The Cannes film festival kicked off yesterday with the premiere of Pixar’s “Up”, and I was not there to see it. I am not there now, either. Couldn’t make it work. C’est la vie.
Quite a few publications have had to let the festival slide this year; in what I hope will be the last echo of last fall’s economic convulsion, an expensive jaunt to Europe’s glitziest film festival proved a little too rich for their blood. So I’m kicking around Toronto with Liam Lacey from the Globe and Chris Knight from the Post and a few other unfortunates, deeply regretting that we couldn’t have been in the Lumiere yesterday to see what 2,200 people wearing Real 3D glasses look like.
In my case, the decision was made back when things were at their darkest; if I’d known where things would stand now, I think I could have pulled the whole thing together, but you know what they say about hindsight. I fully expect to be back there next year, though. And I’ll be following the 2009 festival through the reporting of my online friends, with particular interest in Mike D’Angelo’s dispatches for the Onion AV Club.
If I have to pull a positive out of this, well … at least I got to catch the season finale of “Lost” in real time. It took me almost three weeks to see last year’s wrapup, and the spoiler avoidance was a bitch. I can’t imagine it would have been any easier this year — harder, probably, given that the AP was posting major plot twists as news within minutes of the end credits last night — so I’m glad I was able to see it without any accidental revelations.
And yes, I know that if I get my wish and go back to the festival next year, I’ll face the same problem with the presumably mind-blowing series finale. But such are the sacrifices one must make for Cannes, non?
Yeah, I know. Life’s rough.
Norm, the answer to this is exceedingly obvious. You stay home to watch the finale, of course. And then you time travel back a week and go to Cannes.
You act like you haven’t been paying attention to anything! 🙂
Spoiler, blah blah, Alert. blah.
1) I woke up at 5 in the morning today and immediately thought “hey, in all those sightings of Jacob off the island, was that really Jacob?” Something I probably should of picked up while watching, but I had turned off my plot figgerin’ brains and was just enjoying the fun. I don’t know of many shows that plant those kind of time bombs in your head. Joss Whedon is the only other guy I can think of immediately. Dollhouse was just starting to click…
2) I am now worried that if the nuke worked, we’re going to have to sit through a season of everyone continuing their dreary lives and ALMOST connecting with each other until they finally end up going back to the island.
3) I was never sure I bought Sawyer/Juliet as a couple, but I thought both actors really were great this ep and sold it like never before. DAMN YOU INCIDENT!!!!
Maybe they could wake up in the Dollhouse instead of flight 815, ensuring at least one more season of a great new show. Sawyer, Jack, Kate and Juliet would easily get assignments as dolls. I think I’d like to hear Sawyer’s line reading on “I try to be my best”.