Cannes 2009: Michael Haneke’s THE WHITE RIBBON
Dave Calhoun in Time Out London, via David Hudson’s The Daily:
"For quite some time at the beginning of Michael Haneke’s latest film, which is a two-and-a-half hour parable of political and social ideas set entirely in a north German village in 1913 and 1914, you wonder what you’re watching, how its disparate parts hang together and what it all might mean. More than ever, the playful, challenging, sometimes shocking director of Hidden, Funny Games and Time of the Wolf solidly resists answering the ‘what’s it all about?’ question and makes you work hard to make sense of what you’re seeing. As in Code Unknown, he resists focusing on one story or [...]
by Massimo David | May 21, 2009
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Tags: Austrian Cinema, Caché, Cannes 2009, Cannes Film Festival, Code Unknown, Das Weisse Band, Dave Calhoun, Drama, Eric Kohn, Funny Games, Hidden, indieWIRE, Ingmar Bergman, Michael Haneke, Mike Goodridge, Mystery Movies, Political Movies, Screen Daily, Terrence Mallick, The White Ribbon, Time of the Wolf, Time Out London, Wendy Ide, Xan Brooks
Cannes 2009: Pedro Almodóvar’s BROKEN EMBRACES
Broken Embraces: Pedro Almodóvar on the set (top); Penélope Cruz as the heroine (bottom).
In the mystery-melodrama, a director and his female star begin a passionate love affair that leads to all sorts of trouble.
Wendy Ide in The [London] Times:
"Certainly, it is unmistakably an Almodovar film. Nobody else does richly-textured melodrama quite like him; nobody else can encourage such overwrought performances without unbalancing the film; nobody else shoots Penélope Cruz with a reverence which borders on fan-worship. But what’s missing here is the warmth and emotional honesty that infuses Almodovar’s most successful features. What’s missing is, arguably, Almodovar himself."
***
Eric Kohn in indieWIRE:
"Pedro Almodovar offers nothing new in his [...]
by Massimo David | May 20, 2009
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Tags: Broken Embraces, Cannes 2009, Cannes Film Festival, Eric Kohn, Gay Interest, indieWIRE, Kirk Honeycutt, Los Abrazos rotos, Melodrama, Mystery Movies, Pedro Almodóvar, Penélope Cruz, The Hollywood Reporter, Thomas Sotinel, Wendy Ide, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown