Full Article Text
ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA COMEDY MUSIC TV CELEBRITY KIDS MOVIEFONE
Michael Giltz
Freelance writer
GET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ
Follow
Cannes Film Festival ,
Cannes ,
Film ,
Movies , Lars Von Trier , Pedro
Almodovar , Entertainment News
3
58
0
0React
Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyCannes 2011 Day Eight, Nine and
Ten: "Melancholia" As Von Trier andAlmodovar Disappoint
Let's dive right in as the festival continues to produce
challenging and ambitious movies right through the finaldays.
MELANCHOLIA ** out of ****
You've already read mountains of coverage about the
press conference for Lars Von Trier's new movie. Buthow was the movie itself? Unlike so many of his filmsboth good and bad, this one wasn't controversial orshocking. If the world was about to end in a few days,how would you spend your final hours. Von Trier oddlychose to spend it with a handful of deeply uninteresting,self-involved rich people on a private estate. A "rogue"planet from outside our solar system (or just "hiding"
behind the sun all these millennia), is on a trajectory to pass right by earth. Scientists say we're safe while
many others see disaster in the making. Melancholia begins at the end with the planet smashing into our
home. The first five or so minutes are filled with some stunning, sharply original images of our
destruction set to the music of Wagner. We see a bride running down a field, a mother clutching her sonto her chest, the moment of impact itself from a vantage point just past the moon and so on. It's athrilling, memorable montage that nothing else in the movie comes close to matching. We then flashback
MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2
Anthony Weiner Admits
Sending Racy Pictures,
Refuses To Resign
New Photos Emerge In
Anthony Weiner Twitter
Scandal FOLLOW US
PHOTOS: Who Won
Big At This Year's
'Fashion Oscars'?Michelle Obama
Wears Naeem Khan
To State Dinner
Nancy Pelosi
Wears Vintage
Thierry Mugler To
7 Sites You Should
Be Wasting Time
On Right NowBIG NEWS: Movies Celebrity Body The Kardashians Katy Perry Smarter Ideas More Log in | Sign Up
News Web
NSFW PHOTO: Rooney Mara Goes
NUDE In 'The Girl With The Dragon
Tattoo' Poster
Zach Galifianakis Reveals Major
Details From Third 'Hangover' Film,
Disses Ke$ha
Bad Guy?
Like 39
Posted: 05/20/11 07:16 PM ET
SHARE THIS STORY
Submit this story
Get Entertainment Alerts
Sign UpPHOTO GALLERIES
Like 18K
Like 6KCONNECT
FRONT
PAGEPOLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA TECH COMEDY STYLE WORLD FOOD HEALTHY
LIVINGIMPACT MORE LOCAL
Like 316K
to a day or two before the planet strikes. Life goes on, in this case an elaborate wedding for Kirsten
Dunst arranged by her sister Charlotte Gainsbourg and paid for by her tiresome brother-in-law Keifer
Sutherland (whose quite funny in his bitchy little role). Dunst suffers from severe mental depression so
she keeps wandering away from the party at crucial moments while her mother and father (Charlotte
Rampling and John Hurt) snipe at each other. It's kind of fun but just as the planet comes closer and
closer the movie grows more tiresome by the minute. These people aren't unpleasant in any interesting
way, just unpleasant, despite excellent actors up and down the line -- Dunst in particular is very good. In
some ways, it's the polar opposite of Terrence Malick's far more accomplished The Tree Of Life . That
movie said every moment of existence is shot through with glory. Melancholia says life is miserable, so
who cares if the world ends?
THE SKIN I LIVE IN ** out of ****
Usually, reading the book a movie is based on can help me see what attracted the filmmaker to the story
and illuminate why he or she made the choices they did. In this case, reading the novel Mygale by
Thierry Jonquet might have been a disadvantage. I was thrown for a loop by all the shifts in perspectiveand it may take a second viewing for me to get my bearings on the latest from Pedro Almodovar. It's aserious melodrama filled with noir-ish twists and turns. Antonio Banderas is a plastic surgeon with abeautiful woman kept prisoner in his home while he works on softening her skin ever more. Throw intothe mix a maid who is also (unknown to him) Banderas' mother, a thuggish brother, a mentally derangeddaughter, sex, violence, rape and numerous flashbacks and you've got a seriously potent mix for thriller.Aolmodovar made numerous smart changes to the story of the book,making the tale both (slightly) lesstwisted and definitely more believable. But for me those positive changes can't erase the fact that the plottwists are so rapid and over-the-top that I kept wishing Almodovar would embrace the telenovela-ness ofhis movies recently rather than play them so straight-faced and serious.
THIS MUST BE THE PLACE ***
The Twitter Typo That
Exposed Weiner
Engadget: WWDC 2011
liveblog: Steve Jobs talks iOS
5, OS X Lion, iCloud and
more!
Engadget: Live from
Microsoft's E3 2011 keynote!
The Center for Public
Integrity FACT WATCH: Sarah
Palin's Twist on Paul Revere
E. Coli: Blame The Meat, Not
The Sprouts
Engadget: Live from
Nintendo's E3 2011 keynote!
Engadget: Engadget,
broadcasting live from
WWDC!
DON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS 1 of 5
Steven Chu
A Safe, Secure Nuclear Future
Dan Rather
Taking on TARP
More Celebrity News at People.com
Like 1K
Like 13K
Like 475
Like 1K
Like 2K
Like 478
Like 3K
Gabrielle Union: I Tried to
Shoot My Attacker
READ MORE
Casey Anthony FamilyComputer Showed
Searches for 'Chloroform'
READ MORE
Sherri Shepherd: I Lied
About My Wedding DressSize
READ MORE
Will Justin and Mila'sFauxmance Have Benefits
I think Sean Penn's performance in this oddball comedy is delightful. But I seem to be alone on this one,
if the early reviews and reactions of my roommates and other journalists I've bumped into are anyindication. But if you like quirky, you'll want to check this out. Read my full review here.
ICHIMEI AKA HARA-KIRI: DEATH OF A SAMURAI **
Most everyone seems in agreement on the latest film from Takashi Miike. First, it's a great example of a
movie that absolutely did not need to be shown in 3-D. Miike used the 3-D to go deep, so rather thanpushing the images out into the crowd, it created a window effect where you felt you were peering in.That was nice, but essentially the 3-D was cumbersome and added nothing, certainly nothing to the
major fight scene. You watched the movie with your cumbersome glasses and wished you were seeing it
in 2-D. Not a good sign. Second, the movie is was too long, telling a very simple basic story that should
have lasted 80 minutes and dragging it our for two hours. Third, even if it had been short, that wouldn't
have dramatically improved this unremarkable story of samurais and revenge and honor and the such. A
samurai comes to the house of a major figure and asks for permission to commit suicide. The head says,
hold on, let me tell about the last time this happened. And we get a lengthy flashback. Then our hero
says, oh yeah, I've got a story of my own and we get another flashback revealing the true story behind the
first tale. And then there's a fight. Thin stuff despite the fine acting and production values.
LA CONQUETE/THE CONQUEST ** 1/2
France was agog over the temerity of this movie, a fictional look at the rise to power of the current
French President Nicolas Sarkozy. A film about someone when they're still in office? Mon dieu! Everyone
seemed to think this was common in the US but a first for France. I pointed out that to my knowledge,
the only time a fictional film had been made about a sitting President was Oliver Stone's W. I did read
Sarkozy's self-serving, dull-ish political tract Testimony to get an idea of the man. I needn't have
bothered. The hunger for power and the self-serving behavior of politicians is universal. This moviebegins on the day Sarkozy is elected to the head of France and flashes back to his years in the Cabinetand slow but sure rise to the top. It probably won't translate for US audiences, even though it's light on itsfeet and pretty amusing. Denis Podalydes as Sarkozy kept reminding me of the UK's Tony Blair, or apitbull as he doggedly walked down the hallways of power. And Bernard Le Coq was especially amusingas Jacques Chirac. The score is a major plus as you can tell from this trailer, which includes a few cursewords. Politicians!
TOP VIDEO PICKS 1 of 10
Laurence Fishburne
Leaving CSI
Jennifer Connelly GivesWater Birth
Kim Kardashian's WeddingSlim Down
MOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW 1 of 2
HOT ON FACEBOOK 1 of 3
HOT ON TWITTER 1 of 2
More Celebrity News at Popeater.comFirst Look: Pink and CaryHart Step Out with
Daughter
Alec Baldwin 'Wouldn't
Rule Out' Run for NYCMayor
Jennifer Love Hewitt:
Worst Actress In
Hollywood?
Alec Baldwin Eyeing Run
For Mayor Of New York
City: Report
Aww! Daniel Radcliffe,
Emma Watson & Rupert
Grint's First Ever Scene
Together
Like 201
Zach Galifianakis Reveals
Major Details From Third
'Hangover' Film, Hates
Fame
Like 88
stark
un nuevo estudio determina que
Monsanto sabía desde 1980 que su
herbicida Roundup produce
defectos de nacimiento:
http://huff.to/llwsR3
questlove
Nick Offerman wants Oprah to play
Ron Swanson's ex-wife Tammy
OSLO, 31 AUGUST **
Joachim Trier''s follow-up to his acclaimed debut Reprise is not the breakthrough one hoped for. If
anything, it feels like a small step back, though clearly Trier has talent. The movie looks at an addict out
on a day pass from his treatment center. He reconnects with old friends, reaches out to his sister, visits
the home his parents are selling to pay for his medical care and even goes on a job interview. Anders
Danielson Lie is very good and sympathetic as the fragile man who feels his life is slipping away. But the
way the story is structured, we feel at the end we've gone virtually nowhere from where we started. That's
as depressing as the fear of backsliding that pervades the story. Decently made but unrevealing.
L'EXERCICE DE L'ETAT/THE MINISTER ** 1/2
Another film focused on French politics and another example that the more focused you stay on the
particulars of anything (be it French politics, astronomers or the lifestyle of the bonobo ape) the moreuniversal it will be. The always good Olivier Gourmet plays the Minister Of Transportation, a manembattled on all sides as he builds his power base and (of course) has his eyes on ever higher office. Ofcourse, I know nothing about French politics or how ministers work, so it's surprising to see Gourmethelicopter off to the scene of a traffic accident. But I realize that this might be impractical in a country asvast as the US, because it's possible for the Minister of Transportation to arrive at a major trafficaccident involving multiple fatalities that therefore he must travel to the accident. Gourmet battles withhis staff, other ministers, the media and his fragile family life while getting through the day. Some vividtwists and turns add depth to the film, but ultimately the obvious lesson is that if you're willing tocompromise your ethics and the firm issues you believe in, then you'll get ahead. If you're not willing to
ditch those core values, then you'll get crushed. Sadly, we already suspected that.
MOVIES AT CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 2011Movies rated on a four star scale
Arirang no stars out of four
The Artist *** 1/2
Bonsai **
The Conquest/La Conquete ** 1/2
Drive **The Footnote/Hearat Shulayam *** 1/2
Habemus Papam/We Have A Pope ***
Hanezu No Tsuki * 1/2
Hors Satan/Outside Satan **
HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES
Jennifer Love
Hewitt
Movies
The
Kardashians
LA Real Estate
Healthy Living
Health News
Homelessness
Christianity
Natural
Disasters
Hockey Buy a link here Sponsored Links
Mom Is 55, Looks 30...
Clever Mom Reveals $5 Wrinkle Trick That Has Botox
Doctors Furious!
ConsumerHealthAlerts.com
SHOCKING $9 Car Insurance
Auto insurers don't want you to learn this 1 Loop-Hole$9/wk Insurance
www.Life-stylechoices.com
"I Look 30 Years Younger"
TODAY ONLY: Try the #1 Doctor RecommendedWrinkle Therapy!
FDXNews8.com
MORE BIG NEWS PAGES »
One. What do u think? RT
#OprahSwanson !
http://huff.to/kpvPCp #ParksandRec
Reese Witherspoon
In 'Who Invited Her?
': Actress...
'The Hangover 3':
Zach Galifianakis
Reveals Mental...
'Harry Potter' First
Screen Test: Daniel
Radcliffe,...
'Super 8' Sneak
Screenings
Thursday: JJIchimei aka Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai **
Jeane Captive/The Silence Of Joan ** 1/2
The Kid With A Bike/Le Gamin Au Velo *** 1/2
La Fee/The Fairy ***
La Fin Du Silence/The End Of Silence **
L'Apollonide/House Of Tolerance * 1/2
Le Havre ** 1/2
Martha Marcy May Marlene ***
Melancholia **Michael ***
Michel Petrucciani ** 1/2
Midnight In Paris **
The Minister/L'Exercice De L'etat ** 1/2Once Upon A Time In Anatolia ** 1/2
Oslo, August 31 **
Polisse ** 1/2
Restless * 1/2
17 Filles/17 Girls **
The Skin I Live In/La Piel Que Habito **
Skoonheid/Beauty **
Sleeping Beauty * 1/2
The Slut **
Snowtown **
Take Shelter ***
This Must Be The Place ***The Tree Of Life ****
We Need To Talk About Kevin ** 1/2
Wu Xia aka Dragon aka Swordsmen ** 1/2
*****Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinionmakers as guests. It's available free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and
reviews .
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
Buy a link here Sponsored Links
Mom is 48, Looks 32...
Her clever $5 wrinkle therapy angers Botox Doctors. We reveal how.
www.IConsumerReports.com
SHOCKING $9 Car Insurance
Auto insurers don't want you to learn this 1 Loop-Hole $9/wk Insurance
www.Life-stylechoices.com
BlackBerry® PlayBook™
Now Available. Introducing The First Professional-grade Tablet.
BlackBerry.com/PlayBook
New Policy in New York
Drivers with no DUIs in New York may be eligible for $9 per week car insurance.
www.LifestyleJournal.com
More in Entertainment...
Abrams...
Buy a link here Sponsored Links
Mom Is 55, Looks 30...
Clever Mom Reveals $5 Wrinkle Trick That Has Botox Doctors Furious!
ConsumerHealthAlerts.com
ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA COMEDY MUSIC TV CELEBRITY KIDS MOVIEFONE
Advertise | Log In | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Careers | FAQ
User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Contact Us
Copyright © 2011 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | "The Huffington Post" is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
Part of HuffPost NewsFRONT
PAGEPOLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA TECH COMEDY STYLE WORLD FOOD HEALTHY
LIVINGIMPACT MORE LOCAL
Michael Giltz
Freelance writer
GET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ
Follow
Cannes Film Festival ,
Cannes ,
Film ,
Movies , Lars Von Trier , Pedro
Almodovar , Entertainment News
3
58
0
0React
Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyCannes 2011 Day Eight, Nine and
Ten: "Melancholia" As Von Trier andAlmodovar Disappoint
Let's dive right in as the festival continues to produce
challenging and ambitious movies right through the finaldays.
MELANCHOLIA ** out of ****
You've already read mountains of coverage about the
press conference for Lars Von Trier's new movie. Buthow was the movie itself? Unlike so many of his filmsboth good and bad, this one wasn't controversial orshocking. If the world was about to end in a few days,how would you spend your final hours. Von Trier oddlychose to spend it with a handful of deeply uninteresting,self-involved rich people on a private estate. A "rogue"planet from outside our solar system (or just "hiding"
behind the sun all these millennia), is on a trajectory to pass right by earth. Scientists say we're safe while
many others see disaster in the making. Melancholia begins at the end with the planet smashing into our
home. The first five or so minutes are filled with some stunning, sharply original images of our
destruction set to the music of Wagner. We see a bride running down a field, a mother clutching her sonto her chest, the moment of impact itself from a vantage point just past the moon and so on. It's athrilling, memorable montage that nothing else in the movie comes close to matching. We then flashback
MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2
Anthony Weiner Admits
Sending Racy Pictures,
Refuses To Resign
New Photos Emerge In
Anthony Weiner Twitter
Scandal FOLLOW US
PHOTOS: Who Won
Big At This Year's
'Fashion Oscars'?Michelle Obama
Wears Naeem Khan
To State Dinner
Nancy Pelosi
Wears Vintage
Thierry Mugler To
7 Sites You Should
Be Wasting Time
On Right NowBIG NEWS: Movies Celebrity Body The Kardashians Katy Perry Smarter Ideas More Log in | Sign Up
News Web
NSFW PHOTO: Rooney Mara Goes
NUDE In 'The Girl With The Dragon
Tattoo' Poster
Zach Galifianakis Reveals Major
Details From Third 'Hangover' Film,
Disses Ke$ha
Bad Guy?
Like 39
Posted: 05/20/11 07:16 PM ET
SHARE THIS STORY
Submit this story
Get Entertainment Alerts
Sign UpPHOTO GALLERIES
Like 18K
Like 6KCONNECT
FRONT
PAGEPOLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA TECH COMEDY STYLE WORLD FOOD HEALTHY
LIVINGIMPACT MORE LOCAL
Like 316K
to a day or two before the planet strikes. Life goes on, in this case an elaborate wedding for Kirsten
Dunst arranged by her sister Charlotte Gainsbourg and paid for by her tiresome brother-in-law Keifer
Sutherland (whose quite funny in his bitchy little role). Dunst suffers from severe mental depression so
she keeps wandering away from the party at crucial moments while her mother and father (Charlotte
Rampling and John Hurt) snipe at each other. It's kind of fun but just as the planet comes closer and
closer the movie grows more tiresome by the minute. These people aren't unpleasant in any interesting
way, just unpleasant, despite excellent actors up and down the line -- Dunst in particular is very good. In
some ways, it's the polar opposite of Terrence Malick's far more accomplished The Tree Of Life . That
movie said every moment of existence is shot through with glory. Melancholia says life is miserable, so
who cares if the world ends?
THE SKIN I LIVE IN ** out of ****
Usually, reading the book a movie is based on can help me see what attracted the filmmaker to the story
and illuminate why he or she made the choices they did. In this case, reading the novel Mygale by
Thierry Jonquet might have been a disadvantage. I was thrown for a loop by all the shifts in perspectiveand it may take a second viewing for me to get my bearings on the latest from Pedro Almodovar. It's aserious melodrama filled with noir-ish twists and turns. Antonio Banderas is a plastic surgeon with abeautiful woman kept prisoner in his home while he works on softening her skin ever more. Throw intothe mix a maid who is also (unknown to him) Banderas' mother, a thuggish brother, a mentally derangeddaughter, sex, violence, rape and numerous flashbacks and you've got a seriously potent mix for thriller.Aolmodovar made numerous smart changes to the story of the book,making the tale both (slightly) lesstwisted and definitely more believable. But for me those positive changes can't erase the fact that the plottwists are so rapid and over-the-top that I kept wishing Almodovar would embrace the telenovela-ness ofhis movies recently rather than play them so straight-faced and serious.
THIS MUST BE THE PLACE ***
The Twitter Typo That
Exposed Weiner
Engadget: WWDC 2011
liveblog: Steve Jobs talks iOS
5, OS X Lion, iCloud and
more!
Engadget: Live from
Microsoft's E3 2011 keynote!
The Center for Public
Integrity FACT WATCH: Sarah
Palin's Twist on Paul Revere
E. Coli: Blame The Meat, Not
The Sprouts
Engadget: Live from
Nintendo's E3 2011 keynote!
Engadget: Engadget,
broadcasting live from
WWDC!
DON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS 1 of 5
Steven Chu
A Safe, Secure Nuclear Future
Dan Rather
Taking on TARP
More Celebrity News at People.com
Like 1K
Like 13K
Like 475
Like 1K
Like 2K
Like 478
Like 3K
Gabrielle Union: I Tried to
Shoot My Attacker
READ MORE
Casey Anthony FamilyComputer Showed
Searches for 'Chloroform'
READ MORE
Sherri Shepherd: I Lied
About My Wedding DressSize
READ MORE
Will Justin and Mila'sFauxmance Have Benefits
I think Sean Penn's performance in this oddball comedy is delightful. But I seem to be alone on this one,
if the early reviews and reactions of my roommates and other journalists I've bumped into are anyindication. But if you like quirky, you'll want to check this out. Read my full review here.
ICHIMEI AKA HARA-KIRI: DEATH OF A SAMURAI **
Most everyone seems in agreement on the latest film from Takashi Miike. First, it's a great example of a
movie that absolutely did not need to be shown in 3-D. Miike used the 3-D to go deep, so rather thanpushing the images out into the crowd, it created a window effect where you felt you were peering in.That was nice, but essentially the 3-D was cumbersome and added nothing, certainly nothing to the
major fight scene. You watched the movie with your cumbersome glasses and wished you were seeing it
in 2-D. Not a good sign. Second, the movie is was too long, telling a very simple basic story that should
have lasted 80 minutes and dragging it our for two hours. Third, even if it had been short, that wouldn't
have dramatically improved this unremarkable story of samurais and revenge and honor and the such. A
samurai comes to the house of a major figure and asks for permission to commit suicide. The head says,
hold on, let me tell about the last time this happened. And we get a lengthy flashback. Then our hero
says, oh yeah, I've got a story of my own and we get another flashback revealing the true story behind the
first tale. And then there's a fight. Thin stuff despite the fine acting and production values.
LA CONQUETE/THE CONQUEST ** 1/2
France was agog over the temerity of this movie, a fictional look at the rise to power of the current
French President Nicolas Sarkozy. A film about someone when they're still in office? Mon dieu! Everyone
seemed to think this was common in the US but a first for France. I pointed out that to my knowledge,
the only time a fictional film had been made about a sitting President was Oliver Stone's W. I did read
Sarkozy's self-serving, dull-ish political tract Testimony to get an idea of the man. I needn't have
bothered. The hunger for power and the self-serving behavior of politicians is universal. This moviebegins on the day Sarkozy is elected to the head of France and flashes back to his years in the Cabinetand slow but sure rise to the top. It probably won't translate for US audiences, even though it's light on itsfeet and pretty amusing. Denis Podalydes as Sarkozy kept reminding me of the UK's Tony Blair, or apitbull as he doggedly walked down the hallways of power. And Bernard Le Coq was especially amusingas Jacques Chirac. The score is a major plus as you can tell from this trailer, which includes a few cursewords. Politicians!
TOP VIDEO PICKS 1 of 10
Laurence Fishburne
Leaving CSI
Jennifer Connelly GivesWater Birth
Kim Kardashian's WeddingSlim Down
MOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW 1 of 2
HOT ON FACEBOOK 1 of 3
HOT ON TWITTER 1 of 2
More Celebrity News at Popeater.comFirst Look: Pink and CaryHart Step Out with
Daughter
Alec Baldwin 'Wouldn't
Rule Out' Run for NYCMayor
Jennifer Love Hewitt:
Worst Actress In
Hollywood?
Alec Baldwin Eyeing Run
For Mayor Of New York
City: Report
Aww! Daniel Radcliffe,
Emma Watson & Rupert
Grint's First Ever Scene
Together
Like 201
Zach Galifianakis Reveals
Major Details From Third
'Hangover' Film, Hates
Fame
Like 88
stark
un nuevo estudio determina que
Monsanto sabía desde 1980 que su
herbicida Roundup produce
defectos de nacimiento:
http://huff.to/llwsR3
questlove
Nick Offerman wants Oprah to play
Ron Swanson's ex-wife Tammy
OSLO, 31 AUGUST **
Joachim Trier''s follow-up to his acclaimed debut Reprise is not the breakthrough one hoped for. If
anything, it feels like a small step back, though clearly Trier has talent. The movie looks at an addict out
on a day pass from his treatment center. He reconnects with old friends, reaches out to his sister, visits
the home his parents are selling to pay for his medical care and even goes on a job interview. Anders
Danielson Lie is very good and sympathetic as the fragile man who feels his life is slipping away. But the
way the story is structured, we feel at the end we've gone virtually nowhere from where we started. That's
as depressing as the fear of backsliding that pervades the story. Decently made but unrevealing.
L'EXERCICE DE L'ETAT/THE MINISTER ** 1/2
Another film focused on French politics and another example that the more focused you stay on the
particulars of anything (be it French politics, astronomers or the lifestyle of the bonobo ape) the moreuniversal it will be. The always good Olivier Gourmet plays the Minister Of Transportation, a manembattled on all sides as he builds his power base and (of course) has his eyes on ever higher office. Ofcourse, I know nothing about French politics or how ministers work, so it's surprising to see Gourmethelicopter off to the scene of a traffic accident. But I realize that this might be impractical in a country asvast as the US, because it's possible for the Minister of Transportation to arrive at a major trafficaccident involving multiple fatalities that therefore he must travel to the accident. Gourmet battles withhis staff, other ministers, the media and his fragile family life while getting through the day. Some vividtwists and turns add depth to the film, but ultimately the obvious lesson is that if you're willing tocompromise your ethics and the firm issues you believe in, then you'll get ahead. If you're not willing to
ditch those core values, then you'll get crushed. Sadly, we already suspected that.
MOVIES AT CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 2011Movies rated on a four star scale
Arirang no stars out of four
The Artist *** 1/2
Bonsai **
The Conquest/La Conquete ** 1/2
Drive **The Footnote/Hearat Shulayam *** 1/2
Habemus Papam/We Have A Pope ***
Hanezu No Tsuki * 1/2
Hors Satan/Outside Satan **
HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES
Jennifer Love
Hewitt
Movies
The
Kardashians
LA Real Estate
Healthy Living
Health News
Homelessness
Christianity
Natural
Disasters
Hockey Buy a link here Sponsored Links
Mom Is 55, Looks 30...
Clever Mom Reveals $5 Wrinkle Trick That Has Botox
Doctors Furious!
ConsumerHealthAlerts.com
SHOCKING $9 Car Insurance
Auto insurers don't want you to learn this 1 Loop-Hole$9/wk Insurance
www.Life-stylechoices.com
"I Look 30 Years Younger"
TODAY ONLY: Try the #1 Doctor RecommendedWrinkle Therapy!
FDXNews8.com
MORE BIG NEWS PAGES »
One. What do u think? RT
#OprahSwanson !
http://huff.to/kpvPCp #ParksandRec
Reese Witherspoon
In 'Who Invited Her?
': Actress...
'The Hangover 3':
Zach Galifianakis
Reveals Mental...
'Harry Potter' First
Screen Test: Daniel
Radcliffe,...
'Super 8' Sneak
Screenings
Thursday: JJIchimei aka Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai **
Jeane Captive/The Silence Of Joan ** 1/2
The Kid With A Bike/Le Gamin Au Velo *** 1/2
La Fee/The Fairy ***
La Fin Du Silence/The End Of Silence **
L'Apollonide/House Of Tolerance * 1/2
Le Havre ** 1/2
Martha Marcy May Marlene ***
Melancholia **Michael ***
Michel Petrucciani ** 1/2
Midnight In Paris **
The Minister/L'Exercice De L'etat ** 1/2Once Upon A Time In Anatolia ** 1/2
Oslo, August 31 **
Polisse ** 1/2
Restless * 1/2
17 Filles/17 Girls **
The Skin I Live In/La Piel Que Habito **
Skoonheid/Beauty **
Sleeping Beauty * 1/2
The Slut **
Snowtown **
Take Shelter ***
This Must Be The Place ***The Tree Of Life ****
We Need To Talk About Kevin ** 1/2
Wu Xia aka Dragon aka Swordsmen ** 1/2
*****Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinionmakers as guests. It's available free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and
reviews .
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
Buy a link here Sponsored Links
Mom is 48, Looks 32...
Her clever $5 wrinkle therapy angers Botox Doctors. We reveal how.
www.IConsumerReports.com
SHOCKING $9 Car Insurance
Auto insurers don't want you to learn this 1 Loop-Hole $9/wk Insurance
www.Life-stylechoices.com
BlackBerry® PlayBook™
Now Available. Introducing The First Professional-grade Tablet.
BlackBerry.com/PlayBook
New Policy in New York
Drivers with no DUIs in New York may be eligible for $9 per week car insurance.
www.LifestyleJournal.com
More in Entertainment...
Abrams...
Buy a link here Sponsored Links
Mom Is 55, Looks 30...
Clever Mom Reveals $5 Wrinkle Trick That Has Botox Doctors Furious!
ConsumerHealthAlerts.com
ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA COMEDY MUSIC TV CELEBRITY KIDS MOVIEFONE
Advertise | Log In | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Careers | FAQ
User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Contact Us
Copyright © 2011 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | "The Huffington Post" is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
Part of HuffPost NewsFRONT
PAGEPOLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA TECH COMEDY STYLE WORLD FOOD HEALTHY
LIVINGIMPACT MORE LOCAL