322 lines
9.3 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
322 lines
9.3 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
culture
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film
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cannes-film-festival
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8497228
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-----
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# Cannes Film Festival 2011: How Hollywood invaded
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## It's the showcase for serious cinema - yet the festival is also in thrall
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to America's most populist schlock .
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![][1]
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Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt on the Cannes red carpet Photo: REX
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[![][2]][3]
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By [David Gritten][4] 9:47AM BST 06 May 2011
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[Comments][5]
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[Cannes][6] has been the world's greatest film festival for 64 years - and one
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reason it continues to flourish is its willingness to accommodate the glamour
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and glitz of the movie world alongside cerebral films made by serious-minded
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directors from all over the world.
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The organisers of Cannes understand the allure of star power: of ravishing
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actresses in stunning frocks and handsome actors in bespoke tuxedos strolling
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along a red carpet to a world premiere. Stars somehow look even more gorgeous
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in Cannes - maybe it's the Mediterranean light - and it's mostly their images
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that will be photographed or beamed across the world, reinforcing the
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festival's glamour.
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This is why each year at Cannes the normal proceedings of an otherwise high-
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minded film festival suddenly come to a halt, as the promotional machines for
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mega-budget Hollywood movies hit town and briefly take it over. Crucially,
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these films receive "special screenings" and stay firmly out of competition
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for the Palme d'Or.
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At this year's festival (which starts next Wednesday), Johnny Depp and
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Penelope Cruz will monopolise the public gaze as stars of Pirates of the
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Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth film in this hugely successful
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franchise. Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson will be there as co-stars of The Beaver
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(which Foster also directed), about a depressed executive who communicates via
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a glove puppet.
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Word on The Beaver is favourable, though it doesn't seem an obvious festival
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film. As for Pirates 4, few releases this year would be less likely to make it
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to Cannes on purely artistic merit. That's missing the point, of course.
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Cannes receives an enormous publicity boost from the presence of these global
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stars, while the distributors of their films use the festival as a glittering
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launch pad.
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## Related Articles
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* [Hollywood elite to shine on Croisette][7]
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10 May 2011
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* [Cannes: five to watch][8]
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06 May 2011
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* [Cannes 2011: a good selection of auteur-driven cinema][9]
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14 Apr 2011
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* [2011 Cannes Film Festival roundup: what's on sale][10]
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04 May 2011
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Still, it's notable that so many American films that have "invaded" Cannes in
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recent years have been so ropey. They arrive with a huge fanfare but often
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disappoint.
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Last year was a good example. Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, starring Russell
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Crowe, was not only welcomed to Cannes, but opened the entire festival. It's
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safe to say the film was no one's finest hour. The other American invader was
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Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, and, while leading man Michael Douglas
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swanned around town looking every inch a major movie star, this Wall Street
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sequel won little affection or respect.
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But then the pattern was set a few years previously. It's often remembered
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that in 2007 Jerry Seinfeld, promoting his animated Bee Movie, dressed up as a
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bee and abseiled down the front of the Carlton Hotel in Cannes. It's harder to
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recall much about the movie itself.
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In 2006, The Da Vinci Code opened Cannes to widespread scorn; most of the
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audience at the press screening were too dispirited even to boo. As its star
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Tom Hanks admitted later: "The reception couldn't have been worse. "
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Visiting critics' eyes had collectively rolled the previous year, when Star
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Wars: Revenge of the Sith blew into town - thankfully the last of the series.
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Indeed, there's a tendency for franchises past their artistic sell-by date to
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use Cannes as a springboard: it happened in 2007 with Ocean's 13 and the next
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year with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Pirates 4
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continues that tradition.
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Two years ago, Disney took over the Carlton Hotel to promote A Christmas Carol
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3D, starring Jim Carrey and Colin Firth. The hotel's imposing frontage was
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covered with fake snow, creating a winter wonderland in the middle of May;
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part of its ground floor became a wintry grotto leading to a vast press
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conference hall. That year, the Palme d'Or went to Michael Haneke's brilliant
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Austrian film The White Ribbon; its entire production probably cost less than
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Disney's snowy extravaganza.
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It would be amusing to report that the festival's high-minded French cineaste
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organisers take a dim view of these shenanigans. But it wouldn't be remotely
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true. They understand perfectly that Cannes can be both a refuge for rigorous,
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arthouse filmmaking and an ideal theme park for the glitz, vulgarity and
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showmanship of mainstream movies.
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In terms of the major Cannes competition, America has had a lean time of it
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recently. This year, of 19 Palme d'Or entries, only The Tree of Life, by the
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legendary US filmmaker Terrence Malick, feels purely American. Another entry,
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Drive, was financed and shot in the States, but its director Nicolas Winding
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Refn is Danish.
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Last year, the political thriller Fair Game, starring Sean Penn and Naomi
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Watts (a baffling choice) was the sole American Palme d'Or contender. It has
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been eight years since an American film ( Fahrenheit 9/11) won the
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competition.
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Yet Cannes - indeed France in general - loves Hollywood. Remember how much in
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thrall its New Wave directors Godard, Truffaut and Chabrol were to American
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genre films? And Hollywood movies and their stars have traditionally received
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a warm welcome on the Croisette. Over the years actors ranging from Elizabeth
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Taylor, Faye Dunaway, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have
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happily strolled around town .
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Cannes's love affair with the Yanks continues this year. Woody Allen directed
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this year's opener, Midnight in Paris, and this year's jury chairman is Robert
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De Niro, who first visited Cannes in 1976, to promote Taxi Driver.
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With him then was his 13-year-old co-star, Jodie Foster. Now she's back in
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town with The Beaver. Cannes and Hollywood: it's a long-term romance.
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[X][11] Share & bookmark
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[What are these?][12]
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* Share: [Share][11] [ ][13] [ ][14]
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[Tweet][15]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/cannes-film-festival/8497228/Cannes-
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Film-Festival-2011-How-Hollywood-invaded.html
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Telegraph
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## [Cannes Film Festival][6]
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* ### [Culture »][16]
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* ### [Film »][17]
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* ### [David Gritten »][18]
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* ### [Film news »][19]
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In culture
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[![Kirsten Dunst][20] ][21]
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### [Dunst named best actress at Cannes][21]
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[![][22] ][23]
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### [Lars Von Trier's 'Nazi' gaffe][23]
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[![Cannes Film Festival 2011: What they wore on day six - Brad Pitt][24]
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][25]
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### [Brad Pitt admits to Tree of Life doubts][25]
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[![Cannes colour: the 2011 Cannes Film Festival from a different angle][26]
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][27]
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### [Cannes from another angle][27]
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[![Cannes Film Festival: Kobalt Collection exhibition][28] ][29]
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### [Cannes pin-ups through the ages][29]
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[X][11] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][12]
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Share:
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* [ ][11]
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* [ ][13]
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* [ ][14]
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* [Tweet][15]
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* Advertisement
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![][30]
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telegraphuk
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