Monday, May 13, 2013

Field Guide to Cannes 2013 Part 1

Part 1 of my look at the films in competition this year at The Cannes Film Festival starting May 15th.
All material courtesy of The Cannes Film Festival

BEHIND THE CANDELABRA 
Directed by : Steven SODERBERGH
Country: USAYear: 2013 Duration: 118.00 minutes



SYNOPSIS
Before Elvis, before Elton John, Madonna and Lady Gaga, there was Liberace: virtuoso pianist, outrageous entertainer and flamboyant star of stage and television. Liberace lived lavishly and embraced a lifestyle of excess both on and off
stage. In summer 1977, handsome young stranger Scott Thorson walked into his dressing room and, despite their age difference and seemingly different worlds, the two embarked on a secretive five-year love affair.

CREDITS
Steven SODERBERGH - Director
Richard LAGRAVANESE - Screenplay
Peter ANDREWS - Cinematography
Howard CUMMINGS - Set Designer
Marvin HAMLISCH - Music
Mary-Ann BERNARD - Film Editor
Dennis TOWNS - Sound

ACTORS
Michael DOUGLAS - Liberace
Matt DAMON - Scott Thorson
Dan AYKROYD - Seymour Heller
Scott BAKULA - Bob Black
Rob LOWE - Dr. Jack Startz



BORGMAN
Directed by : Alex VAN WARMERDAM
Country: NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM, DENMARK Year: 2013 Duration: 113.00 minutes


SYNOPSIS
Borgman’s arrival in the tree-lined avenues of an exclusive residential area is the beginning of a series of unsettling events around the carefully constructed facade of a wealthy couple, their three children and their nanny.

CREDITS
Alex VAN WARMERDAM - Director
Alex VAN WARMERDAM - Screenplay
Tom ERISMAN - Cinematography
Geert PAREDIS - Set Designer
Vincent VAN WARMERDAM - Music
Job TER BURG - Film Editor
Peter WARNIER - Sound

ACTORS
Jan BIJVOET - Camiel BORGMAN
Tom DEWISPELAERE - Pascal
Sara HJORT DITLEVSEN - Stine
Annet MALHERBE - Brenda
Hadewych MINIS - Marina
Jeroen PERCEVAL - Richard
Eva VAN DE WIJDEVEN - Ilonka



GRIGRIS
Directed by : Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN
Country: CHAD, FRANCE
Year: 2013 Duration: 101.00 minutes



SYNOPSIS
Despite a paralyzed leg that could have barred most avenues, Grigris, 25 year old, dreams of being a dancer. A challenge. But his dreams are dashed when his uncle falls critically ill. To save him, Grigris resolves to work for petrol traffickers...


CREDITS
Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN - Director
Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN - Screenplay
Antoine HEBERLE - Cinematography
Wasis DIOP - Music
Marie-Hélène DOZO - Film Editor
André RIGAUT - Sound

ACTORS
Souleymane DEME - Grigris
Anaïs MONORY - Mimi
Cyril GUEI - Moussa
Marius YELOLO - Ayoub
Youssouf DJAORO - Alhadj





HELI

Directed by : Amat ESCALANTE
Country: MEXICO,GERMANY,NETHERLANDS,FRANCE
Year: 2013 Duration: 105.00 minutes


SYNOPSIS
Estela is a 12 year old girl who has just fallen crazy in love with a young police cadet who wants to run away with her and get married. Trying to achieve this dream, her family will have to live the violence that is devastating the region.

CREDITS
Amat ESCALANTE - Director
Amat ESCALANTE - Screenplay
Gabriel REYES - Screenplay
Lorenzo HAGERMAN - Cinematography
Daniela SCHNEIDER - Set Designer
Natalia LOPEZ - Film Editor
Sergio DÍAZ - Sound
Catriel VILDOSOLA - Sound
Directed by : Ethan COEN Joel COEN 
Country: USA Year: 2012 Duration: 105.00 minutes

SYNOPSIS
The life of a young folk singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. Llewyn Davis is at a crossroads. Guitar in tow, huddled against the unforgiving New York winter, he is struggling to make it as a musician against seemingly insurmountable obstacles-some of them of his own making. Living at the mercy of both friends and strangers, scaring up what work he can find, Llewyn's misadventures take him from the basket houses of the Village to an empty Chicago club - on an odyssey to audition for music mogul Bud Grossman-and back again.


CREDITS
Ethan COEN - Director
Joel COEN - Director
Ethan COEN - Screenplay
Joel COEN - Screenplay
Bruno DELBONNEL - Cinematography
Jess GONCHOR - Set Designer
Angela BURNETT - Music
Roderick JAYNES - Film Editor
Peter F. KURLAND - Sound
Skip LIEVSAY - Sound

ACTORS
Oscar ISAAC - Llewyn Davis
Carey MULLIGAN - Jean Berkey
John GOODMAN - Roland Turner
Garrett HEDLUND - Johnny Five
F Murray ABRAHAM - Bud Grossman
Justin TIMBERLAKE - Jean Berkey





JEUNE & JOLIE (YOUNG & BEAUTIFUL)
Directed by : François OZON 
Country: FRANCE Year: 2013 Duration: 95.00 minutes


SYNOPSIS
A coming-of-age portrait of a 17-year-old French girl over four seasons and four songs

CREDITS
François OZON - Director
François OZON - Screenplay
Pascal MARTI - Cinematography
Katia WYSZKOP - Set Designer
Philippe ROMBI - Music
Laure GARDETTE - Film Editor
Brigitte TAILLANDIER - Sound

ACTORS
Marine VACTH - ISABELLE
Géraldine PAILHAS - SYLVIE
Frédéric PIERROT - PATRICK
Fantin RAVAT - VICTOR




JIMMY P. (PSYCHOTHERAPY OF A PLAINS INDIAN)
Directed by : Arnaud DESPLECHIN
Country: FRANCE Year: 2013 Duration: 114.00 minutes


SYNOPSIS
At the end of World War II, Jimmy Picard, a Native American Blackfoot who fought in France, is admitted to Topeka Military Hospital in Kansas - an institution specializing in mental illness. Jimmy suffers from numerous symptoms: dizzy spells, temporary blindness, hearing loss... In the absence of any physiological causes, he is diagnosed as schizophrenic. Nevertheless, the hospital management decides to seek the opinion of Georges Devereux, a French anthropologist, psychoanalyst and specialist in Native American culture.


CREDITS
Arnaud DESPLECHIN - Director
Arnaud DESPLECHIN - Screenplay
Julie PEYR - Screenplay
Kent JONES - Screenplay
Georges DEVEREUX - Based on the book "Psychothérapie d’un I
Stéphane FONTAINE - Cinematography
Dina GOLDMAN - Set Designer
Howard SHORE - Music
Laurence BRIAUD - Film Editor
Jamie SCARPUZZA - Sound

ACTORS
Benicio del TORO - Jimmy Picard
Mathieu AMALRIC - Georges Devereux
Gina MCKEE - Madeleine
Larry PINE - Dr. Karl Menninger
Joseph CROSS - Dr. Holt
Elya BASKIN - Dr. Jokl
Gary FARMER - Jack
Michelle THRUSH - Gayle




LA GRANDE BELLEZZA (THE GREAT BEAUTY)
Directed by : Paolo SORRENTINO
Country: ITALY, FRANCE Year: 2013 Duration: 142.00 minutes


SYNOPSIS
Aristocratic ladies, social climbers, politicians, high-flying criminals, journalists, actors, decadent nobles, prelates, artists and intellectuals - whether authentic or presumed - form the tissue of these flaky relationships, all engulfed in a desperate Babylon which plays out in the antique palaces, immense villas and most beautiful terraces in the city? They are all there, and they are not seen in a good light? Jep Gambardella, 65, indolent and disenchanted, his eyes permanently imbued with gin and tonic, watches this parade of hollow, doomed, powerful yet depressed humanity. A moral lifelessness enough to make one’s head spin? And in the background, Rome in summer. Splendid and indifferent, like a dead diva?

CREDITS
Paolo SORRENTINO - Director
Umberto CONTARELLO - Screenplay
Paolo SORRENTINO - Screenplay
Luca BIGAZZI - Cinematography
Stefania CELLA - Set Designer
Lele MARCHITELLI - Music
Cristiano TRAVAGLIOLI - Film Editor

ACTORS
Toni SERVILLO - Jep Gambardella
Carlo VERDONE - Romano
Sabrina FERILLI - Ramona
Carlo BUCCIROSSO - Lello Cava
Iaia FORTE - Trumeau
Pamela VILLORESI - Viola
Galatea RANZI - Stefania




LA VÉNUS À LA FOURRURE (VENUS IN FUR)
Directed by : Roman POLANSKI
Country: FRANCE Year: 2013 Duration: 87.00 minutes


SYNOPSIS
Alone in a Paris theater after a long day of auditioning actresses for the lead role in his new play, writer-director Thomas complains on the phone about the poor caliber of talent he has seen. No actress has what it takes to play his lead female character-a woman who enters into an agreement with her male counterpart to dominate him as her slave. Thomas is about to leave the theater when actress Vanda bursts in, a whirlwind of erratic-and, it turns out, erotic-energy.

CREDITS
Roman POLANSKI - Director
David IVES - Screenplay
Pawel EDELMAN - Cinematography
Jean RABASSE - Set Designer
Alexandre DESPLAT - Music
Hervé DE LUZE - Film Editor
Margot MEYNIER - Film Editor

ACTORS
Mathieu AMALRIC - Thomas
Emmanuelle SEIGNER - Vanda





LA VIE D'ADÈLE - CHAPITRE 1& 2 (BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR)
Directed by : Abdellatif KECHICHE
Country: FRANCE, BELGIUM, SPAIN Year: 2012 Duration: 179.00 minutes


SYNOPSIS
At 15, Adele doesn't question it: a girl goes out with boys. Her life is turned upside down the night she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself, finds herself...

CREDITS
Abdellatif KECHICHE - Director
Abdellatif KECHICHE - Screenplay
Ghalya LACROIX - Screenplay
Julie MAROH - Freely inspired by the comic book "Le Bl
Sofian EL FANI - Cinematography
Camille TOUBKIS - Film Editor
Albertine LASTERA - Film Editor
Jean-Marie LENGELLE - Film Editor
Ghalya LACROIX - Film Editor
Jean-Paul HURIER - Sound
Jérôme CHENEVOY - Sound

ACTORS
Léa SEYDOUX - Emma
Adèle EXARCHOPOULOS - Adèle
Salim KECHIOUCHE - Samir
Jérémie LAHEURTE - Thomas
Aurélien RECOING - Père Adèle
Catherine SALÉE - Mère Adèle
Mona WALRAVENS - Lise
Alma JODOROWSKI - Béatrice




LE PASSÉ (THE PAST)
Directed by : Asghar FARHADI
Country: FRANCE, ITALY Year: 2013 Duration: 130.00 minutes


SYNOPSIS
Following a four year separation, Ahmad returns to Paris from Tehran, upon his French wife Marie's request, in order to finalize their divorce procedure. During his brief stay, Ahmad discovers the conflicting nature of Marie's relationship with her daughter Lucie. Ahmad's efforts to improve this relationship soon unveil a secret from their past.

CREDITS
Asghar FARHADI - Director
Asghar FARHADI - Screenplay
Mahmoud KALARI - Cinematography
Claude LENOIR - Set Designer
Juliette WELFLING - Film Editor
Thomas DESJONQUERES - Sound
Dana FARZANEHPOUR - Sound
Bruno TARRIERE - Sound

ACTORS
Bérénice BEJO - Marie
Tahar RAHIM - Samir
Ali MOSAFFA - Ahmad
Pauline BURLET - Lucie
Elyes AGUIS - Fouad
Jeanne JESTIN - Léa
Sabrina OUAZANI - Naïma
Babak KARIMI - Shahriyar
Valeria CAVALLI - Valeria



MICHAEL KOHLHAAS
Directed by : Arnaud DES PALLIÈRES 
Country: FRANCE, GERMANYYear: 2013Duration: 121.00 minutes


SYNOPSIS
In the sixteenth century, somewhere in the Cevennes, Michael Kohlhaas, a prosperous horse merchant, leads a comfortable and happy family life. Victim of an injustice, this righteous and honest man raises an army and plunders cities to restore his right.


CREDITS
Arnaud DES PALLIÈRES - Director
Christelle BERTHEVAS - Screenplay
Arnaud DES PALLIÈRES - Screenplay
Jeanne LAPOIRIE - Cinematography
Yan ARLAUD - Set Designer
Martin WHEELER - Music
Sandie BOMPAR - Film Editor
Arnaud DES PALLIÈRES - Film Editor
Jean-Pierre DURET - Sound
Jean MALLET - Sound
Mélissa PETITJEAN - Sound
Margot TESTEMALE - Sound

ACTORS
Mads MIKKELSEN - Michael Kohlhaas
Melusine MAYANCE - Lisbeth
Delphine CHUILLOT - Judith
David KROSS - le prédicant
Bruno GANZ - le gouverneur
Denis LAVANT - le théologien
Roxane DURAN - la princesse
Paul BARTEL - Jérémie
David BENNENT - César
Swann ARLAUD - le baron
Sergi LOPEZ - le manchot


2 comments:

Retro Hound said...

JIMMY P. (PSYCHOTHERAPY OF A PLAINS INDIAN) looks like something I'd like.

I have some Liberace albums, he was really good!

Paul van Yperen said...

Thanks. I agree with RH. And I am looking forward to Alex van Warmerdam's Borgman. (His films are among the best of the Lowlands).

Here, in The Netherlands, the media were very proud that there is finally a Dutch film in the Cannes competition. All that and 'our' Anouk got into the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest too!

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