AG's Experience in Cannes

Film Block: Director : Nuri Bilge Ceylan Cinematography : Gökhan Tiryaki Produced by : Zeynep Özbatur Atakan Screenplay : Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Ebru Ceylan There is only a select handful of movies that have the right to be three hours long, and The Wild Pear Tree is not one of them. Written and directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, this movie is nothing more than a pedantic screen rendition of a classroom lecture that is torturous to watch. I saw the premiere of this at Cannes this year, and within the first twenty minutes, both people on either side of me were asleep, and many were getting up and walking out of the theater. An hour and a half into the movie, I too decided to walk out. While the landscapes and setting of the film were gorgeous, that’s about the only good thing I have to say about it. The entire film was just dialogue, with conversations between the characters that would last up to fifteen to twenty minutes. There was no discernible plotline from what I coul

Film Block: Director: Lukas Dhont Screenplay: Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens Cast: Victor Polster, Arieh Worthalter Written and directed by Lukas Dhont, the film Girl is a view into the life of an adolescent transgender girl, Lara (played by Victor Polster), who is attending a dance academy while trying to cope with the fact that she was born in the wrong body. When the film picks up, she and her father are in the process of meeting with a doctor to prepare for a surgery that will change Lara’s genitalia into that of a male. Lara (played by Victor Polster) is excited for the surgery, but continues to have setbacks throughout the film that eventually drive her over the edge and lead to a graphic and emotional ending. This film gets a few things right, but overall misses the mark on one huge aspect: the pacing. The first two thirds of it were rather boring and repetitive; the scenes would rotate between Lara in her dance class at school, to Lara living at home and looking dis

The last day of the festival! Today was much better than yesterday because I saw one fantastic film fairly early in the day and decided to leave it at that and not ruin my day with another movie that could possibly be bad. The film I saw was BlackkKlansman, and it was absolutely fantastic. The issues that it tackled are ones that I was already passionate about before the film came out, and I'm so glad that someone tackled it in such an in-your-face, effective, and professional way. The film was amazing, and when the American flag came up on the screen at the end of the movie, it was dead quiet in the theater. Like, absolutely silent. It made me so happy that everyone was listening and was so enraptured and moved by the movie that they were so quiet when it ended. After that, Courtney and I got some food and headed to the beach to eat it, and I got ANOTHER hotdog stolen by a seagull while we were there. That's the second time that's happened on this trip. The bird pulled

The two movies I saw today were Dogman and The Wild Pear Tree. I watched Dogman with Faith after a relaxing morning in the Ampav with the usual free coffee and beach views. I didn't love the movie, but I could definitely appreciate it for what it was -- the acting was very good, as well as the pacing, even though it took a fairly unexpected turn near the end. I could sense that there was some greater purpose or theme of the movie that I was missing after watching it, but I was too mentally exhausted to try to figure it out. So overall, an "eh" from me. It was okay. The rest of the day was pretty chill as well -- I just wrote my review in the Ampav and waited until it was time to get dressed for the premiere of The Wild Pear Tree. I had begged early in the morning and was able to get two tickets to the premiere since Courtney and I hadn't been to one yet, so all we had to do was wait until around five to get dressed and head to the red carpet. The Wild Pear Tree

Film Block: Director: Vanessa Filho Producers : Carole Lambert, Marc Missonier Cast : Marion Cotillard, Alban Lenoir, Ayline Aksoy-Etaix, Stephane Rideau, Amelie Daure, Mario Magelhaes, Joel Boudjelta Director Vanessa Filho’s film Angel Face premiered at Cannes this year and had both good and bad aspects. Marion Cotillard plays a party- and drug-heavy irresponsible mother living with her eleven-year-old daughter Elli on the French Riviera. She runs off with some guy partway through the movie, leaving Elli to fend for herself. Elli seeks comfort from a young man who visits their apartment complex, and stays with him until her mom returns. The cinematography and acting were fairly good, but the plot was a bit disjointed with too many loose ends that were never tied up. It was one big engine rev for a conclusive ending that never came. I walked out of the theater thinking that the film was fine, but I didn’t understand what it was trying to tell me. It didn’t have any overarch

Film Block: Writer : Andrea Bescond Director : Andrea Bescond Executive Producers : Francis Kraus, Denis Pineau-Valencienne Cast : Andrea Bescond, Karin Viard, Clovis Cornillac, Pierre Deladonchamps, Grégory Montel, Carole Franck, Gringe, Ariane Ascaride, Cyrille Mairesse, Leonie Simaga Little Tickles opens with a long take of the main character, Odette (played by Andrea Bescond) dancing in an all-black landscape. Her routine is well-danced, but jerky and rough, as if she is in pain or being tortured. These dances occur a few other times throughout the film, and are a manifestation of Odette’s conscience. They show the audience what’s going on inside Odette’s mind as her present-day self (who is in her thirties) recounts the terrors of her childhood to her therapist. Throughout the film, she walks through memories, dances, and fantasies as she tries to cope with the fact that she was raped and sexually abused by one of her father’s best friends for her entire childhood.

I was very disappointed in both of the movies that I saw today. I saw Girl and  Cold War (finally), and I didn't like either of them. I really hated Girl, partly because it was slow and repetitive for the majority of the film, but mostly because it ended with a very graphic scene that was hard to watch. Well, technically I didn't watch it, because I closed my eyes and covered my ears, but I still knew what happened. Maybe it's just because I really hate graphic gore and violence, but the movie did not jive well with me at all. It also didn't sum up the plot at all at the end -- it just kind of left us hanging, which I always hate. I also didn't like Cold War very much, even though everyone else seemed to love it. It was just over-hyped too much by my friends, so I had pretty high expectations going into the theater. But even so, I don't think I would have liked it that much if I hadn't expected it to be great. The music and cinematography were good, as w

First step of today was to get a smoothie and a croissant from the food truck outside the festival to cure my hangover. Smoothies are the best cure that exists, if anyone was wondering. (Smoothie King is ideal, but I had to make do with what they had in France.) And then -- guess who waited in line to get into Cold War for TWO HOURS and then didn't get in??? Me!!! I was very mad because Maryanna and I were literally the third and fourth people to even show up by the theater that was showing Cold War today. We waited there for two whole hours, and then at the last minute a bunch of priority badge weenies swooped in and took every single seat in the theater. There were even some priority badge people who got turned away, that's how many there were. I was so pissed. We got McDonald's for lunch as comfort food to make us feel better, and then I went to go get in line for a movie called Little Tickles by myself. I waited for a while, and a bunch of priority badge people s

Today was LIT. The movie I saw was called L'animale, and it was kind of weird, but also not the worst thing I've ever seen. The acting was pretty good, and all of the symbolism that was used in the film was on point -- and that's also one thing that I'm really good at picking out when it comes to movies. I drank coffee and ate croissants as per usual, and then headed home after the movie to get ready for the queer party. A group of us actually ended up eating at a Thai place in JLP before heading to Cannes, and both the food and conversations were great. When we got to the train station, we realized that we had just missed one so we had to wait twenty minutes for the next one to come. While we were waiting, a few of the guys realized that they didn't actually have their train tickets on them. I suggested that they run back to the hotel and get it, because they had plenty of time before the next train, but I got a general response of "Naaahhh, we'll be f

Today was much better than yesterday, since I saw two movies that I actually enjoyed. The first was Sink or Swim, which had premiered the night before, but I was too lazy to beg for it. I actually really enjoyed this movie. It was about a bunch of middle aged men who formed a synchronized swimming team. I think part of the reason why I enjoyed it so much because there just aren't movies about that kind of stuff -- like, who on earth would make a movie about that, let alone make it a good movie? The second one I saw was called Skate Kitchen, which was described in the screening guide as "a millennial film," and certainly delivered on that front. The movie was about a teenage girl who joins a skate group in New York. The cinematography and stunts were fantastic, and it was also clear that they didn't use stunt doubles for many (if any) of the actors, which I always appreciate. The acting and dialogue were okay, but after it finished, I realized that it had really hit

I also only saw one movie today, one called Angel Face.  Courtney and I saw it together in the Salle du 60 theater, and we really didn't know what to think when we were walking out of it. The story was about a young mother, Marlene, and her daughter Elli. Marlene was a crazy partier and a very irresponsible mother, and Elli is around ten years old and ends up fending for herself quite a bit whenever her mother is away. Elli has also developed a habit of drinking some of the alcohol that her mother would leave lying around the house. When Marlene runs off with a random guy who she meets in the club, Elli is left by herself, and seeks out a neighbor to take care of her while her mother's away. She hangs out with that guy and also goes to school, where she's bullied by her fellow students. At the end of the movie, Elli gets mad that her mother showed up to her school play, so she ran away and dove off a cliff into the ocean below. Luckily the neighbor who had been taking car

Film Block Directors : Betsy West, Julie Cohen Producers : Betsy West, Julie Cohen With : Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Jane and James Ginsburg, Clara Spera, Gloria Steinem, Nina Totenberg, Lilly Ledbetter, Sharron Frontiero and Stephen Wiesenfeld, Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik, Bill Clinton, Ted Olson, Judge Harry Edwards, Senator Orrin Hatch, Eugene Scalia and Bryant Johnson The documentary RBG, directed and produced by Betsy West and Julie Cohen, outlines the life story and accomplishments of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ginsburg, popularly known as Notorious RBG, has been fighting for women's rights and gender equality since she became a lawyer in the 1950s. The documentary does an excellent job of outlining the immense impact that Ginsburg had on the laws that affect the lives of women in modern-day America. It is also a very effective film, because the scoring and promotional materials helped it reach its target audience. The film opens with a montage o

Today I had circled a lot of movies that I wanted to see, but I only ended up seeing one. I was so exhausted from the day before that I didn't wake up for the 9:30 movie that I had wanted to see, or the one at 1:30. I definitely needed the sleep, but I was a little sad that I had missed those movies. The only one that I ended up seeing was a British film called Old Boys. It was about a boys' school in Britain in which two boys fall for the same girl (their French teacher's daughter), and the smaller, nerdier one helps the much more attractive one win the girl over. Eventually, however, the smaller boy decides to go after the girl himself because he's in love with her. The premise had looked very interesting in the screening guide, and it was executed fairly well, but it honestly wasn't a great movie. It was cute and enjoyable to the point where I didn't feel like I had wasted ninety minutes of my life by watching it -- but it wasn't great. After the movi

Today I watched four movies and was absolutely exhausted by the time I got home at around one a.m. The first one I saw at 9:30 was  Our New President, a very badly made documentary about the 2016 US election told solely through Russian propaganda. My friend and I were interested in this move because the premise of it seemed very intriguing and we thought it could be good -- and the premise was interesting, but it was just executed very poorly. The film had absolutely no narration or discernible plot line. It looked like someone had just taken a bunch of videos off of YouTube and mushed them together into a movie that was thirty minutes longer than it had to be. The second film that I saw today was much better. It was Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable, a documentary about Bethany Hamilton, a professional surfer who had her left arm bitten off by a Tiger shark when she was thirteen. I already knew most of her story because I had read her book and watched a fictional movie about her life

Today was incredible. I saw two very feminist documentaries and absolutely loved both of them. The first was RBG, which was about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This documentary was very well put together, and had a perfect mix of hilarious moments about Ruth's life and more serious moments that dealt with the huge difference she made with gender equality in the law. I didn't know much about her before watching the documentary, but now she's one of my new heroes. I'm going to make all of my family and friends watch it once it comes out. The second documentary that I saw was one called #FemalePleasure. I was a bit uncertain going into it because although I'm a feminist, I was afraid the movie would be way too politically charged and angry, because I don't think that's a good way to present the ideology of feminism. However, I was completely blown away by how amazing this documentary was. The argument that it made was carefully constructed and exceptionally well-exe

Day two is done! I showed up to the festival this morning very unprepared -- something I didn't realize until I was actually here. I had spent the night before working on recruiting stuff for the rowing team back home (I just got selected as Recruitment officer for my team, so I'm having to work remotely while I'm in France) and drinking wine on the beach in Juan Les Pins. I didn't have a chance to open any of the books or pamphlets with information about the films that were being shown at the festival. This was a huge mistake, as I realized when I got to Cannes and had absolutely no idea what was going on. Everyone else seemed very prepared and ready to go with their books all marked up and highlighted and a schedule for the day planned out. I was fairly lost and a bit hungover, sitting in a chair in the AmPav with my free coffee, blinking around at my peers as they chatted about movies I'd never heard of. After a few minutes of glancing through the one littl

Day one of the Cannes Film Festival is complete! The main highlights of today were listening to Eric Kohn speak to our group, and begging for tickets to the opening ceremony and the showing of Everybody Knows. Our talk with Eric Kohn was interesting to me for two reasons: the first and most obvious being that he's a well-known film critic who had lots of valuable things to tell us about the festival and his writing process for film reviews. The second thing that I found interesting was that he looked just like every other person who I'd seen walking around the venue. He was just in regular pants and a sports jacket, and could have easily been a grad student or a barista in a coffee shop somewhere. This struck me because it made me realize that everyone at the festival, even if they look completely normal and unimportant, is, in fact, important. As Dr. Kohn said at the beginning of the trip, "Everyone around you is an industry professional." I understood what he me

Spider-man Homecoming, which came out in 2017, is one of many Marvel movies about the beloved superheroes from the original comic books. The story opens with a short video diary from Spider-man himself (played by Tom Holland) about his brief appearance in Captain America: Civil War. Peter Parker is ready to join the ranks of the Avengers, but Tony Stark has other plans for him. He wants Peter to go back to his home in Queens and be more of a “neighborhood Spider-man” who plays it safe and stays on the ground, looking out for petty c rime and such. Peter isn’t ecstatic about these instructions, but nevertheless obeys and returns to his regular life as a high schooler in Queens, fighting crime in his free time. His role as Spider-man seems to be stagnating when he discovers criminals using weapons with alien powers to steal money from an ATM, and he decides to take them on. He encounters these men a couple more times before he actually manages to track them down, but in o