Festival De Cannes (2008) Winners

1. Palme d'Or :


The Class (French Title :Entre les murs) directed by Laurent Cantet, based on the novel of the same name by François Bégaudeau.The novel is a semi-autobiographical account of Bégaudeau's experiences as a literature teacher in an inner city middle school in Paris.

2.Grand Prix Award

Gomorrah (Italian Title: Gomorra) directed by Matteo Garrone .The film deals with daily violence in the streets of Naples and Camorra. The protagonists are three young men living in a flat in Rome who call themselves "interno 10".

3. Jury Prize

ll Divo directed by Paolo Sorrentino. It is a Biopic based on the figure of former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti., who has been elected to Parliament seven times since is was established in 1946. The narration spans the period since the seventh election of Andreotti as Italian PM in 1992, until the trial in which he was accused of collusion with Mafia.

4.Best Director Award

Three Monkeys (Turkish title: Üç Maymun ) directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. A family dislocated when small failings blow up into extravagant lies battles against the odds to stay together by covering up the truth... In order to avoid hardship and responsibilities that would otherwise be impossible to endure, the family chooses to ignore the truth, not to see, hear or talk about it.




5.Best Screenplay Award



The Silence of Lorna (French title: Le silence de Lorna) by the Belgian director brothers Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. Plot: In order to become the owner of a snack bar with her boyfriend, Lorna, a young Albanian woman living in Belgium, becomes an accomplice to a diabolical plan devised by mobster Fabio. Fabio has orchestrated a sham marriage between her and Claudy. The marriage allows her to obtain Belgian citizenship and then marry a Russian Mafioso willing to pay a lot of money to acquire the same quickly. However, for this second marriage to be possible, Fabio has planned to kill Claudy. Will Lorna keep silent?


6. Best Actor Award ;



Won by Benicio Del Toro for the film 'CHE'.
A film about Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh . The first part focuses on the Cuban revolution, from the moment Fidel Castro, Guevara and other revolutionaries landed on the Caribbean island, until they toppled the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista two years later. The second part focuses on the years following the Cuban revolution. It begins with Che's trip to the United Nations headquarters in New York City in 1964, until his death in the Bolivian mountains in 1967.


7.Best Actress Award :


Won by Sandra Corveloni for the Brazilian film 'Linha de Passe' directed by Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas.The film tells the story of four poverty-stricken brothers who live in a favela neighborhood in São Paulo. As their father dies, they have to fight for their dreams. One of the brothers seeks the opportunity of a better life with his soccer skills

Brief Overview : FESTIVAL DE CANNES

The Cannes Film Festival ( Festival de Cannes), founded in 1946, is one of the world's oldest, most influential and prestigious film festivals alongside Venice, Berlin. The private festival is held annually in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France.

Awards Category :

1.

The Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded to competing films at the Cannes Film Festival.

2.

The Grand Prix is an award of the Cannes Film Festival bestowed by the jury of the festival on one of the competing feature films. It is the second-most prestigious prize of the festival after the Palme d'Or.

3.

The Jury Prize (Prix du Jury) is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It is considered less prestigious than the other main prizes, the Palme d'Or and the Grand Prix.

4.

The Best Director Award

5.

The Best Screenplay Award (Prix du scénario).

6.

The Best Actor Award

7.

The Best Actress Award

Reminiscing Sir RAYMOND

Sir RAYMOND was a frequent visitor at the dvd shop where i used to go. at first , i was reluctant in conversing with this old man aged about 65 with big spects .. he used to talk and brag a lot with the shop staff over a cup of tea and fried banana roast which used to be offered to him as a sign of goodwill the moment he stepped in the shop. An ardent fan of Hollywood cinema he had a good collection of DVDs.

i am an introvert personality. so i converse less with strangers. i was urged to fore go my reluctance in conversing with Raymond mostly because i was amazed by his deep knowledge in films,actors . so with a whiff of semi reluctance i asked him the first question " Sir , is the film "red dragon " as good as the "silence of the lambs "."I asked this because i was not quiet satisfied with the second installment of the lecter franchise , "Hannibal". the moment i asked this with great enthusiasm he started talking like a vending machine about the movie, its actors Edward Norton, Ralph fiennes ,their performances and he rated this film as the best of the lecter series. The guy was a big fan of Edward Norton ,a name i hadn't heard off as i was an amateur in the knowledge of cinema at that time..One of his punchlines was " If Edward Noton is there in a film, you can blindly take that film without reading the other details like director ,story ,rating ......" . I ended up owning most of the Edward norton movies , (25th hour , primal fear, American history x , red dragon ,fight club).And i am waiting foR dvd release of "The Incredible Hulk" .

One thing led to the other and we became good friends . we used to fix the day when we would meet at the dvd shop and spent about 6-7 hours bragging and talking about movies ,his life experices.......He despised indian cinema ,indian music .He was like an american soul trapped in the indian body.He had a vast collection of english albums fom 70's to 90's and he was pretty talkative on pop ,country,blues rock music.This guy was a bachelor at this age living alone.His first wife and son cheated him and extorted his money and flat in Bombay. He left his second wife since she was reluctant to leave Goa and he wanted to stay in cochin. He was a victim of
deadly stroke which had paralysed him .But he came out from his vegetable state because of high will power.Also he quit his job in firm he had worked for 20 years because of a back stabbing from the management which he couldn't tolerate. Despite the numerous set backs in his life like a clown he used to be smily an filled with hope and joy when he came to the dvd shop.He only had a very few friends.

As i had certain other assignments , i couldn't go to the dvd shop for a month. Yesterday , when i came after Onam, i heard the news that Raymond had died of a severe cardiac arrest. i couldn't believe it. although we had only met 3 times, i felt we were age old friends.At our last meeting he was starting to write on a book on his life . I was planning to introduce him to the world of Foreign Cinema and persuade him to drop his selfishness, rejoin with his wife and put an end to this solitary life . That's the mystery of life. . But those few moments I had cherished with him will be forever embedded in my thoughts .

GOOD BYE Sir RAYMOND.......

Movie of the Month : HARSH TIMES (2005)

IN THE OPENING MOMENTS ………

Using night vision really well, we find ourselves in Trashcanistan (Afghanistan) and join one soldier named Jim as he moves in close to a group of armed men. Base-heavy music kicks in just as he does, efficiently killing about 10 of them without flinching. It is slick, deadly and very cool and the audience feels the excitement and rush. When we step to the back of Jim's car in Mexico the effect is jarring and it did make me think how anyone can leave that type of life and return to everyday, 9-5 society. And this is really what the film is sort of about as we see Jim losing track of what is permissible in normal life.

The plot in this film is somewhat like an aircraft that spends a puzzlingly long time taxiing along the runway before it finally gets airborne. Even then, it is not until the final part that the joystick is forcefully pulled back, and with a great whoosh we are up for some very showy loop-the-loops and victory rolls. HARSH TIMES is both sophisticated and ambitious, with intriguing character development.

SYNOPSIS

After returning home from the Afghan War, Army Ranger Jim Davis (Christian Bale) is having a hard time adjusting to civilian life. Jim is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and having flashbacks and nightmares of the killing he did during the war. Jim wants to be a policeman, and he applies for a job with the L.A.P.D. While waiting for the job to come through, Jim hangs out with his best friend, Mike Alonzo (Freddy Rodriguez). Jim and Mike begin to cruise the mean streets of South Central, Los Angeles, and they fall back into their old life of crime. Jim is expecting to join the LAPD to marry his Mexican girlfriend Marta (Tammy Trull) while Mike is being pressured by his mate Sylvia (Eva Longoria) to find a job. The two lead actors end up struggling through job rejections, life, gangs, drugs and drinks, and also the struggle to move on from their carefree lifestyle when they were young.

REVIEW:

David Ayer’s direction is visually very assured and he uses the close confines of the car well while also giving the streets a rough feel. Ayer has created a dark, moody portrayal of South Central Los Angeles, very similar to that of Training Day. The cinematography gives L.A. that "afternoon dirty orange sky" gritty feel. The shots of the city Skyline inserted into the film here and there really set the scene and the tone of the film. The flashes and filters employed when Bale goes off the deep end really wake you up and put you on.

What I found interesting was the way Ayer introduced the beautiful barren Mexican landscape amongst the roughness of LA life. This was to show the personal crossroads Bale's character experiences. And the extremely well shot shootout at the end uses some stylish slow motion effects and keeps you guessing as to where the bullets are going to end up. The character development in this film is rich and deep. Seeing the progression from "Dark Blue" to "Training Day" and now "Harsh Times" is proof of Ayer's progression as a writer. . Ayer does work well in establishing the relationship between Jim and Mike. He has written convincing men; losers no doubt but it is interesting to see the posing and peer-pressure playing its part in every scene they share

Christian Bale is an actor who is never orthodox. His string of films have in general been breaking moulds and testing his own ability, and more often than not you leave the cinema thinking that you had seen something special. His ability to go from crazed lunatic to apologetic, tear-filled and beaten man is amazing to watch. The scene between Rodriguez and Bale in the car near the end of the film was a brilliant showcase of Bale's varying level of sanity. Bale’s performance is not only one of the best of the year, but the character of Jim Davis is one of the most impressively written and acted performances in motion picture history. His disturbing yet touching performance in the last 30 minutes of the film are without a doubt one of my favorite performances of an actor. I feel that Christian Bale's performance is as mesmerizing as De Niro's Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver or Edward Norton's character in American History X.

Sharing much screen time with Bale is a relatively unknown Freddy Rodriquez. Who shines in much the same way Ethan Hawke did in Training Day—playing the straight man whose life is finally on the up and up before his love for a friend drags him back down .Rodriquez shows his ability in mixing comedic moments up with emotional intensity and apathy. He balances his loyalty to Jim well with his character's own weak spine. His friendship with Bale is so unpredictable that as an audience, you find yourself laughing with them at one moment and the next on the verge of tears.

Bale and Rodriguez were initially hard to swallow with their very heavy dialect and accents but once in their world you get past this and realize what brilliant work they are doing. With the film very much about them, the support casts don’t have much to do but still have a good presence. Simmons is always a welcome presence and after being just a sexy wiggle at the start, Eva Longoria does good work with her small role.

This film feels real, and the director really makes you feel like you are actually in the film, in the situation with the characters. You feel part of their lives and start feeling for them. It's frustrating that Harsh Times did not get the box office recognition it deserved. However, through word of mouth and DVD release, I am certain that this will become a sleeper classic, in the style of Shaw shank Redemption.

I recommend Harsh Times very highly; it is emotional, violent, realistic, hilarious, thought-provoking, inspired, entertaining, gripping, original and shocking

“We have monsters among us in this world and while they can be utilized as a necessity for the survival of our culture, hopefully when their jobs are done they can be helped to assimilate back into society without their ambivalence being able to hurt the ones they love. “

Director: David Ayer

Cast: Christian Bale ,Freddy Rodriguez , Eva Longoria Parker , J.K. Simmons

[Rated R for strong violence, language and drug use].

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

DVD EXTRAS : Commentary by David Ayer

Deleted Scenes

trailers

ONLINE TRAILER LINK :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbS7M4-Y87Y

TORRENT FILE NAME :

Harsh Times [2005]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo


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