Friday in Cannes was all about The Past, the new film by Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi (A Separation, 2011).

After a four-year separation, Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa, The Last Step, 2012) returns to Paris from Iran to complete divorce proceedings at the request of his French wife Marie (Bérénice Bejo, The Artist, 2011). During his brief stay, Ahmad reconnects with Marie’s two daughters, from a previous relationship, with whom he bonded during the marriage. He learns that Marie has a contentious relationship with her teen daughter Lucie (Pauline Burlet, La vie en rose, 2007). Ahmad also learns Marie is in a serious relationship with Samir (Tahar Rahim, A Prophet, 2009). Ahmad’s visit unearths scars and secrets that leave each character stuck between holding onto the past and looking toward the future.

Farhadi has turned in another masterpiece—a family drama with layers of human truth intricately woven into the fabric of honest storytelling. In the first scene, Marie sees Ahmad at the airport and tries many times unsuccessfully to flag him down. Once she has his attention, they speak from opposite sides of thick glass and cannot hear each other. Already in that scene Farhadi represents Marie’s inability to connect with Ahmad (a tacit reference to his leaving, causing their separation) and the couple’s inability to communicate, no matter how hard either tries.

Each scene reveals more insight into past and present, compelling the viewer to care for each character on her or his individual terms. Right and wrong, the victim and the aggressor, remains fluid as it unfolds. Even the young children have elements in their past that guide their actions and make the decisions of the adults all the more significant. The acting is brilliant—never melodramatic; it’s almost underplayed. The lighting and visuals complement this minimalist, truthful style. The director chose to set the film in Paris, but rests the locale in the suburbs, away from the glitz or clichés of The City of Light, further grounding the characters as real people. The only flaw occurs in the third act when one turn of events is slightly far reaching, but the film is brought home with a touching last scene, and even the last frame leaves the audience clutching its collective chest. The Past is a serious contender for the festival’s highest honor, the Palme d’Or, because it truly explores the complexity of many aspects of the human experience very simply and honestly.

Limité Rating: 5/5

Director: Asghar Farhadi

Screenwriters: Asghar Farhadi, Massoumeh Lahidji (adaptation)

Cast: Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, Ali Mosaffa

TRT: 130 min.

Site: facebook.com/thepast

The 2013 Cannes Film Festival runs from May 15 – 26 in Cannes, France.

Follow Limité Senior Film Contributor Stephanie Dawson and her personal exploits in Cannes on her blog, eclectionmedia.tumblr.com.

Last week Thursday, we participated in the First Annual Shellback Rum Cup. We formed a team of 5 and competed in a sailing competition and competitive games with the likes of Details, Thrillist, Complex, Inside Hook, Woven and Dancing Astronaut. To set things in motion, we started off with a series of games that includes random nautical trivia, constructing a boat and placing it in a glass bottle, creating a sailboat in the form of origami and tying one of those traditional sailing knots. The team were outfitted in color coded uniforms including jackets, shoes and polo shirts for the boat race. Check out the images below to see the day’s events that took place. Congrats to Dancing Astronaut for winning! Head over to our Facebook page to view more photos.

If you were in NYC this weekend and saw people of all ages (mostly teenagers and young adults) in colorful get-ups, well they were all migrating at Citi Fields to enjoy the New York stop of the 2013 Electric Daisy Carnival. 2 days of some of the biggest EDM DJ’s and up-and-coming names that are making a place for themselves in the world of electro and dance.

Held at Citi Field for the first time, with five stages, more than 30 DJs performing and over 40,000 fans gathered under perfect festival weather on Saturday and nothing stopped them from coming out in the rain on Sunday. In addition to the artists, festival highlights included theatrical performers, art installations, carnival rides, state-of-the-art sound and lighting production as well as a fireworks display over Citi Field.

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Friend of Limité and fellow all-around dope-ass photographer Tasha Bleu is shedding some light on how you can create amazing fashion lookbooks that you seen from some of your favorite brands. In this project-based class, you will be creating lookbooks of your own, either for a personal endeavor or your favorite brand. This is not a technical photography class; in other words, Tasha will not teaching you how to use your camera!  She will go through the process of shooting an effective lookbook, which includes: gathering information, creating an inspiration board preparing the clothing, shooting schedule shot checklist, shooting the lookbook making selections and submitting the lookbook. Sign up for the course here.

The Birth of an American Icon

When Levi Strauss partnered with tailor Jacob Davis in 1873 on a patent for riveted pockets on work pants for Western pioneers, they couldn’t have dreamed of its impact on modern culture.  The Levi’s® 501® button fly jean – the original and first ever blue jean – was born this coming Monday, May 20, 1873.  And 140 years later, it is more popular and even more relevant to global culture and style than ever before.

A historical look at the 501®’s impact on culture over the last 140 years

1873 – The birthday of the blue jean.

Levi Strauss and Nevada tailor Jacob Davis get together to reinforce a garment for working western pioneers by using copper rivets at the point of strain. This became the first iteration of the 501® jean, then called XX. On May 20, 1873, the original patent for using rivets on men’s pants was granted, and an America icon was born.

1890 – Lot numbers were first used to differentiate the various products made by the Levi’s® brand. The 501® jean as it is now called, was officially named when the number was assigned to the now world famous “copper riveted waist overalls.” 

1936 – The first Red Tab device was placed on the right hand pocket to differentiate Levi’s® jeans from imitators.

1943 – The famous Arcuate stitch design, which has graced the back pockets on the 501® jean since its debut, was registered as a trademark in 1943.  It is iconic in its own right, as one of the oldest clothing trademarks still in use today.

1950s  – The Rebels of the 1950s proudly wore the 501® jean – adopted from the laborers after the Great Depression – and made it a symbol of irreverence and solidarity.  Worn by everyone from James Dean and Marlon Brando to Jack Kerouac and Jackson Pollock, the 501® jean became the emblem of youth and a symbol of rebellion.

Emerging in Hollywood, style icons begin to embrace the 501® after Marilyn Monroe is seen wearing them in hit film ‘The Misfits’.

1964 – So significant is the cultural impact of the 501® that in 1964a pair of 501® jeans entered the Permanent Collections of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.

1960s & 70s    Far from being simply a museum exhibit, millions of pairs of 501® jeans continue to be worn by young pioneers who are writing history, their ubiquitous presence seen throughout the peace movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

1980s – Steve Jobs adopts his signature look of a black turtleneck, Levi’s® 501® jeans and gray New Balance sneakers.

1989 - Pioneers continue to wear the 501® as seen atop the Berlin Wall as it came down in 1989. 

1990s – Worn throughout the Grunge Movement, the 501® continues to remain at the forefront of change across generations, becoming a staple in Kurt Cobain’s wardrobe and other legendary rock stars.

2000  - Time Magazine names the 501® jean the “fashion item of the 20^th century”, beating out the miniskirt and the little black dress.

2009 – President Barack Obama wears Levi’s® 501s to throw out the first pitch at the 2009 All Star Baseball Game

Today  – The uniform of progress since 1873, Levi’s® jeans are still the first choice of modern pioneers: the artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, activists, bloggers, and even presidents trail blazing the modern frontier in their 501® jeans.

This year, Oscar-winning filmmaker Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, 2003) returns to Cannes with her out-of-competition entry The Bling Ring. In the fame-obsessed world of Los Angeles, a group of teenagers goes on a crime spree in the Hollywood Hills. The teens track their celebrity targets online and steal more than $3 million in cash and luxury items from their homes. The film is based on actual events, and real-life victims included Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Orlando Bloom, and Rachel Bilson.

The film stars newcomer Katie Chan as Rebecca, the ringleader of the group who ropes in the new boy in school Marc (Israel Broussard, Flipped, 2010) and rich wild child Chloe (Taissa Farmiga, TV’s American Horror Story). The cast is rounded out by Emma Watson, who plays Nicki, a girl who seeks “status by association” in her tailor-made spirituality taught by her mother, played by Leslie Mann (This Is 40, 2012). The cast members were in Cannes for the red carpet opening, turning heads with their very own (or borrowed) bling.

The subject of the privileged and their ennui is a staple for Coppola, but this film’s shooting style and pacing is more traditional than Coppola’s minimalist oeuvre. The film is framed by the teens’ arrest and subsequent interviews, but unfolds through an alternating series of heists and party scenes. At times, post-arrest interviews are woven in to provide narration or insight, though never judging the characters or story. The triumph of the picture is that it creates fully fleshed-out characters from the teens’ one-dimensional personalities. Their senses of right and wrong are based on whether they can get away with something, and they unabashedly post photos of their exploits on social media sites.

The film would be quite tedious were it not for the pseudo coming-of-age story of Marc, whose friendship with Rebecca is a blessing and a curse. Chan is perfect as Rebecca, and Broussard’s portrayal of Marc really makes it the heart of the film. There is also an unspoken (and perhaps unintended) commentary on the excesses in the lives of celebrities. In the film, the celebs’ houses have unlocked doors and no alarms. In some cases, the celebs don’t even realize any items are missing. The teens repeatedly burglarize Hilton’s house (the only victim whose real house appears in the film) and later wear the items they stole at clubs where Hilton is present, and she never notices. Overall, the film will appeal to the teen to 20-something audience and perhaps parents. Its message is not terribly compelling—or juicy—enough to gain wide appeal.

Limité Rating: 3/5

Director: Sofia Coppola

Screenwriter: Sofia Coppola

Cast: Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson, Claire Julien, Taissa Farmiga, Leslie Mann, Gavin Rossdale

Distributor: A24

TRT: 90 min.

Site: theblingring.com

Release: June 14, 2013

The 2013 Cannes Film Festival runs from May 15 – 26 in Cannes, France.

Follow Limité Senior Film Contributor Stephanie Dawson and her personal exploits in Cannes on her blog, eclectionmedia.tumblr.com.

Baz Luhrmann applies his inventive style to the F. Scott Fitzgerald adaptation The Great Gatsby, with Leonardo DiCaprio starring as the title character. The film opened the 66th annual Cannes Film Festival Wednesday. It was preceded by an opening ceremony hosted by actress Audrey Tautou (Amélie, 2001) and presided over by jury president Steven Spielberg. DiCaprio spoke the official words to open the festival, and then the film began.

Tobey Maguire plays Nick Carraway, a wannabe writer working as a stock broker who lives next to the mythic Gatsby in Long Island. The film begins years in the future where Carraway is being treated in an asylum for alcoholism and drug abuse. His doctor entreats him to write about his past to tease out the depression that haunts him. Carraway narrates (and writes) the story of the brief friendship that spiraled into a web of deceit, sex, and death. Through the writing process, Carraway comes to terms with his part in the story and serves as its moral compass.

Luhrmann recreates the roaring 1920s with 3D treatment, elaborate sets, dazzling costumes, and modern music—this time a hip hop soundscape provided by executive producer Jay-Z. The start of the film is as frenetic as one of Gatsby’s elaborate parties. Fast-moving shots quickly shift to sweeping overhead angles. Some of these shots illustrate the drunken state of the characters, but en masse they create sensory overload. The adaptation overuses narration to accompany the visuals, effectively telegraphing the first third of the film. Eventually the story settles as a compelling look into the soul of a man driven by love at all costs. DiCaprio turns in another solid performance, navigating the confidence, vulnerability, and passion of Gatsby. Meanwhile, the remaining cast works as a strong ensemble. Mulligan’s performance is underwhelming, but the script doesn’t give her much with which to work. The 3D is immersive, further demonstrating that a skilled director can make 3D an experience, not just a movie. This elaborate adaptation crafted by Luhrmann lifts the novel out of the past and makes the themes of greed, hope, and love relevant to audiences of today.

Limité Rating: 4/5

Director: Baz Luhrmann

Screenwriters: Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Elizabeth Debicki, Isla Fisher

Distributor: Warner Bros.

TRT: 142 min.

Site: thegreatgatsby.warnerbros.com

Release: Currently in theatres

The 2013 Cannes Film Festival runs from May 15 – 26 in Cannes, France.

Follow Limité Senior Film Contributor Stephanie Dawson and her personal exploits in Cannes on her blog, eclectionmedia.tumblr.com.

Limité Magazine and Eyegoodies have partnered up to help get your summer wardrobe together by winning and choosing ANY pair of SUPER sunglasses in their online shop.

Entry Details

Starting Wednesday, May 15^th  – Tuesday, May 21^th, all you have to do is read and follow the instructions below and we wish you good luck. The deadline to submit entries is Tuesday, May 21st at 11:59pm EST.

To Enter:

1. Like Limité on Facebook
2. Like Eyegoodies on Facebook
3. Like AND share the Limité contest Facebook post on your Facebook page

OR

1. Follow @LimiteMagazine on Twitter
2. Follow @Eyegoodies on Twitter
3. Tweet the following message:

“#Giveaway: Win A Pair of @SUPERSunglasses http://t.co/Z2Sx2ZBVdt #LimiteEyeGoodiesGiveaway @LimiteMagazine @Eyegoodies”

Though you only need to do the Facebook or Twitter option above to enter, you can do both to double your chances at winning! The winner will be chosen randomly. Only 1 entry per method allowed.

You’ve probably seen the commercial by now featuring John Wall, Damien Lillard, Jrue Holiday and narrated by A$AP Rocky. adidas Basketball gives you their behind the scene video of the whole experience. The video features the adidas CrazyQuick, commentary from the players, ASAP Rocky and the technology used to make the commercial happen. Watch it here.