'Flight of the Red Balloon' and '4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days' at Cannes

Time Out reports on the highlights of the first couple of days

May 18 2007

Probably prompted by what was widely perceived as a disappointing foray into American cinema by Wong Kar-Wai with his Cannes opener 'My Blueberry Nights', many of the press were predicting a likewise unrewarding excursion into Parisian filmmaking on the part of Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-Hsien. The fact, too, that the movie wasn't playing in competition (unlike most of Hou's work over the last 15 years or so) but had 'merely' been selected – admittedly as the opening night gala – of the Un Certain Regard strand fuelled rumours that 'Flight of the Red Balloon' might even turn out to be a dog, rumours generally felt to be reinforced by three aspects of the movie itself. First, it's inspired partly by Albert Lamorisse's '50s short 'The Red Balloon'; second, like the Lamorisse, it has as one of its main characters a child, which to many promised a certain cuteness; and third, it also features Juliette Binoche as a puppeteer. Nothing wrong with la Binoche, of course – but playing a puppeteer?

Whatever, the misgivings proved entirely unfounded. The film isn't remotely cute, the idea of a balloon floating around the French capital is handled with a genuinely lyrical sense of poetry, and Binoche, entering gamely into the semi-improvisatory spirit of Hou's in many regards almost plotless film, provides a vivid and wholly unsentimental portrait of a single parent trying to hold things together. Hou wisely covers his own outsider's point of view by having the Binoche character take on a Taiwanese film student as her son's nanny – their walks around the city make for an engaging perspective on Parisian life – and even the puppet side of things is elegantly folded into what narrative there is, since the play Binoche is seen rehearsing and performing derives from a Yuan dynasty story. Hou buffs, of course, will recall that he years ago made a film (it too premiered in Cannes) entitled 'The Puppetmaster'.

So what's to enjoy about the movie? Mark Lee Ping Bing's fabulous camerawork, a lovely, none-too-intrusive piano score, some wonderful low-key gags involving Binoche's tense relationship with her downstairs tenant (played very nicely by Hippolyte Girardot), and a sense that, seen and/or shown from the right perspective, virtually anything may become interesting. There's not much plot here at all, but in case you're left wondering what this marvellously becalmed film has all been about, Hou ends with a quite inspired scene that ties everything together. For this critic, it's probably the best ending to a movie since the one Valeska Grisebach dreamed up for 'Longing'.

The other highlight of the first couple of days in Cannes has been the snappily titled '4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days'. If that moniker doesn't set your heart racing, how about a Romanian movie set in 1987 – the dreary, oppressive Communist era – detailing a couple of young female students' tawdry dealings with an abortionist who prefers not to be paid by the usual means of cash? Not exactly a great evening out, you might think, but then folks weren't exactly excited by the sound of the last Romanian movie released in the UK – which was 'The Death of Mr Lazarescu'. If the new film, by Cristian Mungiu, doesn't quite reach the heights attained by Cristi Puiu's movie, it's still a very fine piece of work indeed, and those who admired 'Lazarescu' will certainly find '4 Months…' enormously interesting too. If the subject matter is grim, that doesn't mean one isn't exhilarated by the assured writing and direction, the superb hand-held Scope camerawork, the brilliant way the film combines rigorous moral enquiry with a suspenseful but entirely plausible 'realist' narrative, or a magnificent lead performance from Anamaria Marinca – who already won a couple of awards for her work in TV's 'Sex Traffic', and who will be seen later this year in Coppola's 'Youth Without Youth'. With films like this, it's hardly surprising that festival-goers are currently seeking out Romanian movies with an enthusiasm that hasn't been there for years.

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