Cannes 2009: Best Actor Favorites

Best Actor
Tahar Rahim as a young man behind bars in A Prophet.
Ben Whishaw as John Keats in Bright Star.
André Dussollier as the elderly hero in Wild Grass.
François Cluzet as a con man in In the Beginning.

Photos: Courtesy Festival de Cannes

by Andre Soares | May 22, 2009
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Tags: À l'origine, A Prophet, Abbie Cornish, André Dussollier, Ben Whishaw, Bright Star, Cannes 2009, Cannes Film Festival, Emmanuelle Devos, Film Awards, Film Festivals, François Cluzet, In the Beginning, John Keats, Les Herbes folles, Tahar Rahim, Wild Grass

Cannes 2009: Palme d’Or Favorites

Palme d’Or 2009, Grand Prix, Special Jury Prize:
Alain Resnais‘ romantic fantasy Wild Grass (adapted by Alex Reval and Laurent Herbiet from Christian Gailly’s novel), about a man who becomes intrigued by a younger woman
Jacques Audiard’s tough prison drama A Prophet (written by Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri, and Nicolas Peufaillit)
Writer-director Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon, about a northern German community enmeshed in a series of nasty events right before the beginning of World War I
Writer-director Jane Campion’s Bright Star, about the doomed love affair between British poet John Keats and his neighbor, Fanny Brawne

Photos: Courtesy Festival de Cannes

by Massimo David | May 22, 2009
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Tags: A Prophet, Abbie Cornish, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Alain Resnais, Alex Reval, André Dussollier, Ben Whishaw, Bright Star, Cannes 2009, Cannes Film Festival, Christian Gailly, Das Weisse Band, Fanny Brawne, Film Awards, Film Fetivals, Jacques Audiard, Jane Campion, John Keats, Laurent Herbiet, Les Herbes folles, Michael Haneke, Nicolas Peufaillit, Palme d'Or, Sabine Azéma, Tahar Rahim, The White Ribbon, Thomas Bidegain, Wild Grass

Cannes 2009: Jane Campion, Alain Resnais, Brillante Mendoza, Johnnie To, Lou Ye

Peter Bradshaw on Bright Star (with Abbie Cornish and Ben Whishaw, above) in The Guardian:
"Jane Campion has put herself in line for her second Palme d’Or here at the Cannes film festival with a film which I think could be the best of her career; an affecting and deeply considered study of the last years in the short life of John Keats, and the ecstasy of loss which suffuses his love affair with Fanny Brawne – a love thwarted not due to illness, but to a pernicious web of money worries, social scruples and irrelevant male loyalties."
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Maggie Lee on Kinatay in The Hollywood Reporter:
"Festival darling Brillante Mendoza’s Kinatay is a long night’s journey into the [...]

by Massimo David | May 20, 2009
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Tags: Abbie Cornish, Alain Resnais, André Dussollier, Ben Whishaw, Bright Star, Brillante Mendoza, Cannes 2009, Cannes Film Festival, Fanny Brawne, Film Festivals, Gay Interest, Howard Feinstein, indieWIRE, Jane Campion, Jean-Pierre Melville, John Keats, Johnnie To, Johnny Hallyday, Kinatay, Les Herbes folles, Lou Ye, Photos, Screen Daily, Spring Fever, The Hollywood Reporter, Thomas Sotinel, Vengeance, Wild Grass

Critics’ Choices

In Time, Richard Corliss on the New York Film Critics‘ picks:
"I sprinted down the corridors of TIME this afternoon, eager to spread the news of the New York Film Critics Circle voting for the year’s best films. The winner, in the film, director, screenplay and supporting actor categories? The Coen brothers‘ No Country for Old Men, which three different people told me they’d been meaning to see. The runner-up, with wins for best actor and cinematographer? There Will Be Blood, an audience-punishing epic that doesn’t open for another two weeks. Best actress? Julie Christie, in Away From Her [above, with Gordon Pinsent], which earned less than $5 million in its North American release.
"I didn’t even tell them that [...]

by Andre Soares | December 13, 2007
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Tags: Alain Resnais, André Dussollier, Away from Her, Cries and Whispers, Critics Choices, Film Awards, Ingmar Bergman, Julie Christie, Private Fears in Public Places, Richard Corliss