After endless parties and hustling and bustling and throwing business cards into the pool it’s high time for some R&R. There’s still lots of films to get to but some sunny beach time is definitely in order before I head back to rainy old London…

Tonight I’m going to see Haneke’s new film and I’ll try and give you my impressions tomorrow.

Gwyn.

The sun is shining and I’ve just left an early screening of ‘Agora’, Alejandro Amenábar’s Epic film of religious questioning. It had every ingredient of a future Bank Holiday TV movie and is sure to be repeated as often as ‘Ben Hur’ or ‘El Cid’ in 30 years. In every respect it’s an absolute delight. Yes it’s long, but it’s a classic epic, though I expect there to be a considerable backlash from certain religious groups when it goes on release.

Set against the fall of the Roman Empire in Egypt, and a powerful allegory for our oft disturbing times, Agora tells an imagined personal history of the Roman philosopher Hypatia (Rachel Weisz) as she attempts (1200 years early) to subvert Ptolemy and prove that the Earth rotates around the sun. Desiring her affections, yet unable to tempt her away from her theorising, are her slave Davus, a Christian torn between his unrequited love and the prospect of freedom Christianity brings, and Orestes, a brother in her philosophy class and later prefect of the falling province.

Her rational atheism and questioning nature result in her being branded a witch by the rising power of the increasingly bloodthirsty church, and both men go to considerable trouble to attempt to protect her. The film is unrelentingly violent, but never gratiutious. I doubt the raving anti-semitism and anti-paganism exhibited by the so-called early Christians here will be well recieved by all, but it’s certainly a poignant reminder of the blood shed by man through the ages by competiting religious doctrines.

The scale and breadth of this movie is unbelievable. Phenomenal cinematography, costume design and locations, a thankful lack of the glaringly obvious CG that has plagued recent attempts at such Epic films (e.g. Gladiator’s Amphitheatre crowds) and beautifully unnoticable and well paced editing (despite the film’s 2h20min length) combined with excellent performances from the films trio of Weisz, Max Minghella and Oscar Isaac produce a film that is a delight to watch from start to finish.

It’ll be interesting to see the reaction after tonight’s evening performance. I would be there myself but it’s getting increasingly difficult to get evening tickets and after queuing for 45 mins for Ang Lee’s ‘Taking Woodstock’ last night only to not get in, I’m not taking chances without having a shiny silver invitation!

More updates soon…

Gwyn.

So far I’ve been to two screenings, Pixar’s magnificent ‘UP’ and Andrea Arnold’s ‘Fish Tank’. Both are great movies – though obviously completely different.

Seeing ‘UP’ in full 3D is something I can’t recommend enough. It’s opening 10 minutes will drive all but the hardest of souls to tears when seen as an almost real world in front of your eyes.

Following recent situations with my own elderly relatives, I could not help but be completely charmed by the story of a little old codger avoiding incarceration in an old folk’s home by flying his whole house to the place in South America his wife had always dreamed of.

‘Fish Tank’ is an altogether different beast. I attended last night’s screening in the esteemed company of Morgan Bushe, Macdara Kelleher and Ben Keenan of Dublin’s fantastic Fastnet Films and they all seemed to be seduced by the film’s excellent direction and charm.

The wonderful performances of Michael Fassbender and youngster Katie Jarvis also seemed to do it for the audience who gave Arnold a standing ovation as the credits rolled. Personally I am still undecided.

The film had my total attention throughout and kept me on the edge of my seat most of the way through with it’s brooding inevitability. From the off it was clear where the relationship between Fassbender’s character and the young girl, daughter of his ‘girlfriend’ was going and this only made the film darker and more interesting. But I’m also not sure how many more films like this I can sit through. Kitchen sink drama is all very well but I can’t help having a nagging feeling that British cinema can reach great heights without everyone pretending to be Ken Loach on the one hand and Richard Curtis on the other, great as those directors are. In short – I like the film a lot – I’m just not too sure yet whether it offered me a cinematic experience I haven’t already had again and again…

After last nights film I enjoyed a drink at the Petit Majestic with my Irish friends and then battled my way back to my campsite through the pouring rain. Unfortunately my plans to see Coppola’s ‘Tetro’ earlier in the evening were scuppered by a bus that was over 50 minutes late but I wasn’t too bothered after a very pleasant evening so I fell asleep relatively easily to the sound of falling raindrops on canvas.

So that brings us to this morning where I was pretty much literally throwing buckets of water out of the tent as the rain continued to pour. It’s stopped now so I hope it’ll dry out soon.

This afternoon I have a meeting with skillset to discuss strategies for finding more editing work while I’m out here and then I’ll be off to a few more screenings no doubt.

Watch this space for more news!

Gwyn.

I’ve never been to Cannes before and I’ll be blogging from there because I thought it would be interesting to share my experiences with you all while I’m there…

If you’re going, I’m giving away free business cards, so come and say hello before they all go!

Gwyn.