Blog Awards

I've been running this blog for about two and a half years now, and while I do know that I have at least some readers, as evidenced by my Google Analytics stats and the comments on the posts, sometimes it's hard to know if there's anyone really out there. However, incontrovertible proof has come my way via this blog award:


-- bestowed upon me by the estimable Neil Fulwood, author of the very fine read The Agitation of the Mind, which I highly recommend. Thanks, Neil!

So, in that generous spirit, I'll spread the love by passing on this award to some other blogs that are well worth your attention. I won't annotate these other than to give them all very hearty recommendations:

Criterion Reflections

Critic After Dark

Dennis Grunes

G. Indiana

Jonathan Rosenbaum

jonk heap

Korea Pop Wars

Lessons From the School of Inattention

Observations on film art and Film Art

ryuganji

Beyond the Multiplex (Andrew O'Hehir)

scanners

Seen in Jeonju

Shooting Down Pictures

Some Came Running

Tativille

Thanks for the Use of the Hall

The Criterion Contraption

The Evening Class

The Moviegoer

Tom Vick: Asian Cinema Plus

Also, a very honorable mention to Catherine Grant's Film Studies For Free, an invaluable resource collecting links to scholarly film writing on the web.

Thanks to all the writers above (and the many more I don't have space to include here) for consistently providing excellent and inspiring writing, and last but most certainly not least, thanks to all my readers from around the world (from 74 countries at last count), for taking the time to visit my site. I hope it is, and continues to be, worth your time.

Cannes 2009 -- And The Winners Are:

Fresh off the press, here are the winners of this year's Cannes Film Festival:

Palme d'Or: The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke











Grand Prix: A Prophet by Jacques Audiard

Best Director: Brillante Mendoza, Kinatay





Jury Prize: Fish Tank by Andrea Arnold and Thirst by Park Chan-wook

Camera d'Or: Samson and Delilah by Warwick Thornton

Camera d'Or -- Special Distinction: Ajami by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani

Lifetime Achievement Award: Alain Resnais

Best Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Actress: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Antichrist

Best Screenplay: Mei Feng, Spring Fever

Artist-Technician Prize: Aitor Berenguer, sound technician, Map the Sounds of Tokyo

Prix Un Certain Regard: Dogtooth by Yorgos Lanthimos

Un Certain Regard Jury Prize: Police, Adjective by Corneliu Porumboiu

Special Prize Un Certain Regard 2009: No One Knows About Persian Cats by Bahman Ghobadi and Father of My Children by Mia Hansen-Løve

Director's Fortnight Awards:

Prix SACD, Prix Regards Jeunes, Prix Art Cinema Award: I Killed My Mother by Xavier Dolan

Prix Europa Cinema: La Pivellina by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel

Prix SFR: Montparnasse by Mickael Hers

Mention Art Cinema Award: The Misfortunates by Felix van Groeningen

Coup de coeur d'Olivier Père: The Wolberg Family by Axelle Ropert and The King of Escape by Alain Guiraudie

Critic's Week Awards:

Critic's Week Grand Prix: Adieu Gary by Nassim Amaouche

SACD Award: Lost Persons Area by Caroline Strubbe

ACID/CCAS Support Award, OFAJ/TV5MONDE (Very) Young Critic Award, Prix Regards Jeunes: Whisper With the Wind by Shahram Alidi

Jeon Do-Yeon Wins Best Actress at Cannes!

A brief, hearty congratulations to Korea's best actress, Jeon Do-yeon, for winning the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival, which wrapped yesterday. She won for her role in Secret Sunshine, the new film from Lee Chang-dong, himself one of Korea's best directors. This is one film I am eagerly awaiting, as it is Lee's first film since he stepped down from his stint as Korea's Minister of Culture. Jeon costars with Song Kang-ho (of The Host) as a single mother who moves to a small town and is tested, Job-like, by horrendous tragedies.

Jeon Do-yeon is the rare actress who can truly transform herself in each role she takes on, whether it be the faithless wife in Happy End, the prim Chosun-era maiden in Untold Scandal, the wily gangster's moll in No Blood No Tears, the love-stricken country girl in The Harmonium in My Memory, or the HIV-infected bargirl in You Are My Sunshine, she never fails to astonish with the sheer force of her emotion and talent. Each film she makes is a master class in acting. And now hopefully the rest of the world will discover the great riches she has given us, and no doubt will continue to give us in the future.

Check out these articles on Jeon Do-yeon and her win, from the Chosun Ilbo and The Korea Herald.

For the rest of the Cannes winners, go to the festival website.

So, once again, I'd like to say to Ms. Jeon: 축하합니다!

An Acceptance Speech for the Ages

The only highlight of this year's particularly sleep-inducing Golden Globes ceremony was Sacha Baron Cohen's richly deserved win for Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (one of the greatest titles of cinematic history; it's almost a sacrilege to truncate it), one of last year's very best films. His acceptance speech was a thing of beauty, from which I will quote at length:

"I just want to say this movie was a life-changing experience. I saw some amazing, beautiful, invigorating parts of America, but I saw some dark parts of America, an ugly side of America that rarely sees the light of day. I refer, of course, to the anus and testicles of my co-star, Ken Davitian. Ken, when I was in that scene, and I stared down and saw your two wrinkled Golden Globes on my chin, I thought to myself: I better win a bloody award for this. And then, when my 300-pound co-star decided to sit on my face and squeeze the oxygen from my lungs, I was faced with a choice: death, or to breathe in the air that had been trapped in a small pocket between his buttocks for thirty years. Kenneth, if it was not for that rancid bubble, I would not be here today."

"...And thank you to every American who has not sued me so far."

Ken Davitian's priceless reaction shots were the cherry on top.

Oscar? Are you listening?