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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Left to right: Bahamian filmmaker on location at Cannes, Travolta Cooper; and a film shot of "Loving" starring Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton
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Cannes, France - The 69th annual Cannes Film Festival (Le Festival International du Film de Cannes) is underway in France, and Travolta Cooper, filmmaker of BLACK MOSES and founder of #TheCinemas is on location reporting for TheBahamasWeekly.com. Here's Cooper's next segment on the world premiere of LOVING:
Loving is the first independent film we are talking about at
the Cannes Film Festival in these posts. It is also the first we’re
discussing that is actually in competition at the festival. While there
are many films, both foreign and American that I would like to see at
the festival, there would have to be at least three of me to screen and
partake of it all. So each day, I choose carefully what I will see and
review for you because, I’m also trying to tell an essay
narrative about the absence of the Caribbean here at Cannes.
So why,
Loving? Well, apart from the fact that it
is independent and in competition, it struck a cord with a major theme
of all these essays. The theme? This essay narrative is essentially a
heart to heart talk: from my heart to yours. I know I’m writing some
heady stuff, and some of it can even be interpreted as ambitious and
political. I am not interested in arguments.
I’m much more interested in Story. What the film
Loving quietly and wonderfully demonstrates is that while some things can be legislated, what can’t be legislated are human hearts. Hearts simply need to be inspired.
Loving is heart to heart storytelling and needless to say, it is one of the best and most important films of the year. It tells the story of the historic Loving vs. Virginia case in which the Supreme Court of the United States made it possible for interracial men and women to be married in 1967. Only in the hands of its writer director Jeff Nichols,
Loving is not really about the case itself.
In Mr. Nicohls’ own words he stated, “I didn’t want to make a courtroom drama” of a movie. What he opted to do instead was make a film, a period film, about two people who simply loved each other. He opted to tell a simple love story rather than some climatic court case story where it is the liberal vs. conservative arguments and opinions. The Loving’s? They were actually very simple and common people who were simply caught up in a tide of history. There is a scene in the film filled with poetry (there are actually many poetic scenes in the film). In this scene, a photographer from Life Magazine sits taking photos of the Loving’s while they sit on a couch watching a sitcom. Richard lays his head on Mildred’s lap and the two laugh and we see the sheer joy of their love for one another. No bells or whistles. No grand statements. The picture itself tells the story. These two souls need each other. This is the essence and grand accomplishment of Mr. Nichols craftsmanship.
Loving boasts two of the year’s best performances. As Richard and Mildred Loving, Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga deliver. Both are relatively unknown actors who clearly understood the meat and historic significance of these simple yet larger than life characters. It’s the kind of role that shoots the B list actor to A-List status. As Richard Loving, Joel Edgerton’s performance reminded me a bit of Heath Ledger’s in Brokeback Mountain (which was another story about common people and love under oppression). He gives a restrained, quiet, and ultimately majestic portrayal of Richard Loving; a common carpenter who just simply loves his wife and his children. As Mildred Loving, Ruth Negga reminded me of Helen Mirren’s performance in The Queen (another film about, well, a Queen). She’s equally majestic and allows her eyes, face, and body language to ‘perform’ and tell the story. It should also be noted that neither Edgerton nor Negga are American, much less Southern actors. He hails from Australia and she from Ethiopia. I wasn’t really aware of either actors, and when I heard them speak in this morning’s press conference, it only deepened my appreciation and love for their incredible Oscar caliber performances.
Jeff Nichols, Ruth Negga & Joel Edgerton © A. PIZZOLI / AFP
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I was also humbled to share this morning’s press conference with Chaz Ebert, wife of the very famous and late film critic Roger Ebert, who inspired much of my own essays and critical writings in film school, and is still doing so even as I write to you today. He cared greatly about the cinema, as much I do passionately for the emergence of Caribbean Cinema and its industry. Ebert was a white man married to black woman in Chaz, and Mrs. Ebert gave a very impassioned response to the film
Loving. She spoke about remembering what it was like in Chicago at that time (the Loving’s are exiled from Virginia to live in the city of Chicago in the late 1950’s after being sentenced for the “crime” of their marriage). Remembering not just what it meant to marry a white man, but “date” a white man. She also spoke about what it was like to research the Loving case when she went to university (before taking over the Roger Ebert enterprise in is death, she was a trial attorney). And so for Chaz Ebert, Loving represented an entirely holistic experience: passion, profession, and something deeply personal.
For me the cinema is that, too. It is passion meets profession meets the personal. It’s a heart to heart thing. And as I sit here ‘storying’ the absence of the Caribbean (“Cariwood” or Caribbean Independent film”) contending at this year’s festival, I can only hope it inspires someone, if only one, that who might begin the process of making the Caribbean presence much greater at this all too important Film Festival. This is a missed opportunity for the region.
I remember speaking to Sidney Poitier about a Caribbean Film Industry and he said, there’s no way to do it, than to be “inspired to do it”. I think what he was in essence saying was it can’t be done through legislation from our governments in the region. And while there are financial incentives for local filmmakers in countries like Trinidad and Tobago, in the end, this will all boil down to a greater and more passionate response to Caribbean cinema from the Caribbean audience. We all need to embrace it and celebrate like we do Carnival, and only then will we perhaps see a greater outpouring from our policy makers (like in the Bahamas where millions of public money is spent on Carnival).
Next, I’m heading to the short film
Corner to see the Caribbean Films playing, out of competition. I can only hope to be inspired to continue this journey. Can we be contenders?
Previous:
Cooper at Cannes: Woody Allen's Café Society
Cooper at Cannes: Money Monster
Cooper at Cannes: The BFG
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