The national cinema of choice right now? Romania. Following the success of Cristi Piui's "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu," Cristian Mungiu's “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” won the Palme d'Or, which was not a shock. What was surprising was Konstantin Lavronenko's being voted best actor for his performance in “The Banishment,” a Russian film directed by Andrei Zviagintsev. “The Mourning Forest” by the Japanese director Naomi Kawase won the Camera d'Or, which is like the second place award.
Best actress went to Jeon Do-yeon for her work in the Korean film “Secret Sunshine,” directed by Lee Chang-dong. Meanwhile, Asia Argento, who appeared to be the toast of the festival, appearing, somewhat notoriously, in three movie's, one of which (Abel Ferrara's "Go Go Tales") has her French kissing a dog. She might be the most fearless woman in the movies.
Julian Schnabel won the directing prize for "The Diving Bell and Butterfly."
The jury this year was an interesting as usual: Maggie Cheung, Sarah Polley, Toni Collette, Maria de Medeiros, Michel Piccoli, Orhan Pamuk, Mario Bellochio, Abderrahmane Sissako, with Stephen Frears presiding. Those deliberations would make an awesome reality show.
