| Cannes Film Festival 2002 Jury President: David Lynch Other Jurors: Bille August, Christine Hakim, Claude Miller, Raul Ruiz, Walter Salles, Sharon Stone, Régis Wargnier, Michelle Yeoh |
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| Palme d'Or: | The Pianist, France/Germany/UK/Poland, dir. Roman Polanski |
| Grand Jury Prize: | The Man without a Past, dir. Aki Kaurismäki |
| Jury Prize: | Divine Intervention, dir. Elia Suleiman |
| Best Director: | Chihwaseon, Im Kwon-taek Punch-Drunk Love, Paul Thomas Anderson |
| Best Actress: | The Man without a Past, Kati Outinen |
| Best Actor: | The Son, Olivier Gourmet |
| Best Screenplay: | Sweet Sixteen, Paul Laverty |
| 55th Anniversary Prize: | Bowling for Columbine, dir. Michael Moore |
| FIPRESCI/International Critics Prize: | Divine Intervention, dir. Elia Suleiman |
| Prize of the Ecumenical Jury: | The Man without a Past, dir. Aki Kaurismäki |
| Camera d'Or (first feature): | Seaside, dir. Julie Lopes-Curval |
Competition Films I Have Seen:Ranked in order of preference
My Palme d'Or
Russian Ark (Russia, dir. Aleksandr Sokurov) - Mammoth yet mercurial pageant of Russian history flashing before Sokurov's dying eyes and his camera's unblinking gaze (full review)
demonlover (France, dir. Olivier Assayas) - Sizzling, sinister Mulholland Drive redux, in which other media evilly outstrip cinema's grotty and voyeuristic thrills
Chihwaseon (South Korea, dir. Im Kwon-taek) - Robust, boldly edited film passing as artist-with-demons biopic. Cuts timed like brush strokes. Ego baffled by history.
Bowling for Columbine (USA, dir. Michael Moore) - Digressive and inconsistently cogent, and yet scores plenty of points. Theme excuses lost-at-sea structure.
The Pianist (France/Germany/UK/Poland, dir. Roman Polanski) - Stiff, stagy first hour; gains in power as dialogue recedes. Finally very moving, despite refusals of sentimentality.
The Man without a Past (Finland, dir. Aki Kaurismäki) -
Irréversible (France, dir. Gaspar Noé) - Asking Noé for ideas like asking Ozu for yuks. Tactile bodies, overzealous despair, virtuosic form more than enough.
Sweet Sixteen (UK, dir. Ken Loach) -
Ten (Iran, dir. Abbas Kiarostami) -
Spider (USA, dir. David Cronenberg) - Sad, atmospheric, but oblique in defiantly unsubtle ways. Tropes, symbols feel enforced on character, not spun out of him.
The Son (Belgium, dirs. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne) - As tense as Rosetta, but with less manic energy. Polished, but for my money the Dardennes' bluntest, least rewarding tale.
Punch-Drunk Love (USA, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson) - Mondrian color-blocking, boldly telescoped sound and score are hobbled by barely fertilized story and toxic lead
Divine Intervention (Palestine, dir. Elia Suleiman) - Cheeky, dyspeptic vignettes, varying in humor, fire, eloquence. Bits with Suleiman, ladyfriend fall flattest.
The Uncertainty Principle (Portugal, dir. Manoel de Oliveira) - Oliveira melodrama somewhere between Visconti and Fassbinder, semi-engagingly staged in etherized milieu
24 Hour Party People (UK, dir. Michael Winterbottom) - Treads some water while seeking out tone and stakes, but free-verse sprawl generates a tart, zippy countermyth
All or Nothing (UK, dir. Mike Leigh) - Good work from Manville, Garland. Rich lensing from DP Dick Pope. Still, much lost to overstatement, uneven focus.
About Schmidt (USA, dir. Alexander Payne) - As dotted with tiny victories of insight or humor as it is marred by condescension, mugging, and stilted contrivance
My Jury Votes:
| Best Director: | Chihwaseon, Im Kwon-taek |
| Best Actress: | demonlover, Connie Nielsen |
| Best Actor: | Sweet Sixteen, Martin Compston |
| Best Screenplay: | The Man without a Past, Aki Kaurismäki |
| Technical Grand Prize: | Russian Ark, Tillman Büttner, camera operator |
Sidebar Selections I Have Seen:Ranked in order of preference
Morvern Callar (Directors' Fortnight: UK, dir. Lynne Ramsay) -
Blissfully Yours (Un Certain Regard: Thailand, dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul) -
To Be and To Have (Être et avoir) (Out of Competition: France, dir. Nicholas Philibert) -
Raising Victor Vargas (Un Certain Regard: USA, dir. Peter Sollett) -
Sex Is Comedy (Directors' Fortnight: France, dir. Catherine Breillat) -
City of God (Out of Competition: Brazil, dir. Fernando Meirelles) -
Madame Satã (Un Certain Regard: Brazil, dir. Karim Aïnouz) -
Femme Fatale (Out of Competition: USA, dir. Brian De Palma) -
Laurel Canyon (Directors' Fortnight: USA, dir. Lisa Cholodenko) -
Murder by Numbers (Out of Competition: USA, dir. Barbet Schroeder) -
Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones (Out of Competition: USA, dir. George Lucas) -
Searching for Debra Winger (Out of Competition: USA, dir. Rosanna Arquette) -
Ararat (Out of Competition: Canada, dir. Atom Egoyan) -
Hollywood Ending (Out of Competition: USA, dir. Woody Allen) - From lighting to scripting to mugging to framing, an exercise in garish self-contempt. Leoni wasted, as so often.
Competition Films I'm Curious to See:
Ranked in order of interest; more on this year's lineup here (opens in a new window)
Unknown Pleasures, China, dir. Jia Zhangke
My Mother's Smile, Italy, dir. Marco Bellocchio
Kedma, Israel, dir. Amos Gitaï
L'Adversaire, France, dir. Nicole Garcia
Marie-Jo and Her Two Lovers, France, dir. Robert Guédiguian
Sidebar Films I'm Curious to See:
Listed alphabetically; more on this year's lineup here (opens in a new window)
| Un Certain Regard: |
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, France, dir. Dai Sijie Bemani (To Stay Alive), Iran, dir. Dariush Mehrjui El Bonaerense, Argentina, dir. Pablo Trapero Carnage, France, dir. Delphine Gleize De l'autre côté, Belgium/France, dir. Chantal Akerman Glowing Eyes (aka Porn Theater), France, dir. Jacques Nolot Marooned in Iraq, Iran, dir. Bahman Ghobadi Rachida, Algeria, dir. Yamina Bachir-Chouikh Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet, Germany, dir. Miscellaneous Waiting for Happiness, Mauritania, dir. Abderrahmane Sissako |
| Directors' Fortnight: |
Abouna, Chad, dir. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun Blue Gate Crossing, Taiwan, dir. Yee Chih-yen The Embalmer, Italy, dir. Matteo Garrone Japón, Mexico, dir. Carlos Reygadas Mon-Rak Transistor, Thailand, dir. Pen-ek Ratanaruang L'Occident, Romania, dir. Cristian Mungiu Once Upon a Time in the Midlands, UK, dir. Shane Meadows Red Bear, Argentina, dir. Adrián Caetano Seaside, France, dir. Julie Lopes-Curval |
| Critics' Week: |
Intacto, Spain, dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo Rana's Wedding, Palestine, dir. Hany Abu-Assad Respiro, Italy, dir. Emanuele Crialese |
| Out of Competition: |
And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen, France, dir. Claude Lelouch Devdas, India, dir. Sanjay Leela Bhansali The Kid Stays in the Picture, USA, dirs. Brett Morgen & Nanette Burstein |
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