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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A "Festival" of fun?, March 26, 2002
There are two things Hollywood likes to satirize. One politics and two itself. Henry Jaglom's "Festival in Cannes" does a moderate job of showing the more pretentious, ego mania, money driven side of Hollywood. There were moments into the film where I smiled happily at it. Then there were moments where the film dragged. It's a very low key film, but, then again it was made by Jaglom. A talented independent filmmaker. He does not concern himself with the mainstream, and that's something I respect. I guess it's because of that, that "Festival in Cannes" will only be enjoyed by certain audiences.
As I sat in theatre, I was the only person there. The film is only playing in one theatre in all of Chicago! But, sometimes, I thought, the really good films go unseen by the American public. And this is almost one of those kinds of films.
The movie revolves around Alice Palmer (Greta Scacchi) a well known actress who has decided to direct her first film of her own script. She is apporached by a fan, Kaz Naiman (Zach Norman, who steals the scenes his in. He has a Woody Allen quality to him in this film.) she finds out after talking to him that he produces movies and before she knows it, he's out collecting money for her film, 3 million dollars to be exact! But, here's the hitch, the only way they can get the 3 million is IF they can get Millie Marquand (The wonderful Anouk Aimee) to star in the film but, none of this will be easy because a big shot Hollywood producer Rick Yorkin (Ron Silver) wants to give her a role in a new Tom Hanks film.
OK, right now you have to admit this all sounds like it has possibilities. It sounds like it could be a good "back stage" satire on the movie industry. And for the most part it is. But as I watched this film I thought of Woody Allen's "Celebrity". Here's a film that dealt with similar ideas I felt, only because it's Woody Allen one could expect the fast paced quick witted one linners. Not so with Henry Jaglom. He's not as witty.
"Festival in Cannes" is a movie most of the American public will get bored with very quickly. Many won't give it a chance but there was something about it that I enjoyed. But you have to be patience with this movie. It does not have a lot of fast action or funny remarks. But it's a smart well-done film. It has characters that for the most part are pretty well developed. Plus there are wonderful location shots of Paris. The camerawork of the film will bother some though. At certain moments it's very shaky.
The rest of the cast in the film includes;Peter Bogdanovich, Jenny Gabrielle, Maximilian Schell & cameos by Faye Dunaway and William Shatner.
Bottom-line: While the pace of the film is a bit off, and it's goes on for about 10-15 minutes too long "Festival in Cannes" has enough moments where it works, even though it's like a Woody Allen film only not as witty.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hollywood Satire at Its Best! Better every time you see it!, October 7, 2002
Just around the time following the Academy Awards last year, while advertisements for Lord of the Rings and A Beautiful Mind, Gosford Park and The Royal Tennenbaums were taking up huge amounts of space with there showy ads, I was inevitably drawn to this one: a beautiful woman in a glamourous dress, clutching a cell phone as she overlooks the French Rivera. Further inticing me was the name Maxamillian Schell in the credits...a great classic actor who won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film Judgement at Nuremburg, one of my favorite films. I made it a point to catch this film in the theater. Unfortunately, no nearby cinema ever showed it and I had all but forgotten it when I walked into a Suncoast store to pick up a gift for someone. Again, my eyes were drawn to the glamourous woman on the Riviera. Recalling what I remembered, I grabbed the DVD, got another one for the gift, and payed for them.As soon as I got home, I put on the DVD. Expecting a great, bitting, acerbic film about Hollywood, I was initially dissapointed. Festival in Cannes constantly made me smile and the stars (especially Schell) were luminous in their roles, but I felt that the film lacked the magic I had hoped for. Enjoyable, yes, but nothing great, and absolutely no special features whatsoever (which is still annoying). About a week later, I put the DVD on again. Knowing the story, and what would happen, I just began to watch this little gem. The performances began to seem so realistic, the most natural I have ever scene. The characters are almost always in conversations among two people, allowing candid acting to shine. The overlapping dialog and multiple conversations in some scens are reminiscent of His Girl Friday. The acerbic lines began to spring out, ones I had missed originally, and the breathtaking cinematography captivated me. Seeing these great stars with real actors at the festival was a magical experience...Faye Dunaway and William Shatner play themselves in red carpet scenes and the great director Peter Bogdonovich portrays a famous director named Milo. As the aging French screen diva Anouk Aim¡¦ is fabulous, and deservent of the Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, Maximillian Schell would also make a great nominee for Actor. However, its the supporting cast that steal all the scenes. As Blue, the up and coming starlet, Jenny Gabrielle is fabulous, and as the fast talking film finacier Kaz Naiman, Zack Norman is fantastic...he deserves a Supporting Actor Oscar. Greta Scacchi also does a great job, the supporting actress choice of the year! This film captured the essence of the Cannes Film Festival, the behind the scenes suffering that goes on to put on a show for the world! Anyone who was dissapointed as I was the first time, I urge you to watch it again and become sucked into the essence of Hollywood, the reasons behind decisions, and the people behind the scenes!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
midsummer night's mise en abyme, November 22, 2006
Henry Jaglom is a genius - not of a high - but rather - of a lower order -but a genius, nonetheless. He is one of the living masters (if not the master) of the low budget film - not an accolade to be taken lightly - in an age when money, which always has always spoken at least as loudly in the cinematic world as in ours, is reaching hitherto undreamt of decibels. This film - a romantic comedy (I can't quite fathom various reviewers' bemusement over the genre which is to me obvious from the opening frame)is one in a long series of intricate, small is beautiful, masterpieces. While not of the level of some of his best work (see 'Tracks'), the film is well-acted, superbly crafted, deftly realistic. And, when one considers it as an outrageous spoof on the Kevin Kline/Calista Flockhart version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (feted at the Cannes festival)- the billboard advertisement of which forms the centrally repeated backdrop for the action - not unlike the action of the Shakespearean original's merry-go-round romance - played out in this post-modern, rather banal, decadent, and materialistic context - with a low-brow hustler, brilliantly portrayed by Zach Norman, alternately the Pucklike/Bottomlike character of the ensemble - this film is truly hillarious!
But the story does have it's serious side (barely). Anouk Aimee, with one foot seemingly in the grave, shows us once again, what a great actress truly is, and why neither Cannes, nor any other part of the film industry is what it was, in terms of style or substance, back in the days when Montparnasse 19 (in which she co-starred with Cannes' native son, the tragic, enigmatic, Gerard Phillipe) was screening in local theatres. (I can still see her banging on her bedroom door. "Papa! Papa!" - certainly, one of her best scenes) Film Art vs. crass materialism aside, "movie money" proves to be money, nonetheless. But, no matter how fleeting, love will always endure.
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