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Donald Clarke

Whingeing about cinema and real life since 2009

Monthly Archives: May 2010

Farewell Dennis Hopper

The great Dennis Hopper has just passed away at the age of 74. We tend to sling phrases such as “true original” around with too much abandon, but, if those two words applied to anybody, then it would be to …

In praise of Roger Ebert.

As regular readers will know, I spent some time in Cannes taking photographs of distinguished film writers. (Hey, they were easier to get at than the movie stars.) One person I did not snap, however, was Roger Ebert. I saw …

I Spit on Your Grave!

That got your attention. Didn’t it? No, this is not a post about the makers of Sex and the City 2. It’s a warning about another horror remake that we almost certainly don’t need. Some of the recent disinterments of …

Farewell to Cannes

It was a strange ride, but the good news is that, in the last few days, a masterpiece arrived and — surprise, surprise — it actually managed to win the Palme d’Or. Yes, the victory by Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonwee …

What should and what will win the Palme d’Or

The final 8.30am screening fills up. One of the downsides to not having a Sunday edition of the Irish Times is that there is no space for an article offering predictions for the Palme d’Or in between the last competition …

Mr Turan’s Excellent Teeshirt.

Who’s this at tonight’s screening of Kornél Mundruczó’s supernaturally baffling Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project? Why, it’s Kenneth Turan, the veteran critic and film academic. I had spotted Kenny at a few screenings and noted that he seemed to be …

The Joys of the Market

The Cannes Market is a morass of terrible looking films desperately in search of a buyer. Almost all of them star Michael Madsen or (rather sadly) Malcolm McDowell. Unsurprisingly, in recent years, the gold rush in 3D has caused the …

On Route Irish

In a world first I am actually writing from within the premiere of the new Ken Loach film. This is footage of Ken outside on the red carpet. Here we see the great man arriving in the auditorium to massive …

Hello to Takeshi Kitano

A few days ago, we saw Jason Solomons, Chair of the London Film Critics’ Circle and world’s greatest Woody Allen fan, at the press conference for the New Yorker’s latest so-so movie. What do you know? Here’s the splendid Ms …

Won’t somebody think of the trees!

If you have a certain class of press pass, you get a box, within which a dizzying array of documents appear, as if by magic, every day: invitations to films, production notes, invitations to receptions,  information about numbingly boring seminars …

You will meet Woody Allen

Josh Brolin, star of yesterday’s post and Woody Allen’s ho-hum new film You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, is back on stage again. But Mr Allen is the star of the show. Here he is photographed brilliantly by me. …

Celebrate Mike Leigh Day!

I encountered this truck on La Croisette last night. As you will see, the owners are urging us to go nuts in May for Mike Leigh Day. Nuts in May was, of course, one of Mike’s great TV plays from …

Wall Street 2: The Crunch Years.

What a fearsome sight. It’s the press conference for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Given that the film is quite dull, that title now looks supremely ill-chosen. You know how the reviews will go. “Well, money may not sleep, but…” …

The New Wave at Cannes (ho ho)

Some of you may have been wondering about the contraption lurking over Pete Bradshaw’s right shoulder in the previous post. It is, of course, a cinema screen. Most nights the festival screens classic films not just by the sea, but …

The Guardian says hello.

While strolling along the seafront, we bumped into Mr Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian. He kindly smiled for our camera and gave his endorsement to our view (read the soaraway Ticket tomorrow) that Mathieu Amalric’s Tournee was just about okay …

Nous sommes triste

A Jolly Franglais greeting from Cannes. As I write, punters — already dressed in tuxedos, note — are standing outside the Palais begging  for tickets to the opening film. It’s Robin Hood, dude. It’s open everywhere already. Oh well, I …

Cannes do or no Cannes do.

There’s only 48 hours to go before the Cannes Film Festival begins, but most of the talk is currently about distant Icelandic volcanoes and unseasonal typhoons smashing the Côte d’Azur into oblivion. Could nature manage what the Maoists failed to …

A huge swing in Screenwriter South and Clarke Valley.

This world comprises two sets of people: those who stay up all night during elections and those who are not welcome round my house this week. British general elections offer particular pleasures you won’t get from their American or Irish …

Farewell to another Redgrave

Just a few weeks after her brother Corin died and a little over a year after Natasha Richardson, her niece, passed away in that awful skiing accident, Lynn Redgrave has succumbed to breast cancer at the age of 67. I …