Podcast: Cannes Preview
Sunday, May 4, 2014 at 9:31PM 
On this week's podcast Nathaniel R (The Film Experience) grills Cannes enthusiast Nick Davis (Nick's Flick Picks) on the difference between the competitive slate, un certain regard, and director's fortnight. We discuss the complete competition lineup for 2014 and answer reader questions, too.
00:01 Jane Campion and her jury
04:30 Un Certain Regard vs. Director's Fortnight
08:00 Camera D'Or & The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby
13:00 Ronit Elkabetz & Ryan Gosling's new films
16:00 Olivier Dahan's Grace of Monaco troubles
18:00 The Competition Lineup
With sidebar chat on Olivier Assayas, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Mike Leigh, Dardenne Bros, Xavier Dolan, and Mike Leigh
37:30 Which directors should Cannes take a break from?
39:45 Hilary Swank and Best Actress
42:45 Nick and Nathaniel name least favorite Palme D'Or Winners
46:00 Juries of yore: Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack, Sally Field, Kathleen Turner, Quentin Tarantino
Who could have ever imagined this trio? Cannes 2004
You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download the conversation on iTunes. As always you should continue it in the comments so we can feel you out there in the dark. What's your favorite Olivier Assayas? Your favorite Dolan? And which Palme D'Or win baffles you?
Related Articles
Cannes Line-Up | Meet the Jury | Jessica Chastain in Vogue | Nathaniel's review of The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby Parts 1 and 2
Reader Comments (24)
Great rundown! I'm psyched you'll have a TFE Cannes correspondent this year. As much as I love the oscar race, I get into cannes coverage because it's fairly removed from it. It gets movies onto my radar that feed the film student that's still in me, while still satisfying my awards fix.
That said, my heart hurts a little to hear faint damnation for White Ribbon and Barton Fink, but I'll shake it off. And I hate thinking about The Mission - such a dark spot for the fest.
@Mike in Canada
My heart is with you. Barton Fink is the Coen Bros. movie I'd say from nuclear destruction.
FUCK
@Mike in Canada
My heart is with you. Barton Fink is the Coen Bros. movie I'd save from nuclear destruction.
I guess we disagree because I hated Summer Hours, found it completely empty (but I loved Demonlover); and Tom at the Farm is the only Dolan movie I didn't like.
Heh, that was my Hilary Swank question. Nick, I'm kinda with you on her, although maybe for different reasons. Loved her in Boys Don't Cry, hated her so much and so passionately in everything else that I think I've started to love her again. She's like an old pal at this point. I should revisit the work of hers I've dismissed in the past, I'd probably get her in it more now. Unrelated question: did you like House Of Tolerance? I'll confess, it's been a bit of a pet cause of mine, but I rarely get to talk about it because so few people have seen it.
My little Soapdish heart skips a beat whenever I hear someone talk about Sally Field so that little dish about Do The Right Thing made my day.
Imagine the disagreement-filled jury we could constitute among ourselves! We'd need Tilda to adjudicate, obviously. I might like Barton Fink a smidge more than Nathaniel does, but only a smidge. I'd love to hear from Whoopi Goldberg, who I've decided is the readiest bean-spiller in that year's jury, about how it came to absorb so much of their collective enthusiasm that they flouted instructions to give it Actor, Director, and the Palme. Good for them if they felt that strongly, but I'd find that hard, for that particular film. (My Goodman allergy probably doesn't help. Love Davis in it, and the amazing sets.)
Wait a minute..... TB on this blog and Teo Bugbee on Twitter are the same person?? IT ALL MAKES SENSE. I loved you separately and now I love you together.
And yes, I thought House of Tolerance was intoxicating. Almost put it in my Top 10 that year. Or maybe I did? Can't remember. Way, way up there.
@Nick Davis--I can't decide which half of that comment makes me more happy.
Jury dish btw never gets old. I like imagining Nicole Kidman last year as the Iago of the bunch, convincing the rest of her peers to give the Palme to the actresses. Setting up precedent? I love that Agnes Varda had the loosest lips of her jury, because OF COURSE she did. I love Stephen Frears as the solitary Hollywood defender being bullied by the stronger international auteurs in 2007.
Nathaniel, you need to see House of Tolerance. The 'Nights in White Satin', the panther, the actressing, the period costumes. It has everything. It gives me relief and interest in what Bonello could do with a biopic, especially a figure like Saint Laurent.
I am here for The Homesman. I want that, the Assayas, and the Cronenberg to be good above all else.
TB - I saw House Of Tolerance because I knew Nick loved it and I loved it too, except for the, idk, 10 last minutes?
Great podcast!
OMG, the Sally Field-Do The Right Thing factoid. Nick, is there some book that has these tidbits?
Least favorite Palme d'or Winners:
The Son- Speaking of auteurs, this effort by the Dardennes Brothers, especially as follow-ups to their superior works just falls low on their rankings for me.
Man of Iron- Oy. So dated and Man or Marble was just a better put together film. Wajda's great but
Fahrenheit 9/11- I relate to Moore's personal politics but the style he popularized in documentary film is so unforgivable to me, even if I think Roger & Me and Sicko are strong works. At least this was tighter in mission statement than Bowling for Columbine.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley- Aw, 2006. The amazing Ziyi Zhang on the jury year. Weren't all the acting wins won by cast ensembles for both the men (Indigenes) and the women (Volver)? Either way, this was an important Cannes year because it made me aware of the bad buzz that struck films that I would later come around to: Richard Kelly's Soutland Tales and Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. Both booed and I get the hate, but their charms get to me. Anyway, this is an adequate Loach film but it seems so depressing that the man who made Kes won for this.
Don't know what's up with me, but I rank The White Ribbon ahead of Amour in my Haneke rankings- I like both, calm yourselves. Christian Berger's cinematography is just <3333333 Also, Nanni Moretti's whole behavior during the Amour year just soured my whole view of all the films that won. Yup, still bitter about Holy Motors and I don't agree with any of the jury selections that year.
The Mission is too popular in my Jesuit Catholic household to speak ill of it, although that who bribery story just hits the, 'Isn't it ironic?' spot.
Also, everything happening in that photo is amazing, but Tilda is especially amazing, obvs.
Loved this podcast, thanks guys.
It's always fun to speculate about the taste of the jury... and even more fun to be proven wrong. Like last year when everyone swore Spielberg will give Kore-ada the Palme D'or.
I'd like to know who was Refn's champion in De Niro's 2011 jury? Jude Law?
The things I would do to get those three working on a film set...
I loved the podcast dedicated to Cannes 86. It was so random and marvelous. This one was fun too, especially Nathaniel's tribute to John Travolta with all those foreign names.
Great podcast, as per usual. As soon as the question was asked about which film was least deserving of the Palme, I was like "The Mission. Please say The Mission."
I had to watch The Mission for AP Environmental Science in high school as part of an independent high study (super weird). My teacher was like "We have The China Syndrome and Erin Brockovich and...we don't have time to discuss this film, environmental science ramifications or otherwise." And she looked to me because she knew I liked movies and I said "You're doing great. I have no interruptions."
I want to like Kawase Naomi, and I haven't seen The Mourning Forest, so I'm hoping that the one I did see, Hanezu no tsuki, was just an anomaly, because I, like Guy Lodge I gather, thought it was really quite bad -- both ponderous and overwrought, and never convincing (though occasionally quite beautiful in its presentation of landscape).
FANTASTIC run down, guys. Really loved hearing about some of these filmmakers that I know nothing about.
To answer your question, Nick...there's no civil divorce in Israel, nor is there civil marriage. Both marriage and divorce are handled through the religious authorities of whatever religion one belongs to.
Ohhhhh....
Favourite Assayas: Irma Vep and Summer Hours
Favourite Ceylan: Distant, though Anatolia is sneakily powerful
Favourite Dardenne brothers film: La Promesse - though Lorna's Silence is REALLY underrated amongst the Dardenne-ites.
Favourite Dolan: Sorry, sticking with I Killed My Mother. I disliked Tom at the Farm a lot.
Favourite Mike Leigh: Naked
Least favourite Palmes: I won't say so not to hurt our hosts, but Nick's favourite film of <year redacted> and Nathaniel's favourite film of <year redacted> are among them.
Nick, what didn't you like about The Knack?
I'm soooo late on commenting on this wonderfulness, but I just listened to the podcast. I always save them for days when I'm feeling low because it's the #1 thing that will ALWAYS put me in a good mood. I feel like, after listening, I should have been inspired to watch any of the films that played at Cannes that I own on DVD but instead I'm watching The Flying Nun. Because you two reminded me how completely awesome Sally Field is (and I inexplicably own the first season of that show.)
Late to the party and I have nothing spectacular to add other than
1) The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? was already a great play and got even better when Sally Field took over.
2) I would watch the SHIT out of a docu-series about the Cannes jury and their long deliberation process. Can you imagine? Especially in years when someone rules like a dictator, like Isabelle Huppert apparently did.
3) This is probably the single most inaccessibly hardcore auteur cinephile conversation TFE has ever had in a podcast. Not a bad thing (never ever) but just noticeable. My bf, who normally listens with competent understanding, was severely lost at sea haha. I expected a Cahiers du Cinéma shout-out at some point. :P
I saved this episode to listen to the day before opening night and I don't know why, it was rather magical.
Mark the First & Hannahlily - I READ LATE COMMENTS AND LOVE THEM. i always hope the posts are disintegrating the second they're off hte main page.
Hannah - my weakness is not The Flying Nun but Gidget.
Mark -- #3. lol. I usually try to avoid that because i've had more than one friend who isn't movie obsessed say to me over the years "i tried to read your site a couple of times but i couldn't understand what anyone was talking about"
LOL I can totally see that. We do muse on rather specific people and projects around these parts and the aforementioned bf of mine has once joked, in an early stage of I-don't-really-get-why-you-want-me-to-listen-to-this-but-I'll-listen-with-you-anyways-because-this-is-a-long-car-ride-and-you-suffer-through-my-NPR-stuff suggested that instead of The Film Experience, this site should actually be called The Watching That Actress, Probably Tilda, And Talking About Her Experience.
I mean, accurate.
But yeah, I would actually recommend more of these duo conversations with Nick or Katey or Joe (or Guy) on the waves of auteur world cinema. So appreciated for the rest of us that are intrigued but maybe need a few road maps, by tasteful guides, to follow. Cannes always makes such a great jumping-off point for these kind of conversations since it's equal parts totally accessible with its constant shallow media coverage elsewhere and just out of a Manohla Dargis hair flip away from impenetrable cinema assessment.
I'm so late to this podcast, but I really enjoyed it.
[Can I just offer a wee bit of advice to dear, smart Nick -- Cannes is pronounced "can" (like can of Coke), not "con" like con man.]