The Globe Weekly News WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT, TV & CINEMA THIS YEAR International Edition
Front Page I Political & Social Analyses I Breaking News: USA, World, Europe, Middle East I Politics I Last Minute International News I Issues of the Hour I Entertainment I Cinema I World of Cinema & Entertainment this Year I Music: CDs I World of Music this Year I Arts I Television I People I People with an Attitude I Society I Lifestyle I Culture I Books I Travel I Commentaries I Articles I Gossips I Personal History I Newsmakers I Consumers I Work I Business I Family I Parenting I Health I Around the world I Woman's world I Beauty I Fashion I Style I The Grapevine I Opinions I Viewpoints I Stars. Celebrities I Spotlight I Unusual & Strange World I Studies: Islam I History. Civilization: Iraq I Societies. Social Systems I In-Depth Articles I Contact I Liens inclus I Liens de valeur I
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Continued from previous page. Part 1
WORLD
OF ENTERTAINMENT TV AND CINEMA THIS YEARBy Maximillien de Lafayette Continues on the next page
PART ONE: Part 1
1-A
GLANCE AT THE MOVIES OF THE YEAR
2-THE
FULL LENGTH ANIMATED
3-MOVIE
REVIVAL OF DYING GENRES 4-FILM
TOP 10 AND TURKEY OF THE YEAR
5-COMEDY OF THE YEAR
6-THE
MOST TALKED TV FILM PROGRAMS
7-COMEDY
TOP 10 AND TURKEY OF THE YEAR
8-TELEVISION
FILMS OF THE YEAR
9-DOCUMENTARIES
BEAT DRAMA IN THE RATING
10-TV
Top 10
1-CINEMA
HEADLINERS OF THE YEAR
PART FOUR : CANNES FILM FESTIVAL Part 4
1-WORLD'S MAJOR FILM FESTIVALS 2-Feature Films In Competition 3-Feature Films Out of Competition 4-Short Films 5-Caméra d'Or 6-Un Certain Regard 7-Cinéfondati 8-The Winners 9-Top prize reflects clash of French vs. foreign sensibilities 10-HIERARCHY AMONG RED-CARPET GUESTS 11-IN GENERAL, FILMS WITH COMIC ELEMENTS DO NOT WIN PRIZES 12-THE GLAMOUR AND STARS OF CANNES 13- CANNES JURY 14-CANNES HEADACHES AND CONTROVERSIES 15-POLITICS AT CANNES FESTIVAL 16-MADE IN BRITAIN FOR CANNES
PART
FIVE
Part
5
1-GOLDEN GLOBES 2-RETURN OF THE KING WINS BEST PICTURE 3-MURRAY DRYLY MOCKS HOLLYWOOD AWARD SPEECHES 4-MERYL STREEP AND AL PACINO GET BEST TV MOVIE LEAD PERFORMERS HONORS
PART SIX: THE GOLDEN GLOBES & THE OSCARS Part 6
1-MICHAEL
DOUGLAS RECEIVES THE HONORARY CECIL B. DeVille AWARD
2-Stars
Play it Safe With Blooming Spring Colors
3-Mystic
River, Cold Mountain, Lost In Translation among top nominees
1-SAGS 2-THERON AND DEPP TAKE THE SCREEN ACTOR GUILD AWARDS 3-TIM ROBBINS WON SUPPORTING ACTOR AWARD 4-ZELLWEGER WON THE LEAD ACTRESS AWARD 5-GUILD'S TV AWARDS 6-INSIDE THE SAGS
PART EIGHT Part 8
1-TELEVISION: EMMY AWARD 2-Ellen DeGeneres captures the Daytime Emmy for talk show 3-BRADY: BEST TALK SHOW HOST
PART
NINE:
BRITAIN'S SOAP OPERA AWARDS
Part 9
PART TEN: CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES AND HEATED DEBATES OF THE YEAR Part 10
PART ELEVEN: THE MOTION PICTURES GRAPEVINE Part 11
PART TWELVE: BOX OFFICE TOP EARNINGS Part 12
PART THIRTEEN: HOT TALKS OF THE YEAR Part 13
PART FOURTEEN
1-
THE INDIVIDUAL WORKS 2-Roman Polanski: Film's dark prince Part 14 3-GODDARD: THE SUBLIME KINETIC EXPERIENCE Part 14PART FIFTEEN: THE HOLLYWOOD FILE: THE MEGA DOLLAR WOMEN. THE MOST EXPENSIVE STARS IN HOLLYWOOD Part 15
PART THREE
CINEMA HEADLINERS OF THE YEAR
ITALIA’S
NEW SOPHIA LOREN
Valeria Golino is Italian cinema's dream come true - a star with the allure of the young Sophia Loren.
Now this is what you
call a star entrance. Italian actress Valeria Golino strides through the
door of a London hotel suite and bears down on me with a purposeful if
amused look in her cobalt blue eyes. As she walks, her mane of wavy,
reddish-brown hair flies every which way, and her hips swing meaningfully.
Tall and slim, she is swathed in grey; her sweater and tailored slacks do
little to dispel hints of curves beneath. Informed that Golino is suffering
from a cold, I murmur sympathy as I extend a greeting. She clasps both hands
around mine and ostentatiously shrugs. "Day-veed," she says, fixing me with
her gaze. "Thees cold . . . eet is nothing. I can think. I can talk. But
today, Day-veed, I cannot look beautiful for you."
Memorable
role: Valeria Golino rebels against small-town life in Respiro
She looks ravishing, so all this is preposterous. Still, full marks to her for getting this Italian diva business down pat; it's as if she learned it at the knee of such compatriots as Loren, Lollobrigida and Cardinale in their pomp. In terms of prerequisites for stardom, Golino, 36, has it all: the walk, the talk, the look, the attitude. Everything, that is, except the career. For 15 years she has alternated between Hollywood movies and films in her native Italy, amassing en route a remarkably eccentric CV.
 
How eccentric? Start with her American debut in Big Top
Pee-Wee, playing a circus trapeze artist who becomes Pee-Wee Herman's main
squeeze. Her next Hollywood outing, as Tom Cruise's girl-friend in Rain Man,
could hardly have been more different. She has reveled in the wild variety
of roles offered her, telling me with relish she went straight from Sean
Penn's sombre 1991 mood piece Indian Runner to the wacky Top Gun-spoof Hot
Shots! opposite Charlie Sheen. "People said to me, how can you do a drama,
then Hot Shots!?" Golino recalls, rolling her eyes in disgust. "I adore Sean
Penn, but I liked the Hot Shots! people too. If a movie is what it sets out
to be, what's wrong with that?" In fact she liked it so much, she signed on
for Hot Shots Part Deux.
It's no accident, she insists, that she looks this way on
screen. "I feel Respiro is hyper-realistic," she muses. "Superficially it
looks like a neo-realist film. Pasolini and de Sica are Emmanuele's masters.
Italian cinema has gone through a bad period. "Everyone's been afraid for a
long time. Our young directors have lacked confidence. Our cinema was so
strong in the 1950s, they were like sons who suffered from dominating father
figures. Now it's finally time to revisit that era to make it even more
vivid.
PART FOUR WORLD'S MAJOR FILM FESTIVALS: CANNES FILM FESTIVAL: CANNES ALWAYS LOVES A GOOD SCANDAL, AND THE FIRST FILM A PROPOS "YOUNG ADAM" ARRIVES ON TIME The opening night film is cracker. David Mackenzie's adaptation of Alexander Trocchi's cult novel is subtle, sexy and superbly played by Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton and Peter Mullan.
Photo: Ewan MacGregor shines in the first word-of-mouth hit of the festival. Sukhdev Sandhu reports.
Cannes always loves a good scandal and the first one of the year arrived on
the weekend in the form of Scottish director David Mackenzie’s Young Adam. A
funny, scabrous, brilliantly acted and photographed film, it's the first
word-of-mouth hit of the festival. That it's not competing in the main
competition this fortnight has already led to outrage among critics. Based
on a novel by Alexander Trocchi - smack addict, wife-pimper, friend of
William Burroughs, and together with BS Johnson one of the finest post-war
British novelists yet to be fully honored - Young Adam is an intellectual
rake's progress, an existential barge movie. Ewan MacGregor gives his best
performance in ages as Joe, a would-be novelist who goes to work on a canal
boat in 1950s Glasgow. He's young and good-looking and speaks sentences
(superficially) more poetic than the curt syllables spat out by his boss
(Peter Mullan), with whose tough-talking but lonely wife Ella (Tilda Swinton)
he begins a cramped and below-deck affair. This secret is intercut with
another: his part in the death of a student (Emily Mortimer).
Feature Films In Competition: 1-2046 directed
by WONG
Kar-wai Feature Films Out of Competition: 1-BAD
EDUCATION directed by Pedro
ALMODOVAR Short Films 1-THE
GOSPEL OF THE CREOLE PIG directed by Michelange
QUAY Caméra d'Or 1-BIENVENUE
EN SUISSE directed by Léa
FAZER Un Certain Regard 1-10
ON TEN directed by Abbas
KIAROSTAMI Cinéfondati 1-99
YEARS OF MY LIFE directed by Marja
MIKKONEN |
Cannes Film Tackles Armenian 'Genocide' The film is meant to 'heal old wounds': The director of a controversial film about the Armenian diaspora that has angered Turkey has said it was not meant to demonize present-day Turks. Atom Egoyan's film Ararat - which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday - is a tale of how Armenians in North America deal with their past history and how they struggle to come to terms with their identity. The film had already stirred fierce reactions before its screening at the festival, causing an outcry in Turkey. There are reports the Turkish Government wants to ban it and several groups have petitioned and threatened to boycott Miramax, the company which released the film, and parent company Walt Disney. A Seed a Day "This is not a film that is trying in any way to demonize a present-day Turk," Armenian-Canadian director Egoyan told a post-screening press conference. "In fact it's the opposite." “What I am trying to do is ask the viewer to consider what it means to pass judgment on somebody who is alive today for things that were done - for good or for evil - by people who are no longer around." The film by the Armenian-Canadian director is described as a film within a film and features French actor and crooner Charles Aznavour - himself of Armenian origin - playing a director making a film about the killings of Armenians by Turks. Aznavour's character eats one seed of a pomegranate a day to remind him of his mother's flight from Ottoman Turkey when that was all she had to survive on. In real life, the parents of the actor-singer - whose real name is Chahnour Varinag Aznavourian - fled Turkey for France to escape the killings. "I have been asked what is the difference between the Armenian and the French [in me]. I always said I was 100% French and 100% Armenian. "You mustn't show hate on either one side or the other. You must try to understand," he said. Painful history: Armenians say about 1.5 million people were slaughtered by Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1923. Turkey rejects the term genocide and says the figure was closer to 300,000 Armenians killed among other numerous victims of a partisan war raging in World War I as the Ottoman Empire collapsed. Turkey has fought hard to block international attempts to raise the issue, while Armenia - with its seven-million strong diaspora - has pressed for international recognition of the killing. Relations between Ankara and Paris have been strained since last year when the French National Assembly passed a law to recognize the killings as genocide. Arcand Film a Winner at Cannes Les Invasion Barbares Gets Nod for Best Screenplay, Actress No one shows grace in the face of loss quite like a Canadian, and so it was that Denys Arcand was all smiles and warmth in the wake of winning two prizes for Les invasions barbares -- but not the almighty Palme d'or. In what was largely considered to be a festival upset, considering Arcand's film about a father's deathbed bonding session with his son was by far an audience and critical favorite here on the Croisette, Les Invasions barbares lost out to Gus Van Sant's earnest take on American high school shootings, Elephant. Content to take home the prize for best screenplay, as well as accept the best actress award for Marie-Josée Croze (who could not attend, as she was back home in Montreal for a TV show), Arcand said the majority of festival goers may have expected him to win the prize -- but he never once let himself get sucked into the vortex of expectation. "When I was here with Jesus of Montreal, The exact same thing happened. Everyone said we would win, but we ended up getting the Jury Prize instead. So this time, it was the result I expected," said Arcand, sitting next to his wife and producer, Denise Robert, as well as actors Rémy Girard and Stéphane Rousseau. Arcand said he had a theory about why his incredibly touching film did not win the coveted Chopard-crafted gold twig. "Comedy does not win prizes. We are here celebrating the work of Charlie Chaplin (whose restored version of Modern Times closed the festival), but Chaplin worked his whole life and never won a single prize, no Oscar either, in his lifetime," said Arcand in French. IN GENERAL, FILMS WITH COMIC ELEMENTS DO NOT WIN PRIZES
"Films with comic elements in them, in general, do not win prizes. Not
Oscars, not here, not in any festival," he said. " I think it's because the
people who sit on a jury take their role terribly seriously. They are so
penetrated by a compunction to recognize films that are very grave... very
sad... that those are the kinds of films that win," he said. "And that's
also the kind of film I tried to make," he said, with an unmistakable comic
tone that set the press conference off into a chorus of giggles. Arcand said
he was also happy for Croze, who won for her performance as a heroin user
who helps alleviate the physical pain of Girard's terminally ill cancer
patient. "She's probably under sedation now," he said. Croze -- who is now
the second Canadian to win an acting prize at Cannes (Monique Mercure won
before for J.A. Martin Photograph) -- had clearly caused a sensation on the
Croisette, but she wasn't the only one. Girard said the night of the gala
screening, the audience reaction was tremendous and every time he and other
cast members walked through the streets of Cannes, there was an overwhelming
reception. "The film seemed to have found a way to transcend and hit the
universal. And the reception it received from the people. For what it's
worth, Arcand at least has a few pieces of paper and a trophy to take home,
which is more than can be said for Danish bad-boy, Lars Von Trier, whose
film Dogville was shut out completely. The dark, ascetic take on American
xenophobia and witch-burning mentality was perceived as a top contender for
some Cannes honors, but by the evening's end, Von Trier and company were
left with as much hardware as the empty Dogville set. Some journalists
theorized about Van Sant's win as a two-pronged political statement. First,
Elephant was an anti-American statement, but also, given the political
tensions in Cannes vis-a-vis the U.S., it was also a way of reaching out to
the American contingent to make people happy. For Van Sant, Elephant was
more a statement about certain elements of American society than anything
specifically "Anti-American." After all, the director lives in the U.S. Van
Sant has never won, nor been in Cannes competition before, but his film To
Die For was shown out of competition and picked up a best actress prize for
Nicole Kidman in 1995. Either way, as jury president Patrice Chereau noted
at the beginning of the feature film prize ceremonies, the results were
unanimous -- and they clearly liked the film so much, they asked the
festival chair if they could bend the rules and grant two major awards --
best direction, and best film, to the same film. Usually, the same movie can
only win two awards if one of the awards is for best performance. Top prize reflects clash of French vs. foreign sensibilities The Cannes festival, so venerable, so vain, wears ambition on its sleeve - love me, love my films. This year, there were few films to love, and, instead, another kind of drama took over at the Palais: friction between old friends and allies. The French and their foreign guests had a war of nerves and clashing sensibilities. The Palme d'Or awarded by Patrice Chereau and his jury to Gus Van Sant for "Elephant," which also won him the best director prize, simply fanned the flames. The film was far from a favorite with many Americans, who would have preferred awarding the top prize to Clint Eastwood's masterful "Mystic River." The Columbine High School shootings in Colorado - which Michael Moore dealt with last year in his documentary "Bowling for Columbine" - are a sore subject, and Van Sant's subdued approach to violence in American society rubbed some people the wrong way. A top critic at Variety, Todd McCarthy, called "Elephant" an art film exercise, saying: "To make a film about something like the Columbine student shootings incident and provide no insight or enlightenment would seem to be pointless at best and irresponsible at worst, and that is what Gus Van Sant has done." As for the French and their Palme predictions, they got it all wrong: no prize for Lars von Trier's provocative "Dogville," and nothing for classic French cinema - neither Francois Ozon's "Swimming Pool" nor Claude Miller's "La Petite Lili." Denys Arcand's "Les Invasions Barbares" (The Barbarian Invasions), a France-Canada co-production, won awards for Marie-Josee Croze as best actress an |
