French people like movies, just not American ones. In fact, they have a festival dedicated to movies in a place called Cannes. You may have heard of it, no it has nothing to do with the Tuna packaging industry.
The 58th Cannes Film Festival drew to a close this weekend, and I attempted to watch some of the closing festivities coverage on IFC. Though co-hosted by Roger Ebert, their red carpet love-fest was pretty boring, so I may have been the only one. Besides, Roger increasingly sounds like a very very old man. His voice has become depressing.
As the festival wrapped up, they presented their most significant and prestigious award, the Palme d’Or. The Palme (which ought to be represented by a little brass tree bearing coconuts in the shape of Gerard Depardieu’s head) is the highest prize given at Cannes and is regarded as one of the film industry’s most prestigious awards. This year, it went to a Belgian entry The Child, directed by Belgian’s own version of the Coens or Wachowskis, the Dardenne Brothers.
Described as the tale of an impoverished couple trying to survive in modern-day France, you have to wonder why it wasn’t set in Belgium. Still, it beat out films from festival favorites like Jarmusch, Cronenberg, and Boll so the family directing team has to have something going for them. Former documentary filmmakers, the Dardenne Brothers are being heralded for their unique visual style. Coming from a documentary background, there’s also a good chance they have principles (translation: aren’t very practical), which likely means we won’t see them working in American any time soon.
