Cannes and shorts, 5/15.

If it's the films at Cannes you're truly interested in, here's a handy way of following their critical reception: The Movie Review Query Engine, marvelously useful in the first place, has set up a special page listing in and out of competion as well as those screening in the various other programs. As the reviews appear in any of the publications indexed by the MRQE, they get linked. Nifty. At the moment, there's a lot of overlap with the IMDb, but the collection will soon begin to grow on its own soon enough.

The must-read review of the day, though, is actually a preview: Eugene Hernandez passes along anonymous word from... well, who knows, maybe a potential buyer in New York who's seen Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11: "I was so moved and emboldened by the experience of watching it, that I wanted to write all of you and share my excitement...."

As the title of his piece suggests - "Now Playing: Eisner and Me" - AO Scott argues that Moore's confrontation with Disney over the fate of this film pretty much follows the storyline laid out in his first groundbreaking doc, Roger & Me. Beyond that, though, and taking Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me into consideration as well, Scott's bottom line is a defense of both their stance and methods:

Mr. Spurlock and Mr. Moore present themselves not only as opponents of corporate power but also, by their fumbling, idiosyncratic individuality, as the opposite of corporations. We sometimes find them simplistic, inconsistent or annoying, but that is surely part of the point, which is to make sure that, when we contemplate the complexities of modern capitalism, we don't forget to take it personally.

Also in the New York Times:

• Susan Dominus profiles the amazing Laura Linney.
• Janelle Brown on screenwriters doing that very thing Roger Avary just hates.
• Benedict Nightingale reviews Sir John Gielgud: A Life in Letters.

Meanwhile, there's more from George the cyclist: Day 3 and Day 4 at Cannes. Brian Brooks agrees with him on Mondovino: Too long. And George isn't exactly wildly enthusiastic about Emir Kusturica's Life is a Miracle, either. For more on that one, the Guardian's Charlotte Higgins tells a few stories about its director. She's also gathered some nice tidbits on Tilda Swinton, betting among critics and rumors of an option: You've read the blog, now see the movie?

Also in the Guardian:

• Cannes pix.
• Johnny Dee files FUBAR among the great mockumentaries.
• Simon Callow reviews Alan Strachan's Secret Dreams: A Biography of Michael Redgrave.
• David Edgar reviews Antony Beevor's The Mystery of Olga Chekhova (you'll remember a particular interest in this one).
• Andrew Pulver's "Adaptation of the week": Luchino Visconti's Ossessione.
• John Patterson on Brian Cox.
• John O'Farrell has some fun with the recent chatter buzzing around The Day After Tomorrow.

The Independent's Cannes correspondent, Louise Jury, has decided that the presence of all those Hollywood stars makes the screening of Shark Tale the story of the day. Back home in England, Terry Kirby picks up a story that's gotten a lot of British press lately, the worries over the effects of a film called The Football Factory. Is it "simply a depiction of a type of criminality that has been successfully marginalised"? Or is it "likely to re-ignite the flames of hooliganism dormant in the national game among a new generation?" And then Deborah Ross files a very British profile of Sean Bean.

Roger Ebert: "Still staggering with jet lag, the North American press corps had to contend with the first two official entries, which were slow-paced and quiet. Both kept me wide awake; oddly, the first day after an all-night flight to France, I find that it's the loud action films that put me to sleep."

Via Movie City News: A Day Without a Mexican; and Elvis Mitchell will carry on teaching at Harvard, reports Simon W Vozick-Levinson in the Crimson.

In the cinetrix's world, it's Mean Girls one day and Chantal Akerman the next. Just try to keep up.

Word from Steve Gallagher at Filmmaker: First Run Features and Human Rights Watch are collaborating on a series of films aimed at raising awareness of human rights issues. The first release: S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine.

Meanwhile, back in the multiplexes and around the world, it's all about Troy this weekend. Besides David Edelstein's review, Slate's running a pretty interesting slide show annotated by Julia Turner on visions of Helen, from Homer to this very moment.

Posted by dwhudson at May 15, 2004 12:07 PM