My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

Hayao Miyazaki's classic tale of childhood in rural Japan is still good upon a second viewing. The two young girls are very realistic as they yell and scream and play.  Miyazaki typically has strong young female protagonists in his movies By now, Totoro and the cat bus are iconic characters, making cameos in Disney movies and appearing on all sorts of merchandise. Sitting in a French cafe in Cannes, I heard and recognized Joe Hisaishi's soundtrack. It caught everyone's attention as they wondered what the hauntingly beautiful music was. I knew. And then the cutesy main theme played and everyone figured it out cause they say "Totoro." I'm not sure what the instrumentation is though. It sounds metallic, perhaps an organ of some sort. The story tugs at your heart. At its core, it's about family relationships between siblings and between parents and children.  

I, Daniel Blake (2016)

I, Daniel Blake won the Palme d'Or. And don't get me wrong, it's a solid movie. But by no means was it the best. Ken Loach is a bleeding heart liberal and it shows with a fiery passion for two hours straight. His contempt for British bureaucracy is meant to get the viewer riled up. We feel intense anger and immense sadness for the tragic situation that the honest heroes find themselves in, no fault of their own. There is no subtlety. Loach is very straightforward, unabashedly wearing his politics. And the film just keeps hitting you, tearing you further down until you just want to give up. But Daniel Blake doesn't give up. He's a working class hero (and Ken Loach a hero to the working class) and through all the red tape he perseveres. He's extremely compassionate and likable and relatable. There are some cringe-y scene transitions, with a cheesy fade to black to show the passage of time. You see what Ken Loach really thinks about computers, as Daniel Blake gets frustrated trying to figure out how to use it.

Though the film is in English, the thick British accents are almost unintelligible. Funnily enough, the film played with English subtitles. And I found myself reading them to follow along.  It is kind of ironic that it won the Palme d'Or. Maybe the jury felt guilty, acknowledging the plight of regular working people amidst all the glitz and glamor of the exclusive Cannes Film Festival. 

Toni Erdmann (2016)

Toni Erdmann might just be the funniest movie I've ever seen. Some of it is stupid funny--whoopee cushions at the Cannes Film Festival. But it's not just sex jokes like the comedies we get in the US. It's three hours of pure dry humor. And it never feels long. The reason it is so long is that it drags out every joke, milking every laugh it can get from each gag. The humor is highly unexpected and refreshingly honest. As funny as it is, it is equally moving. It should be required viewing for wannabe consultants. The world of management consulting in all its glamor is casted in a less than favorable light. It's not all about money, but about happiness. Ines's father tries to make her happy, tries to make her laugh and while she isn't having it, we have a ball. My favorite scene is one in which Ines sings the entirety of the Whitney Houston classic "The Greatest Love of All," quite well I might add. Everyone in the theater was laughing hysterically. But the scene everyone is talking about is the raucous nude party. And all the promotions include the enormous Bulgarian costume that makes a side-splitting cameo.  This is a faultless brilliant romp. It was a phenomenal way to spend 3 hours.

Paterson (2016)

This is a movie about daily life for a bus driver in Paterson, NJ. And you know how exciting New Jersey is. The most action we get is his bus breaks down. I was waiting for his bus to get hijacked. But his life is too mundane for that. Their dog is cute, but I don't like to give in to animals. Even if Nellie won the Palm Dog posthumously for acting in drag.  It's cheap. Adam Driver plays Kylo Ren, essentially. His acting is flat and monotone, maybe a little less angsty. And he writes poetry, some of which is insufferable. His poem about the matches literally put me to sleep. He and his wife are perfectly content and their marital bliss is almost too perfect. The wife has her hobbies and the husband indulges her. It feels like manufactured happiness.  It is a slow movie that I didn't particularly care for.

Blood Father (2016)

Why do producers think we want to see old guys in action movies? Moreover why would they think we want to see Mel Gibson in anything? William H. Macy provides some comic relief, and the film opens with a joke about the ease with which you can buy bullets in the US (but cigarettes are more difficult). It is a typical action movie that doesn't really give us anything new. The film is otherwise kind of boring and conventional. It's basically Taken, but without the intensity of Liam Neeson. And as much as I don't like Mel Gibson, Erin Moriarty is the worst. She has no redeemable qualities. She's bland and unengaging, like the movie.

The Salesman (Forushande) (2016)

After watching Elle, it was refreshing to see this more delicate depiction of an assaulted woman. Iran gets a bad wrap in the West, but it is a much more nuanced society than we give it credit for. It is simultaneously modern and traditional. Asghar Farhadi is a master at his craft. Shahab Hosseini and Taraneh Alidoosti both give very strong performances as actors performing Death of a Salesman. I didn't quite understand the reference, but I think it has to do with the husband being so focused on his own goals that he doesn't see what his wife actually wants. The movie almost takes a Prisoners like turn. But it isn't quite that sadistic and dark. And it's not as loud as you would expect in an American revenge story. No, it is thoughtful. This movie took a lot of turns that are rather unexpected. It is suspenseful and the last act is super intense and unpredictable. Then the ending is left a little open ended. I wasn't positive how to interpret it, but I think they separate. 

Elle (2016)

This was a terrible movie. And the worst part was that people like it. OK, it has a couple of moments. I appreciate that the French audience could laugh at Catholic jokes. And there is a funny storyline about a black baby. But there is nothing else funny about this movie. And it is disturbing and offensive that other people were laughing so raucously. Moreover, it is so messed up that Paul Verhoeven thought this was OK. There is no situation in which a rape comedy is acceptable.

This is a really sick and misogynistic movie. Verhoeven gets close to redemption by almost portraying a strong independent woman succeeding in a man's world (she makes video games, albeit hypersexualized misogynistic video games). And just when you think that she has overcome her rapist and intimidated him into fear, Verhoeven makes her even more submissive. Elle is portrayed as if she likes rape, as if she is asking for it. What the hell kind of message is that? And in what world is that funny? And the very last couple of minutes just made me livid. When the rapist's wife has the audacity to say "I'm glad you could give him what he needed." What the hell is that supposed to mean? Well, I know exactly what it's supposed to mean, but how the hell is that acceptable? I refuse to believe that this is acceptable behavior in Europe. It can't just be my American sensibilities--it's just outright sick. I am really stunned that this movie has been getting such praise from male and female critics. People are messed up.