The 64th annual international Festival De Cannes wrapped up May 22 in France.
The coveted Palme d'Or, or Best In Show, went to Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life," which stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain. "The Tree Of Life" is the first American movie to win the Palme d'Or since Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" in 2004.
Stylistically, the trailer makes the film out to be a cross between Kubrik's "2001: A Space Odyssey" and Aronofsky's "The Fountain" with a lot of large-scale imagery. SlashFilm quotes the film to be at an "unusual intersection of experimentation, traditional drama, and modern filmmaking technology."
Unfortunately, due to a slew of production delays and distributor disagreements, the film only saw a limited release on May 27. If you want to see this movie soon, you need to make your way to New York City or Los Angeles, as it is currently only playing there.
"The Tree of Life" will hit Florida on June 17 in Orlando and Miami Beach, and will see a larger release on June 24.
In other news from Cannes, Danish director Lars Von Trier made headlines with comments he made during the screening of his new end-of-the-world-epic "Melancholia," starring an unlikely Kirsten Dunst.
When asked about the staggering amount of Germanic romanticism in the film as well as his own German heritage, Von Trier joked that he was a Nazi and "understood Hitler." In typical Von Trier fashion, he quickly issued an insincere apology that led to him being banned for the remainder of the festival.
On the brighter side of "Melancholia," Kirsten Dunst walked away with the Best Actress award. This is the third time the Best Actress award at Cannes has gone to someone in a Von Trier film. "Melancholia" won't see a U.S. release until Nov. 4th.
I give praise to both Malick and Von Trier for being artistically risky with their Cannes entries. Von Trier shows he's not one to shy away from indigestible metaphors and dark imagery similar to "Antichrist" back in 2009. Based on critical response, "Melancholia" seems to follow the same path with Kirsten Dunst dealing with the impending end of the world.
Malick has been praised as making one of the most visually appealing films in the last decade. Toss in a stellar performance by Brad Pitt and you have the a making of a classic. "The Tree of Life" may be my most anticipated movie of the year along with "Hesher." I'll just have to wait until June 17th to see what all of the hype is about.
