Remember the oh-so-earnest PSA featuring Hollywood celebrities in the aftermath of Newtown, calling for Americans to "demand a plan" for dealing with violence? Hollywood's plans evidently didn't involve curtailing on-screen violence. According to published reports, the esteemed Cannes film festival's preview trailer showcases some intensely, "ultra-violent" films.
"First came a scene from Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives, showing Ryan Gosling smashing a glass in the face of a bargoer. Later was an explosive sequence of execution-style shootings from Johnnie To’s Blind Detective. Wrapping up the promo reel with a bang: Forest Whitaker getting stabbed through the ear and pinned to a wall in a choice segment from Jerome Salle’s closing film Zulu." (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-ultra-violence-peppers-competition-524062)
Another film features torture sequences including a male character having his private parts set on fire.
This years cinematic gore-fest goes even further than in years past by including a snuff film. According to director Ebadur Rahman, "'Cannes has been showing fake "extreme content" for ages: Any film by Tarantino, Takeshi Miike, or Kim Ki Duk is at least as violent as mine. What’s different about Atrocity Exhibition is, I didn’t fake it.' Asked whether viewers might have to look away during screenings, Rahman says: 'I would hope so.'"
