GOLDEN GUS: Proving once again the old adage that there's nothing European cinephiles love more than American films that ridicule America, Gus Van Sant's "Elephant" today won the Palm d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, considered by most to be the worst slate of films in Cannes history.
"Elephant" beat out the non-American anti-American entry (Lars Von Trier's "Dogville"), while the undisputed dog of the festival of "Brown Bunny," directed by Vincent Gallo. I'm not a fan of Gallo's- I regard his previous film, 1998's "Buffalo 66," as nothing but an overrated "Taxi Driver" ripoff- but I do give Gallo credit for including a scene in the new film in which he gets fellated by Chloe Sevigny.
The Van Sant picture's victory means one other thing: thus far in 2003, the most critically acclaimed album and the most critically acclaimed movie are both called "Elephant."