Friday, May 14, 2010

Cannes Fever

Cannes is on and the "Golden Palm" is again being offered to a select group of international films on the French Riviera. I LOVE Cannes. It give me a chance to scope out films that I want to see.

Among my top choices is a Spanish film: "Buitiful" staring Javier Bardem. From Cannes' website: "Biutiful" is the story of Uxbal. Devoted father. Tormented lover. Mystified son. Underground businessman. Friend of the disposed. Ghost seeker. Spiritual sensitive. A survivor at the invisible margins in today’s Barcelona. Uxbal, sensing the danger of death, tries to reconcile with love and save his children, as he tries to save himself. Uxbal’s story is simple: just one of the complex realities that we all live in today. What's not to love about that? And Javier Bardem to boot! Now, that's cinema!

Another movie that I anxious to see is "Abel" out of Mexico. The Cannes blurb reads: A first time behind the camera for Diego Luna, and his first time in Cannes. The Mexican actor, now also a director, presents Abel, his first feature film shown in Special Screening at 7:15 pm in the Salle du Soixantième. Its eponymous hero, who is nine years old, has not said a word since his father left home. One day, the child starts to speak and acts as the head of the household. He takes care of his mother, watches over his brother and sister and no one complains. Until the day a man rings the door bell: his father.

And finally for this blog entry I turn to Thailand. Two of my favorite films of the past couple of years came out of Thailand: "Beautiful Boxer" and "Bangkok Love Story". Now, Cannes adds the tale of family and magical thinking titled "Lung Boonmee Reluek Chat (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives)" to its distinguished roster of 2010 competitors. From it's website, again: Suffering from acute kidney failure, Uncle Boonmee has chosen to spend his final days surrounded by his loved ones in the countryside. Surprisingly, the ghost of his deceased wife appears to care for him, and his long lost son returns home in a non-human form. Contemplating the reasons for his illness, Boonmee treks through the jungle with his family to a mysterious hilltop cave -- the birthplace of his first life...

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