2013 Cannes Film Festival - Day 10 Roundup

Palais des Festivals © FDC

• Day 10 - Friday, May 24
  
  We're now entering the final weekend of the festival. Including today, there are only two more days of competition left.
  
  Here's a recap of the tenth day of the 66th Cannes Film Festival (Festival de Cannes), which runs until Sunday May 26, 2013.
  
  Screening In Competition today:
  
  
  • From the USA, The Immigrant by James Gray.
    
    His fifth feature and fourth time in the main competition.
    
    Official Synopsis:
    

    1921. In search of a new start and the American dream, Ewa Cybulski and her sister Magda sail to New York from their native Poland. When they reach Ellis Island, doctors discover that Magda is ill, and the two women are separated. Ewa is released onto the mean streets of Manhattan while her sister is quarantined. Alone, with nowhere to turn and desperate to reunite with Magda, Ewa quickly falls prey to Bruno, a charming but wicked man who takes her in and forces her into prostitution. And then one day, she encounters Bruno’s cousin, the debonair magician Orlando. He sweeps Ewa off her feet and quickly becomes her only chance to escape the nightmare in which she finds herself.

  • From France and Germany, Michael Kohlhaas by Arnaud Des Pallières.
    
    Making his Cannes competition debut with his fourth feature film.
    
    Official Synopsis:
    

    In the sixteenth century, somewhere in the Cevennes, Michael Kohlhaas, a prosperous horse merchant, leads a comfortable and happy family life. Victim of an injustice, this righteous and honest man raises an army and plunders cities to restore his right.

  In the Un Certain Regard section:
  
  
  • From Iran, Dast-Neveshtehaa Nemisoosand (Manuscripts Don't Burn) by Mohammad Rasoulof.
    
    Winner of the Jury Prize and Best Director in Un Certain Regard in 2011 for Goodbye.
    
    Official Synopsis:

    Khosrow and Morteza set out on a mission to kill someone. The assassination ought to be arranged as a suicide. At the last minute however, they are obliged to change their initial plans…

2013 Cannes Film Festival - Day 9 Roundup

Claude Debussy Theatre

• Day 9 - Thursday, May 23
  
  Recap of the ninth day of the 66th Cannes Film Festival (Festival de Cannes), which runs until Sunday May 26, 2013.
  
  
  
  Screening In Competition today:
  
  • From the USA, Nebraska by Alexander Payne.
    
    His sixth feature film and the second to appear in the main competition.
    
    Official Synopsis:
    

    A poor old man living in Montana escapes repeatedly from his house to go to Nebraska to collect a sweepstakes prize he thinks he has won. Frustrated by his increasing dementia, his family debates putting him into a nursing home -- until one of his two sons finally offers to take his father by car, even as he realizes the futility.

  • From France, La Vie D'Adele - Chapitre 1 & 2 (Blue is the Warmest Colour) by Abdellatif Kechiche.
    
    His Cannes debut. At 2h59m, it is the longest running film in competition.
    
    Official Synopsis:
    

    At 15, Adele doesn't question it: a girl goes out with boys. Her life is turned upside down the night she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself, finds herself...

  
  
  In the Un Certain Regard section:
  
  • From the Philippines, Norte, Hangganan Ng Kasaysayan (Norte, The End of History) by Lav Diaz.
    
    Not only a long title, but with a 4h10m running time, is twice the length of the next longest film in the section.
    
    Official Synopsis:

    A man is wrongly jailed for murder while the real killer roams free. The murderer is an intellectual frustrated with his country's never-ending cycle of betrayal and apathy. The convict is a simple man who finds life in prison more tolerable when something mysterious and strange starts happening to him.

  • From Germany, Tore Tanzt (Nothing Bad Can Happen) by Katrin Gebbe.
    
    Competing for the Camera d'Or with her debut feature.
    
    Official Synopsis:
    

    Young Tore belongs to the Jesus Freaks, a Christian punk movement rebelling against established religion whilst at the same time following Jesus' precepts of love.
    One day, in what appears to be a miracle, Tore manages to repair a car which has broken down and gets to know the driver, Benno.
    Before long, Tore moves into a tent in Benno’s garden and gradually becomes part of his family.
    But Benno can’t resist playing a cruel game, designed to test Tore’s faith. As the violence become more and more extreme, Tore’s capacity for love is pushed to its limits.

2013 Cannes Film Festival - Day 8 Roundup

© FDC

• Day 8 - Wednesday, May 22
  
  Recap of the eighth day of the 66th Cannes Film Festival (Festival de Cannes), which runs until Sunday May 26, 2013.
  
  Screening In Competition today:
  
  
  • From Denmark, Only God Forgives by Nicolas Winding Refn.
    
    2011 Best Director winner for Drive returns with his second consecutive film selected to the main competition.
    
    Official Synopsis:
    

    Julian, an American fugitive from justice, runs a boxing club in Bangkok as a front for his drug business.
    His mother, the head of a vast criminal organization, arrives from the US to collect the body of her favorite son, Billy. Julian’s brother has just been killed after having savagely murdered a young prostitute. Crazy with rage and thirsty for vengeance she demands the head of the murderers from Julian.
    But first, Julian must confront Chang, a mysterious retired policeman - and figurehead of a divine justice - who has resolved to scourge the corrupt underworld of brothels and fight clubs.

  • From Chad, Grigris by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun.
    
    2010 Jury Prize winner for A Screaming Man.
    
    Official Synopsis:
    

    Despite a paralyzed leg that could have barred most avenues, Grigris, 25 year old, dreams of being a dancer. A challenge. But his dreams are dashed when his uncle falls critically ill. To save him, Grigris resolves to work for petrol traffickers...

  In the Un Certain Regard section:
  
  
  • From Mexico and Spain, La Jaula De Oro by Diego Quemada-Diez.
    
    Competing for the Camera d'Or with his first feature film.
    
    Official Synopsis:

    Juan, Sara and Samuel, all 15 years old, flee from Guatemala towards the USA. On their journey through Mexico they meet Chauk, a Tzotzil indian who does not speak Spanish and has no official documents. They all believe they will find a better world beyond the USA-Mexico border but they run into a harsh reality.

  • From Kurdistan, My Sweet Pepper Land by Hiner Saleem.
    
    His ninth feature.
    
    Official Synopsis:
    

    After the fall of Saddam Hussein, Baran, a Kurdish independence war hero, resolves to accept a position in a godforsaken village at the borders of Iran and Turkey, an illegal trafficking Mecca.
    There he meets Govend, a beautiful young woman who has come to work as the teacher in the newly-opened school despite her twelve brothers' hostility to the idea.