BEST OF CANNES

THE WONDERS

Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Writers: Alice Rohrwacher
Stars: Monica Bellucci, Alba Rohrwacher, Margarete Tiesel
Runtime: 110 mins
Description: Gelsomina's family functions according to very particular rules. First of all, Gelsomina, at twelve years of age, practically runs the family. Her three younger sisters obey her and work under her watchful eye. But the outside world mustn't know anything about their lifestyle, and they should be kept away from it, well-protected in their isolated countryside home. Gelsomina's father, Wolfgang, is a foreigner and Gelsomina is the future queen of this strange and improbable kingdom he has constructed for them. A male heir would have been better, of course, but Gelsomina is strong and determined and what's more, she has a special talent for beekeeping and making honey. A TV show competition arrives from the city offering a cash prize and a luxury cruise for the Most Traditional Family. "Village Wonders" is presented by the good fairy, Milly Catena. Gelsomina wants to participate in the contest, but Wolfgang won't even consider it. Something else is tormenting him: the new European laws regarding farm produce. If they don't get their honey lab in order, with washable walls and well-defined working spaces, they will have to cease production. They have to work very hard to expand the bee colonies, and get the lab up to standard. In his desperate search for cheap labor, Wolfgang agrees to take on a delinquent German boy, Martin, who comes from a youth rehabilitation exchange program. The tension mounts: between a silent evasive boy onto whom Wolfgang projects his desire for a son, and, counteracting this, the outward reaching force of Gelsomina that will stop at nothing just in order to see the good fairy TV show hostess again. Nothing will be the same at the end of this summer for Gelsomina and her family.
The Wonders was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded with the Grand Prix.

Source: The Internet

***

WINTER SLEEP

Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Writers: Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Stars: Haluk Bilginer, Melisa Sözen, Demet Akbag
Runtime: 196 mins
Description: Aydin, a former actor, runs a small hotel in central Anatolia with his young wife Nihal with whom he has a stormy relationship and his sister Necla who is suffering from her recent divorce. In winter as the snow begins to fall, the hotel turns into a shelter but also an inescapable place that fuels their animosities. With his latest, Winter Sleep, Nuri Bilge Ceylan's characteristic obsession with his country's variegated topography takes him to Cappadocia, a remote stretch of the Anatolian countryside whose strange mound-like formations provide the backdrop for an intimate tale of marital take-and-no-give that's been stretched (for no apparent reason other than indulgence) to over three hours. Much like the lead character, a charismatic former actor who now runs the Hotel Othello, Ceylan's film doesn't know when to let an argument rest. The obvious analogue here would be Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage; the key difference lies in Winter Sleep's absolute refusal to let anything be at emotional stake. The husband expounds, his wife or sister rebuts, and then he uses his considerable rhetorical acumen to put them in their place. A subplot dealing with a dispute between the hotelier and his tenant farmers seems left over from an earlier film. And in case there were any doubt as to the fatuousness of Ceylan's approach here, look no further than an excruciatingly protracted scene involving an envelope stuffed with money and a crackling fireplace telegraphs its inevitable conclusion from the start. Perhaps such inexorability is Ceylan's true theme. If so, he still has to answer for taking nearly forever to get there.
At the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, the film won the Palme d'Or and the FIPRESCI Prize.

Source: The Internet

***

WHITE GOD

Director: Kornél Mundruczó
Writers: Kornél Mundruczó, Viktória Petrányi
Stars: Zsófia Psotta, Sándor Zsótér, Lili Horváth
Runtime: 119 mins
Description: Cannes' most bizarre but endearing film award, the Palm Dog, has gone to the 250 four-legged stars of a Hungarian horror-thriller about a canine apocalypse, "White God." Its director, Kornel Mundruczo, said the dogs in the film were used to make a serious statement about the oppressed and marginalized. The director is concerned by rise of nationalist parties across Europe. In his home country of Hungary, a far-right party is the third largest group in parliament. The movie has bowled critics over, drawing comparisons to Hitchcock's "The Birds" with its startling opening sequence. Hagen, the movie's doggy protagonist, is played by real-life twin Labradors Luke and Body. He is shunned and all his gentleness is bashed out of him, ending up toughened and unrecognizable. Mundruczo said it took every directorial brain cell he had to get the unpredictable animals to light up the screen in the way he intended. "Dogs cannot lie on camera, it's very challenging," he said. All the dogs had to be socialized together for six months prior to shooting the film in order for them to be convincing in the pack scenes, he added.
White God won the Prize Un Certain Regard at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. The dogs in the film were also awarded with the Palm Dog Award.

Source: The Internet