Tag: Movies

Cannes: Inside Out

CannesEvery May, there is an atmospheric disturbance in Southern France when thousands of movie industry egos gather for the Cannes Film Festival.  (Apparently, you can see Quentin Tarantino’s from space.)  Despite stiff competition from Sundance, Toronto and even a couple of Online efforts, Cannes is still the Big Kahuna of film festivals.  It’s that magical place where Cordon Bleu sophistication meets Barnum & Bailey marketing, and this year is no exception.

In a marketing move worthy of Miley Cyrus, Cate Blanchett is promoting her new movie, Carol, with a combination of sly smiles and salacious answers.  In a Variety interview, Cate casually confessed to having had many “relationships” with women.  The titillation went viral.  What a coincidence of timing!

There’s a secret law in France that ever major motion picture has got to have Gerard Depardieu in it.  The guy is something and when he’s not renouncing his citizenship (again!) or taking a whiz in the corner of an airplane, he can act the pants off anybody — and frequently does.  Take a look at the guy: he’s definitely channelling Marlon Brando.  Either that or he ate him!

It’s very subtle, but the Germans have never been all that welcome at Cannes.  For example, rumour has it that the official Cannes website still doesn’t have a German translation.  Either way, German films have won the Palme d’Or only twice in 70 years, and many Deutschland directors don’t bother screening their movies there.  Personally, I think, despite all the EU/we’re-all-friends-now rhetoric, the French are still pissed about those swastikas on the Eiffel Tour.

Oddly enough, the whole Cannes Film Festival experience is basically a feminist no-fly zone.  Like it or not, Cannes remains an unrepentant phallocracy.  Every once in a while, a woman gets thrown a directorial bone, but, in essence, the girls are there for window dressing and the Red Carpet.  It’s pretty much dresses and diamonds for the ladies while the guys get on with the serious business of film making.  It might be 2015 everywhere else in the world, but for two weeks in May, nobody told the French.

When you collect a bunch of monumental male egos who wrap their women in jewelry, you’re going to attract your fair share of criminals.  Ever since Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief in 1955, Cannes gets robbed with amazing regularity.  This year, a couple of guys with guns robbed Cartier the day before the festival began — the total haul was about €17 million.  However, for straight audacity, in 2013, a single crook (whom the French actually called The Pink Panther)  made off with €140 million in jewelry from the Carlton hotel.  And, just to complete the Inspector Clouseau storyline, neither the jewelry nor the thief has ever been heard of again.

And finally, as the celebrities gather to eat, drink and watch each others’ movies, they generally leave their worthy causes at home.  At Cannes, there’s never much mention of  the starving multitudes.  One thing about the French: they realize it’s totally déclassé to start yipping about the downtrodden when you’re toting a swag bag with enough crap in it to feed an African village for the rest of the century.

Ben Affleck, You Ignorant Slut!

affleckI’ll freely admit that ever since Argo, Ben Affleck has been off my Christmas card list.  Quite frankly, if you’re going to rewrite history, (“lie” is such a harsh word)  it’s indecent to make millions doing it.  Nor should you stand up before God and everybody and accept an Academy Award for your sins — that’s just straight chutzpah.

To be fair, in the early days, Ben did some good work, notably Dogma and Good Will Hunting.  However, take a peek at who’s standing right beside him — Matt Damon.  On his own, Affleck is noticeably underwhelming in Reindeer Games, Pearl Harbor, Daredevil and a cornucopia of other forgettables.  (I’m not going to even mention Gigli; that would be hitting below the belt.)  And this guy is a Hollywood mover and shaker?  Puh leeze!

So what’s Mr. Affleck  been up to lately?  Nothing less than strong arming PBS to whitewash his family history.  According to Finding Your Roots, Ben’s great-great-great grandfather was a slave owner before the Civil War.  Like it or not, a lot of Southerners were.  Apparently, Ben didn’t like it.  He thought it would be bad for his image to be that closely associated with racism.  He also thought it would be a good idea if PBS touched-up his roots before they broadcast the story; a kind of intellectual Photoshop for the Affleck family archives.  PBS complied, and the rest is history.  Well, not really… it’s kinda History According to Affleck.

It should be noted that Finding Your Roots has found slave owners swimming in other celebrity gene pools with no ill effects.  After all, it was more than 150 years ago — styles do change.

But look at the out-and-out arrogance of the guy!  He felt it was necessary to take his holier-than-thou attitude back five generations!  How much more self-righteous can you get?  And the size of his ego?  OMG!  Minor statistics from a census taken in the 19th century — and, of course, that’s a direct reflection on MMMEEEEE!  I think Mr. Affleck has forgotten he’s just a movie star (“actor” is such a talented word.)  He believes he’s some sort of handsome Dalai Lama (pure to the last incarnation — himself) who must use his rugged good looks to spread compassion and justice throughout the land.  Either that, or he’s let this Batman thing get out of hand.

Ben, there was this guy called Copernicus, and he’s got proof you’re not the centre of the universe.  Get over yourself!

Women VS Girls

jessicaI like women.  The problem is, they seem to have disappeared.  The nom de guerre of 21st Century female might be “badass bitch” but the poster child is — unfortunately — a girl.  Look around!  The media’s obsession with youth has produced this strange caricature of women that, at best, defies reality and, at worst, is just laughable.  These days, the feminine ideal has been distilled down to an uneven blend of  Bella Swan and Sailor Moon.  After that, it’s a megaleap to Meryl Streep and Maggie Smith.  There’s nothing in between.

Jessica Alba, Kirsten Dunst and Kristen Bell are all well into their 30s, but they remain “girls” in the movies they make.  Elizabeth Taylor played Cat on a Hot Tin Roof when she was 26.  These “older women” are just too candy-cane sweet to even attempt that.  The only one of the current thirtysomethings bunch who might do justice to Maggie is Scarlett Johansson, but she’s too busy being a skin-tight Black Widow in the Marvel™ universe.

Lauren Bacall was 20 when she played Slim in To Have and Have Not, and she didn’t look the least bit out of place next to Humphrey Bogart.  Audrey Hepburn was 25 when she played Sabrina.  Vivien Leigh was in her 20s when she was Scarlett O’Hara, and Ava Gardner was 24 as Kitty Collins in The Killers.  All of these characters were women, not girls.

In contrast, for example, nobody thinks it’s the least bit odd that Amy Adams was in her 30s when she harnessed on the ball gown to play a looking-for-love Disney Princess in Enchanted.  BTW, I’m not ragging on Amy Adams — she pulled it off.  My point is, why are grown women always expected to act like girls, these days?  And they are: even when their characters are long past the age of consent.

I understand times have changed in 60 years.  People are different.  We see gender roles differently and extended adolescence is an integral part of our society.  However, I think it’s pretty strange that we don’t let female actresses act their age until they’re old enough to be somebody’s grandma.

Say what you like about sexism in Hollywood back in the day; at least women were allowed to be grownups!

elizabeth taylor