This one takes place in in a fictional desert town, the site of an ancient meteorite crater, an annual convention for junior astronomers and, as you might guess, a few close encounters of the whimsical kind. Do you even care? If only there had been an Owen Wilson cameo! The audience was surprisingly restless: lots of rustling and murmuring throughout, which was pretty shocking given the utter silence and eerie stillness of most screenings, and around the halfway mark, more than a dozen people left.
And even as early ticketing glitches appear to have been ironed out — no more waiting for hours in the rain only to be turned away from the Debussy, one of the bigger screening rooms here — the late nights and early mornings are beginning to take their toll. Also, I have really got to stop eating gelato. But how can I when there are like five gelato joints between our place and the Palais des Festivals?
I will simply have to leave the country. I mean, surely all those walks up and down the Croisette, all those steps up and down the Palais stairs and all that endless queuing outside screening rooms must be offsetting my caloric intake to some degree. The movie is sort of a satire, though what its targets are — malevolent teachers, naive young people, environmental activism, cultish groupthink — remains very much up for debate. Much has been made of the unusual number of three-hour-plus movies this year, across all sections of the festival.
I have to admit I was exhausted when the movie began, especially since Erice takes his time unfurling his story about a thwarted film director, a missing actor and the way art can both bring people together and tear them apart. My first thought after exiting the theater: That was great! McNamara: Except there are so many great films in competition!
I finally understand why French kitchens have so many exquisite pots and pans. Rich with detail and subtext, this gorgeously shot film spends almost all its time capturing the creation and consumption of dishes as complicated and satisfying as the love that Dodin and Eugenie share.
