Here Are The Winners of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival


Winter Sleep

It’s debatable what type of effect a victory of Cannes will have when it comes to the Oscars.  Indeed, because of the festival’s international nature, it’s often the case that some of the most acclaimed films at Cannes aren’t even eligible to be nominated.  Blue Is The Warmest Colour was one of the best films to released in the United States last year but its victory at Cannes certainly did not translate into Oscar nominations.  However, at the same time, there’s probably some truth to the theory that winning the Palme d’Or allowed some of the more mainstream-minded Academy voters to consider The Tree of Life as a legitimate Oscar possibility, as opposed to just an art house indulgence.

So, in other words — who knows?

One thing is for sure.  Winning at Cannes will definitely not hurt the Oscar chances of Bennett Miller, Timothy Spall, and Julianne Moore.  In fact, the only film that truly seems to have been knocked out of Oscar consideration by its Cannes reception would appear to be Grace of Monaco(Well, okay — Lost River, too.  But was anyone expecting Lost River to be an Oscar nominee before it premiered at Cannes?)

Anyway, enough of me pretending to be an expert on how the Oscars work!  Here are the winners from Cannes:

In Competition

  • Palme d’Or – Winter Sleep by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
  • Grand Prix – The Wonders by Alice Rohrwacher
  • Best Director – Bennett Miller for Foxcatcher
  • Best Screenplay – Andrey Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin for Leviathan
  • Best Actress – Julianne Moore for Maps to the Stars
  • Best Actor – Timothy Spall for Mr. Turner
  • Jury Prize – Mommy by Xavier Dolan and Goodbye to Language by Jean-Luc Godard
Un Certain Regard[39]
  • Un Certain Regard Award – White God by Kornél Mundruczó
  • Un Certain Regard Jury Prize – Force Majeure by Ruben Östlund
  • Un Certain Regard Special Prize – The Salt of the Earth by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado
  • Un Certain Regard Ensemble Prize – The cast of Party Girl
  • Un Certain Regard Award for Best Actor – David Gulpilil for Charlie’s Country
Cinéfondation[40]
  • First Prize – Skunk by Annie Silverstein
  • Second Prize – Oh Lucy! by Atsuko Hirayanagi
  • Third Prize – Sourdough by Fulvio Risuleo and The Bigger Picture by Daisy Jacobs
Golden Camera
  • Caméra d’Or – Party Girl by Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis
Short Films[41]
  • Short Film Palme d’Or – Leidi by Simón Mesa Soto
  • Special Mention:
    • Aïssa by Clément Trehin-Lalanne
    • Yes We Love by Hallvar Witzø

Goodbye to Lanugage

Here’s some news from Cannes and the trailer for Mr. Turner!


As much as I wish I was in Cannes right now, I’m not.  I’m stuck here in the States while everyone else gets to pose for the photographers, walk around topless on the beach, and see movies.  Oh well, there’s always next year.  Until then, I’m keeping up with Cannes via social media.

The festival opened last night with Grace of Monaco and guess what?  The reaction would appear to confirm that the film is just as much of a misfire as I think everyone assumed it would be.  It’s not so much that the film sounds terrible as much as it just sounds like it’s remarkably bland.

However, no sooner had everyone dismissed Grace than everyone started to rave about Mike Leigh’s latest film, Mr. Turner.  I’ve been intrigued by Mr. Turner ever since I first heard about it, largely because it’s a biopic of the great landscape painter J.M.W. Turner and I’ve got a degree in art history.  The enthusiastic reaction that both the film and star Timothy Spall have gotten at Cannes have only served to make me even more excited about seeing this film once it’s released here in December.  (My friends in the UK will get to see it in October.)

(Not to brag or anything — because you know I would never do that! — but quite a few of the reviews from Cannes are speculating that both the film and Spall could be Oscar contenders.  That’s something that I predicted way back in March.)

As the film premiered at Cannes, the official trailer was also released.

And here it is!

 

The March Edition Of Lisa’s Way Too Early Oscar Predictions


foxcatcher-trailer-hd

Is it ever too early to start trying to predict what films will be nominated for Oscars next year?

In a word … yes.

After all, it’s only March.  Grand Budapest Hotel has just now been released in New York and Los Angeles.  Whiplash and Boyhood were acclaimed at Sundance.  But otherwise, this is the time of year when the studios release films like The Legend of Hercules and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. 

Yes, it’s way too early and, quite frankly, a bit silly to try to predict anything right now.

But, a lot of us are still going to try.

Below you can find my way too early predictions for the 2015 Oscar nominations.  Needless to say, these are blind guesses and should not be taken too seriously.

Some may notice that three films that are very popular with other award watchers are not listed on my list of best picture predictions.  I have not listed Grand Budapest Hotel because the Academy, in the past, has not exactly been receptive to the films of Wes Anderson.  As for David Fincher’s Gone Girl, I’m predicting it will have more in common with his rehash of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo than The Social Network.  Finally, I’m looking forward to seeing Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice but I think the material will be too quirky for the Academy.

Best Picture

Birdman

Boyhood

Foxcatcher

Get On Up

The Imitation Game

Interstellar

Unbroken

Whiplash

Wild

Best Director

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Birdman

Angelina Jolie for Unbroken

Richard Linklater for Boyhood

Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game

Jean-Marc Vallee for Wild

Best Actor

Chadwick Boseman in Get On Up

Steve Carell in Foxcatcher

Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game

Brendan Gleeson in Calvary

Timothy Spall in Mr. Turner

Best Actress

Amy Adams in Big Eyes

Jessica Chastain in A Most Violent Year

Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl

Emma Stone in Magic in the Moonlight

Reese Whitherspoon in Wild

Best Supporting Actor

Robert Duvall in The Judge

Idris Elba in Beasts of No Nation

Mark Ruffalo in Foxcatcher

J.K. Simmons in Whiplash

Christopher Walken in Jersey Boys

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis in Get On Up

Amy Ryan in Birdman

Kristen Scott-Thomas in Suite Francaise

Meryl Streep in Suffragette

Jacki Weaver in Magic in the Moonlight

Those are my predictions for now.  Come April, I’ll sit down and make (and post) another collection of blind guesses.  If nothing else, these way too early predictions will give everyone something to laugh about when, next year, the actual Oscar nominations are announced.

Agree?  Disagree?  Let me know in the comments.

reese-witherspoon-wild-slice