f i l m j o u r n e y . o r g

LACMA is halfway through its series devoted to cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, one of RKO’s prime cameramen in the 1940s and ’50s, and thus one of the key strategists behind the shadowy “noir” look in films such as Cat People (1942), The Seventh Victim (1943), Out of the Past (1947), and Clash by Night (1952). [...]

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One of the freelancing hats I wear these days is graphic design for the California Institute of Technology’s award-winning Engineering & Science magazine, and its latest issue contains a really fascinating article on the Netflix Prize contest (2006-’09) that awarded a million dollars to the person/team who best improved the company’s algorithm for predicting its [...]

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Jafar Panahi, happy to be home. (Photo courtesy of the Twitter group FreeJafarPanahi.)
“I think Panahi’s refusal to cooperate with [the authorities] prolonged the case,” Jamsheed Akrami says in Godfrey Cheshire’s summary of events. “They just realized they couldn’t intimidate Panahi. I consider that to be a great moral victory for Panahi and people like [...]

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By Robert Koehler
(Click on the thumbnails for larger pictures.)
Apichatpong approximately 72 hours before he won the Palme d’Or. He had just arrived in Cannes from turmoil in Bangkok, as a group of us greeted him at the Princess Stephanie Hotel (also home to the premiere screenings of films in the Quinzaine). He presented his producers [...]

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By Robert Koehler
You would have to go back to either 1999–when the Dardennes won for Rosetta–or 1997–when Abbas Kiarostami won for Taste of Cherry in a tie with Imamura Shohei for The Eel and when Tim Burton was a member of the jury–to find a Palme d’Or winner quite as satisfying and unconventional as tonight’s [...]

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By Robert Koehler
Less than an hour before the announcement of the Palme and other prizes, rumors are swirling over possible winners based on sightings of who’s in Cannes….and who’s not.
In the latter category, count Mike Leigh, which makes Another Year unlikely to win any prizes. Based on who has returned or stayed in Cannes, look [...]

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Robert Koehler submitted his favorite titles to Fotogramas‘ Manu Yáñez:
Competition:
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Poetry
Des Hommes et des dieux
Out of Competition:
The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaucescu
Carlos (based on viewing the first 100 minutes)
Special Screenings:
Chantrapas
Un Certain Regard:
The Strange Case of Angelica
Tuesday, After Christmas
Aurora
I Wish I Knew
Film Socialisme
Quinzaine:
Le Quattro Volte
Todos vós sodes capitáns
Semaine:
Belle épine
Rubber
ACID:
Cuchillo de Palo [...]

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By Robert Koehler
Jean-Luc Godard (and his Les Inrocks interview) marked the starting point for this year’s Cannes blogging, partly because I anticipated that his Film Socialisme would certainly be one of the major films at the festival. It is that, and more, since the film’s impact will long outlast the mere week and a half [...]

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By Robert Koehler
German director Christoph Hochhausler–whose name Thierry Fremaux struggled with in the introduction seen here–disappoints with his Un Certain Regard film, Under the City. It’s the first misstep in one of the most interesting careers among those filmmakers which have been (correctly in Hochhausler’s case) associated with the Berlin School. But Under the City [...]

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By Robert Koehler
(Click on the thumbnails for larger pictures.)
A view of the Palais red stairs before the madness begins on day three.

The cast and crew of Cristi Puiu’s Aurora assembles on the Debussy stage with Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux. (Very tiny, for sure; this iPhone lacks telephoto.) Aurora isn’t in the black comic vein [...]

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