Cannes. The Bastards.

"Much like his debut Sangre, Los Bastardos is another protest film from Mexico's Amat Escalante, which points the finger at the industrialised world, in particular the US, for its treatment of illegal immigrants, and the tragedy that inevitably ensues," writes Dan Fainaru in Screen Daily. "Escalante's arguments are valid and the film's horrific climax will shock the audience out of its complacency but the film's style - with its static first shot to a drawn-out ending - places this firmly in the art house niche."

"A nihilistic high-art film marked by fashionable static takes, banal minimalist dialogue, glacial pacing and ultra-violence, The Bastards will attract support from the usual suspects in the critical community," grumbles Variety's Todd McCarthy. "From the bold opening credits, the simplicity of his conceptions, the stripped-down refinement of his widescreen framing and the rich sound mix, it's clear Escalante possess a strong talent. What he does with it is another matter."

Updated through 5/23.

As Escalante "subtly sketches the daily frustrations of these impoverished, uneducated men far from their families, along with the backbreaking but badly-paid work they perform and the ethnic taunts they endure, a sense of hope slowly arises in the viewer that this is going to be a very special film," writes Peter Brunette in the Hollywood Reporter. "Alas, Escalante perversely chooses to dash that hope by suddenly changing gears in the direction of a half-baked plot twist."

Un Certain Regard.

Meantime, according to Charles Masters in the Hollywood Reporter, actor Ruben Sosa was stopped at the border as he tried to get into France to catch Monday's screening. Seems the police couldn't believe he was actually in a movie. "'He was dragged off like a dog, they rummaged through his luggage three times, then he was stripped to his underpants in front of everyone,' said Francois Guerrar, the film's French publicist. 'They didn't believe he was an actor in a film, and Sosa didn't understand what was going on.' Sosa, who was traveling alone from Mexico, was eventually allowed to get into the Mercedes sent to meet him by sales company Le Pacte. The driver said that a police car then followed them all the way to Cannes to confirm the actor's story."

Welcome to Europe!

Update, 5/22: "Los Bastardos really is lovably obnoxious," writes Charlie Prince at Cinema Strikes Back. "Intentionally discordant and uncomfortable, even the opening scene comes off as a shot across the bow - literally for several minutes we watch as two men (who will be the stars of the film) start hundreds of feet away as little dots, and slowly walk towards us down a long stretch of abandoned cement in near silence. At first you can't even see the two guys. It is an astoundingly dull way to start a movie. Most films try to hook the audience in the first few minutes, but Los Bastardos goes to considerable effort to send a different message: 'we're going to do this our way - deal with it.'"

Update, 5/23: "Escalante's political objectives in drawing attention to the way that the US economic system degrades those at the bottom of the heap are ill-served by his confrontational tactics - evoking Michael Haneke's Funny Games and Gaspar Noé's I Stand Alone - that are blunt and over-familiar," writes the Telegraph's Sukhdev Sandhu.

---

Coverage of the coverage: Cannes 08.

Last year: Cannes @ 60. And Cannes 06.

---

Posted by dwhudson at May 21, 2008 10:06 AM