Indie Films vs. Indy's Film at Cannes
 The 2008 Cannes film festival opens. |
As the blitz of films, celebrity parties and general independent film industry schmoozing started yesterday, the question was if the independent films usually beloved by Cannes critics could compete for attention against "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which premieres this weekend.
Cannes' duality is obvious to anyone strolling along the Croisette, the film festivals main strip. On one side is Cannes' official poster: indie filmmaker David Lynch's artistic picture of a mysterious blond bombshell. On the other side, a hotel facade made-up for "Indiana Jones" celebrations to look like a plastic temple of doom.
While film critics may complain that Cannes has capitulated to Hollywood, the film festival takes pride in having many different styles of films.
The festival opened with "Blindness," film school graduate Fernando Meirelles' independent film of an epidemic that causes people to lose thier eyesight. The movie stars Julianne Moore with Mark Ruffalo, Gael Garcia Bernal and Danny Glover, and adapted from a novel by Portuguese Nobel laureate Jose Saramago.
While critics mused about the symbolism of "Blindness", paparazzi were capturing Jack Black pulling a publicity stunt for his new film "Kung Fu Panda," DreamWorks' story of a pudgy panda into martial arts.
Black made an entrance by boat, then walked down a pier with 40 people dressed in giant panda suits, showing off his kung fu moves as the pandas mulled behind him.
"Kung Fu Panda," which has its Cannes premiere today, and "Indiana Jones" aren't in the official competition. The jury, led by actor Sean Penn also includes Natalie Portman, Alfonso Cuaron, and comic book artist-director Marjane Satrapi, will give out the awards May 25.
"Blindness," which is in the running for the top prize, was somewhat of a departure for Cannes, which traditionally opens with a more upbeat or glitzy film.
One highlight of the independent films competing for the Palme d'Or is filmmaker Clint Eastwood's "Changeling," a missing-child film with Angelina Jolie. Eastwood is a Cannes regular. He led the jury in 1994 and has showed films which include "Mystic River" - but has yet to win the top prize.
Also in competition are James Gray's "Two Lovers," a romantic drama with Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow, and Steven Soderbergh's 4 1/2-hour marathon film "Che," with Benicio Del Toro as Argentine revolutionary Ernesto Guevara.
As usual, many dark themes can be seen in the competition films. Palme d'Or winners Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, who took the top prize at both the 1999 and 2005 festival, are back with a gritty drama about an illegal immigrant and her sham of a marriage titled "Le Silence de Lorna (Lorna's Silence)."
Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman's "Waltz With Bashir" - an animated film - deals with the subject of war and repressed memories. And Italian film "Gomorra," helmed by director Matteo Garrone, looks at the Naples-based Camorra mafia.