Cannes. Ten Canoes.

"If the moral of Ten Canoes [site] is familiar, the getting there is anything but," writes Scott Foundas. "To watch this movie (shot in breathtaking widescreen by cinematographer Ian Jones) is to enter into a whole new language of symbols and meaning, the likes of which I have rarely encountered in cinema outside of the African tribal films of Ousmane Sembene."

"Anthropology and entertainment are marvelously married" in Rolf de Heer's Un Certain Regard entry, finds Richard Kuipers in Variety.

"Remarkably original," says George the Cyclist.

Earlier: Megan Lehmann in the Hollywood Reporter.

Updates, 5/28: Gary Meyer, blogging for the San Francisco Bay Guardian: "Ten Canoes is an impressive accomplishment on many levels. Though its austerity may be off-putting for some audiences, the fascinating stories, stunning visual delights, and truly unique experiences make it worthy of distribution."

"[O]ne of the festival's simple delights," writes Anthony Kaufman at indieWIRE. "As [David] Gulpilil's narrator declares, evoking a sentiment that could apply to many of Cannes's distinctive and alluring pleasures, 'It's a good story - not like your story - but a good story all the same.'"

Posted by dwhudson at May 21, 2006 6:52 AM