I kid. I kid. It wouldn't be Cannes without her but fashion can wait. For now we drool on the unseen films from an international who's who of filmmakers. There's a hundred plus more than those listed here of course: film markets, multiple sidebars, etcetera but here are the headliners.
C O M P E T I T I O N
La Mujer Sin Cabeza (Woman Without A Head) [Argentina]
Lucrecia Martel (pictured left) is definitely one to watch for the prizes. She's previously directed the extraordinarly well received La Ciénaga and The Holy Girl. I haven't seen the former but the latter was riveting and uniquely its own. Queue it.
Leonera [Argentina]
Pablo Trapero directs this story of a convicted woman struggling to raise her son from within prison. Sounds like it offer up a meaty role for its lead actress.
Le Silence De Lorna (The Silence of Lorna) [Belgium]
This if from the Brothers Dardenne (Jean-Pierre & Luc, s'il vous plait) who Cannes truly loves giving them multiple wins in the past for Rosetta, Le Fils and L'Enfant. Belgium usually submits their films for Oscar consideration, but AMPAS ignores. The critical community has a decidedly different response. Watch for it to win something... best actress for Arta Dobroshi, the title character perhaps? Just speculatin'
Linha de Passe (Line of Passage) [Brazil]
Famed Brazilian auteur Walter Salles (pictured left. He made Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries among others) co-directs this one with Daniela Thomas. It's about a group of poverty-stricken brothers playing amateur soccer in the outskirts of São Paulo.
Adoration [Canada]
Atom Egoyan hasn't really taken the film world unanimously by storm since The Sweet Hereafter (1997) Bonne chance. I have to say straightaway that the cast raises eyebrows: Scott Speedman and Rachel Blanchard starring in an Egoyan flick...together? Aside from the Canada connection...
24 City [China]
Jia Zhangke, born in the Shanxi province of China has made quite a name for himself with cinephiles for his work on The Platform, Still Life, The World and more. Will this film continue to cement his reputation?
La Frontiere De l'Aube (The Frontier Of Dawn) [France]
Philipe Garrel (Regular Lovers) directs his ubiquitous movie star son Louis (pictured left) in this new film. Seriously... Louis Garrel is in every French movie that makes it to the States these days. This is Garrel's (the senior) first time in the competitive lineup.
Un Conte de Noel (A Christmas Tale) by Arnaud Desplechin [France]
Arnaud Desplechin, who made the amazing and complex Kings & Queen (queue it!) returns with a film featuring much of the same cast. Wheeeeeee! or Oui! (they mean the same thing to me)
The Palermo Shooting [Germany]
This is from Wim Wenders, of Wings of Desire (1987) fame. Milla Jovovich and Dennis Hopper headline.
Delta [Hungary]
This film comes from frequent festival awards magnet, actor/director Kornél Mundruczó (pictured right). It's about a brother and sister reunited as adults in their birth village.
Waltz With Bashir [Israel]
Ari Folman wrote and directed this animated feature which is in Hebrew and German. For the curious: No, this isn't a first. No animated film has won the Palme D'Or, but they've competed before... most recently with Persepolis which tied for the Jury Prize at least year's festival.
Gomorra [Italy]
Matteo Garrone (of First Love and The Embalmer fame) directs yet another film about Italian crime families. I shudder to think how many have been made just in my lifetime, let alone before.
Il Divo [Italy]
This biopic from Paolo Sorrentino is about Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti. Toni Servillo has the lead role. Their last collaboration (The Consequences of Love) netted Servillo various Best Actor awards.
Serbis (Service) [Philippines]
Brillante Mendoza (pictured left, who is sometimes referred to as "Dante") started directing features prolifically in 2005. Most of his films, including this one, have gay themes. His most well known is probably The Masseur. He gets his first competition spot @ Cannes with this film and it's the first Filipino film to make the competitive lineup in nearly a quarter century. This one is about male movie house prostitutes. --Thanks to various Pinoy readers for the info!
My Magic [Singapore]
Director Eric Khoo is probably most well known previously for the festival film Be With Me (2005).
Uc Maymun (The Three Monkeys) [Turkey]
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who made some critical waves with Distant (2002) returns to the fest.
Che [United States]
Steven Soderbergh brings his Che Guevera biopic to France. Is this The Argentine and Guerilla together (they were reportedly being split up for American consumption) as one Lawrence of Arabia length spectacle?
Synecdoche, New York [United States]
Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman and a huge ensemble of great actresses. We slobbered all over it in a previous post
Changeling [United States]
Clint Eastwood and everyone's favorite globe-trotter Angelina Jolie will have the red carpet alight with a bajillion paparrazi flashbulbs. No, much more than that. Since it's Eastwood and Jolie you'll be hearing about this film on this and every other outlet you'll be sick of it by the time it is or isn't nominated for a heap of Oscars.
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The politics of who gets into and who is still prominently featured despite being outside of the competition are always unbeknownst to me. At any rate, here we'll see Kim Jee-Woon's 1930s western The Good, The Bad, The Weird from South Korea and Woody Allen's star-studded romantic dramedy (Cannes still loves him) Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I'm still a little disappointed in the way the release of Match Point was handled. It was Woody's biggest hit in quite a long while but it could have been even bigger with both Oscar and the general public. It was so mismanaged, shoved in for last minute Oscar consideration instead of capitalizing on its Cannes buzz with an early fall release. Hopefully, should reception of VCB be as rapturous across the Atlantic, the Weinstein's won't sit on the film. I know I know... that's a lot to hope for. The wannabe blockbusters that will be featured outside the competition (there's always a couple) are Kung Fu Panda --but will anything be a real competitor for Pixar's Wall•E (previous post) at the box office or at the Oscars next winter? -- and Steven Spielberg's fourth adventurous anthropologist film: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Here's the official site of the festival.
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La Mujer Sin Cabeza (Woman Without A Head) [Argentina]Lucrecia Martel (pictured left) is definitely one to watch for the prizes. She's previously directed the extraordinarly well received La Ciénaga and The Holy Girl. I haven't seen the former but the latter was riveting and uniquely its own. Queue it.
Leonera [Argentina]
Pablo Trapero directs this story of a convicted woman struggling to raise her son from within prison. Sounds like it offer up a meaty role for its lead actress.
Le Silence De Lorna (The Silence of Lorna) [Belgium]
This if from the Brothers Dardenne (Jean-Pierre & Luc, s'il vous plait) who Cannes truly loves giving them multiple wins in the past for Rosetta, Le Fils and L'Enfant. Belgium usually submits their films for Oscar consideration, but AMPAS ignores. The critical community has a decidedly different response. Watch for it to win something... best actress for Arta Dobroshi, the title character perhaps? Just speculatin'
Linha de Passe (Line of Passage) [Brazil]Famed Brazilian auteur Walter Salles (pictured left. He made Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries among others) co-directs this one with Daniela Thomas. It's about a group of poverty-stricken brothers playing amateur soccer in the outskirts of São Paulo.
Adoration [Canada]
Atom Egoyan hasn't really taken the film world unanimously by storm since The Sweet Hereafter (1997) Bonne chance. I have to say straightaway that the cast raises eyebrows: Scott Speedman and Rachel Blanchard starring in an Egoyan flick...together? Aside from the Canada connection...
24 City [China]Jia Zhangke, born in the Shanxi province of China has made quite a name for himself with cinephiles for his work on The Platform, Still Life, The World and more. Will this film continue to cement his reputation?
La Frontiere De l'Aube (The Frontier Of Dawn) [France]
Philipe Garrel (Regular Lovers) directs his ubiquitous movie star son Louis (pictured left) in this new film. Seriously... Louis Garrel is in every French movie that makes it to the States these days. This is Garrel's (the senior) first time in the competitive lineup.
Un Conte de Noel (A Christmas Tale) by Arnaud Desplechin [France]
Arnaud Desplechin, who made the amazing and complex Kings & Queen (queue it!) returns with a film featuring much of the same cast. Wheeeeeee! or Oui! (they mean the same thing to me)
The Palermo Shooting [Germany]
This is from Wim Wenders, of Wings of Desire (1987) fame. Milla Jovovich and Dennis Hopper headline.
Delta [Hungary]This film comes from frequent festival awards magnet, actor/director Kornél Mundruczó (pictured right). It's about a brother and sister reunited as adults in their birth village.
Waltz With Bashir [Israel]
Ari Folman wrote and directed this animated feature which is in Hebrew and German. For the curious: No, this isn't a first. No animated film has won the Palme D'Or, but they've competed before... most recently with Persepolis which tied for the Jury Prize at least year's festival.
Gomorra [Italy]
Matteo Garrone (of First Love and The Embalmer fame) directs yet another film about Italian crime families. I shudder to think how many have been made just in my lifetime, let alone before.
Il Divo [Italy]
This biopic from Paolo Sorrentino is about Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti. Toni Servillo has the lead role. Their last collaboration (The Consequences of Love) netted Servillo various Best Actor awards.
Serbis (Service) [Philippines]Brillante Mendoza (pictured left, who is sometimes referred to as "Dante") started directing features prolifically in 2005. Most of his films, including this one, have gay themes. His most well known is probably The Masseur. He gets his first competition spot @ Cannes with this film and it's the first Filipino film to make the competitive lineup in nearly a quarter century. This one is about male movie house prostitutes. --Thanks to various Pinoy readers for the info!
My Magic [Singapore]
Director Eric Khoo is probably most well known previously for the festival film Be With Me (2005).
Uc Maymun (The Three Monkeys) [Turkey]
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who made some critical waves with Distant (2002) returns to the fest.
Che [United States]
Steven Soderbergh brings his Che Guevera biopic to France. Is this The Argentine and Guerilla together (they were reportedly being split up for American consumption) as one Lawrence of Arabia length spectacle?
Synecdoche, New York [United States]Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman and a huge ensemble of great actresses. We slobbered all over it in a previous post
Changeling [United States]
Clint Eastwood and everyone's favorite globe-trotter Angelina Jolie will have the red carpet alight with a bajillion paparrazi flashbulbs. No, much more than that. Since it's Eastwood and Jolie you'll be hearing about this film on this and every other outlet you'll be sick of it by the time it is or isn't nominated for a heap of Oscars.
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O U T * O F * C O M P E T I T I O N
The politics of who gets into and who is still prominently featured despite being outside of the competition are always unbeknownst to me. At any rate, here we'll see Kim Jee-Woon's 1930s western The Good, The Bad, The Weird from South Korea and Woody Allen's star-studded romantic dramedy (Cannes still loves him) Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I'm still a little disappointed in the way the release of Match Point was handled. It was Woody's biggest hit in quite a long while but it could have been even bigger with both Oscar and the general public. It was so mismanaged, shoved in for last minute Oscar consideration instead of capitalizing on its Cannes buzz with an early fall release. Hopefully, should reception of VCB be as rapturous across the Atlantic, the Weinstein's won't sit on the film. I know I know... that's a lot to hope for. The wannabe blockbusters that will be featured outside the competition (there's always a couple) are Kung Fu Panda --but will anything be a real competitor for Pixar's Wall•E (previous post) at the box office or at the Oscars next winter? -- and Steven Spielberg's fourth adventurous anthropologist film: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.P L E A S E * N O T E
We haven't heard all of the Cannes news yet. They've whittled 1692 (!) submissions down to the films selected for competition above (their eyes, their eyes, poor things) but there's generally one or two more last minute additions. Plus, they still haven't announced the coveted Opening or Closing night slots. We'll talk about the festival jury tomorrow. How confident do you feel about this lineup above?
Here's the official site of the festival.
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