ICS in Cannes: Quick takes from Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson of the International Cinephile Society treks to Cannes and hooks us up with a few succinct impressions of significant films.

ANOTHER YEAR (Mike Leigh)
Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter are visited by Mike Leigh in this gorgeous, engaging Rohmerian drama of a couple, Tom (Jim Broadbent), an engineering geologist and Gerri (Ruth Sheen), a hospital psychologist whose life, careers and marriage are all in perfect shape. They are, however, surrounded by people quite less fortunate, both financially and romantically. Not least of all is Mary (a stunning performance by Lesley Manville), a coworker of Gerri’s for over 20 years. Mary is a mid-40s party girl who had two unsuccessful marriages and has spent her career as a hospital secretary. She often clings to Gerri for emotional support, with Gerri unable to leave her work at the hospital. But she does so with calm and consideration, a true friend. The film is a funny and sad portrait of loneliness, sadness and desperation with flawless performances, a rich score and a screenplay from Leigh (in his usual outline then let the actors define it way) that is honest and detailed.

Three more capsule reviews after the cut.

KABOOM (Gregg Araki)
The Araki of old has returned, which is good and bad. With films like
Nowhere and The Doom Generation Araki really cornered a market on gay, supernatural, thriller camp like nobody’s business. Those films (and those in that era) were throwaway junk, for sure, but became a virtual ‘Find the Cameo’ of has-been celebrity cameos that ranged from funny to ironic to horrible, sometimes simultaneously. Then came Mysterious Skin, a work of astonishing clarity, depth and seriousness but still with flickers of Araki’s bent and skewed charm. Evidentially it was a one-off though as Kaboom is a return to his sex-filled, gaytastic freakshow.

These next two I’ll condense even further from Erik’s brief and cogent distillations, to encourage you to click through to the full-length paragraphs at ICSFilm.com.

ABEL (Diego Luna)
Young Abel (Christopher Ruiz-Esparza) is not well. We meet him the day he leaves the hospital but we don‚Äôt know why he was there… His father ran out on the family two years prior and Abel just stares at a hole in the wall and draws circles in his hand, all speechless… a thoroughly tense and often funny examination of family that features a fantastic debut
performance by the elder Ruiz-Esparza and a very promising debut from actor Diego Luna.

Erik is one of those few movie writers we count as friends who’s not all that impressed with Biutiful — but if you want to see his specific complaints you won’t find them on this page.

BIUTIFUL (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
…Javier Bardem plays Uxbal, a clairvoyant who communes with the recently dead, making money off the family of the recently deceased. He‚Äôs also a middle-man in a Chinese sweatshop organization. He has a wife who cheats on him with his brother. He has quickly spreading cancer and a few months to live. Yeah, it‚Äôs a feel good movie. He scrambles to earn money for his family in preparation of his demise
(much like Walter White in the television show Breaking Bad) through all means of unsavory, illegal and immoral avenues..