John Bleasdale

★★★★★ Austrian director Michael Haneke gives us the first real masterpiece of the 65th Cannes Film Festival with French language effort Amour (Love, 2012), a surprisingly warm meditation on old age and death and undoubtedly a strong contender for the coveted Palme d’Or. His most personal film to date, Amour revolves around a married couple,…

Continue

★★☆☆☆ This year’s 65th Cannes Film Festival welcomed not one but two Cronenberg’s as David’s son Brandon premiered his debut film Antiviral (2012). Set in an alternative/near future, the cult of celebrity has become so extreme that the masses now pay to contract their illnesses. For a price, you too can have Angelina Jolie’s cold…

Continue

★★☆☆☆ Australian singer/songwriter Nick Cave’s numerous collaborations with fellow countryman John Hillcoat stretch back to video shoots, debut film Ghosts…of the Civil Dead (1988), Aussie western The Proposition (2005) and The Road (2009). With Lawless (2012) (formerly The Wettest County), the pair team up once again for an adaptation of Matt Bondurant’s Prohibition era novel,…

Continue

★★★☆☆ Palme d’Or hopeful Beyond the Hills (2012) is only the third film from Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, whose last effort, the grim but compelling abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days (2007), won the award back in 2007. Based on true events and a pair of non-fiction novels by Tatiana Niculescu Bran,…

Continue

★★★★★ After receiving rapturous acclaim earlier this year at Sundance, Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) makes its way to the 65th Cannes Film Festival under an ominous cloud of anticipation. The film follows Hushpuppy (played by outstanding newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis), a little girl who lives with her daddy, Wink (Dwight Henry), in…

Continue

★★★★★ Matteo Garrone’s 2008 Grand Jury Prize winner Gomorrah was a huge success both internationally and in its native Italy, where its director has since become something of a national hero – albeit one who remains under permanent police guard. For his follow-up, Reality (2012), Garrone has bravely eschewed material aping his blood-drenched crime drama.…

Continue

★★★☆☆ Screened at this year’s 65th Cannes Film Festival, Robert B. Weide’s Woody Allen: A Documentary (2012) combines the usual talking head interviews and archive footage with a generous dollop of the Brooklyn-born actor, comedian and director moping about his bedroom, discussing his artistic process and wandering his old neighbourhood to the obvious amusement of…

Continue

★★★☆☆ A film festival wouldn’t be a film festival without Chinese director Lou Ye. Ye’s been a regular feature at the Cannes Film Festival countless times and only last September was premiering his French language film Love and Bruises (2011), starring none other than A Prophet (Un Prophète, 2009) star Tahar Rahim. A down-at-heel drama,…

Continue

★★★★☆ French director Jacques Audiard’s last film A Prophet (Un Prophète, 2009) was a huge critical hit at Cannes 2009 (where it won the Grand Jury Prize), and so expectations were high for his follow-up Rust and Bone (De Rouille et d’Os, 2012). Based on a series of short stories by the Canadian author Craig…

Continue

★★★☆☆ The opening film of the 65th Cannes Film Festival is Wes Anderson’s summery, nostalgic comedy Moonrise Kingdom (2012). Set on a small island off of the New England coast in the summer of 1965, the film tells the story of two 12-year-olds: Sam (Jared Gilman), an orphaned khaki scout, and Suzy (Kara Hayward), the…

Continue