After a silly press conference in Cannes to promote his new film, Director Lars Von Trier has been  officially  banned from the film festival for his absurdist remarks about Hitler.

Reading his “10  most controversial statements” I think it should be clear to most grown ups that Von Trier was in a goofy mood and mildly attempting to be  provocative.   There was no hint of genuine bigotry or antisemitism. He was just fucking around. He talked about making a hardcore porn film with Kirsten Durst and Charlotte Gainsbourg, blaming them for goading him into it.

I thought he was funny, not a funny as Bill Hicks but still funny. Unfortunately, now there is no room for humor about Hitler and that’s just sad. I loved hearing comedian Louis CK referring to Mrs. Palin as “Hitlering up the place.”

Listen, I’m no friend of Hitler, but neither is Lars Von Trier. It’s a shame that a genuinely original artist is being penalized for being offbeat and sarcsatic, while idiots in Cannes to promote the same old derivative crap are free to do so. I’d like to see his new film, as long as no one is castrated on-screen, like in Antichrist.

Read an enlightening interview with Von Trier here.   Read my other posts about him here and here.

When Clint Eastwood heard Spike Lee’s complaint about the racial make-up of Clint’s war movie “Flags of Our Fathers,” Clint was exasperated. After explaining to a interviewer that his film was true to history, he remarked about Spike Lee, “A guy like him should shut his face.”

I’ve said that line in my head, over and over, and I love it. It is poetry.

When Abel Ferrara heard that Werner Herzog had cast Nick Cage in his remake of Ferrara’s film The Bad Lieutenant, Ferrara told an L.A. Times reporter, “I wish these people would all die in hell. I hope they’re all in the same street car and it blows up.”

Herzog came back with, “I have no idea who Abel Ferrara is. Is he Italian?”

Why can’t everyone follow the lead of these guys and say what they mean? In the arts, in politics, wouldn’t that be refreshing? Anywhere but in the home, of course.

On another note, I can’t wait to see “Mongol“, an epic film about Ghenghis Kahn. It was filmed in China, Mongolia and Kasakhstan. It looks like a visually stunning drama, filled with spectacular violence, and beautiful rugged Aisan men with long flowing hair.