Vincent Gallo's 'Promises Written In Water' Headed To Cannes? 'Cocksucker Blues' To (Sort Of) Make An Appearance Too

In 2003 Vincent Gallo’s “The Brown Bunny” was shown at the Cannes Festival and became infamous for being one of the worst received films in the festival’s history. Roger Ebert proclaimed Gallo should never make a movie again, while the director placed a curse on the critic (both have since reconciled) and film eventually became best known for its um, “passionate,” closing sequence. In spite of the chilly reception for that film, Gallo is bringing his newest effort, “Promises Written in Water” to the upcoming Cannes Festival.

Uncovered by a fan blog, a synopsis on Wikipedia reveals, “the story is of a terminally ill girl that has decided that instead of seeking medical treatment, to kill herself after she begins experiencing the pain of her disease. She wants to be cremated, and asks a young photographer to ensure this. He begins working at a funeral home so he can cremate her himself when she dies.” The same page also asserts that film “is due in 2010 at The 63rd edition of Cannes Film Festival” and features an appearance by Sage Stallone.

Besides the obvious questions his plot (and Sage’s appearance) raises, there may also be discussion about Gallo’s “naturalistic” style at the festival this year. He filmed his actors sometimes without their knowledge to capture the performance he was looking for. In addition, as we reported last year, the film was also shot in black and white on 16 mm film.

If the film does get into festival, the rumor is that it will be appear in the sidebar programming, but wherever it appears, it will be certain to draw attention.

Another film that is surfacing (sort of) at Cannes this year is “Cocksucker Blues” directed by Robert Frank, made 38 years ago documenting the Rolling Stones’ 1972 American tour. Considered too honest in its portrayal of the band at the time (read: it was shocking for its time and showed lots of naked groupies), it was never officially released.

Since then, limited screenings have taken place, but a legal agreement requires the director to be present when the film is shown (though by today’s standards the doc is pretty tame). That said, the film has a very healthy life on the bootleg market and isn’t too hard to track down if you look hard enough (see below). Anyhow, 10 minutes of that film will be included in a half hour documentary will be included in a hodge podge, cobbled together documentary that will also utilize 10 minutes from the long out-of-print and unavailable 1974 doc “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones” and another 10 minutes from the upcoming documentary “Stones In Exile” by Stephen Kijack (“Scott Walker: 30th Century Man”). The Stones are re-issuing (again) their excellent 1972 album “Exile On Main Street,” and the latter film is a feature length most likely about the making of the album that was quite a story in and of itself.

The official lineup for the 63rd Cannes Film Festival will be announced on Thursday. And oh yeah, a clip of “Cocksucker Blues” below. –additional reporting Rachel Morgandale