All of Cannes 2012 In a Post (Apologies to Ray Bradbury Fans)

141) Moonrise Kingdom (2012) Dir: Wes Anderson Date Released: May 25, 2012 Date Seen: May 16, 2012 Rating: 4.25/5

142) After the Battle (2012) Dir: Yousry Nasrallah Not Yet Released Date Seen: May 16, 2012 Rating:  2.25/5

143) Rust and Bone (2012) Dir: Jacques Audiard Not Yet Released Date Seen: May 17, 2012 Rating: 1.75/5

144) Polluting Paradise (2012) Dir: Fatih Akin Not Yet Released Date Seen: May 17, 2012 Rating: 2.25/5

145) Mekong Hotel (2012) Dir: Apichatpong Weerasethakul Not Yet Released Date Seen: May 17, 2012 Rating: 4.25/5

146) The We and the I (2012) Dir: Michel Gondry Not Yet Released Date Seen: May 17, 2012 Rating:  3.5/5

147) Paradise: Love (2012) Dir: Ulriech Seidl Not Yet Released Date Seen: May 17, 2012 Rating: 2/5

Much more after the jump!

RV!: Putney Swope (1969)

RV!: Putney Swope (1969) Dir: Robert Downey Sr. Date Released: July 10, 1969 Date Seen: May 15, 2012 Rating: 4.75/5

Great, great, greatness. See my Inessential Essentials column at Movieline for more.

140) Lovers on the Bridge (1991)

140) Lovers on the Bridge (1991) Dir: Leos Carax Date Released: July 2, 1999 Date Seen: May 14, 2012 Rating: 3.75/5

Wow, that is a ridiculously long gap between initial year of production--or even first-run at a US festival (NYFF in 1992)--and theatrical release! Weird.

In any case: baby's first Carax. I rather liked its aimlessness, its jagged edges and thematic stumping for sensationalism (ie: purity of cinematic motion for its own sake). That philosophy will find greater expression in Holy Motors, a movie that prematurely mourns the death of cinema since the cinematic experience as we've come to know it (according to Carax) is being limited by the forced intrusion of digital photography (?!). 

But this is pretty good. Yup. Dig that fireworks scene! Oh, and the firebreather's dance.

RV!: Being John Malkovich (1999)

RV!: Being John Malkovich (1999) Dir: Spike Jonze Date Released: October 29, 1999 Date Seen: May 12, 2012 Rating: 4.25/5

After rewatcing this one for the nth time, I think it's almost as good as my teenage-self used to think. But Adaptation is better. See my Inessential Essentials column at Movieline for more.

139) Fear City (1984)

139) Fear City (1984) Dir: Abel Ferrara Date Released: February 16, 1985 Date Seen: May 12, 2012 Rating: 3.25/5

Didn't really care for the film's generic plot, which is understandable since the film is, according to Ferrara and Brad Stevens's Abel Ferrara: The Moral Vision, a compromised work. But the atmosphere and the way Ferrara visualizes this film's world--nice. There's a lot of wasted potential here. I just sort of enjoyed soaking up the movie's seedy ambience. One image that's semi-seared into my brain is of a stripper dancing in front of a shimmering blue curtain. It's surreal how vividly I can recall the curtain but I can only remember a faint outline of a woman in a state of undress in front of said curtain. The rest is a blur.

RV!: Robocop (1987)

RV!: Robocop (1987) Dir: Paul Verhoeven Date Released: July 17, 1987 Date Seen: May 11, 2012 Rating: 4.75/5

Robocop really is almost perfect in its own way. 

I had an elaborate piece planned about the revelatory feelings that this most recent rewatch gave me (saw a 35mm print project at the Landmark Sunshine at midnight with Kenji Fujishima after we both attended the Metropolitan Opera's recent production of The Makropulos Case). This time around, I was especially struck by the film's masterful tonal ambiguity, the kind that Verhoeven's famous for, and how certain key images reveal just how richily murky Murphy/Robocop is an antihero. 

Murphy (Peter Weller) is a tragicomic figure. He's a meathead archetype and that makes him both the object of affection and disrespect for Verhoeven. I mean, is the bullet dance he does when he "dies" any less ironically humorous than the dolphin-like gyrating that Elizabeth Berkley does while straddling Kyle MacLachlan in Showgirls? I don't think so. More importantly, Murphy's a compromised hero throughout the film. He adopts a ridiculous cowboy mentality even before he becomes Robocop, partly for his son's sake and partly because he genuinely likes saying things like, "Dead or alive, you're coming with me." He twirls his gun but that's the kind of absurdly violent, gun-stroking mentality that people like Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith, my hero) thrives on. The one difference between Boddicker and Murphy is that Boddicker kills for money and kicks and Murphy kills to uphold the law because it's his job.

The absurdly front-loaded that family matters is gently made fun of in the scene where Murphy comes home and remembers when his son, his wife and he once took a family photo. I don't think it's a coincidence that Murphy's son is dressed as a little devil, pitchfork and all. I think that image is pretty evocative, not just of the corruption of nostalgia that Robocop is overwhelmed by but also of the loss of innocence he now feels after recognizing how inhuman he's become. 

I think ultimately, becoming a humane inhuman is the only answer in Robocop because that's what what the film's perverse vision of the future needs. Like Howard Chaykin once said about his version of Blackhawk (and I'm paraphrasing), Robocop is a fascist for democracy. He's a contradiction, a character whose humanity is defined by his unqualified narcissism and faith in violence (ex: How do we know he's still alive on the inside? He twirls his gun and says things like, "Dead or alive, you're coming with me," just like Murphy's son's TV hero did and just like he did when he tried to arrest Atonowsky).

So yeah, I had a much longer and more elaborate piece planned. But this'll do.

138) Battleship (2012)

138) Battleship (2012) Dir: Peter Berg Date Released: May 18, 2012 Date Seen: May 10, 2012 Rating: 3.25/5

Don't look at me, I'm hideouuuus. See my review for the Nashville Scene, at least, ok?!