Cannes 2009 Aftermath at the LA WEEKLY

Philippe Garnier on Cannes 2009, in the LA Weekly:
"By this time, news should be out everywhere that Cannes this year was a special vintage. Not only did most of the selected ‘usual suspects’ outdo themselves in big and unexpected ways — or, like Alain Resnais, find new resources and verve which, frankly, we didn’t know they had in them — but it is also a measure of how shockingly strong this year was that the fest still had room for very good fare in the 20-film Un Certain Regard sidebar, from Israeli first-timer Haim Tabakman’s Eyes Wide Open [above] to the wonderful Colombian entry The Wind Journeys by Ciro Guerra, in which an [...]

Cannes 2009: Gaspar Noé, Cristian Mungiu, Ciro Guerra

Manohla Dargis on Gaspar Noé’s Enter the Void, in the New York Times:
"Although he remains dedicated to shaking up viewer s, to getting under their skins and into their nervous systems, Mr. Noé [above, top photo] has mellowed. Despite its unpromising title, Enter the Void, his entry at this year’s festival, is an exceptional work, though less because of its story, acting or any of the usual critical markers. What largely distinguishes it, beyond the stunning cinematography, is that this is the work of an artist who’s trying to show us something we haven’t seen before, even while he liberally samples images and ideas from Stanley Kubrick and the entirety of American avant-garde cinema."
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In [...]