The Month of the Posse

Star: Shooting Star

Mood: Playful

Song: Beauty of Speed * Tori Amos

"I'm comin' back for more * Out of a black and white world * Past a shooting star * The beauty of speed"

A shooting star (or falling star) is the common name of 'meteor.' According to wikipedia, a meteoroid is

a large sand to bouder-sized particle of debris in the Solar system. The visible path of a meteoroid that enters the Earth's (or another body's) atmosphere is a meteor.

Tori Amos’ American Doll Posse has been released exactly a month ago. So naturally, the setlist of May will be based on this album.
It’s a concept of five different women representing different sides of the singer-songwriter.
I’ll choose five songs, my favorite from each character.

Clyde (CliTORIdes): Beauty of Speed

Afraid we’ve been changing
In a way I wasn’t loving
Feel those colors changing
The beauty of speed

I simply can’t get tired of this song. It takes me to far edges of the galaxy, where the stars are ultra shining in multihued colors. A pure euphoric mood emanates from the dual pianos that are coupled with a magnificent drum play. The guitars, which I thought were cheesy in the beginning, only add to the atmospheric aura of the song. And when the bridge comes in… the other world is attained!

Santa (SanaTORIum): Dragon

Now it has come to light
The gods they have slipped up
They forgot about
the power of a woman’s love

This is a magical song. It has the sweet ballad vibe but at the same time proves itself to be as dark as possible. The usage of the Bosendorfer piano, the Meletron and the Fender Rhodes in the same piece calls for attention. It is touching enough with its sweet yet sinister tone. An exceptionally poignant way to end the album.

Tori (Terra-TORIes): Code Red

Victory is an elusive whore
She is as easily mine
As she is yours

This song is one of the best to have been written by Mrs. Amos lately. It belongs on To Venus and Back sonically (My favorite album ever). The production is flawless and puts together a slightly electronic with a steady acoustic drumming and the guitars are, for once, used perfectly. This is as creepy as Tori can get. And the last note is long enough to disturb you (if the whole song has not already done it yet).

Pip (ExpiraTORIal): Body and Soul

Seven devils bring them on
I have left my weapons
'Cause I think you're wrong
These devils of yours they need love

Pure sexy rock n’ roll. A perfect sassy drumming that is met with almost choir-like chanting in an anti-religious anthem in which we are ‘saved from the Sunday sermon.’ The dark pianos and the dual voices make this a rocking tune which works at all levels. It’s the evil twin of the equally brilliant Not David Bowie.

Isabel (HisTORIcal): Almost Rosey

Chin up a happy mask was never your best disguise
Chin up put on a pair of these roseys
In no time you’ll feel almost fine

Brilliant storytelling in this one. While not my favorite on the record, it seeks attention just because of the solo version. Fast and furious piano and high vocals. An emotional mid-part which reminds of American Pie, this song could have easily been on Little Earthquakes or Under the Pink. The somehow overproduced album version reminds us that it’s on ADP. But solo, it’s a pure gem.

My Cannes Ratings

I saw several films at this edition of the Cannes Film Festival, in all four categories (Official Competition, Un Certain Regard, Directors' Fortnight and the Critic's Week). Obviously the three best films for me are Sokurov's Alexandra, Kawase's Mourning Forest and Reygadas' Silent Light.

It's too bad that Alexandra did not get any prize since this newest opus by Sokurov is a chef d'oeuvre about the War which does not include any single drop of blood. The performance of the main 80-year old actress is stellar.

My other two favorites would be Mourning Forest, an absolutely enchanting fable able love and death, shot beautifully and yet disturbs with its beauty and Silent Light which opens and ends with a supremely brilliant shot that starts with a starry night, to the daylight and segues to present the viewer to the village of a reclused Mennonite family in Northern Mexico.


Other highlights include Hou Hsiao Hsien's magical Flight of the Red Balloon with a striking performance of Juliette Binoche, the Iranian animated feature Persepolis which retraces the life of director Satrapi in the various turbulant years of Iran, a breathtaking Breath and a very sweet Caramel.

Here are my ratings. I will add the Cannes prizes (if any) for each film.

Five Stars
Alexandra (Alexander Sokurov) - Russia - Official Competition

Four and a Half Stars
Stellet Licht / Silent Light (Carlos Reygadas) - Mexico - Official Competition *Cannes Winner - Jury Prize*
Mogari No Mori / The Mourning Forest (Naomi Kawase) - Japan - Official Competition *Cannes Winner - Grand Prize*

Four Stars
Du Levande / You, the Living (Roy Andersson) - Sweden - Un Certain Regard
Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge / The Flight of the Red Balloon - (Hou Hsiao Hsien) - Taiwan - Un Certain Regard
Persepolis (Marjane Setrapi & Vincent Paronnaud) - Iran/France - Official Competition *Cannes Winner - Jury Prize*
Soom / Breath (Kim Ki-duk) - South Korea - Official Competition

Three and a Half Stars
Caramel (Nadine Labaki) - Lebanon - Directors' Fortnight
Import Export (Ulrich Seidl) - Austria - Official Competition

Three Stars
A Lost Man (Danielle Arbid) - Lebanon - Directors' Fortnight Both (Bassem Breich) - Lebanon - Critic's Week
My Blueberry Nights (Wong Kar Wai) - China - Official Competition / Opening Film

Two and a Half Stars
Auf Der Anderen Seite / The Edge of Heaven (Fatih Akin) - Turkey/Germany - Official Competition *Cannes Winner - Best Script*
California Dreamin' (Cristian Nemescu) - Romania - Un Certain Regard *Cannes Winner - Best Film Un Certain Regard*
Promise Me This (Emir Kusturica) - Serbia - Official Competition

Two Stars
We Own the Night (James Gray) - USA - Official Competition

One and a Half Star
Les Chansons d'Amour (Christophe Honoré) - France - Official Competition

One Star
Une Vieille Maîtresse (Catherine Breillat) - France - Official Competition

[Picture credits are - from top to bottom: Alexandra (Sokurov), Silent Light (Reygadas), Persepolis (Satrapi & Paronnaud), Mourning Forest (Kawase), The Flight of the Red Balloon (Hsiao Hsien), Import Export (Seidl) and Promise Me This (Kusturica)]

Celebrating the 60th Cannes Anniversairy

Star: Sirius (Canis Majoris Constellation)

Mood: Exhausted

Song: Night in the City * Joni Mitchell

The Cannes Film Festival was an experience for me. Actually Cannes in itself is an experience.

We went there to promote Arab Films just like we did in Berlin. Our line-up included the festival-awarded films Rome Rather Than You (Algeria), Falafel (Lebanon), Tender Is the Wolf (Tunisia), the Sundance documentary selection Kahloucha: Tarzan of the Arabs (Tunisia) as well as the two brand new Moroccan films Where Are You Going Moshe and Women on the Road.

We had a stand at the main Film Market which has always been full with visitors, including interested festival directors, vendors and buyers. It was an extremely fruitful experience for our team. (Picture of the Med-Screen stand in the Palais)

But Cannes isn’t only about working. It’s about Films. I saw a nice selection which you will read in tomorrow’s post.

So it’s too much people, too many stars, too much work, too many films, too much glitter. Oh yes. Too much glitter!

For the 7:30 and 10:00 PM official selection screenings, everyone would be fully dressed on the Croisette, women in full make up with glowing dresses and men in the unmistakable yet obligatory tuxedo.

And those who can’t make it to the screening have to pave a tiny territory to take a glimpse at whoever is walking on the Red Carpet.
The world wide premiere of Ocean’s 13 was hysteric, considering the pleiade of international stars to walk on the prestigious carpet in front of more than 500 professional and amateur lenses. From the cast which included Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon to the invitees Angelina Jolie (coming to support her husband), Kylie Minogue and Timbaland, everyone was there.

This photo is of my beautiful boss and me at the Red Carpet before the screening of Alexander Sokurov’s Alexandra (my favorite film in the festival).

For the other films in which no tickets are required, you had to wait in line, an hour before the screening, under a burning sun. And what a line it was. The same crowd for a French film or a South Korean one. All screenings were full, and many do not have the chance to enter.

To be able to see Nadine Labaki’s film Caramel, screened at the Directors’ Fortnight, I had to wait from 6:10 PM to 8:00. This Lebanese feature film has long been awaited since Labaki is a prominent video-clips director in Lebanon and throughout the Arab World. A 10-minute standing ovation followed the screening after which the film was sold to more than 33 countries! An unexpected immediate success for the film! (Photo shows Labaki (left) and her cast, at the Cannes Premiere of Caramel).

Then you had the every-night parties on the luxurious yachts, the crystalline beach securing topless blondes on its hot sand, the Haagen-Dazs ice cream and the 8 Euro chocolate crepes as well as an extensive line-up of expensive shops at the Croisette.
It’s as glamorous as you can imagine. (Picture of myself and my wonderful friend Nadine (ex-wife!!!) at the Turkish Pavillion facing the beach)

Not even the most luminous star in our night sky, Sirius, can compete with all the sensational glitter emanating from the Red Carpet. Sirius, a winter showstopper star in the Greater Dog constellation shines at a -1.4 magnitude, making it the brightest star after the Sun. Its striking white color sometimes converts itself to embrace the colors of the rainbow. An absolute highlight.

Sometimes it’s better to watch Sirius in winter. It reminds you that Cannes in coming soon!