Cannes at Home: Day 1 – When "Gatsby "opened the festival...

by Cláudio Alves

The 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival has begun in a flurry of controversy. Jeanne Du Barry, Johnny Depp's return to the silver screen after a much-publicized trial, was selected to open the festivities, prompting reporters to swarm the Croisette with polemic on their minds. The situation wasn't helped by incidents earlier this year, when director Maïwenn spat on a journalist, making their film about much more than just Louis XV's last mistress. In giving such attention to the kerfuffle, we've all played into Thierry Frémaux's hands. Regardless of the picture's quality, everybody's eyes are on Cannes, whether looking for a redemption story, an immoral scandal, or secret fashion messages on the red carpet.

Then again, the Cannes opener is seldom an example of masterpiece cinema capable of accruing wide acclaim. More often than not, the titles blessed – or is it burdened? – with this honor tend to be mixed bags with big names attached, glossy stuff ready to act as attention magnets. Such was the case ten years ago when Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby opened the festivities to various degrees of critical hostility. Looking back, one is enticed by the possibility of reappraisal…

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Books @ the Movies: Chita Rivera on "West Side Story"

by Nathaniel R

Memoir alert! For those of you who love showbiz biographies, take note that "Chita: A Memoir" is now on sale. The legendary dancer and multiple Tony winner Chita Rivera, turned 90 earlier this year. She was spurred to write the memoir (with the help of Patrick Pacheco) during the pandemic when there was so much down time.

Rivera and Pacheco are smart and know to drop the goods immediately; The very first chapter is on how she landed the legend-making role of "Anita" in Broadway's original incarnation of West Side Story... aka the greatest musical ever written. "Anita" is one of those roles. If you deliver, your career will never be the same again (just ask Rita Moreno and Ariana DeBose) but it all started with Chita.

Having just started the book, we can't speak to how often the memoir will return to the iconic musical but we wanted to share a couple of tidbits...

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Split Decision: "All Quiet on the Western Front"

No two people feel the exact same way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of each of the awards movies this year. Here’s Eric Blume and Cláudio Alves on Germany's Oscar contender.

ERIC:  Claudio, let's get down and dirty on Edward Berger's All Quiet on the Western Front.  I'm in camp "love" and I think you're in camp "don't love"?  The only real dissent I've heard from folks is that "it says nothing new about war" (which I look forward to addressing).  But let's start with overall impressions of the film.

CLÁUDIO:  Well, it's adapting a seminal anti-war novel – maybe THE anti-war novel pre-WWII – already made into a Best Picture Oscar winner before. So it's not like it had much hope of saying something new about its subject. Nevertheless, Edward Berger and company bring plenty of "new things" to the narrative presented in the literary work and its previous adaptations, so there's that...

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"Pinocchio" and "Living" among USC Scripter Nominations

by Nathaniel R

The annual USC Scripter awards honor film and television adapted from other literary sources. The cool thing about them is they award both the current screenwriter and the original author being adapted.

It should be one of the nomination announcements that excite us the most each year in terms of assessment of screenwriting -- the jury is generally made up of writers and critics -- but they often fail to live up to their potential. Usually that's a result of them hewing very close to the Oscar conversation rather than suggesting that the full jury has actually been watching plentiful movies year round and thinking about the craft of writing. Whch is not to say that some of their choices aren't strong but there's usually at least one title that suggests they've been reading Oscar tea leaves rather than books and screenplays. I'll leave it to you to glean what that title is this year. They get a little more creative with the TV side, perhaps because there's no current awards buzz (Emmys were over a few months ago) to piggyback on...

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Split Decision: "The Whale"

No two people feel the same exact way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of each of the big awards season movies this year. Here’s Abe Friedtanzer & Eric Blume on The Whale

ABE:  Eric, I distinctly remember last year when I mentioned that my favorite movie was CODA that you wanted to start a series where you just kept telling me how bad it was. Well, fortunately or unfortunately, I hear you detest my favorite movie of 2022 just as much, so now you get that chance! I was recently a guest on The Rolling Tape podcast where we had five panelists discussing The Whale and expected someone to be in the "hate it" camp, but it turns out we all loved it. For me, the experience of seeing it in a completely packed press and industry screening at the Toronto International Film Festival back in September was an astounding one, and I left feeling entirely impressed with pretty much everything about it. I soon read about the issues some people had with it, but rather than guess what rubbed you the wrong way, I'll invite you to say your piece before I get to defending my top film of the year.

ERIC:  Abe!  It's a good thing we genuinely like each other enough to dive into this all in good fun.  It's not my fault you like badly-written films! 

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