Cannes Coverage Exclusive from George the cyclist
- Day Four

DAY FOUR:
We tried a different bakery this morning on our way in, but it was no cheaper than yesterday's. The lady in front of us asked for, "Un baguette, s'il vous plait," just as if we were in France*. As we zipped past the Palais to lock up our bikes I spotted Milos from Facets for the first time on his way to the same screening and exchanged a quick greeting.

FILMS:
Today's first screening, Emir Kusturica's Life Is A Miracle, started a little early as it was 2-and-a-half hours long. This was a farce of a different sort than last night's light fare. This had the same rollicking energy but with more at stake than a 2 million Swiss franc inheritance. This takes place in Bosnia in l992 as war spills over into a remote village with a lovesick donkey who wants to commit suicide and a cat and dog who flare up at each other. As usual, Kusturica is more bent on entertainment than enlightenment. His um-pah-pah score, however, couldn't keep the woman next to meet from continually nodding off.

My second film today, Mondovino, a documentary on the wine industry by Jonathan Nossiter, was also 2-and-a-half-hours long, though it felt as if it were 5 hours long. People were dribbling out of it after half an hour, though for those who are devoted to the beverage, such as Jesse, it wasn't long enough.

Nossitor interviews wine growers and experts from France to Napa Valley to Italy and Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Two of his featured subjects are a French wine consultant and the American critic Robert Parker**, who has been awarded the French Legion of Honor and whose nose is insured for one million dollars. The director didn't shy away from showing the egotism and smallness of his many subjects, catching them in various unguarded moments. He includes a farting dog and servants interrupting interviews and a husband sniping at a wife and all sorts of other extraneous detail, implying we are not to take these people all that seriously.... The director's tone and message waver from giving these people respect and credence to these occasional stabs in the back. He had many interesting subjects and could have made a very riveting documentary focusing on any one of them or seriously tightening the film. Jesse thinks its great, I thought it was an interesting failure.

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*At an international Festival one forgets one is in France, right? [ed.]
** Wine critic Parker (and his million dollar nose) apparently get's death threats from time to time.