Page 32 - Fujifilm Exposure_10 Longitude_ok

FUN IN
52ND CANNES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
FUN IN
THE SUN AT
THE SUN AT
CANNES 99
CANNES 99
They said it was going to be a quiet Cannes this year, the 52nd bunfight of Hollywood- sur-Mer. And, apart from the sound of loud booing from an aghast audience as David Cronenberg’s jury lavished their awards on obscure objects of their desire, it was.
This year’s choice was made by Cronenberg and team that included Australian director George Miller, American actors Jeff Goldblum and Holly Hunter, Swedish opera star Barbara Hendricks and the woman who brought us the play Art, Yasmina Reza.
But, as Spike Lee put it, Cannes ‘99 was stuck in a lay-by looking to be kick started.
Generally, the prizes fell on stoney ground excitement-wise. The coverted Palme D’Or went to Rosetta, an acclaimed but unknown Belgian film that few had seen as it was screened the day before the final ceremony.
Grand Jury Prize went to French film L’Humanite, a critically slated two and a half hour drama, which also took Best Actor prize for stars, two non- actors who said they’d be going back on the dole as acting was too tough, Emmanuel Schotte and Severine Canecie, who shared Best Actress prize with Rosetta’s Emilie Dequenne.
Pedro Almodovar’s delicious com- edy All About My Mother managed to slip through the baffling list of prize winners to win him, with complete jus- tification, Best Director prize. The Special Jury prize went to the Portuguese film The Letter, directed by Manuel de Oliviera.
David Lynch’s Straight Story, Atom Egoyan’s Felicia’s Journey, Takeshi Kitano’s Kikujiro and John Sayles’ Limbo were several much- praised films who walked away empty- handed.
Kristin Scott Thomas graciously opened and closed the festival and a few film favourites amiably showed their faces like golf-ace/sex symbol Sean Connery, there for Entrapment,
Catherine Deneuve, Liz Hurley and the ever amazing Liz Taylor, back in ser- vice to host the annual AMFAR Aids benefit together with her dog Sugar.
For the rubberneckers there were glimpses to be caught on the Croisette of folk like Faye Dunaway raising money for her first directing project, Susan Sarandon and husband Tim Robbins for his competition film The Cradle Will Rock, Mel Gibson, Anjelica Huston, Gong Li for the impressive Emperor and The Assassin set in 3rd century BC China, Emily Watson, and Mike Myers for the tastefully titled Austin Powers : The Spy Who Shagged Me costarring Heather Graham.
Blink and you’d have missed Jessica Lange for Titus, Mira Sorvino, John Leguizamo and Adrien Brodie for Spike Lee’s controversial Summer of Sam, Ben Affleck and partner-in-crime Matt Damon for hot flick Dogma direct- ed by Kevin Smith, Salma Hayek also for Dogma as well as Nobody Writes to the Colonel, and France’s TV news pre- senter sensation Alexandra Bronker.
Also popping in for champagne, canapes and carefully orchestrated PR were Forest Whitaker, starring in Jim Jarmusch’s often hilarious thriller Ghost Dog, Peter Fonda and Terence Stamp for The Limey, Rupert Everett for An Ideal Husband, Charles Aznavour, Connery’s latest co-star, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Tim Roth,whose impressive directorial debut The War Zone caused a stir in the Directors’ Fortnight even though it had its world premiere earlier at the Berlin Film Festival.
The British were generally well represented even if their offerings were a bit mixed. Competition films, Wonderland, directed by Michael Winterbottom, got a bit of a buzz and Peter Greenaway’s 8 1/2 Women, a sort of masterclass in male nudity, caused a lot of rolling of eyes and
raising of brows.
But Lynne Ramsay’s debut feature
film Ratcatcher, about a young boy in Glasgow, had the critics reaching for
their gold stars along with for-
mer-Yugoslavian Jasmin Dizdar’s mar- vellous London-based comedy Beautiful People which swept the boards taking the Gan Foundation prize for best film in Un Certain Regard. Ca alors!
Oh yes, I almost forgot, the sun pretty much kept shining too, but that’s another story. ■ MARIANNE GRAY
Ratcatcher was originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative
EXPOSURE • 32 & 33