Cannes Man on DVD (again) and Blu-ray
A satire that plays like a mockumentary, Cannes Man (1996) lampoons the fame game, particularly as it pertains to Hollywood and Cannes. Cinema Libre Studio has just re-released this comic gem by Richard Martini.
Starring Seymour Cassel as hot-air movie producer Sy Lerner who knows everyone and is loved by…well…Sy Lerner, and Francesco Quinn as the nobody (Frank Rhinoslavsky) who becomes somebody overnight, and falls for the hype, Cannes Man begins with Sy’s funeral. There’s not a lot of people there, but Frank uses the occasion to recount his relationship with Sy.
Attending the Cannes Film Festival, Sy makes a bet that he can take anyone and turn him into an overnight sensation. His pal takes the bet and chooses a goofball on the beach—Frank Rhinoslavsky--who was in town as a courier, delivering promotional material to Troma (yes, that Troma). The first thing Sy does is change Frank’s name to Frank Rhino. Sy then talks him up as the new Hemingway and begins pushing a non-existent, brilliant screenplay.
Before long, everyone in Cannes is discussing the film, trying to invest, trying to get parts or direct, and Frank buys into the fantasy. When the festival—and the charade—end, Frank tries to pick up where Sy left off, selling the script himself although he doesn’t even know what it was supposed to be about. Threaded throughout the film are documentary-style interviews with Sy’s investors and associates.
A large part of the fun of Cannes Man is in the cameos and “as him/herself” roles. Appearing as either interviewees or victims of Sy’s scam are Johnny Depp, Treat Williams, Jim Jarmusch, Lara Flynn Boyle, Benicio del Toro, John Malkovich, Dennis Hopper, Robert Evans, Chris Penn, James Brolin, Kevin Pollak, Jon Cryer, Jim Sheridan, Peter Gallagher, and Harvey Weinstein. Seymour Cassel is excellent as the dodgy—yet likable—producer, and Francesco Quinn is suitably brutish, gauche, irritating, and ill-mannered as the would-be writer. We would like to have seen more of Ann Cusack, as multi-lingual investor Kitty Monaco—she was that good.
Cannes Man is loaded with inside jokes and sly humor, and is a good bet for those who’ve enjoyed Mel Brooks’ Silent Movie and Robert Altman’s The Player, as well as fans of master mockumentarian, Christopher Guest. Don’t be surprised if you begin to suspect that it’s not all that exaggerated…
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