Monthly Special : FESTIVAL DE CANNES

The 62nd annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 13 to May 24, 2009.The winners of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival are :








1. Palme d'Or Award


The White Ribbon (" Das weiße Band") directed by Michael Haneke

Country :Austria





Synopsis .....Strange events happen at a rural school in the north of Germany during the year 1913, which seem to be ritual punishment.Shot in stunning black and white, the film chronicles a series of mysterious events in a school leading up to the outbreak of WWI and how does the school have an influence on fascism...


2. Grand Prix Award

A Prophet (" Un prophète ") directed by Jacques Audiard

Country : France






Synopsis.....A young Arab man is sent to a French prison where he becomes a mafia kingpin...








3. Prix du Jury (Jury Prize )

a) 'Fish Tank' directed by Andrea Arnold

Country :UK






Synopsis.....Everything changes for a 15yr old girl when her mum brings home a new boyfriend...









b) Thirst ("Bakjwi") directed by Park Chan-wook

Country :South Korea



Synopsis .....A devoted priest from a small town volunteers for a medical experiment which fails and turns him into a vampire.At first he feels a newfound vigor and is energized by his insistent bodily desires, but soon he is aghast to find himself drawn back to the taste of human blood against his will. Desperately trying to avoid committing a murder, he resorts to stealing blood transfusion packs from the hospital.To make matters worse,he also starts an affair with a wife of his childhood friend who is repressed and tired of her mundane life. The one-time priest falls deeper in despair and depravity. When the priest pleads with her to run away with him she turns him down, suggesting that they kill her husband instead.As things turns for worse, he struggles to maintain whats left of his humanity.....


4. Best Director Award

Brillante Mendoza for the film - Butchered ("Kinatay ")

Country : Phillipines

Synopsis .. A young man tries to make some money so he can marry his girlfriend. He takes a job for $2,000 and then soon realizes that this job involves killing a woman....

5. Best Screenplay Award

" Spring Fever " directed by Lou Ye

Country : China



Synopsis... As Nature gradually awakens and an intoxicating spring breeze full of life blows, as they drive together to the coast, love and sexual passion grow in the hearts of 2 men and a beautiful young woman. All three fall prey to an exhilarating sickness of the senses, a dangerous malady that misleads the heart…





6. Camera d'OR Award (Gold Camera Award for Best first feature film)


"Samson and Delilah " directed by Warwick Thornton

Country : Australia




Synopsis ....tells the story of two aboriginal 14 year olds who steal a car and escape their lives, going to Alice Springs, thereby telling a "survival love story" .






7. Best Actor Award

Christoph Waltz for the film "Inglorious Basterds "

Country : USA



Synopsis : According to The Hollywood Reporter, "two story lines converge: One (based on a true story) follows a group of Jewish-American soldiers whose mission is to take down a group of Nazis, and the other follows a young Jewish woman who seeks to avenge the death of her parents by this Nazi group"




8. Best Actress Award

Charlotte Gainsbourg for the film "Antichrist"

Country : Denmark





Synopsis...about a couple who, after the death of their child, retreat to a cabin in the woods where they encounter strange and terrifying occurrences.





THE CANNE CONTROVERSY


The film " Antichrist "has come under attack for its explicit sexuality, including the opening scene showing a toddler falling to its death while his parent's have sex on the bed nearby.The film has also invited controversy for its graphic sexual violence which includes self mutilations.At least four people fainted during the preview due to the film's explicit violence.The ecumenical jury at the Cannes festival gave it a special "anti-award" and declared the film to be "the most misogynist movie from the self-proclaimed biggest director(Lars Von Trier ) in the world".Two versions are availible for buyers at the Cannes film market, nicknamed the "catholic" and "protestant" versions, where the former had some of the most explicit scenes removed while the latter was uncut.

Movie of the Month : LARS AND THE REAL GIRL (2007)

THIS SIMPLE STORY shines in its ability to weave a sensitive subject without cloying sympathetic backdrop.The undertones of this movie echo with hidden messages about how we ourselves perceive and feel people, who are different. The experiential narrative is refreshingly different, enriching, and contains socially and individually important themes that really matter in today's world.

SYNOPSIS:

Lars ,a quiet and shy young man, afraid of any kind of commitment, afraid of communication and afraid of the human touch lives in a garage apartment next to his older brother Gus and his pregnant wife Karin. To share his loneliness, Lars orders a life-size and anatomically correct sex doll named Bianca from internet and proceeds to make a companion of her, taking her to parties, to church, to family dinners He is so smitten with Bianca that Gus and Karin, both dumbfounded by this turn of events, seek the counsel of local physician and psychotherapist who recognizes Lars' dependence on Bianca as a serious mental illness that will require the rest of the town to treat Bianca as if she is alive.

REVIEW:

It's been a while since I remembered a movie having a central character spending much time interacting with an object, the most memorable of course would be Tom Hanks' Chuck Noland being Cast Away on an island and finding companionship with Wilson, the volleyball. Here, Lars finds a new security blanket in his mail order sex doll whom he christians Bianca, which is highly customizable, anatomically correct, and quite attractive to boot. Furthermore, it's not just one character that gets all emotional with it, in fact, the entire small Midwestern town does, where everybody indulges Lars and his new friend, at first to curious stares, but slowly warming up to even Bianca as well, as their tender reactions now turn into immense efforts bringing Lars out of the shell.

Credit to all involved for also allowing the story to slowly unravel, explaining how Lars could have gotten to this point. At the start you just think he is an awkward man that can't deal with society or physical contact. He wears layers and backs off when someone attempts to touch his shoulder or give him a hug. There is an entire back-story as to why he shudders at the touch of another human, though, why he actually experiences pain as if that part of his body had been badly burned. Each slice of the story is unraveled as we delve deeper and deeper into his psyche during his "sessions" in therapy and his eye opening experiences seeing how much those around him care. His fear of losing those he loves is so strong that he would rather never feel the joy of it to make sure he wouldn't have to feel the loss.

Bianca, the doll, could have easily become a joke and reason for people to just stop caring for anything that was going on. Instead it becomes a catalyst for those on screen to really step up. The peculiar thing about Bianca is that there isn't a gimmicky attempt to give Bianca humanity -- no CGI special effects, no inner thought voice-over, no puppetry, no animation. She is clearly a doll, that's all -- her life comes solely from the way people go out of their way to accept her -- or more to the point, to accept Lars. The whole little town goes along with the pretense that Bianca is a person, to the extent that Bianca becomes a hit, and volunteers at the hospital, and Lars becomes jealous of her independence. Eventually it emerges that this "mass hysteria," as it were, is a declaration of love for the essentially lovable Lars—which is the thing he needed to become a whole person. And in a strange and inexplicable way, Bianca does become, if not human, at least real to the audience as well, because ultimately Bianca does have a human quality; she is lovable.

Director Craig Gillespie maintains subdued tone, hypnotic pacing, and stark wintry backgrounds help to keep the fantasy grounded enough in reality to make us actually believe it could be happening. Ryan Gosling as Lars turns in a remarkable performance that really takes this small film and does wonders with it. He is incredibly charming in his shy routine but he also comes across as the troubled soul that he is. The ending packs a highly emotional punch and this here is where Gosling really shines and makes the viewer feel his pain as his eventual cure starts to come through. Gosling has the talent to show off so much emotion without using words that I'm sure he could have been a terrific silent actor. As Lars’s likable blue-collar brother and his mightily pregnant wife both Paul Schneider and Emily Mortimer are not only likable and sympathetic but make their ready acceptance of his delusional state believable. Likewise, Patricia Clarkson is wonderful, as the psychologist who treats Lars.

Lars and the Real Girl succeeds in being mature about the treatment, and having a great cast deliver the goods superbly, is already a major plus. Let not the notion of having a sex-doll on screen turn you away, as you'll be pleasantly surprised by the end results All in all a fine, clean movie that has a great message, how simply loving and sticking by a person can change their outlook on life. I recommend it highly.

Title :LARS AND THE REAL GIRL

Director ;Craig Gillespie

Cast :Ryan Gosling,Paul Schneider,Emily Mortimer

Rated PG-13 for mature themes

Country : USA

Language : English

DVD Features ;The Real Story of Lars and the Real Girl

Cast and crew interview

deleted scenes

Trailer Link : www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1XxILVnt1w

Torrent File Name ;

Lars and the Real Girl [2007]DvDrip[Eng]-FXG