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The Cannes Film Festival is taking a stand against Netflix. Responding to a rumor that the streaming service's Okja, directed by Bong Joon Ho, and The Meyerowitz Stories, directed by Noah Baumbach, would be excluded from awards consideration after being included in the Competition lineup, the festival released a statement clarifying and adjusting its positioning going forward. The short version: From now on, if you want to compete at Cannes, your movie had better be released in French movie theaters—not just online.
There has long been a point of tension between Cannes and Netflix, to the extent where the inclusion of Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories came as a bit of a surprise. Netflix films had previously been snubbed and festival officials had advocated for "discouraging" the streaming service's online-first approach to release. The two movies included in Cannes' lineup this year are slated for theatrical bows stateside, but according to the festival's official statement, "no agreement has been reached" to get the moves into French cinemas and the effort to reach one was made "in vain." However, the statement does clarify that this rule goes into effect next year, so Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories will remain in competition and eligible for the Palme d'Or.
Seems the Cannes Film Festival is less about film and more about an outdated business model.
(Score: 1, Troll) by jasassin on Saturday May 13 2017, @06:42AM (38 children)
Maybe I really am out of touch. I have never heard of this Cannes film festival. Do people (besides the people making the movies and running this "festival") even care?
Do you think one single person is going to drop NetFlix because some shitty film didn't get in a shitty film festival? Do you think NetFlix gives half a shit?
I bet somewhere there was a NetFlix CEO rolling around on the ground laughing like Porky Pig when he heard about this Cannes Film Festival robbing NetFlix of their gold by putting a clothyard shaft through their wishbone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uViZ9a09RFY [youtube.com]
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Saturday May 13 2017, @06:47AM
Wrong link. Here's the right one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXydhFFr5QE [youtube.com]
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @07:08AM (25 children)
Maybe I really am out of touch. I have never heard of this Cannes film festival. Do people (besides the people making the movies and running this "festival") even care?
I'd say you were. I don't even care about movies and I'm aware of it. And that it's also quite prestigious: [wikipedia.org]
Given that you obviously live in a cave, you probably won't recognize any of the past winners, either [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @07:47AM (1 child)
Given that you obviously live in a cave
Don't you mean the basement of his mom's cave?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @07:36PM
Same diff
(Score: 1, Troll) by jasassin on Saturday May 13 2017, @08:08AM (22 children)
Nice list. Wish the exception of "Pulp Fiction", it would make a great list for the stupidest fucking movies of all time.
No wonder I've never heard of it.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday May 13 2017, @08:22AM (19 children)
Stay ignorant and be happy with whatever Hollywood feeds down on your throat.
I reckon you believe Transformers and whatever Marvel and Disney shits lately on the market is top notch in the matter of movies.
Good God! I'll let aside you ignorance of world movies, but... "Taxi driver" and "Apocalypse Now" on your list of "stupidest fucking movies"? Oh, the horror!
You... you stupid, stupid... ARGGHHHHH!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @09:14AM (7 children)
"Taxi driver" and "Apocalypse Now" on your list of "stupidest fucking movies"? Oh, the horror!
Taxi driver. A taxi driver dies in a shootout with a pimp to save a girl from prostitution. Most memorable part (and dumb) the taxi driver pointing a gun in a mirror saying "You talking to me?". Just a horribly lame movie.
Apocalypse Now. Probably even worse than Taxi driver. Give anyone a camcorder, some army outfits and prop guns, and about 20 hits of acid and they could make that steaming pile of dog shit.
I have to agree with the parent post. I'd hate to come over to your place and watch a movie, because I can imagine you driving around town with your windows down listening to the national anthem at max volume on repeat, because it's the best song!
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday May 13 2017, @09:46AM (3 children)
De gustibus non disputandum est. Your right to opinion.
But like it or not, just don't pretend there's nothing remarkable about it.
Oh, surprise!!... a wild imagination for a tasteless person. Even more, a person who thinks Apocalypse Now is about patriotism (the horror... the horror!!!)
Anyway, I'm curious which anthem your imagination tells you I'm listening on repeat?
See... I immigrated in Australia from a former communist East European country. Apart from the Australian anthem (that would be one), the country of origin changed its anthem about 3 times while I was living here. I can't decide which of the four you imagine I'm listening.
I hope it's not the one with a land free of the brave, I simply can't stand the tune (de gustibus...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday May 13 2017, @12:07PM (2 children)
So..."Down Under" or "Come On Eileen!"?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday May 13 2017, @12:35PM
Ooops... seems like 5 of them. Surely I'd drive around town listening Down Under on repeat, but driving is so boring when limited to just around the town.
The other one... mmm... is something with the four that are young and free and toiling. Meanwhile we are no longer just four, many not so young anymore, but for sure the toiling continues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday May 13 2017, @03:47PM
Waltzing Matilda, obviously.... :)
"Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong...."
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Saturday May 13 2017, @11:16AM
Joseph Conrad who?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday May 13 2017, @12:11PM
You didn't even like the Flight of the Valkyries scene? I didn't have much use for the rest of the movie but that scene was pretty good.
Personally my favorite Vietnam movie was Full Metal Jacket. The dark humor was great, and it had more quotable lines. Though, "How much can I get for $10?" is one I've learned not to repeat in front of my Korean wife...
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Sunday May 14 2017, @03:08AM
Taxi driver. A taxi driver dies in a shootout with a pimp to save a girl from prostitution. Most memorable part (and dumb) the taxi driver pointing a gun in a mirror saying "You talking to me?". Just a horribly lame movie.
I don't know. I thought the reaction Cybil Shepard's character when Travis Bickle (DeNiro) takes her to a porno movie, coupled with Bickle's complete confusion as to the reason for her discomfort and disgust were more memorable.
That, of course, set him on the path to first trying to kill the candidate for whom the Shepard character worked, and then to trying to "free" the Jodi Foster character and all the violence that entailed. The "mirror" scene just added to the sense that Bickle was coming completely unhinged.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @11:48AM (1 child)
Stay ignorant and be happy with whatever Hollywood feeds down on your throat.
What a false dichotomy. Maybe he doesn't like any of these movies. I know I don't.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday May 14 2017, @05:17AM
Not liking them doesn't make them stupid.
I profoundly dislike Dostoevsky's style, does this make any of his novels stupid?
(I also dislike Bieber, does this make his music stupid? Of course it does! But there are lotsa... mmm... beings that like hm).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @12:26PM (1 child)
Dear god, I was desperate on a flight recently and rewatched Rogue One... I really thought Disney would improve the quality of Star Wars after the prequel nightmares. I can believe the prequels seem decent in comparison.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday May 13 2017, @12:44PM
I know the feeling.
Even worse when flying for 14 hours over the Indian Ocean without a stop and with no other way to have a dose of nicotine other than chewing gum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday May 13 2017, @12:36PM (3 children)
I dunno. The list of great movies is not so absolute. "Taxi Driver" was a big 'meh' for me. Maybe it was impressive when it came out because of the context of the time, but I found it dull. 2001 is like that, too, I think. Audiences who saw it when it first came out were all "oooh," and "aaah," but I saw Star Wars, Star Trek, and a million other sci-fi movies before I saw it and found it incredibly slow. For me its one saving grace were HAL's lines.
Apocalypse Now had a couple good scenes like the helicopter attack and water buffalo slaughter, but overall was ponderous as many films from the 70's were because they were trying to be so political and subversive. Maybe it was mind-blowing for the people whose first Vietnam film was that one, but I had already seen pretty much all the others first and the maudlin throughline of the genre had already lost my interest.
Then you have the movies that turn on the knife-edge of editing. Blade Runner and Brazil spring to mind. The director's cut of those two were brilliant, the cinematic releases forgettable. The final scene of the good version of Brazil blew me away. The final scene of the good version of Blade Runner had many more undertones of pathos than the cinematic release.
And then there are phenomenal foreign films that seem to never get included in Best Film lists, like Guru Dutt's Pyaasa, Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru, or Bahman Ghobadi's A Time for Drunken Horses or Turtles Can Fly.
And then there are the ones that are near misses but had brilliant parts, like the one that launched Russell Crowe's international career, Romper Stomper.
Lastly there are guilty pleasures. I love Zoolander because even after watching it a hundred times it still makes me laugh.
YMMV
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday May 13 2017, @01:08PM (2 children)
True, but I didn't ask recognition for great movies, just an admission for remarkable ones.
I liked better the "Hey, man, you don't talk to the Colonel. You listen to him. The man's enlarged my mind. [aso] ..."
I think it explains perfectly how the horror became (and becomes) possible.
I couldn't stand it even the only time I watched it. And I watched it during a Friday-night-beer-and-stupid-movies-marathon.
(I reckon this is a clear demonstration that, for each and every one, there are things in this world for which there's no such thing as too much beer).
But I do have a weakness for "Crank: High Voltage".
Have you tried "Cloud atlas"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday May 13 2017, @04:00PM
When I see Jason Statham in a movie, I'm always waiting for him to go full Crank/Crank 2.
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(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday May 15 2017, @11:51AM
Was Crank: High Voltage the one where they have sex in the middle of a crowd to keep his heart beating? Classic film scene, that.
Cloud Atlas was a remarkable film, too. I've never seen a plot structured like it.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Celestial on Sunday May 14 2017, @03:20AM (2 children)
To be fair, the two "Guardians of the Galaxy" films are both really good IMO.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday May 14 2017, @05:20AM
And I like Chaplin's "Modern Times"... one hundred years after and they are still actual.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Monday May 15 2017, @11:54AM
Haven't seen the second one yet but the first is a strong combination of good cast, snappy writing, and a fun soundtrack that pulls everything together for me as a Gen-Xer the way Forrest Gump's soundtrack did for Baby Boomers.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @07:39PM
Not even Kagemusha [wikipedia.org]?! Or Apocalypse Now?!?!?! You heathen!
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday May 13 2017, @07:42PM
We have found the Philistine!
(Score: 3, Informative) by maxwell demon on Saturday May 13 2017, @07:12AM (7 children)
If you are European, you are definitely out of touch. If you are American, it's probably just the typical American ignorance about the rest of the world.
You seem to be quite fond of the term "shitty". Maybe because it somehow relates to your own properties? ;-)
On a more serious note: Someone who already has Netflix certainly won't cancel his subscription. But someone who has not a Netflix subscription might have considered getting one if Netflix films had been nominated (or even won) in Cannes. This is especially true in France, but also in the rest of Europe.
And I'm pretty sure you'll lose that bet. Netflix knows quite well that Europe is a big market.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday May 13 2017, @07:21AM (1 child)
Huh. So there are some fights the French don't just surrender.
Good to see that some people still fight the fight of being human, regardless of logic or reason.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @12:29PM
We humans are sure French! I agree absolutely fellow human, we must keep up the fight that is good, for our defined humanity. Please pass me some more of your ethanol product, I too enjoy imbibing vapors of intoxication.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Saturday May 13 2017, @05:37PM (4 children)
I'm not sure what all the conflict is about. It's a film festival where part of it is actually showing the film. As it is their festival, and a contest of sorts, they get to determine the rules. One of them, is that is must be played in an actual theater, in France no less. This doesn't seem to affect just Netflix, but Amazon too.
If Netflix wants to participate it needs to conform to the rules of the contest, which seems perfectly reasonable to me. The fact this turned in a bunch of conflict, CEO's arguing blah blah blah, I find funny and strange. Of course Cannes can limit entries to those that are played in theaters. It's THEIR festival, not to mention, I believe the judges are in the theaters.
As of fan of both Netflix and the Cannes Film Festival I don't see what the problem is, or how conflict is going to erupt from it. Netflix is billion dollar company that can afford to show its candidate films in a French theater during the festival. We have digital projection technology, so we do literally have the technology :)
The request is reasonable and seemingly uncontroversial, but that apparently is just me....
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @07:59PM (1 child)
I agree. The only explanation for why Netflix "exclusives" cannot be also shown in theaters, for paying customers, to the mutual economic benefit of all from the people to the theaters to Netflix (the "content creators" here), is greed, plain and simple. I'm sure there are lots of fancy words capitalists will use to justify the emergent effects of this base greed such as "contracts" "copyright" "deals" "market share" "demand" "scarcity" and more blablabla, but it's greed, and it is killing culture.
Empires don't fall because they run out of steam. They fall because the greed and nepotism (but I repeat myself) of the ownership class strangles them to death.
I'm glad I at least got an incarnation in during the fall of an empire. It has been educational.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Saturday May 13 2017, @10:04PM
No, greed is what keeps them from showing it to maybe a few thousand people for free. It's a film festival and a contest to evaluate art. If Netflix is truly motivated by greed alone in this decision, which I don't necessarily know or agree with, then what it says is that they have no place in an art exhibit or contest.
If Netflix places value on Cannes as an endorsement of their quality, then those fucking MBAs are also stupid as well as avaricious. It's not lost revenue, but marketing expenses. Exposure in Cannes, possible winning entries, the latter of which may heftily increase its value in their overall IP portfolio. But what the fuck do I know right? I'm just a dirty commie and hippie that could never understand business.....
There is literally no good reason why Netflix can't show the film to what amounts to a minute fraction of of their subscriber base. It can even be argued, from the above, that they are performing a disservice to the shareholder. The most bigly of crimes in this world.
In the best case scenario here, Netflix is just being childish and lazy. They most certainly can show the film in theaters, and it's fairly awkward and weird that they would object.
To be fair, I've not heard Netflix object at all. This could be a story that others are fanning the flames too.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday May 13 2017, @08:57PM (1 child)
I just noted this above, but the conflict is actually about the 36-month moratorium on streaming that threatrical releases are required to observe according to French law. Obviously Cannes still gets to determine its own rules, but Netflix's business model in supporting these films works less well if they have to wait 3 years to stream their own content again. Whether that request is "reasonable" or not likely depends on how much you want to insist on preserving traditional theatre experience by having a legally-required extended period before films can be available in other ways.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Saturday May 13 2017, @10:09PM
Oooooooohhhh. Yeah, Netflix ain't showing the film in a French theater. I entirely understand their recalcitrance if the implication is also that it affects streaming services in France. I would imagine if they are that crazy to control it they would.
A possible compromise would be to ferry viewers out past the island into international waters. I'm sure they could borrow a yacht or something to setup a floating movie theater.
Ten times better if they staged a mock attack by actual pirates at sea :)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @03:01PM (1 child)
It has been around about 70 years. You can consider it the hipster version of the film festival; they bend themselves over backward to define themselves in what they are not. In the rest of the world, if you release a crappy movie, it usually does poorly. However, if your crappy movie has an anti-western political bent, particularly anti-American, you could very well walk away with the Palme d'Or (think Michael Moore, etc.). Like everything French, it isn't about quality or utility, or even whether it is good, besides the things that are making political statements, to do well the rest has to be crappy, but not obviously crappy, it has to be undecipherably crappy to suggest that it is so culturally superior, that if you don't "get" it, you are obviously a peasant. You want your Cannes entry to be shot in black-and-white, silent, and be about sad mimes holding balloons. I also think it is a requirement that it ends in a black screen with Fin written in cursive.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @08:12PM
think Michael Moore
Triggered!
You want your Cannes entry to be shot in black-and-white, silent, and be about sad mimes holding balloons.
I would find an interpretation of Pulp Fiction or Apocalypse Now in this style to be interesting... for maybe 15 minutes. But interesting... if only for the lulz.
(Sorry dude, I guess I don't see any reason why I should feel patriotic to whatever you think "Western values" are that Pulp Fiction and Apocalypse Now or say Full Metal Jacket, since I'm guessing you hate that one too, are opposed to. But I just have to look at the White House these days. You people aren't about bettering yourselves or making the world a little bit of a better place than the condition you found it in. You people are about destruction and depravity.)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday May 13 2017, @03:51PM
Cannes is the top film festival for artsy "liberal" types and Europeans particularly. It is probably the world's most well known film festival. The treatment that "mainstream" films get there can vary, but the thing itself is used as a marketing tool.
Amazon is also affected by this decision as the article notes.
Since it doesn't go into effect until next year, it will be interesting to see if Netflix tries to launch films in 1-2 theaters. It would be pretty funny if someone released a CAM copy of the films in the short interval before streaming was enabled. Or maybe they can launch streaming first and do a token French theater release later.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannes_Film_Festival [wikipedia.org]
As you might expect, movie celebs and a French film festival mix well.
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