Cannes 2012

[HeadOnAStick]

So how many of the 'festers are enjoying the Cannes Film Festival right now?

Yesterday I actually managed to see three films, almost a record for me in the langurous climes of the Riviera. I'm going to finally get an opportunity to see Julia X, which I missed last year through basic incompetence, and I'm looking forward to Sadako very much.

If anyone's got suggestions for the films I really ought to be seeing then please let me know, because the sheer scale of the festival does mean you can end up missing some good ones.

Yesterday I maanged to see Girls Against Boys, Silent House and Would You Rather. A mixed bunch, that lot, but there were reasons to enjoy all of them.

[HeadOnAStick]

Last couple of days have been manic. Randomly bumped into Danny Glover in the International Village, he's a lovely chap. I saw Liars All and Sadako 3D yesterday. Expectations were very hight for Sadako, which sometimes makes the experience a bit of a let-down but actually Sadako was definitely worth the watch. This morning I got up very early to stagger to the Gray D'Albion for the screening of Chained, which was an absolute delight.

Cannes is currently experiencing what might be described as a tropical rain-storm of epic proportions, so all the parties I had intended to visit later are doubtful at best. Despite this I remain enthusiastic about screenings at least.

[HeadOnAStick]

So the bad news is that it's raining. Really raining. There's a beardy bloke outside the Marché trying to gather up two of each kind of animal.

The good news is that, a year late, I've finally seen Julia X 3D and I can report that it's a lot of fun, especially for those of us who know our standard horror film conventions.

[sherbetbizarre]

Cheers, for the reports.

How come Cannes still shows last years movies?!

And is Sadoko a direct follow-up, or stand alone movie?

[HeadOnAStick]

Ah yes, good questions indeed.

The Cannes Film Festival is actually about half a dozen completely different events that happen to take place in the same location. The largest part of the whole thing is an enormous trade show called the Marché du Film. In this market people can pay to show any film they own the rights for. Now last year a company called Tricoast was promoting Julia X but they seem to have ended up without it this year and it's now being pushed by a company called Red Sea. I'm not sure exactly how that happened but I do know that Red Sea clearly thinks it has a reasonable chance of selling the film into hitherto unexplored markets so there are some screenings for this year. It's actually quite unusual for a film to show up for a second time in the screening schedule and as missing Julia X was my great regret of last year I really got lucky.

As for Sadako it's not a direct sequel to the existing canon, but it entirely occupies the same universe. It wouldn't be necessary to have seen Ring first but it would be somewhat helpful. The finale of the film is quite different to the previous trilogy but the early part fits with it very tightly and as a whole I found it a very good ride. My one concern is that the effects seemed a little weak, but as it's a market screening it may be that 'unfinished' is a better description and it may have been improved somewhat before release.

[HeadOnAStick]

I've just left the Marché screening of 'Among Friends', which is directed by Danielle Harris and in which she has a small cameo. A rather larger role is played by Kane Hodder. I actually enjoyed it quite a lot, even though it's not exactly to my personal taste, so hopefully we'll see more of Danielle's work behind the camera in the future.

[sherbetbizarre]

Is it FrightFest friendly?

[HeadOnAStick]

Yes I think it is. I suspect it would be an ideal movie for FrightFest in terms of subject matter, it being about gruesomeness during a 'whodunnit' party. If I had to guess (and obviously I know nothing) I would suggest that it's probably been seen by the FrightFest team already.

I hope the team did see 'Chained' at some point because, though it's really more thriller than horror, I think it's the best film I've seen at Cannes this year (so far).

[HeadOnAStick]

So today I saw two movies that were billed as horror. A genuinely excellent film called 'The truth of lie', which wasn't actually horror at all but was a very nice piece of psychological thriller, and in this case I really do mean psychological. It was extremely well made and thoroughly watchable, but probably not Frightfest fare.

The second one was a Canadian film called 'The Last Will and testament of Rosalind Leigh'. Leaving aside, for the moment, the unwieldy title, it promised to be a good supernatural horror, though sadly it failed somewhat towards the end, leaving it feeling a bit limp. It is the first feature created by 'Rue Morgue', however, so hopefully we'll see more and better from them,

Still hoping that Frightfest can find room for 'Chained'. If not I'll try to arrange a screening somewhere and let everyone know.