2015 poll: SCFZ does Cannes

[flip]

This is another trial balloon - if it seems SCFZ is interested in this kind of poll, I'll continue with them, in parallel with the year polls (I chose 2015 so people watching films for that poll are watching for this and vice versa). With this poll, I'm hoping to determine how often we at SCFZ think Cannes gets it right.

This poll will award the SCFZ Palme d'Or, a Grand Prix, and two Jury Prizes, to the top four films (respectively).

From the Cannes nominees, listed below, if you want to participate:
--> award to every nominee you've seen a rating from 1 to 5 stars
--> you should assign ratings as follows (do not use your ordinary ratings scale), as best as you can quickly approximate:
5 stars: in the top 10% of Cannes nominees from this decade
4 stars: in the top 30%
3 stars: in the middle
2 stars: in the bottom 30%
1 star: in the bottom 10%

This is the same system as in the Academy Awards poll. I'm encouraging ratings like this so we're not measuring whether generous voters have seen a film, but how a film, in SCFZ's view, ranks against its competition. The nominees are (copy/pasting from this list is preferable to me than typing things up from scratch) :

Dheepan (Jacques Audiard)
Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes)
The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)
Carol (Todd Haynes)
Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
Louder than Bombs (Joachim Trier)
Macbeth (Justin Kurzel)
Marguerite and Julien (Valerie Donzelli)
Mon Roi (Maiwenn Le Besco)
Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)
My Mother (Nanni Moretti)
The Sea of Trees (Gus van Sant)
Sicario (Denis Villeneuve)
The Measure of a Man (Stephane Brize)
The Tale of Tales (Matteo Garrone)
Youth (Paolo Sorrentino)
Cronic (Michel Franco)
The Valley of Love (Guillaume Nicloux)

Because it might be possible for a film to win with a single 5-star rating in this poll, I'll be adjusting one-vote point totals as follows:
5 --> 4.25
4 --> 3.6
3 --> 3
2 --> 2.4
1 --> 1.75
and in case of any ties, films with more votes will win (on the premise that the rating is more reliable).

[flip]

i'm a bit embarrassed to have only seen two films from the 2015 cannes slate

4 stars
Carol (Todd Haynes)

3 stars
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)

[nrh]

that is one awful slate of films

[wba]

that is one awful slate of films

Was just thinking the same!

[Silga]

On the contrary, I think this is a slate full of great films:

5 stars
Carol (Todd Haynes)
Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

4 stars
Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)
Sicario (Denis Villeneuve)
Youth (Paolo Sorrentino)
The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)

3 stars
The Measure of a Man (Stephane Brize)
My Mother (Nanni Moretti)
Macbeth (Justin Kurzel)
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)

2 stars
Cronic (Michel Franco)

1 star
Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes)
The Sea of Trees (Gus van Sant)

[DT.]

5 stars
Carol (Todd Haynes)
Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes)

4 stars
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)
Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)

3 stars
The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
Dheepan (Jacques Audiard)
Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

2 stars
Macbeth (Justin Kurzel)
Sicario (Denis Villeneuve)
Tale of Tales (Matteo Garrone)
Youth (Paolo Sorrentino)

1 star
My Mother (Nanni Moretti)

[Curtis, baby]

5 stars
Carol (Todd Haynes)
Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)

4 stars
The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

2 stars
Sicario (Denis Villeneuve)

[flip]

that is one awful slate of films

i was thinking of also doing a 'did they nominate the right films' poll for cannes, but it's just so unclear what they had to choose from (and even just what criteria they use to choose films) that i couldn't see a good way to do it.

the voting system is all relative, so even voters who dislike cannes selections in general can still participate!

[john ryan]

5 stars
Sicario (Denis Villeneuve)

4 stars
The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)
Carol (Todd Haynes)
Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes)
Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

3 stars
Dheepan (Jacques Audiard)
Louder than Bombs (Joachim Trier)
Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)

2 Stars
Macbeth (Justin Kurzel)
The Tale of Tales (Matteo Garrone)

[nrh]

i was thinking of also doing a 'did they nominate the right films' poll for cannes, but it's just so unclear what they had to choose from (and

i remember there was a kind of minor scandal this year where there was a large group of minor to awful french film on the main slate (maiwenn!) and (to pick the most grevious example) former palme winner apichatpong relegated to un certain regard, despleschin and gomes stuck in director's fortnight and so on.

[flip]

i'm curious about that. i wasn't aware they announced those slates this year -- all i saw was a list of about 55 films they said were chosen for the festival, but they didn't announce which section each film would show in.

a typical cannes competition seems to me to include three or four french films no one would otherwise watch, one film by a director who has been working for 50+ years, one or two films by directors they should have screened five or ten years ago but didn't realize were important, five or six films by midcareer prestige directors, five or six films from unheralded filmmakers from around the world (these are often their most interesting choices), and whatever ken loach made in the past year.

[nrh]

i'm curious about that. i wasn't aware they announced those slates this year

sorry, by this year i was referring to 2015!

[St. Gloede]

Hmmm, slightly difficult rating system, ended up with no 4s.

(I would have placed 8.5s as 4s).

I'm also unsure about 8s on 3 stars, but generally speaking, I tend to find half in the region of great.

5 stars:

The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) 9/10

3 stars: (8/10)

Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes)
Dheepan (Jacques Audiard)
Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)
Sicario (Denis Villeneuve)
Carol (Todd Haynes)

2 stars (6/10)

Youth (Paolo Sorrentino)
The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)

Not yet seen:

Mon Roi (Maiwenn Le Besco)
Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
Louder than Bombs (Joachim Trier)
Macbeth (Justin Kurzel)
Marguerite and Julien (Valerie Donzelli)
My Mother (Nanni Moretti)
The Sea of Trees (Gus van Sant)
The Measure of a Man (Stephane Brize)
The Tale of Tales (Matteo Garrone)
Cronic (Michel Franco)
The Valley of Love (Guillaume Nicloux)

[flip]

sorry, by this year i was referring to 2015!

ah i should have been able to figure that out

[Umbugbene]

4 stars
Sicario (Denis Villeneuve)
Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

3 stars
The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes)

2 stars
Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)

[Searchlike]

4 stars
The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)

3 stars
Carol (Todd Haynes)
Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

2 stars
Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)

I really enjoy The Assassin, but that may be my Shu Qi obsession talking, so I only gave it 4 stars. I think this was around the period when I started to watch less and less cinema (remember that I hate movies thread?). Frankly, I'm surprised I've seen this many.

[cinesmith]

4 stars
Dheepan (Jacques Audiard)
Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes)
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)

3 stars
Macbeth (Justin Kurzel)
The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
My Mother (Nanni Moretti)
The Tale of Tales (Matteo Garrone)
Cronic (Michel Franco)
Sicario (Denis Villeneuve)


2 stars
The Sea of Trees (Gus van Sant)
Carol (Todd Haynes)
Youth (Paolo Sorrentino)

Not yet seen:
Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
Louder than Bombs (Joachim Trier)
Marguerite and Julien (Valerie Donzelli)
Mon Roi (Maiwenn Le Besco)
Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)
The Measure of a Man (Stephane Brize)
The Valley of Love (Guillaume Nicloux)

[grabmymask]

4 stars:
Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes)

3 stars:
Carol (Todd Haynes)
Sicario (Denis Villeneuve)

2 stars:
Dheepan (Jacques Audiard)
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)
The Tale of Tales (Matteo Garrone)

[flip]

as with the analogous oscar 2015 poll, i honestly forgot all about this poll - since i forgot to revive it nearer to the end of the 2015 voting, i'll do that now, in case either people watched more 2015 films and want to update ballots, or people didn't see this and want to vote in it. i'll post the results on thursday!

if you want to edit a ballot already-posted, please quote it in a new post, along with your new ballot, so i can see what has changed. thanks!

[DT.]

5 stars
Carol (Todd Haynes)
Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes)

4 stars
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)
Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)

3 stars
The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
Dheepan (Jacques Audiard)
Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

2 stars
Macbeth (Justin Kurzel)
Sicario (Denis Villeneuve)
Tale of Tales (Matteo Garrone)
Youth (Paolo Sorrentino)

1 star
My Mother (Nanni Moretti)

5 stars
Carol (Todd Haynes)
Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes)

4 stars
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)
Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)

3 stars
The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
Chronic (Michel Franco)
Dheepan (Jacques Audiard)
Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

2 stars
Macbeth (Justin Kurzel)
Sicario (Denis Villeneuve)
Tale of Tales (Matteo Garrone)
Youth (Paolo Sorrentino)

1 star
My Mother (Nanni Moretti)

[flip]

Perhaps a bit of a surprise winner...

Results

Three films didn't receive a single vote, so there's at least some chance they would have fared well had they been seen by anyone:

Marguerite and Julien (Valerie Donzelli)
Mon Roi (Maiwenn Le Besco)
The Valley of Love (Guillaume Nicloux)

SCFZ awards the...

Jury Prize to

Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes) - 3.43
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) - 3.50

Grand Prix to

Carol (Todd Haynes) - 3.78

____________________________________________________________

and SCFZ awards the...

2015 Palme d'Or to

Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-eda) - 3.83

____________________________________________________________


The remaining films, in order of finish:

The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien) - 3.37
Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke) - 3.29
Sicario (Denis Villeneuve) - 3.25
Dheepan (Jacques Audiard) - 3.00
Louder Than Bombs (Joachim Trier) - 3.00
The Measure of a Man (Stephane Brize) - 3.00
Cronic (Michel Franco) - 2.67
Youth (Paolo Sorrentino) - 2.50
Macbeth (Justin Kurzel) - 2.50
My Mother (Nanni Moretti) - 2.33
The Tale of Tales (Matteo Garrone) - 2.25
The Sea of Trees (Gus Van Sant) - 1.50

Mon Roi (Maiwenn Le Besco) - N/A (3.6 on letterboxd)
The Valley of Love (Guillaume Nicloux) - N/A (3.2 on letterbox)
Marguerite and Julien (Valerie Donzelli) - N/A (2.7 on letterboxd)


The actual winner of the Palme d'Or, Dheepan, finished 8th in our poll, almost exactly in the middle of the 16 films that received votes. The Grand Prix winner, Son of Saul, won our Jury Prize, and the actual Jury Prize winner (they only awarded one in 2015, though they often award two), The Lobster, also won our Jury Prize.

So while our winner didn't receive any recognition from the Cannes jury (in any category), our selections overlap with the actual ones a lot more than they did in the Academy Award poll of the same year.

[Silga]

Great results! Our Little Sister and Carol are my favorite films of 2015.