reygadas

The eighth in a series of snapshots of the twenty-two filmmakers in Competition for the Palme d’Or at the sixty-fifth Festival de Cannes.

JACQUES AUDIARD

Background: French; born in Paris, France 1952.

Known for / style: A Prophet and The Beat That My Heart Skipped; the son of French screenwriter and director Michel Audiard; contemporary master of the “polar,” or French crime thriller

Film he’s bringing to Cannes: De rouille et d’os (Rust and Bone), a French-language romance drama based on Craig Davidson’s short story collection of the same name. The film follows a trainer of killer whales (Marion Cotillard) and an unemployed 20-something (Matthias Schoenaerts, Bullhead). Love brings them together after an accident befalls Cotillard’s character.

Notable accolades: Audiard came quite close to winning the Palme d’Or, as A Prophet was heavily-favored to win in 2009. It eventually lost to Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon, and Audiard instead took home the Grand Jury Prize. (There are rumors afoot that suggest the votes were closely split.) The director has also won Cannes’ screenwriting award in 1996 for A Self-Made Hero, and BAFTA has honored Audiard twice with two wins in the foreign-language category (A Prophet and 2005’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped). Audiard has also won four César awards, including one for Best Film (A Prophet) and two wins for Best Director (A Prophet and The Beat That My Heart Skipped).

Previous Cannes appearances: Audiard debuted Regarde les hommes tomber in a parallel section in 1994, and has played in Competition twice prior to Rust and Bone (2009’s A Prophet and 1996’s A Self-Made Hero).

Could it win the Palme? Audiard has been consistently producing quality films for a while now, and it doesn’t seem like Rust and Bone will disappoint. Rust and Bone will reunite Audiard with composer Alexandre Desplat, who has been creating excellent film scores for Audiard’s films since 1997. A great score can elevate a film to new levels with the emotion it evokes, so it’s possible that could happen in 2012. The film also has a pretty notable cast, with Academy Award-winner Marion Cotillard as a selling-point. Matthias Schoenaerts is no slump, either: Oscar-chasers will remember Schoenarts from Bullhead, which lost to A Separation back in February. Thus far, Audiard seems to be Mr. Second Place at both Cannes and the Oscars, but Rust and Bone may be the tipping point: on paper, the combination of Cotillard, Audiard, Desplat and Schoenarts feels like it will result in something. Critical buzz and expectation is deservedly very high.

Why you should care: Critics felt A Prophet should have won in 2009. While that doesn’t mean much to the jury, it says a lot about the quality of the film (and of Audiard as a filmmaker). Additionally, Rust and Bone’s romance is quite different from the violence and brutality of Audiard’s two recent thrillers, making it interesting to see how he’s handled the return to love stories. Having done the math, a quick glance at the people involved (and the film’s mysterious trailer) makes Rust and Bone a must-see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWMPuA83hGg

LEOS CARAX (born Alexandre Oscar Dupont)

Background: French; born in Suresnes, Hauts-de-Seine, France 1960.

Known for / style: Pola X and Boy Meets Girl; love stories involving angst and frustration; taking hiatuses; working with Denis Lavant; association with New French Extremity; acting and writing in addition to directing

Film he’s bringing to Cannes: Holy Motors, a French-language drama that follows a man (Denis Lavant) through his various parallel lives; each of them a different age, class, or gender. The cast also features Eva Mendes, Kylie Minogue, and Michel Piccoli.

Notable accolades: In 1984, Carax won Cannes’ Youth Award for Boy Meets Girl. He hasn’t had much in the way of major awards at larger festivals, but Berlin did give him the Alfred Bauer Award and a CICAE honorable mention in 1987 (Bad Blood).

Previous Cannes appearances: Holy Motors is Carax’s fourth directorial appearance at the Festival, and second in Competition. 1999’s Pola X debuted in Competition, while the collaboration project Tokyo! played Un Certain Regard in 2008. Boy Meets Girl played a parallel section of the Festival in 1984. Carax has also acted in two Cannes films; both of them in Un Certain Regard: 2007’s Mister Lonely, and 1997’s The House.

Leos Carax.

Could it win the Palme? There’s something about this cast being in a Palme d’Or-winning film that feels unlikely, but anything is possible. The details surrounding Carax’s film don’t seem to add up: the talent seems to have been plucked at random (Kylie Minogue? Avec Eva Mendes, Michel Piccoli, and Denis Lavant? Is this real life?), and the plot sounds downright risky; as if Carax is being weird for the sake of weird (the director did create an alias with an anagram of his former name). In terms of awards buzz and critical acclaim, Carax’s film needs to be truly crazy—in a good way—if he hopes to beat Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis at the strange game. Unfortunately, smart money says Cronenberg has that turf safely secured, and perhaps justifiably so: Carax’s long hiatuses and modest critical success have buried him deep in the memory recesses of the international collective conscience. In other words, Carax has some catching up to do.

Why you should care: 13 years have passed since Carax’s last appearance for a feature film, and it’s possible his latest is the result of a maturation of sorts. It’ll also be quite a sight to see such a bizarre cast working together, especially if the selection process wasn’t entirely motivated by gimmick or stunt appeal. Michel Piccoli and Denis Lavant are however very talented thespians, meaning there could be something more behind this mysterious film.

CARLOS REYGADAS

Background: Mexican; born in Mexico City, Mexico 1971.

Known for / style: Japan and Silent Light; narratives that investigate themes of spirituality and existential crises; avant-garde framing and lyrical tendencies; filming in CinemaScope; extreme approaches to representing reality, avoiding simulation wherever possible


Film he’s bringing to Cannes: Post Tenebras Lux (Light After Darkness), a Spanish-language drama that is also partially an autobiographical reflection of the places Reygadas has lived during his life. The film follows Juan and his family in Mexico, where “they suffer and enjoy a world apart”, according to the IMDb plot summary. Details on the narratives are opaque, because the film appears to be crafted with non-narrative ideals in mind. The cast features unknown actors.

Notable accolades: Reygadas has won Cannes’ Jury Prize for 2007’s Silent Light, as well as a special mention for the 2002 Camera d’Or for Japon—a prize given to excellence in first-time filmmakers. Japon also won Edinburgh’s New Director’s Award, as well as some other titles from Latin American festivals. Silent Light won Chicago International’s Golden Hugo, Stockholm’s Best Screenplay, and was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Independent Spirit Awards.

Carlos Reygadas. Photo by Ray Pride.

Previous Cannes appearances: All four of Reygadas’ features have debuted in Cannes, beginning in 2002 with Japon, which played in Critics’ Week. From there, Reygadas kicked off his Competition career with 2005’s Battle in Heaven, returning later with 2007’s Silent Light, which won him the Jury Prize. 2012’s Post Tenebras Lux will be his third film to compete for the Palme.

Could it win the Palme? Reygadas has been a talent to watch since beginning his career in 2002. His ghostly, lyrical aesthetics and artistic structuring are very complimentary to Cannes (both in critical acclaim and jury appreciation), and his awards success at this festival is proof of that. If it’s any good – and it sounds like it is, however complex it may be—Post Tenebras Lux is in a great position to surprise audiences at this Festival, as Reygadas’ career has been compared to the two most recent Palme-winning directors, Terrence Malick and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. There could also be a risk here, as poetic films like these can divide audiences.

Why you should care: Reygadas is on a Cannes roll, and his latest film sounds difficult, personal, and beautiful. While those not sold on the lofty qualities of art-house territory like The Tree of Life and Uncle Boonmee might find Post Tenebras Lux taxing, there is otherwise much to be excited about here. Cannes also seems to place sentimentality and autobiographical elements very highly on the list of narrative influences, meaning Reygadas could take this year by storm.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon