Category Archives: Festival de Cannes

CANNES FILM REVIEW: Kamen Kalev’s ‘Eastern Plays’

Posted on May 18, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett CANNES – Uneven but gripping, Kamen Kalev’s “Eastern Plays,” which screened in Directors’ Fortnight, is a portrait of a young drug addict artist caught up in the violent racial strife of present-day Bulgaria. There’s a sudden crime … Continue reading →

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CANNES FILM REVIEW: Caroline Strubbe’s ‘Lost Persons Area’

Posted on May 18, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett CANNES – The setting of Caroline Strubbe’s “Lost Persons Area”, which screened in Critics Week, is a wide flat plain populated by vast pylons bearing power cables that dwarf the human beings below. The symbolism is the … Continue reading →

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CANNES FILM REVIEW: Mathias Gokalp’s ‘Nothing Personal’

Posted on May 18, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett CANNES – It’s been said of some Hollywood studios that executive competition was so bad that colleagues stabbed you in the front. That’s pretty much what happens with the suits at a pharmaceutical company in Mathias Gokalp’s … Continue reading →

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CANNES FILM REVIEW: Keren Yedaya’s Jaffa

Posted on May 16, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett CANNES – “Jaffa,” directed by Keren Yedaya, whose 2004 film “Or” won five awards at the Festival de Cannes including the Critics Week Grand Prix and Camera d’Or, is an absorbing and touching family drama set in … Continue reading →

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CANNES FILM REVIEW: Jane Campion’s ‘Bright Star’

Posted on May 16, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett CANNES – A treat for romantics and those who take their poetry seriously, Australian director Jane Campion’s gorgeously filmed Festival de Cannes Competition entry “Bright Star” might not be a joy forever but it will do until … Continue reading →

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CANNES FILM REVIEW: Andrea Arnold’s ‘Fish Tank’

Posted on May 14, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett CANNES — Following her Festival de Cannes Jury Prize-winning debut feature “Red Road” in 2006, British director Andrea Arnold creates another vivid portrait of a woman in Competition entry “Fish Tank,” in which newcomer Katie Jarvis (pictured) … Continue reading →

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CANNES FILM BRIEF: Kelly Reichardt’s ‘Wendy and Lucy’

Posted on May 30, 2008 by admin

By Ray Bennett CANNES: Michelle Williams does her best but she cannot prevent Kelly Reichardt’s Un Certain Regard entry “Wendy and Lucy,” a weak tale about being broke and on the road in rural America, from dwindling into boredom. Prospects … Continue reading →

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CANNES FILM REVIEW: Sergey Dvortsevoy’s ‘Tulpan’

Posted on May 24, 2008 by admin

By Ray Bennett CANNES: Polished, funny and utterly charming, Kazakhstan director Sergey Dvortsevoy’s first feature film, “Tulpan,” which won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard sidebar at the Festival de Cannes, tells of a family not only surviving … Continue reading →

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CANNES: Charles Kaufman’s ‘Synecdoche, New York’

Posted on May 23, 2008 by admin

By Ray Bennett CANNES – Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s first film as a director, “Synecdoche, New York,” will mesmerize some and mystify others, while many will be bored silly. It’s not a dream, Kaufman says, but it has a dreamlike … Continue reading →

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CANNES FILM REVIEW: Jennifer Lynch’s ‘Surveillance’

Posted on May 23, 2008 by admin

By Ray Bennett CANNES – Jennifer Lynch’s morbid thriller “Surveillance” begins with masked intruders killing people and the slaughter never stops. It’s been 15 years since David Lynch’s daughter gave the world “Boxing Helena,” but she hasn’t lost her interest … Continue reading →

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