Cannes. Déficit.

And he "shows almost as much promise behind the camera as he has already as an actor," writes Time Out's Geoff Andrew. "[T]he movie slides down as smoothly as tequila, with an impressive (if not exactly unsurprising) sting in its tail as a bonus."

For the Guardian, Charlotte Higgins talks with García Bernal, who tells her the film's "'about the end of impunity. A person realises that his privileges never existed, or have ceased to have exist.' In that sense, the film is a fable about the decline of Mexico's ruling class: by the end of the narrative, Cristobal's number is very much up, as it becomes clear that his parents are out of the country 'sorting out their accounts' - thinly disguised code that they are evading some kind of corruption charge. The film also provides a commentary on the country's postcolonial attempts to function as a multi-racial nation. 'We are trying to tackle questions you are not really allowed to ask. "How are we going to live with each other? Why is our country so divided? Why has marginalisation increased and the clash [between races] increased?"'"

"If sincere commitment and high spirits were enough, this first film by the supremely accomplished - even though still quite young - Mexican actor and heartthrob, Gael García Bernal (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Motorcycle Diaries, Bad Education) would be a masterpiece," begins Peter Brunette at Screen Daily. "Alas, these ingredients, while surely desirable, aren't enough, and the film that results, despite its noble intentions, is never compelling and only intermittently watchable."

"Pandemonium reigned outside the Hotel Miramar." Variety's Justin Chang has an amusing story about the premiere - amusing for those who didn't have to wait for it to actually happen, that is.

Cannes @ 60. Index.

Posted by dwhudson at May 25, 2007 1:24 PM