Live from Cannes 2011: Our Top 20 Must See Films (An Alternative Guide)

Like anyone else we look forward to the heavyweight selections in the Main Competition this year — but what about the other sections? Blake Williams and I have our alternative lists ready for you — a top 20 list of films that have caught our attention for reasons X, Y and Z. Without further ado, here is the list:

Arirang (Kim Ki-duk) in the Un Certain Regard
Kim – is one of our strongest and most eclectic Korean filmmakers. Making everything from bloody genre works to contemplative, wordless bliss, there doesn’t seem to be much he can’t do as long as he has a strong enough concept to fit his style. This film seems to be explicitly about Kim, either a self-portrait or autobiography, auto-critique or perhaps narcissistic navel-gazing. The film’s statement begins, “Arirang is about Kim Ki-duk playing 3 roles in 1.” While the above claims to say just what Arirang is in the context of this film – why, it’s Kim, of course – there is other speculation as to the source that inspired the word to become this film’s title. Does it reference the classic Korean folk song? Or the 1926 silent film by Na Un’guy? What about the satellites built by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute? Gotta be all of the above… (Blake Williams)

Bear (Nash Edgerton) in the Main Competition Short
Edgerton made a short film a few years ago called Spider. It’s about a rocky moment in a relationship that ends in a breakup, or a murder, or a practical joke, or a Halloween skit, or…just google it and watch it on Vimeo. It’s about as entertaining and visceral as short films get. Edgerton is co-member, collaborator with David Michod at Blue Tongue Films. Michod made a bit of a splash last year with his electric debut Animal Kingdom and Edgerton is bound for equal success, if he ever gets tired of making short-length masterpieces. (Blake Williams)

Blue Bird (Gust Van Den Bergh) in the Directors’ Fortnight
Synopsis
Like Van Den Bergh’s debut (thesis) film, Little Baby Jesus of Flandr (which premiered at last year’s Fortnight), his follow-up has an innocently surreal vibe to it that makes it too intriguing to miss. Two African children go out hunting for their missing blue bird. They encounter the soul of the forest. Anyone who saw Little Baby Jesus probably knows how literally this film be taken, which should be a good thing. This movie appears to be monochromed in a bluish tone — which we like. (Blake Williams)

Cigarette at Night (Duane Hopkins) in the Directors’ Fortnight
I wasn’t totally won over by Better Things, but nonetheless thought Hopkins’ feature debut feature film which was a Critics Week selection in 2008 was a strong first showing. I think back to the gorgeous teal/blue color palette, and this persistently heavy almost claustrophobic sense of dread that is carried throughout the film. It’s what the British do best. His feature claimed two awards that year in Cannes and this five minute short film appears to explore more of the disenchanted/disoriented youth culture. (Eric Lavallee)

Code Blue (Urszula Antoniak) in the Directors’ Fortnight
Nothing Personal was the big buzz title that came out of Locarno back in 2009 (where it picked up five awards), and everything we’ve seen in the latest trailer informs us that this Netherlands native is solid with the camera and brings out the best in the performances. (Eric Lavallee)

The Day He Arrives (Hong Sangsoo) in the Un Certain Regard
The trailer – other than The Tree of Life, no trailer from any film playing in Cannes this May has gotten the kind of attention the one for this film. Using a reserve gimmick that feels fun and fresh without feeling like an exhausted Memento or Irreversible knock off. We can only hope that the film will have the same level of flair (and knowing Hong, that’s not such an absurd expectation). Hong Sangsoo – the man is one of the most hard-working filmmakers working today. In the last 12 months, he has had two films premiere at Cannes in Un Certain Regard (Hahaha won the sidebar a year ago), and another bowed in Venice. He gets criticized for making the same film over and over again, but then so did Rohmer. Shot in black & white. (Blake Williams)

Elena (Andrei Zvyagintsev) in the Un Certain Regard
A last minute entry for UCR’s closing film slot — I’m surprised that Zvyagintsev wasn’t selected for the Main Comp as he in only two previous outings demonstrated that he is the best Russian filmmaker in the business today. The Return won in Venice back in 2003 and his last film, The Banishment was a Cannes Main Comp selected title — this was actually supported by Sundance and goes back to a working method that almost ensures authentic performances. (Eric Lavallee)

Hors Satan (Bruno Dumont) in the Un Certain Regard
Legend. Master. Provocateur. I’m expecting the formerly titled L’empire to follow in the footsteps of Hadewijch — positing the young in a tumultuous backdrop and mindset. He is considered a living Bresson — which I definitely would agree with. (Eric Lavallee)

The Minister (Pierre Schoeller) in the Un Certain Regard
Versailles – Shoeller’s previous film played in Un Certain Regard in 2008, and while it received a bit of a middling critical response, it was generally agreed that his audacious means of draping a standard story in a formally unstable veil was worth paying attention to. I generally avoid looking at any clips, trailers, and still images before seeing a film, especially if I know that I will be seeing it within a week at a film festival. But, sometimes something catches the eye while flipping through an online catalogue in an effort to fill out a screening schedule, and says, boldly, ‘see this movie’. The image on this film’s description page of a naked woman crawling headfirst into the open mouth of an alligator is one such image. Sample dialogue – Character #1: “I’m blurry?”. Character #2: “You hate that but you are. you have no image…” (Blake Williams)

Miss Bala (Gerardo Naranjo) in the Un Certain Regard
Part of Mexico’s exciting batch of new wave filmmakers, Drama/Mex and Voy a exploiter director appears to be switching gears stylistically and structurally speaking, but you still get the sense that this won’t be a traditional, pulled from the headlines type of biography. (Pic above) (Eric Lavallee)

My Little Princess (Eva Ionesco) in the Critics’ Week
The life of one of France’s strongest actresses, Eva Ionesco, gets a hearty, serious treatment, directed by one of France’s strongest actresses, Eva Ionesco. The fascinating subject – underaged erotic photography – ought to be a sizzler.
Isabelle Huppert – in Cannes for the fourth year in a row. it begs the question, what the hell went wrong five years ago? One of the best, ever. (Blake Williams)

Oslo, August 31st (Joachim Trier) in the Un Certain Regard
It’s been a long wait for Trier to produce a sophomore film after his film festival award winning 2006 debut in Reprise. The X Generation are getting older and this portrait appears to be an apt discourse about mid-life crisis which now occurs well before age forty. (Eric Lavallee)

Palawan Fate (Auraeus Solito) in the Directors’ Fortnight
There are few films dealing with overt homosexual themes this year, even with Van Sant in the festival. I don’t see much other competition for this year’s Queer Palme d’Or, unless an unexpected shows up. With The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros, Solito made one of the strongest entries in queer cinema in 2005 with this earnest, completely uncynical take on young, unrequited love. This comes packaged with a hilarious Third Man homage. (Blake Williams)

Play (Ruben Ostlund) in the Directors’ Fortnight
Not sure what this new wave of Swedish filmmakers will be called in the long-run, but Ostlund clearly works in a style of his own and that Scandi sense of humor that I appreciate so much. Having been to the Croisette with the Un Certain Regard selected Involuntary in 2008, his latest will once again explore “group dynamics and their effect on individual behaviour” with a special treatment of what appears to be the cutting edge theme du jour: school bullying. (Eric Lavallee)

Return (Liza Johnson) in the Directors’ Fortnight
We’ve been keeping tabs on this project well before we first introduced you to Liza Johnson in our 2010 American New Wave 25 list — with Michael Shannon in a supporting role we are hedging our bets on the fact that but Linda Cardellini will be an Indie Spirit award nominee with this portrait that the Fortnights’ Frédéric Boyer is equating to Travis Bickle terrain. With mentions of Haynes’ Safe and Cassavetes’ A Woman Under the Influence as influences on this debut, this is one post-war drama we’re really looking forward in seeing. (Eric Lavallee)

Sauna on Moon (Zou Peng) Critics’ Week
Peng’s debut (Dongbei Dongbei) premiered in Berlin in 2009. We’ve not heard much from this filmmaker, and the early resume is accumulating nicely. The film’s subject – a down-and-out sauna that gets transformed into an “entertainment kingdom”, as a metaphor for an evolving China – is awfully Jia Zhangke. And that’s okay. China is a big country; there should be more focus on their sprawling heritage plus the film’s title is celestial, playful, surreal, and absurd. It’s undeniably Chinese. (Blake Williams)

The Silence of Joan (Philippe Ramos) in the Directors’ Fortnight
Is there another classic tale that has been treated to so many cinema masterpieces as the story of Joan of Arc’s martyrdom? Dreyer, Bresson, Fleming, Rivette: all have shaped Joan in their own powerful ways. Perhaps Ramos’ will join the list of masterful renditions. Capitaine Achab is Ramos’ previous film and it was an atypical adaptation of Herman Melville’s (also) classic tale of Moby Dick, allowing the whale’s skin colour to haunt the dreams of Achab, motivating his love for the equally pale Louise. His unique take on the material means that a comparably bizarre deviation could be in store here. First there is the strange absence of any character named Joan, Jeanne, or Gena from the cast list. Then, there is Mathieu Amalric. The man is enough films to where it doesn’t really mean that much. But, his success rate is high, and whatever he’s in, it’s at least always interesting. (Blake Williams)

The Slut (Hager Ben-Asher) in the Critics’ Week
Pointed out to me from our Israeli correspondent, Ben-Asher returns to Cannes (her short Pathways was a Cinefondation-selected project in 2007) with a feature debut that comes equipped with a blunt title, a promising treatment of the image and the lead perf is from the director herself who claims she had trouble conceiving the idea of anyone else playing the title role. Could be a lead Camera d’Or contender. (Eric Lavallee)

This is Not a Film (Jafar Panahi) Out of Comp – Special Screening
Freedom – that a filmmaker – under an endlessly oppressive regime that has banned him from making a film for 20 years, and is in the process of trying to lock him up for six of those years – went ahead and made a film despite his prohibition, and submitted it to the most visible venue for cinema in the world, is the possibly the most courageous thing a movie director has every done. This isn’t about movies, though, which is exactly what will make this great cinema. Not to mention that Panahi is probably the mot consistently great Iranian filmmaker ever (his highs don’t reach Kiarostami’s, but he does have less duds). (Blake Williams)

Walk Away Renée (Jonathan Caouette) in the Critics’ Week
Caouette’s haunting Tarnation (which played on the Croisette) left me crawled in a ball for days and now I’m ready for round two. The complex DIY family self-portrait now hits the road, it’s not being considered a follow up, but is definitely an update of this mother-son relationship. (Eric Lavallee)