Postcard from Cannes #6: My own private jury
The Cannes Film Festival has come to a close for another year. While some walk away with trophies in hand, others might be disappointed. What is interesting about film festival juries is that they don’t have to justify their decisions, leaving many spectators perplexed. RFI looks at some of the films that didn’t make the cut but had winning qualities all the same.
Issued on:
“Club Zero”
Austrian director and Cannes regular Jessica Hausner's film divided audiences and really got people talking. Those who didn’t like it felt it was too obvious, too stylized. But this is precisely where I think Hausner gains the upper hand.
The story follows a group of high achieving teenagers in a posh boarding school. To improve their marks, they have joined a class on “conscious eating” taught by new staff member Ms Novak, played by Mia Wasikowska, who looks barely out of her teens herself.
What begins as a convincing argument on the dangers of overconsumption for health and environmental reasons cunningly leads the audience into a trap, just as it does for the young students in her care.
The drama plays out stealthily thanks to several techniques. The un-named setting and odd yellow and purple uniforms mask any sense of place and time. The students all speak English, none of them use mobile phones. Their wealthy parents are portrayed as either snobby, distracted, overprotective or absent. All the while, the scenes are accompanied by strange monkish percussion music which helps the story come to an unbearable climax.
Once Ms Novak’s true, terrifying objective for the class is revealed, it is too late. We are left shocked and very uncomfortable. Welcome to Club Zero.
“A Song Sung Blue”
"Xiao Bai Chuan" (it's Chinese title), by director Zihan Geng could’ve easily won a Caméra d’Or for best first picture in my humble opinion.
This gentle film focuses on 15 year-old Liu Xian, an only child (played by Meijun Zhou) whose parents have separated. When her mother, a nurse, gets called on a medical humanitarian mission in Africa, Xian is left with her photographer dad over the summer in his strange ramshackle house filled with the portraits of those he takes pictures of in his studio.
Xian falls under the hypnotic charm of 18 year-old Jin Mingmei, the daughter of her father’s assistant played by the charismatic Ziqi Huang. Rebellious and sexy, with a mane of blond tinted hair, Mingmei is a magnet for Xian, who sees a in her a sister, a friend, an idol. The elder initiates Xian into an exciting world of beyond that of childhood, offering promises of escape from parents, boredom and above all the idea of love and romance.
But the older woman has her own problems and maintains a difficult relationships with her mother and with a married man. The topic of domestic violence and escort girls is explored but not explicit, leaving the viewer in the perspective of the younger girl. It’s the end of innocence, but played naturally, with sensitivity.
The use of close-up shots, reflections and a hazy lens of pale blue colour throughout the film gives this gentle coming of age story a beautiful glow, like a halo.
“The Old Oak”
British Ken Loach has already won two Palme d’Or. So would it be too much to ask for a third? Yes, probably. Doesn’t seem fair does it? But when you’re good, you’re good right?
Loach delivers a subtle but superb portrait of a small northern English town affected by the closure of the nearby mines some years before. The locals are angry and uncomfortable about Syrian refugees being bussed into their poor suburbs, using up resources that are becoming scarce.
People around me say it’s typical Ken Loach: set in the United Kingdom, with strong sense of moral message and normal people struggling to get by. Drama emerges from the exploration of these social issues with precision, realism and heart thanks to accessible, ordinary characters.
I loved the "The Old Oak" (my first Loach) because it addressed the issue of migration facing Europe, from the inside, not from the usual news perspective. The heartbreaking clash of cultures, the suspicion of foreigners, especially ones of Muslim faith, who are seen by some as potential jihadist fighters is carefully portrayed.
The strength of Loach’s story relies on an unlikely friendship between TJ Ballantyne (played by Dave Turner), who is trying to keep his run-down pub The Old Oak open. His natural generosity towards the Syrians gets him into strife with his bigoted pub regulars who don’t want anyone interrupting their quiet pint.
Those who eat together, stick together
Enter young Syrian woman Yara (played by Ebla Mari) with her camera and her large family. Despite suffering herself, she deals with their nastiness with strength and wisdom beyond her age. She is perhaps too compassionate at times but she is so likeable.
TJ and Yara get talking over photography. She notices the black and white photos on the wall in The Old Oak. Ballatyne tells her about the life of the miners and their families, the strikes to keep the pits open and the subsequent closures that have brought the community to its knees.
She sees how the families stick together through thick and thin, and asks if she can establish a place where the new arrivals can get to know the locals. A community kitchen is born.
The screenplay by Paul Laverty masterfully draws together a number of small but significant encounters, allowing the characters to share their feelings and heal old wounds.
In one scene, Yara consoles TJ over the loss of his dog. “Sometimes in life there is no need for words, only food,” she says forcing to eat homecooking. I completely agree.
So, in conclusion, not everyone agrees on jury decisions, c’est la vie. But because the choices are made collectively, there is a sense of democracy and we accept them. But ultimately the choices are always subjective ones. We’re only human after all.
Read all of RFI's reports from the Cannes Film Festival here.
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