There’s always lots of pre-speculation as to what might win the Palme d’Or each year at Cannes, which is a bit of an exercises in futility, but as some have already noted, could this be the year of Euro-Horror?
American horror – apologies in advance – sucks shit is a pallid parody of itself for the most part, slasher sequels and torture-porn nonsense made by companies out to make a buck, and put asses in seats – it works for them, congrats, but Euro-Horror (much like Euro-trash) is an entirely different beast: a far creepier, lasting and psychologically damaging expression that haunts (an argument could be made for same thing about Euro-trash, though that’s not the intent)
There are at least four directors, “enfant terribles” from four different nations that like to deeply wound you rather than shock (and if it is shock, it’s of the jaw on the floor in awed-horror variety):
– Austrian mindfuck-maestro Michael Haneke (townsfolk of a German pre-WWII populace are punished for unknown, very-possibly unfair reasons in “The White Ribbon”)
– Danish smiling trickster Lars Von Trier (a couple who have lost their child is rewarded for their torment, by suffering at the hands of a supernatural forest, very likely for no good reason in “Antichrist”),
– French transgressive Gaspar Noé (a brother’s promise to look after his sister after the brutal murder of their family is challenged when he himself is shot and killed in, “Enter The Void”)
– And to a lesser heavy-handed extent, South Korean auteur Park Chan-Wook (a priest volunteering for an experiment in Africa to save lives is congratulated for his efforts by turning into a vampire in “Thirst”)
All of these directors push the kind of buttons Cannes loves; and some provoke in devilish ways (Trier), others aggressively confront with unsmiling approaches (Haneke), though some do challenge subjectively (Chan-Wook) rather than reprimand with ruler-slap-on-the-wrists cinema.
Now, we’re not about to start Palme prognostication, but it is interesting to note all these largely-incendiary shit-disturbers are all at Cannes at the same year. The NYTimes also notes there could be an influx of gore and violence too from Johnny To (“Vengeance” – though his work involving violence tends to be more elegant and even balletic) and Quentin Tarantino (“Inglourious Basterds” – probably delivering some significant measure of bloodletting). Brillante Mendoza, an inexhaustible movie-a-year proliferate who challenged audiences with the transgressive sex of “Serbis” (an underrated film that never really got its due in North America after screening at Cannes – has it even come out?), returns with “Kinatay” and could easily confront moralities. It’s about a struggling criminology student who gets recruited to take on gopher tasks for extra money, but when in need of serious money, he is roped into killing a random person.
Anyhow, Cannes kicked off yesterday with “Up,” and is in full-swing, you’ll surely be seeing many more reports.