Some great looking films are screening at Cannes this year, highlighted by Mike Leigh's newest, Another Year. Also of note: Mathieu Amalric's Tournee. And the L.A. Times has this update on Terrence Malick's Tree of Life:
Terrence Malick's much-ballyhooed and long-gestating "Tree of Life" was also not included in the lineup, negating the rumors, for now, that the Brad Pitt film would make a Cannes debut. It could still be added later -- "we're crossing our fingers," festival artistic director Thierry Fremaux said at the announcement -- but if it isn't, look for yet another round of rumors about Malick's exacting process.
Words can't describe the brilliance of this film. Nor can brief YouTube clips, especially because the oddly sitcom-y style at first glance begs for a laugh track. But you'll get over that quickly as the crushing blow of this one gets going. Highly recommended stuff from Mike Leigh, natch.
A return to cinema for this stupid little blog: Go see Mike Leigh's brilliant new film Happy-Go-Lucky. Sally Hawkins plays the love child of Parker Posey and Ricky Gervais. The trailer is much less interesting then the film, but don't let that scare you off.
Here's a nice "Anatomy of a Scene" video, narrated by Mike Leigh's from his new film Happy-Go-Lucky, where he touches on improvisation and the use of a static camera.
The first 8 mins. of Mike Leigh's hilarious short film The Short and Curlies starring a young and brilliant David Thewlis. The second half can be found here.
