Cannes 2009 Day 6: Great Looking Hierro Falls Flat

Apart from the parties, the hardest ticket to get into at Cannes is surprisingly the special selection in the Critic’s Week (over at the section with the less star coverage from the journos attending.) I was one of the rare people with a press badge to find a seat, buyers from the multiple territories got first dibs on the few seats available. The special film selected is actually called “Godfathers’s movie” (Film des Parrains). The curators select a filmmaker and have that person introduce a new talent. This year they invited a pair to introduce a new member to the family. The Critic’s Week invited Juan Antonio Bayona (The Orphanage) and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto) to serve as godfathers to Gabe Ibáñez and his film Hierro. Starring is the strikingly beautiful actress Elena Anaya from Talk to Her, Savage Grace and breakout role in Sex and Lucia). She plays the central character who must live with the mistake of having fallen asleep and as a result: have her only toddler vanish. Flash forward 6 months and then she revisits the scene of the crime: an entire island where she finds herself enslaved to her own psychiatric state. The photography, editing, sound, Anaya and especially choice in location (think a rocky L’Avventura type setting) makes this not a complete loss, but the dull script makes this misadventure a true bore. Read full review soon.

Juan Antonio Bayona was once featured at Critic’s Week.

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo was also featured in the section.

I heart Elena Anaya.

The man of the hour: Gabe Ibáñez (w/Anaya).