With Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist being branded as a debacle and other highly-anticipated auteur premieres drawing shrugs (Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock) and measured praise (Jane Campion’s Bright Star), the rest of the press and industry chattering classes have settled on Jacques Audiard’s undeniably well-made crime drama A Prophet as 2009’s sole breakout thus far. I walked out thinking it’s fine for what it is, but not much more. In the hours since exiting that two-and-a-half hour examination of spiritual and socio-economic transcendence via criminal calculation, I’ve gone back and forth between pondering a potential political subtext, and wondering if said pondering was more than the actual primary text required; I’m not yet ready to render a verdict, but I’ll let you know when I am.
Meanwhile, I spent much of my second full day in Cannes thinking about a Directors’ Fortnight double feature I caught the night before: Like You Know it All, the latest ode to drunken paralysis and hungover confusion by Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo (see my review here); and Go Get Some Rosemary, the second Fortnight feature in as many years from Red Bucket Films and their 20-something progenitors, New York-based brothers Josh and Benny Safdie. Both films are (at least) semi-autobiographical portraits of men who work in film but languish on the far margins of what we think of as “the industry”; both use humor to ingratiate us into the worldviews of protagonists who, at best, display a thought process that’s skewed, and at worse, exhibit behavior that cannot be excused. Where the former may depend on a familiarity with the director’s previous work to complete the joke, the latter’s blend of slapstick and surrealism in what should be super-serious situations helps to crystalize the Safdie style sketched out in last year’s The Pleasure of Being Robbed. Fueled by a go-for-broke lead performance by Frownland filmmaker Ronnie Bronstein, the Safdies’ follow-up should win over at least a few skeptics who failed to see the charm in their debut.
…Read more
indieWIRE has posted the lineup for this year’s panels at the American Pavilion in Cannes. The events include a Conversation with Francis Ford Coppola moderated by journalist Scott Foundas; a panel presenting a cross-section of American indie talent including Lee Daniels, Josh and Benny Safdie and Lynn Shelton; and sessions on the recession, documentaries as journalism, and new platforms of distribution.
And I’ll be involved in two panels: on Sunday evening, I’m moderating a session called Fan Nation, featuring Anvil! director Sacha Gervasi, Tim League from the Alamo Drafthouse/Fantastic Fest and other esteemed guests; the next night, I’ll be speaking to the evolution of film journalism ona panel called “It’s a mad, new media world.” Full details on all of these sessions can be found at the link above.
In a bit of an about-face, after issuing a press release announcing his intention to decline an invitation to screen his Tetro out of competition at Cannes, Francis Ford Coppola has agreed to allow the film to open that festival’s non-competitive Director Fortnight sidebar. For that reason and many more, the Fortnight lineup is terribly exciting: new movies from Josh and Benny Safdie, Pedro Costa and Hong Sang Soo will screen alongside Lynn Shelton’s Humpday and the still distributor-less Sundance comedy I Love You Phillip Morris. The full lineup, including shorts, after the jump.
…Read more
“Narrative Jackass.” That’s the genre shorthand Micheal Tully has invented to describe Benny and Josh Safdie’s latest short film, There is Nothing You Can Do, and it’s pretty fitting.
The film was shot by Josh on a tiny prosumer video camera on a real-life, New York City bus crowded with both actors and unknowing actual riders. It stars Eleonore Hendricks from The Pleasure of Being Robbed as a young mother, and Benny Safdie as an irate businessman who complains that the noise coming Eleonore’s baby is distracting him from reading his newspaper. Various regular Safdie associates, including Ronald Bronstein, are planted around the bus, and when Benny starts harassing Eleonore, some of them rise to her defense.
The Safdies and crew pull off the street theater element so flawlessly that I’d love to see them turn this into a regular series––but not so regular that average New Yorkers start to recognize their troupe.
You can watch the short here.
