So it’s that time of the year again – the glamour of the Cannes film festival is upon us once more. We didn’t have much time to make the best of it this year, since we had some other supposedly more important tasks at hand (such as moving flats – more about that later). But since Mathilde managed to get her hands on 6 tickets for the Quinzaine des Realisateurs festival (which kind of runs in parallel to the main festival), we figured we had to make the effort.
After a late Mothers Day (I was in London on the day) lunch with my parents in Antibes, we set off to La Bocca (one of the less glamorous parts of Cannes). We left early since we were a bit worried about finding parking (Cannes is bad enough on a normal evening – and this was festival time). After a surprisingly smooth run, we arrived at what we thought was where we were supposed to be, half an hour early. We couldn’t quite figure out which queue we should be in, since there was one queue for festival pass holders and another one for people with invitations (but none for ticket holders), so we asked. Turned out we were at the wrong place – but the doorman was kind enough to let us in anyway! The film was a kind of Japanese version of the English kitchen sink drama called Tokyo Sonata – which got a bit surrealistic towards the end. Great film, all in all!
Since we were still stuck with our 6 tickets, we decided to give two to my parents, but that still left us with 4. So we decided to brave the crowds once more and head into Cannes, on Thursday. This time we dragged Sami and Hannu’s boss, Mika, along. After another surprisingly smooth ride into town in Sami's Audi (which, nice car though it is, unfortunately did pale somewhat in comparison to all the Ferraris we spotted on the way), we walked down towards the venue for tonight – which was a bit more glamorously located this time (just off the Croisette), taking in the glizy crowds as well as the star-spotters and grade B celebs surrounding the Palais des Festivales on the way.
The queues for the viewing were, well, very long (the longest cinema queue I’ve been in during my life, I dare say) – so we were really hoping the movie would be worth it. Was it? Hmmm… The movie, Monsieur Morimoto, was yet again Japanese-themed. It told the story about a Japanese painter who gets kicked out of his flat in Paris, and spends a couple of surrealistic days and nights wandering aimlessly about in Paris, shouting “magnifique” with an incomprehensible Japanese accent at all the ladies in sight, bumming about with some very strange characters indeed, and trying to find his lost painting. The movie was bizarre, to say in the least. I seriously suspect the whole cast and crew were on drugs and/or completely drunk for most of the film. But hey, at least it was original, and “refreshingly uncommercial” (I think it’s fair to say they will struggle to pull in the crowds). After the film, we had a meal at Le Bistrot Gourmand, and had a great time as always (it’s starting to become a bit of a regular place for us in Cannes…).
After a late Mothers Day (I was in London on the day) lunch with my parents in Antibes, we set off to La Bocca (one of the less glamorous parts of Cannes). We left early since we were a bit worried about finding parking (Cannes is bad enough on a normal evening – and this was festival time). After a surprisingly smooth run, we arrived at what we thought was where we were supposed to be, half an hour early. We couldn’t quite figure out which queue we should be in, since there was one queue for festival pass holders and another one for people with invitations (but none for ticket holders), so we asked. Turned out we were at the wrong place – but the doorman was kind enough to let us in anyway! The film was a kind of Japanese version of the English kitchen sink drama called Tokyo Sonata – which got a bit surrealistic towards the end. Great film, all in all! 
Since we were still stuck with our 6 tickets, we decided to give two to my parents, but that still left us with 4. So we decided to brave the crowds once more and head into Cannes, on Thursday. This time we dragged Sami and Hannu’s boss, Mika, along. After another surprisingly smooth ride into town in Sami's Audi (which, nice car though it is, unfortunately did pale somewhat in comparison to all the Ferraris we spotted on the way), we walked down towards the venue for tonight – which was a bit more glamorously located this time (just off the Croisette), taking in the glizy crowds as well as the star-spotters and grade B celebs surrounding the Palais des Festivales on the way.
The queues for the viewing were, well, very long (the longest cinema queue I’ve been in during my life, I dare say) – so we were really hoping the movie would be worth it. Was it? Hmmm… The movie, Monsieur Morimoto, was yet again Japanese-themed. It told the story about a Japanese painter who gets kicked out of his flat in Paris, and spends a couple of surrealistic days and nights wandering aimlessly about in Paris, shouting “magnifique” with an incomprehensible Japanese accent at all the ladies in sight, bumming about with some very strange characters indeed, and trying to find his lost painting. The movie was bizarre, to say in the least. I seriously suspect the whole cast and crew were on drugs and/or completely drunk for most of the film. But hey, at least it was original, and “refreshingly uncommercial” (I think it’s fair to say they will struggle to pull in the crowds). After the film, we had a meal at Le Bistrot Gourmand, and had a great time as always (it’s starting to become a bit of a regular place for us in Cannes…).
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment