Cannes Dispatch. 4.

Matrix Revolutions? Shrek? You wouldn't have expected the likes of these at Cannes in the past. But ever since the animated green ogre wowed the Croisette four years ago, one major Hollywood tent-pole movie is not only to par for the course each year, it's one of the highlights. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith was, in fact, one of the first films to be selected for this year's festival.

Which is why there are ads for the film everywhere you turn on the Croisette; even the Carlton Hotel, the ritziest in Cannes, is all done up in Star Wars billboards from top to bottom. And on Sunday, it was all Star Wars, all day. Not that George Lucas, who flew into town on his birthday to screen Episode III out of competition, wanted to show up any of the other films. "I'm happy I don't have to compete with those films because I probably wouldn't win," Lucas said. "It's nice to be able to be recognized and have the film be recognized without being in a contest. I'm not a big one for contests. Just being here is an honor. I hope all the films feel that way."

For those born in the last thirty seconds who haven't yet heard, Episode III serves as the climax to the Star Wars prequels, bringing full circle the story of the Skywalker family, the rise of Darth Vader and the formation of the Evil Empire. Anakin Skywalker, freshly married to Padme, is torn between his love for his new wife and his responsibility as a Jedi. Padme becomes pregnant and almost immediately Anakin has premonitions of her untimely death. When Chancellor Palpatine befriends the young Jedi, promising to teach him the dark side of the force that can keep his wife alive, Anakin pledges his allegiance and becomes Darth Vader. The movie ends with an extended light saber duel between Anakin and his former mentor, Obi Wan Kenobi. Guess how that turns out.

Without a doubt, the evening gala for Episode III was the most elaborate red carpet event held at the Cannes Film Festival in the seven years since I started attending. Celebrities from all around the world managed to turn up and walk the red carpet, flanked by rows of storm troopers, while an orchestra laid into the theme music. Darth Vader greeted Lucas and his cast, Samuel L Jackson, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Anthony Daniels and Ian McDiarmid at the top of the steps when they arrived. Throughout, Vader's heavy breathing was heard intermittently and looming smoke added a final touch to the atmosphere.

When the final credits rolled, Lucas and his entourage were given a 25-minute standing ovation - almost as long as the one give to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 last year.

Jackson said he has a special relationship with the Cannes Film Festival, having been here previously for Pulp Fiction in 1994. "It seems as though each time I'm here, I have a different of success when I leave," he explained, before joking, "Hopefully, this will be another jump-start to my career."

Someone else who seems to have her own unique relationship with Cannes is Sharon Stone. She was in town to attend a press conference for Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction, which is presently shooting in London. Stone arrived 45 minutes late to the conference, keeping journalists waiting for over an hour in at the sweltering Nikki Club. She was joined by director Michael Caton-Jones, co-star David Morrissey and producer Mario Kassar. This would normally be the spot where a quote or two from Stone would be thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, she didn't say anything worth quoting. That the conference ended after only thirteen minutes didn't help matters. Stone's showing up in a different dress on the red carpet outside the Palais for the premiere of Star Wars fifteen minutes after her conference had ended absolutely infuriated most of the press corp.

But enough Star Wars, glitz and glamour.

Though A History of Violence is quite dark, it is David Cronenberg's most mainstream movie since The Fly. Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello play a loving married couple raising their family in a small midwestern town. That's about all I can tell you about the film, for Cronenberg doesn't want journalists ruining the suspense his film so deftly creates. Luckily for me, he was kind enough to provide members of the press with a brief, pre-approved synopsis. "I remember with The Crying Game Neil Jordan begged the press not to give away the secret and they honored that," the filmmaker reminded the journalists present at a mid-day press conference. "You can certainly say that Viggo's character, Tom Stall, seems to be mistaken for a gangster by a couple of gangsters from Philadelphia and that they won't go away. They won't leave him alone, so he has to begin to take matters into his own hands to dissuade them."

As for the film's mainstream appeal, Cronenberg quipped, "Sex and violence have always done very well for me. It's like bacon and eggs. And if you look at the history of cinematic violence, you'll see that there's a long one. There's always a sexual component in violence and there is a violent component in sexuality of any kind. To me, that's a natural thing to explore." Even so, Cronenberg would like to think that he has been responsible about the way he has portrayed violence in the movie. "It was a serious discussion about the nature of violence," he said, "the impact that it has on society and families and human life and on human bodies as well."

The last time Cronenberg was in Cannes, he was here with Spider and thankfully, A History of Violence is far more accessible. Still, the movie has its ambiguous moments. "Most filmmakers, the last thing they want you to do is think for yourself," Mortensen noted. "It is easier when a politician or filmmaker tells you what to think. But it's more rewarding when you are allowed to think for yourself."

Lars Von Trier, on the other hand, has never been one for subtilty. He’d rather bang his audience over the head with a sledgehammer. This year, the Danish filmmaker brings Manderlay to Cannes, the second in what is slated to be a trilogy of films about America. Dogville, its predecessor, was invited to the 2003 festival.

Manderlay takes place in 1933 and picks up where Dogville left off. Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard, replacing Nicole Kidman, who played her in Dogville) travels with her father (Willem Dafoe) from the mountains of Colorado into the deep south of Alabama. Their convoy stops along the road next to a plantation where an African-American woman urges Grace and her gangster family for help save one of the slaves from a beating. Grace does one better. Upon learning that the plantation still kept slaves nearly 60 years after emancipation, she had her father's henchmen force the owner to free the slaves. Minutes afterward, the plantation owner (Lauren Bacall) dies and Grace decides to stay behind to make certain the slaves gain their freedom. In a Von Trier film, such a set-up can not end up well for everyone involved.

While his film might take place in America, like Dogville, it was shot on a soundstage in Sweden in the same minimalist style that Von Trier has become known for. While von Trier himself has never actually been to the United States, he clearly feels the urge to make movies about the country. "America is a subject because such a big, big part of our lives has to do with America," he said. "In my country, it is overwhelming what has to do with America. I must say I feel there may just as well be American troops in Denmark because so much is American. We are a nation under influence. And also under a very bad influence from America right now because I think Mr. Bush is an asshole. America is kind of sitting on the world, there is no question about it. It is sitting on the world and therefore I am making films that have to do with America because America fills about 60 percent of my brain. So, in fact, I am an American. But I cannot go there to vote, because I am from a small country. So I just sit there and analyze and make films."

The writing in Manderlay is fantastic and one can fault Von Trier for attempting to explore what might be considered controversial ideas. Unlike the first film in the trilogy however, Manderlay does drag a little here and there. Its ending, though, certainly ties all the loose ends together quite nicely. As Grace races toward Washington for the third film, Von Trier tries to put a positive spin on the themes he has explored in the film. The ending credits, however, are seen over disturbing pictures of lynchings, Klu Klux Klan rallies, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and so on, while David Bowie's "Young Americans" plays on once again. Like I said... sledgehammer.

Posted by dwhudson at May 17, 2005 8:03 AM