Cannes: A Grueling Experience

Usually, around the midpoint of the festival, I start to get a bit tired of the day-to-day screenings and routine. The Cannes Film Festival is an exciting and glamorous event. However, everything only is good in small doses. Twelve days, in my opinion, is just too long. Last year, I left on the 11th day, and everything by then pretty much was dead. In fact, by then, I felt as if I had been there for a month.

In the past seven days, I’ve attended about three screenings on average per day, and I’ve written up reviews of the films that were notable. I’ve seen some pretty lame stuff, which I haven’t included in this blog, because it’s just not worth writing about. However, I have seen a lot of strong, powerful films, and my tastes for foreign cinema have broadened quite considerably.

Growing up in the United States, I’ve been used to the typical Hollywood fare: films with quick pacing, plot, story arch and payoff. Foreign films traditionally are different. They are slow. They lack music. Sometimes, they even lack plot. And more often than not, they lack resolution. It’s a hard style to get into, especially when you’re cultured to enjoy a certain structure of film.

But I’m slowly getting there. I’m developing an appreciation for foreign cinema, and I can see why its appealing to some but not appealing to others. Rarely are these films made for entertainment value. They are made to make you think and to make you feel a certain way when you’re in the theatre — whether its grief, uncomfort or just seriousness.

The film festival is a great experience and its very international. The United States definitely has a presence here, but it’s mixed in evenly with other cultures and countries. The U.S. doesn’t dominate like it does at foreign box offices, and the majority of the films screened here aren’t U.S. films by any means.

I kind of like this. It makes me realize that the the world is a much bigger place with different tastes and different types of people. I remember my first trip abroad and feeling like I was on an entirely different planet. The festival sometimes makes me feel this same way.

***
Monday morning, I woke up pretty ill. My entire body ached from head to toe, and I had a splitting headache. I thought that if I just got out of the apartment, it would go away, but instead it just got worse. I sat through “A Mighty Heart” and by the end, I just wanted to pass out from the aching pain. Instead, I forced myself to stand for another hour outside the press conference area to take notes about the movie. Bad idea.

I survived just barely and went back to my apartment afterward — but not before stopping at a nearby pharmacy to pick up some ibuprofen. I stayed in bed most of the afternoon, but fortunately, by the evening, felt strong enough to see Quentin Tarantino’s “Death Proof.”

Since then, I’ve gotten remarkably better. I still have a a headache sometimes, but I don’t have a fever and I’ve kept my strength up. The festival life isn’t for everyone. Screenings at 8:30 a.m., being out until past midnight, etc. It definitely can take its toll on your body and on your sleep patterns.

I’m glad I’m at this year’s festival, but unless a media outlet hires me to cover it and expenses everything for it in the future, I doubt I’ll return. Cannes is a grueling experience, and I’ve definitely gotten my fill.

“Death Proof” (IMDB)
“A Mighty Heart” (IMDB)
Cannes Film Festival (Official Web site)

~ by doscrash on May 23, 2007.