Finally, some fun – it's been a particularly dull year at Cannes, so a film about a Thai man with a wild monkey spirit for a son was a welcome injection of sparkle to proceedings, writes DONALD CLARKE
BY FRIDAY evening, the Cannes pundits had donned their war paint and were beginning to sharpen their arrowheads. Another day without a standout competition film and they would, surely, start dancing hungrily round the cooking pot.
Away from the main contest, more than a few films had, it's true, stirred up interest and intrigue. Playing out of competition, Inside Job, a documentary by Charles Ferguson, director of the Oscar-nominated No End in Sight, delivered a definitive take on the amorality that spurred the financial crash.
In the Director's Fortnight (the unofficial alternative), Alicia Duffy's All Good Children, a co-production by the Irish Film Board, delivered a truly spooky take on the horrors and cruelties of childhood. The English director, a former Cambridge maths student, seemed mildly overcome by the attention, as she reclined in a beachside pavilion. "The children are cruel in an experimental sense," she told me. "That probably says something about me. The feelings I had at 13 were really violent."
In the Un Certain Regard strand (the official alternative), Jean-Luc Godard, still an enfant terrible at 79, scared the horses with his hilariously obtuse Film Socialisme. Those of us lucky enough to see Oliver Schmitz's Life, Above All, playing in the same section, all raved about the flawless performance by young Khomotso Manyaka. The film, a tale of lives wrecked by Aids in contemporary South Africa, was, perhaps, a little overly sentimental, but Manyaka's turn showcased a quite extraordinary ease before the camera. Let's see more of her.
Back in the main competition, however, as shields were handed about and war cries rehearsed, the film press all muttered about a "disappointing year" for the event. A tiny band agreed with The Irish Timesthat Takeshi Kitano's Outragewas a first-class, blood-soaked gangster drama. Virtually everyone admitted that Mike Leigh's Another Yearwas one of his best ever films. But those pictures were very much what you expect from their directors. Where was the electrifying eye-opener? It, surely, arrived on Friday with Apichatpong Weerasethakul's jaw-dropping, brain-spinning Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.
The Thai director (who, generously, allows himself to be known as "Joe") is already known to eager cineastes. His Blissfully Yourswon Un Certain Regard in 2002 and Tropical Maladypicked up the Cannes Jury Prize in 2004. Uncle Boonmeelooks, however, likely to win Joe a significant new audience. Concerning a dying man who, while resting in the jungle, encounters the ghost of his wife and a monkey spirit – all matted hair and red, glowing eyes – that might be his missing son, the picture manages a near-perfect blend of psychological profundity and knowing, rib-nudging absurdity.
Shields were put back in their huts. Ceremonial headdresses were cautiously removed. Cannes 2010 finally had its peculiar masterpiece.
Of course, there was no chance the jury would actually award the top prize to such a defiantly weird picture. Of Gods and Men– Xavier Beauvois's contemplative piece about monks in peril – had been picking up raves ever since it screened on Tuesday. Another Yearalso had momentum behind it.
What do you know? Tim Burton, clearly, still has the oddness about him. On Sunday night, Mr Weerasethakul became the first Thai director to win the Palme d’Or and – if they know what’s good for them – the Cannes organisers breathed a collective sigh of relief. An event that had struggled to fizzle now had a true original as its flagship.
One person who will not be delighted was the German lady I encountered at the last press screening of the festival. Cornering a patient chum in the row in front of me, she began bellowing in outrage.
“Did you see this film? This man’s son is a monkey and then this lady makes love with a fish,” she exclaimed. “What does it mean? I was laughing at it. I was laughing, I tell you.” Mind you, her fury will seem mild when set beside that of Mike Leigh. The director showed his steely side last week when he lambasted a journalist at a press conference. Having been the front-runner for most of the festival, he will be astonished to walk away entirely empty handed.
In truth, Burton and his jury, which also included Benicio del Toro and Kate Beckinsale, appear to have gone totally barmy when considering the other awards. Before the ceremony kicked off, it seemed barely conceivable that Another Yearcould walk away with nothing. In the unlikely event that the picture failed to win one of the runner-up prizes – the Grand Prix and the Jury Prize – then Leslie Manville, heart-breaking as a lonely clerical worker, would surely secure best actress.
It was not to be. Of Gods and Menreceived the Grand Prix. Un Homme qui Crie,a somewhat worthy African picture, picked up the Jury Prize.
JULIETTE BINOCHE was sound in Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy, but how she beat Manville to best actress remains a mystery. Most bizarrely, Mathieu Amalric, the talented actor, won best director for his humdrum (at best) directorial debut On Tour.
Oh well. At least Burton and his mob didn't give anything to the last film to play in competition. Mind you, Nikita Mikhalkov's Burnt by the Sun 2: Exodus, sequel to a perfectly decent film concerning Stalin's purges, was so energetically appalling it did deserve some sort of special commendation. The Golden Straitjacket, perhaps. This was the second World War re-imagined by Victor comic in the style of Bollywood (with no tunes). The Germans behaved like possessed members of the Keystone Kops. The Russians chewed the furniture as if it were all fashioned from liquorice.
After 10 days of agreeably hectic madness, I finally got to indulge in a great Cannes tradition. “Boo! Boo! Boo!” I exclaimed at such volume that it was very nearly audible to the person sitting next to me (if she leaned in a bit).
Ah, that felt good.
If we ruled the world: The Irish Timespick of the festival
Best Film
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Runner Up
Another Year
Best Actor
Michael Lonsdale in Of Gods and Men
Best Actress
Leslie Manville in Another Year
Worst Film
Burnt By the Sun 2: Exodus
Most underrated film
Outrage
Favourite French subtitle
"Mrs Pankhurst" translated as "Simone de Beauvoir" in Another Year. Only in France.
Best animal performance
The llama in Jean-Luc Godard's Film Socialisme
