To the Wonder: Le Mont Saint-Michel

One of the more divisive films playing at Venice last September was Terrence Malick's To the Wonder​, which vaguely follows the relationship between an American man (Ben Affleck) and a French woman (Olga Kurylenko), from their blossoming romance in France to the decay of their attraction once he brings her home to the midwest. Rachel McAdams plays another love interest and Javier Bardem is the local priest. Confusion ensues.  

At the press screening I attended, the majority of the audience booed at the end. To put things in perspective, when Malick dropped The Tree of Life ​in 2011, it was not so much a revolution for the filmmaker but rather a telling sign of things to come. Seriously, not even the actors really knew what was going on. Malick was too busy shooting his next feature to attend the festival, so watching the press junket from the media lounge I remember poor Kurylenko fending off all these tricky questions on her own. (Affleck, I assume, was back in LA perfecting Argo​).

However there is one magical scene early on, when the couple is still in love, where they're frolicking in the tidelands of Normandy against the backdrop of Mont Saint-Michel (whose nickname lent itself to the film's title).​ These precious few seconds, out of the movie's 120+ minute run, made the deepest impression on me, and I've been dreaming about that place ever since.

***​

Mont Saint-Michel is certainly photogenic, but only from certain angles; which is to say discounting the myriad school groups, tourists and renovation projects. Connected to the mainland by a narrow bridge, what used to be a sacred and dangerous pilgrimage has been all but overtaken by commercialism. Whereas in previous centuries visitors had to brave the rising tides and pockets of quicksand to get to the abbey, nowadays shuttle buses conveniently drop them off right in front of the walled city's main entrance. Inside, the lone, winding street that slopes upwards toward the abbey is lined with souvenir shops, hotels, crêperies (the thin pancakes are the regional specialty of nearby Brittany) and restaurants with identical menus proudly displayed in French, English and Japanese.

On a good day in the off-season, it might not be so choked with tourists. Having gained entrance to the abbey by mid-morning, during certain parts of the tour I was so alone that the click of my camera's shutter in the cavernous stone halls echoed louder than my footsteps.​

But as the afternoon wore on and bus loads of tourists continued to arrive (by the sounds of it many of the school groups were daytrippers from England), not even taking the back alleys or the ramparts were sufficient to avoid the crowds. I left through the same door I came in that breached the outer wall, pausing and turning back along the causeway to snap more pictures. Each time, though, it became harder and harder to dodge the buses, tractors and cranes threatening to sneak into the frame.

If I reached my hand out in front of me, blocking the ground teeming with people, I could see only the abbey rising from the vast tideland. Yes, it was still magnificent. ​Maybe, like the film, it's best understood in bits and pieces.​ To see it as a whole simply ruins the effect.

***​

If you go...​

Stay: Au Bon Accueil. ​Run by a husband and wife team of British expats, this is probably the only hotel in the area that offers pick up/drop off at Mont Saint-Michel and the nearest train stations. Rides and breakfast are included in the price.

Eat: Crêpes are the local specialty, whether they're the buckwheat, savory galette variety or the sweet kind. On the island, La Sirene offers a quiet dining room above street level that's probably more comfortable than eating takeaway, as the other crêperies have you do. Near Au Bon Accueil, the Telegraph bistro has a 10f€ set menu with savory galette, sweet dessert crêpe, coffee and your choice of wine or cider. (Take the cider - it's another Brittany tradition). ​

***​

See more of Mont Saint-Michel on Flickr.​

Favorite Films of 2012

I seriously considered posting this at the end of the calendar year, the logical time to do so, but decided to wait in order to see the last wave of Oscar contenders that unfortunately did not hit French theaters until now. (Actually some of them still aren't out but I feel like I've seen all the films that would have made the cut). Otherwise, it would have completely thrown off my 2013 list that will be written, presumably, at such a time when I am no longer living abroad. And what a travesty that would have been.

But more importantly, the Oscars are this weekend so this is my last shot at cultural relevance.​

10. The Raid: Redemption

​Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Set in Jakarta, a group of twenty elite cops fight their way through a mob-infested thirty story building to get to a crime lord over the course of one violent night. This is usually the type of film I would avoid, and yet when my brother and I left the screening we both couldn't stop talking about it.

My general distaste for action movies is a byproduct of the fact that because visual technology and special effects are so advanced now, filmmakers think they can get away with creating explosive spectacles completely devoid of story, character and, well, frankly all the things that compel me to watch films in the first place. Sure, the plot of The Raid is contrived, but it serves the purpose of showcasing some truly amazing fight choreography. The tag line doesn't lie; it's pretty much 100 minutes of straight up action, but each fight exhibits such finesse there's almost a balletic quality to it. In fact if you watched it without sound it probably would look like dancing, albeit with lots of blood.

There is a sequel in the works and I'm pretty stoked to see how it turns out.

9. ​Argo

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

Oh yes, the grand redemption of Ben Affleck. Since it seems poised to take the Best Picture prize at the Academy Awards there isn't really much I can add to the discussion. ​However, I will say this: like his previous films The Town and Gone Baby Gone, I found Argo to be perfectly adequate in every way, and yet when the credits rolled I couldn't help but feel a little empty. Don't get me wrong - I think each of his three features delivers - but somehow I still wish they could have gone further.

8. Rust and Bone

The film I loved so much that I watched it twice at Cannes, forgoing other competition entries. My full review can be found here. The most important thing to keep in mind, if you haven't already seen it, is that even though it's technically a love story it's anti-romance. I'm disappointed that they didn't campaign harder for the actors this awards season, and that Marion Cotillard (great as she is) earned more recognition than co-star Matthias Schoenaerts who, in my opinion, was just as good and maybe even better.​

7. The Hunt

​Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Here is what I wrote for Metro in my Cannes coverage, because I'm having a hard time coming up with a better way to say it now:

"In The Hunt​, a child's false accusation of sexual abuse leads to a decay of social and moral integrity in a small Danish community. Disturbingly and frustratingly realistic, director Thomas Vinterberg forces us to watch as everyone does the wrong thing while firmly believing themselves to be in the right - from the parents who believe their imaginative daughter without proof to her accused teacher, who remains unwilling to demonize his former friends who allowed the rumor to spread like a virus."

It's thrilling and psychological, and Mads Mikkelsen won the well-deserved top acting prize at the festival for his performance.​

6. Chicken with Plums

​Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

My favorite director, Pedro Almodóvar, may not have released a film last year, but this one from graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi and her artistic collaborator Vincent Paronnaud ​struck a lot of the same chords in terms of theme, vision and aesthetic. (Which is to say a story of love, desire and death with a touch of magic realism that manages to be beautiful, tragic and comical).

Also I had the chance to speak with Satrapi one-on-one in San Francisco and she is basically one of the coolest people ever.​

5. Amour

Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Since the wake of Emmanuelle Riva's ​Oscar nomination for Best Actress, some rare interviews are surfacing in which she ascribes her performance to Michael Haneke's explicit direction not to play it with sentimentality. When you consider the subject matter - an aging couple wherein Riva's character is slowly dying - ​it would have been all too easy to slip into sappy melodrama. But instead what you get with Amour ​is something more restrained and yet emotionally sharp. Full review here.

4. Moonrise Kingdom

​Courtesy of Kanye Wes Anderson (sorry, couldn't resist)

"I went to sleep afterwards dreaming about it," one journalist confessed to me in regard to why he liked Moonrise Kingdom so much.

Wes Anderson is undeniably good at constructing anachronistic parallel universes in which ​quirky people do kooky things, but this one just felt so right.

3. Life of Pi

​Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

I'm not much of a reader but I do get nervous when I hear about ​some of my most beloved books being adapted for the screen. Diehards will say that book is always better, but in truth it's hard to compare the outcome between the two mediums because there are so many things that you can accomplish in one and not the other, but Ang Lee did a commendable job with a story that many deemed un-adaptable thanks, in large part, to his cinematographer.

A boy and a tiger stuck adrift in the Pacific Ocean? Use 3D and put the audience in there with them. (Actually, for the film's Paris premiere they pretty much did just that).

Much of the novel consists of the protagonist's internal philosophical struggles, which I didn't fully understand when I first read it and probably still don't, but again...some things don't translate well from page to screen. Lee got the gist of it though in showing Pi's shifting religious views. ​

2. Chronicle​

​Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

This indie flick about three highschool friends who suddenly gain mysterious powers might seem like an odd choice, but to me it absolutely nailed two things that are often difficult to execute well: the found footage approach and the superhero story.

By found footage I mean that everything you see is, within the story, filmed by the characters. Most films that try to do this either lapse and have instances where what's being shown isn't diegetically motivated, or else they make it too realistic (i.e. handheld) and it gives you motion-sickness. Chronicle ​is pretty smooth in both regards.

As for the other thing, Hollywood's hatred of original material seeps into franchises by having on-screen superheros that rely more on the public's preconceived understanding from comics and television than anything that was written in the script. The exception - Christopher Nolan's reinvention of Batman/Bruce Wayne. Many of the superheros we see today can easily smash box office records but when it comes to depth and complexity of character they're seriously lacking. So without giving too much away, the best part about Chronicle ​is Dane DeHaan's sinister yet sympathetic performance.

Also it's set in Seattle so I guess I have a soft spot. 

1. Silver Linings Playbook

​Courtesy of The Weinstein Company

Being a romantic comedy may have cheapened the film to some, but for me it was refreshing to see two characters who clearly do not have their shit together. Mental illness and disorders remain highly stigmatized in contemporary society, and plenty of people would rather pretend nothing is wrong than seek help. It was such an issue at my university that we had a special name for it - Duck Syndrome - wherein on the surface everything seems fine but secretly everyone is madly kicking to stay afloat.

It's not just the themes and the tone but the charismatic leads as well. I can't pretend not to be a huge fan of Jennifer Lawrence's candid, no-bullshit off-screen persona, but I recently read that David O. Russell originally intended the leads to go to Vince Vaughn and Zooey Deschanel. ​Vaughn maybe could have pulled his own weight as Pat, but I definitely can't imagine the reigning queen of twee berating Robert De Niro in that climactic monologue about football.

And for a story about mental illness it's very uplifting. While I appreciate films that are challenging and make audiences think, sometimes it's nice just to leave the theater feeling happy without the urge to look for plot holes and dissect particular scenes.​

---

And, previously, movies I particularly liked in 2011 and 2010.

What are your favorites?​

Leavesden Studios: A Muggle's Paradise

I find it difficult to express how much Harry Potter means to me; in fact I'm fairly certain I tried to do so in a college application essay back in the day. From midnight book release parties and movie screenings to book club meetings and subscribing to Mugglecast, Harry Potter pretty much was my childhood. Other books came and went but JK Rowling's series was the only one that remained a constant, something that I would easily go back and read to this day; sort of like the literary equivalent to the 2009 album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, there's just a timeless quality to it that I never tire of.

Since I had already been to London once prior to this weekend, and had thus covered all the main attractions, the recent opening of Warner Brothers' studios to the public was the primary reason I was willing to go again despite a depressingly low exchange rate.

It goes without saying that the books are better than the films, but as a fan who grew up half-wishing (or maybe more than half?) she would someday receive a letter by owl telling her she was not just an ordinary girl, the films - and their preserved sets - are the closest one can get to what is, unfortunately, just a fantasy. 

I had already seen many of the costumes and props from the films at the traveling exhibit when it came to my hometown a few years ago (humblebrag: the Sorting Hat put me in Gryffindor), but walking through the Great Hall and Dumbledore's office was really something else. The studio tour also provides behind-the-scenes looks at the various departments that contributed to the making of the films, including hair, makeup, digital effects, and set design, making you appreciate the sheer magnitude of the task of adapting the book series. 

But just think, in another ten years they'll probably re-make all of them.

See the rest of the photos on Flickr.

The Cost of Cinephilia

My love affair with movies began in high school, when just about every weekend I went to the theater with friends to catch the latest release. I still strongly believe that films are best viewed on the big screen in the company of others; downloading DVD rips streaming it on my laptop just doesn't cut it. I keep the stubs from all of the tickets, and over time have realized that even as my impressions of the film itself fade, my memories of the people that I saw it with, and what we did before, during, and after remain clear as ever. From my first rated-R movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (my mom bought tickets for my friend and me because we were under age), to the countless midnight screenings I've been to for all the big franchises (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Matrix sequels, Transformers), cinema has had a huge influence over how I remember growing up.

But, unfortunately, moviegoing is an expensive habit. I've been lucky these last couple years to have been able to see most films for free in advance of theatrical release thanks to my status as a student-journalist. Now that I'm out in the real world, however, I'm starting to feel the burn of watching movies like a pleb. Ticket prices in Paris are comparable to those of any major US city, but perhaps slightly worse when you factor in the exchange rate.

The major theater chains here have an incredible unlimited pass, which lets you attend as many screenings as you want for 20€/month. (I did the math and it's worth it as long as you go just once a week). The catch? Subscription is for a minimum of one year. I briefly toyed with the idea of signing up now and selling my pass once I was getting ready to leave the country but then noticed that the application requires an identification photo, thereby strictly limiting the number of people I could potentially pawn it off on later. Bummer.

"I wish they had something like this at home," a fellow American expat/cinephile said to me after we watched Looper together.

But wait - they do! Sort of. The MoviePass service is currently in beta, and from what I've read online is running about $30-$40/month depending on where you live.

If monthly subscription doesn't seem like the right option for you, I suggest you also check out these tips from Not Worth Admission. I'm most intrigued by #7, buying in bulk, and will definitely look into it when I'm back stateside.*

*That is unless I can find someone who will publish my writing and let me watch things for free...​

A Comparison of Major International Film Festivals

A few days ago I returned home to Paris (so strange that actually feels true now) from the Venice Film Festival, where I saw a few great films, some decent ones and, inevitably, a couple of that's-two-hours-of-my-life-I'll-never-get-back ones. At the behest of previous editors I've kind of addressed what it's like being at Cannes and TIFF (that's the Toronto International Film Festival for you non film nerds), but instead of doing that for Venice I thought it might be more interesting to compare them based on things they don't tell you before you go. And maybe by the end of this I'll be able to definitively pick a favorite. But first, a little background information.

TIFF: the biggest North American film festival in terms of the number of features (in the hundreds) as well as hordes of press and industry (P&I) people it draws, but still manages to be about the fans thanks to vast public programming taking place in theaters all across downtown. Its mid-September timing makes it a significant launchpad for studios looking to premiere their Oscar bait.

Venice: the oldest international film festival in the world. Taking place slightly before TIFF it's an ideal platform for generating early critical buzz - most notably in recent years for Black Swan and Shame. Less accessible to the public, it's more of a P&I event.

Cannes: taking place in late May, the festival is a bit outside the awards orbit. But who cares? It's by far the most iconic and well-known. And boy do they capitalize upon it. A friend once aptly described the festival as "everything about is really far up its own ass."

Each of these festivals has its own distinct personality, if you will, and serves a slightly different purpose in the big scheme of the movie world. But let's get down to the details. How do they work? And how well do they work? (Bear in mind that as a student journalist I value cheap and free things very highly).

COSTS

TIFF is hands down the most affordable. As a major urban area Toronto offers plenty of options when it comes to accommodation (hostels! hotels! a friend's basement!) and cheap-but-good eats.

There is reasonably priced food to be found in Venice and Cannes if you look hard enough (or are willing to live off of sandwiches from beachside vendors for a week), but it's the accommodation that really breaks the bank. Both are relatively isolated and residential areas, which means that during festival time prices inflate to obscenely high rates.

Venice is possibly worse in that sense, because the festival takes place on the tiny island of Lido. You can ferry in from elsewhere each day, but when it's a matter of getting more sleep between a 10pm screening and a 9am the following morning, time is money.

FREE SWAG

Upon checking in at the accreditation desk, you usually receive a little something extra with your badge. TIFF provided a tote bag filled with mostly promotional stuff, but there was a nice pen and water bottle in there too. Venice went with a simple tote bag (the kind that eco-friendly shoppers take to the grocery store) with the Biennale di Venezia logo. Cannes coughed up a nice messenger bag (big enough for laptop, so I ended up using it for most of the festival) along with a copy of the official festival program, which at the others you would have had to purchase separately.

LANGUAGE

Bilingual signs at the palazzo in Venice

Cannes and Venice are bilingual, meaning that every film not in French or Italian (respectively) is subtitled. If the film is not in English either, it means the dreaded double subtitles. French/Italian subtitles take priority and are displayed in the normal location on the bottom of the screen, while English is projected onto a separate screen slightly below the main one. At best it's distracting. At worst, because I'm short, if I get a bad seat it means I probably won't understand everything that's going on.

SOCIAL SCENE

Fireworks at the Firefox Flicks party at Cannes 2012

Festivals are also known for their parties, but since I am neither high-ranking nor well-known I usually don't hear about them until after the fact. However, I will say that certain Cannes parties are relatively easy to crash. This is because many take place in the tents of the beachfront pavilion, or on yachts. Access to TIFF and Venice parties, I assume, is more restricted.

VOLUNTEERS/STAFF

TIFF recruits an army of volunteers each year, so even if the first person you ask doesn't know the answer to your question, it's okay because there is guaranteed to be at least five others people nearby!

Security on the red carpet at Cannes.

Cannes and Venice prefer to employ bouncer-like men who stand at all major entrances and exits wearing suits and sunglasses. If you ask them a question not in their native language, the default answer will most likely be, "No," or, "It's closed."


VENUES

TIFF's recently-constructed Bell Lightbox is the main hub for press, with large comfortable auditoriums, good wi-fi connectivity and a press lounge that serves free food and coffee all day. Thanks to the press lounge, I spent very little pocket money during the festival.

Theater seating 1300 at Cannes.

Cannes and Venice have relatively similar palazzos that are restricted to the public. The grand architecture is all very nice and beautiful but the bathrooms are terrible. Simply put, there are not enough for the thousands who pass through each day. I'm sure you don't want to read that much detail as much as I don't care to write it, so let's just say that I kept myself intentionally dehydrated to avoid having to go very often.

Main entrance to the Palazzo del Casino

As for press facilities, Venice set aside practically an entire floor of the palazzo for their use, with decent wi-fi connectivity across the entire festival area. No free food, but there were multiple pop-up cafés set up with reasonably priced options.

Cannes' press room was much too small considering the number of journalists and photographers present - at peak hours it was difficult to even find a place to sit on the floor! But it did have a nice view of the water, and the red carpet leading from the photo call area to the press junket room passed right by the window.

Walter Salles, Viggo Mortensen and Kristen Stewart promoting On the Road

No free food at Cannes, but you could drink espresso to your heart's content thanks to sponsor Nespresso. Much to the dismay of the press, wi-fi access was restricted to the press lounge, and in order to connect each time you had to input your individual un-memorizable sequence of letters and numbers.

WHAT YOUR PRESS PASS GETS YOU

In order to facilitate the thousands of journalists that come each year, Cannes has a hierarchy designated by badge color. Certain screening rooms require press to queue according to their badges, with access granted by descending priority. Basically this means that the top three levels are certain to get in, while it's not unheard of for lower level press (namely, me) to wait in line for an hour and be denied access because the theater is full. And this is for press-only screenings.

Venice separates press into Daily, Periodicals and Media Press, with the former taking priority during entry. Although with my Periodicals badge I never had any problem getting turned away from a screening because it was full.

TIFF, thankfully, is egalitarian in its accreditation. All P&I have the same badge, which grants access to all P&I screenings and industry events, as well as five tickets to any public screenings of the badge holder's choice. (Or at least this was the case in 2011. Hopefully they haven't changed anything).

FINAL VERDICT

While I would gladly return to any of these festivals, I think TIFF wins.