Cannes 2025/ #78 Poster-s

Announced now. From Claude Lelouch's legendary Un homme et une femme (1966).

Pas un, mais deux ;)
Un Homme. Une femme.  

A man.

A woman.

A deserted beach.

A turbulent sky.

Intoxicating music.

A 3-month-old idea.

A 3-week shoot.

A 20-second scene.

Eternity lasts but a moment in the end.

It was 60 years ago. In 1965, two damaged beings played by Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant met, charmed each other, resisted, and finally twirled under Claude Lelouch's incandescent camera. The Palme d'or in Cannes in 1966, the two Oscars in Hollywood in 1967 and the dozens of awards around the world pale in comparison to this grandiose moment of tenderness, simplicity and beauty.

Because it is undoubtedly the 7th Art’s most famous embrace ("étreinte" in French, the anagram of "éternité"), because you can't separate a man and a woman who love each other, because you can't separate that Man from that Woman, the Festival de Cannes has chosen for the first time in its history to present a double official poster. A Man and a Woman. Side by side. Back together.

— He: When something’s not serious, we says it’s like a film. Why aren’t films taken seriously, do you think?

— She: Maybe because we only go to the cinema when all is going well?

— He: So you think we should go when all is going wrong?

— She: Why not?

During times that seem to want to separate, compartmentalize or subjugate, the Festival de Cannes wants to (re)unite; to bring bodies, hearts and souls closer together; to encourage freedom and portray movement in order to perpetuate it; to embody the whirlwind of life to celebrate it, again and again.

This man and this woman who both won awards in Cannes —Best Actor (Z, 1969), Best Actress (A Leap in the Dark (Salto nel vuoto), 1980)— are no more. These two posters also pay homage. Magnificent heroes of delicacy and seduction, Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant forever illuminate the film of our lives, like these two posters, whose colors express the intensity of a passionate love that triumphs over despair. This light no longer comes from the heavens, today troubled on all sides by dark clouds; it emerges from the radiant fusion of two beings who reconcile us with life.

78th Festival de Cannes official poster credits: © Les Films 13 - A Man and a Woman, Claude Lelouch (1966) / Graphic design © Hartland Villa

Muscle (2019)

Muscle is a bleak Noir mindf**k twisted story from writer / director Gerard Johnson, his follow-up to the dark violent Hyena (2014), very close to the estethics of NWR (Nicholas Winding Refn)'s Pusher trilogy. A very risquee film, also because it's  shot in gritty black and white, it's violent and with graphic sexual scenes and filled with toxic homoeroticity.

Set and filmed in Newcastle, it's the story of an alpha male and a wanna-be alpha, told through the means of bodybuilding in the local gym (Atlantis). And a gradual and slow descent into hell. 

With a great soundtrack by Gerard's brother, Matt Johnson from the cult group The The, including the Manfred Mann's 1969 song, Mister You're A Better Man Than I, and on the end credits a great The The song, I Want 2 B U.

The performances are stellar, Craig Fairbrass, B muscle actor as Terry and Cavan Clerkin as Simon. Johnson's attired actor, Peter Ferdinando (Tony, Hyena) and the upcoming Odyssey, has a supporting small part. 

Not for the faint at heart ;)

Empire review here

4 out 5, 8 out 10 !

Life, Death and Dennis Hopper by The Waterboys -Out now !!!

 Finally ! On April 4, the most expected album (in any sense, and for me in special) by Mike Scott's The Waterboys is out. I announced here on Jan. 8 2025.

What a Treat !!! 25 songs (you can find 'em all on Youtube here, spotify and other patforms), featuring an array of guests, from Steve Earle to Bruce Springsteen and Fiona Apple. 

Vignetes about Golf (Hooper's latter passion), The Last Movie (his doomed film), Andy (Warhol), Michelle (Phillips), Frank Booth (from Blue Velvet), Terry Southern (who wrote Easy Rider), etc. Including a fake trailer for a biker movie, "Freaks on Wheels", a la Tarantino's latest films. 

Post-modern, cool, eclectic, funky, groovy, mad -as Sir Dennis was ;) A wonderful heartfelt tribute, about the times and of Wild Pop Americana and one of True Legends of the Movieland (und more). 

Reviews here:

MOJO -4 stars

Uncut -4 stars

Under The Radar  -75 %

Rolling Stone 

Metacritics -78 %

**** 1/2 out of FIVE. 

Life, Death and Dennis Hopper Track List 

(where there are links you find the videos). 

1. Kansas (featuring Steve Earle)

2. Hollywood’55

3. Live In The Moment, Baby

4. Brooke / 1712 North Crescent Heights

5. Andy (A Guy Like You)

6. The Tourist (featuring Barny Fletcher)

7. Freaks On Wheels

8. Blues For Terry Southern

9. Memories Of Monterey

10. Riding Down To Mardi Gras

11. Hopper’s On Top (Genius)

12. Transcendental Peruvian Blues

13. Michelle (Always Stay)

14. Freakout At The Mud Palace

15. Daria

16. Ten Years Gone (featuring Bruce Springsteen)

17. Letter From An Unknown Girlfriend (featuring Fiona Apple)

18. Rock Bottom

19. I Don’t Know How I Made It (featuring Taylor Goldsmith)

20. Frank (Let’s Fu*k)

21. Katherine (featuring Anana Kaye)

22. Everybody Loves Dennis Hopper

23. Golf, They Say

24. Venice, California (Victoria)/The Passing Of Hopper

25. Aftermath

 

RIP Val Kilmer

First time I saw him in Top Secret back in the early 80's video days (& nights).

My favorite Val Kilmer part is in Mann's masterpeice of American Noir- Heat

with a soft spot for Mamet's Spartan.

He was blamed for the catastrophe that was Island of Dr. Moreau, with a mad Marlon Brando and a Mini me. Richard Stanley is over that one, John Frankenheimer is gone, like Marlon and Val now.

Val was cool in Ron Howard's Willow (sword & sorcery way before LOTR & epigons la GOT).

He was Iceman, "the wingman" in Tony Scott's seminal Top Gun. Also his last part on screen was in Top Gun 2, a cameo where he became Admiral Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky.

He was a beautiful crazed Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's The Doors

Val did a Batman (Forever)

A Simon Templar-The Saint (in Moscow)

Doc Holiday (in Tombstone).

-also Kill Me Again & Thunderheart (thx, Andrei ;)

A great comeback film, with Robert Downey jr. was Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, that me and Andrei saw in the world premiere in Cannes in 2005. And we loved it !!!

and a great parodic part in McGruber (2010) as the evil baddie ;) Cunth. 

Long suffering from throat cancer he made a comeback in the headlights with the intense documentary VAL (2021) , in the official Selection in Cannes Film Festival. He died, age 65, on April 1st 2025.