Facets Executive Director Milos Stehlik is at the Cannes Film Festival. His observations will appear on Facets Features all week!Day 2: Journalists here speculate whether or not the Cannes opening of Robin Hood was “risky” in view of the lukewarm reviews--none nasty, but most had reservations. It seems to matter because Robin du Bois (literally, Robin of the Wood) has already opened here commercially.
Most of the packed streets were reserved not for Russell Crowe, but last night for Mathieu Amalric’s film On Tour. Amalric plays a former TV producer who returns to Paris to stage a burlesque show. I skipped the screening, giving in to my prejudice toward Amalric, whom, with his frozen toothy grin (which remains the same from film to film), I find one of the most irritating actors in history. Those who lasted through or part of On Tour said they appreciated the “real” burlesque sequences. Obviously my personal response to Amalric is not shared--the streets of Cannes were packed waiting for his entourage’s arrival prior to the official screening.
Much more interesting was a hard-hitting, free-wheeling agit-prop of a film which is taking Italy by storm, and over which the Italian culture minister said he is boycotting the Cannes Festival.
Sabina Guzzanti’s Draquila: Italy Trembles aims the stake at the heart of Silvio Berlusconi. The center piece of the film is the 2009 earthquake which devastated the medieval city of L’Aquila (and in which over 300 people died). Guzzanti accuses Berlusconi and his cronies as an excuse to usurp extra-emergency powers to enrich themselves and regain Berlusconi’s sagging popularity. Even more broadly, Guzzanti charges Berlusconi with leading a corrupt government mired in scandal involving bribery, sex parties with escorts, misuse of funds, and ties to the Mafia which, one economist in the film cites, now represents 150 billion euros a year and over 10% of Italy’s gross annual product.
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