There are times when a person should let themselves go and enjoy the moment instead of controlling the situation. I had two such moments in Cannes. The first came when I was watching Xavier Dolan’s film “Les Amours Imaginaires (May 15^th) – loosely translated… as Heartbeats”. I decided to let myself go about 10 minutes into the film. In those first 10 minutes I was cautious which led me to think that I was going to see a typical Canadian film. But what is a typical Canadian film…really? I’m sure I can’t explain it and neither can anyone for that matter but upon hearing that a film was produced in Canada we begin to wonder about it merit. I believe Canadian films can be quite director driven so I would say it’s more or less a plea from within not to disappoint in the story rather the director style or message has to convey. This however is not the case with 21 year old Quebec resident Xavier Dolan who wrote, acted and directed the film. It’s far from a typical Canadian film…its Quebecois!

 I had mentioned this film before in a previous blog entry but I never gave the premise for the story or why I liked this film. This unusual story is set in Montreal – it’s about two friends, one female, one male, who both fall in love with the same guy, both attempting to woo him. It’s a beautiful film with a very contemporary story. Highly stylized and it is complimented with a wicked soundtrack. At 21 years old Dolan has a great future ahead of him. This is his second film to be played along the famous Croisette. His first was “I Killed My Mother” in 2009.

My second moment took place as I was sitting on the floor of the Salle Bunuel watching “Biutiful” by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (21 Grams, Babel) (May 18^th). Yes – that’s correct I was on the floor because once word got out after the first day of screening of Biutiful everyone wanted to see it. Aside from any major fire violations been broken most people were pleased to sit on the floor for the second and only Cannes screening. Having made it pass the cut off point myself I was overjoyed despite my fatigue.

It was a 300 seat theatre with 600 people wanting entry. So here I was on a night that I felt I needed a second wind to make it through the festival standing in line tired, hot and felt very uncomfortable. However at that moment it didn’t occur to me that the interest in this film could be compared to that of Twilight or some other popular cultured films yet this was not a public event it was all professionals… my peers – waiting for more than 2 hours in line just to see a film from their favorite director.

The love of film is what drives us!   

The film itself, although very sad and quite the conventional festival film. Biutiful is a film your either going to love or hate. The story of Uxbal (Javier Bardem) who sort of deals outside-of-the-law in Barcelona. He helps a group of Chinese immigrants work illegal jobs that pay under the table which provides knock-off products so that Senegalese immigrants then can sell them illegally on the streets. Uxbal doesn’t deal in drugs anymore, but that was once part of his past life. His wife is a prostitute with bipolar disorder and he has two children whom he loves very much. Mateo, his son is very cute and delivers a memorable performance at the dinner table. But Uxbal soon discovers that he may not be alive much longer and we’re taken on an emotional journey after he learns that news.

Director: Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu & Javier Bardem

One thing I can say for sure sitting in the aisle on the floor of a prestigious festival was a first for me but it was also a reminder of how films can unite us. It relieves us from the individual experience and brings the communal familiarity in cinematic entertaining through the love of a film. Tired or not I think all 325 people were all thankfully for the experience.