According to This is London (and here we go, all my UK readers are going to say that that website is shite and never prints anything true… Maybe I should get Douglas to vet any posts I make that even tangentially mention the UK), Star Wars Episode 3 is going to open the 2005 Cannes Film Festival this coming May.
Here I thought that Cannes was supposed to be a higher-quality film festival, showing independent films, artistic films, non-Hollywood films, whereas any of the Star Wars movies hold none of those qualifications. Except maybe Empire Strikes Back. I mean, who didn’t cry a little inside when Han was frozen in carbonite? That’s art, man.
Looking at the Cannes archives I see that the actual award winners don’t really come from Hollywood, it’s that a number of big Hollywood films get screened at Cannes (SW: Episode 2 was screened in 2002, for example) but aren’t eligible for awards. Then again it’s usually the big films and the big names that get the big press, so those are the ones that stick in your memory instead of which film won Palme d’Or in 2002 (alright, it was the relatively famous The Pianist, directed by Roman Polanski, which was a hell of a better movie than Ep2).
I’m probably off-base with my little rant, but still. Come on, Star Wars opening Cannes? Christ.
#1 by Geof F. Morris on 19 February 2005 - 1:21 am
It’s like gathering together the world’s operatic greats and having William Hung open for them. Now, mind you, both operatic greats and William Hung can be seen as entertainment—neither one really entertains me, but hey, neither do many movies, thanks to my … what was I going to say … oh yeah … ADD—but they’re just not the same kind of thing.
Man, that analogy sucked. [I'm trying to make your rant look better, Brad.]