Thursday, April 15, 2010

The Cannes Lineup (Thus Far)

Updated 04/19 They've added two titles but none to the actual competition list just yet. Updates are included below

04/15 Yes, they will add a few titles. Looking round the web people expect something like 4 to 5 more films to show up. Speculation that Malick's Tree of Life or Nolans Inception or Schnabel's Miral probably won't die until after they add said missing titles. But if you're heading over to the South of France next month or merely reading along on various Twitter feeds or film blogs, these are some of the titles you'll be hearing about.

Blanchett. Crowe. Scott

Opening Night Film
Because you have to kick off with a starry entry for that maximum red carpet kick. It gets the international and mainstream press excited and you need their eyeballs... even if your festival is for the global cinephiles.
  • Robin Hood (Ridley Scott)
    I'm amused that the tagline is marketing this as an "untold story". Hee. If you look up 'Robin Hood' at ye olde IMDb you get 22 "exact matches" and many more options as well. But it gives us a chance to see Cate Blanchett work the red carpet again and after that one year break (thanks Cate!) the carpet will welcome her back with... uh... open fibers.
Competition Titles
The Cannes selection committee is really stingy about this field, nearly always erring on the side of the establishment. You rarely see first time auteurs and they're even stingy about second time auteurs who made a big splash the previous year (See: Xavier Dolan in Un Certain Regard instead).
  • Another Year (Mike Leigh)
    Only one more month until we know something (anything!) about Leigh's latest. Such as vague plot. Who has the lead role. Etcetera.
  • Biutiful (Alejandro González Iñárritu)


  • Burnt by the Sun 2 (Nikita Mikhalkov)
    Russia's sole competition entry is the longest competition film at 2 hours and 21 minutes. It's also one we have to watch for the Best Foreign Language Film at next year's Oscars since the original won the top prize.
  • Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami)
  • Fair Game (Doug Liman)
    This is the Valerie Plame story again, only with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn in the top roles. As Guy Lodge said on Twitter
    Doug Liman goes from "Jumper" to a Cannes competition slot. He's been reading Lee Daniels's self-improvement manual.

  • The Housemaid (Im Sang-soo)
    This is where we're reminded that IMDb is sometimes months behind on movies. Must be a bear to keep that site fresh with a never-ending stream of thousands of movies in various stages of development. It's listed as in pre-production but next month it shows at Cannes! I'm looking forward to this one -- not that I'll ever get a chance to see it -- because it stars the lead actress of Secret Sunshine Do-Yeon Jeon.
  • La Nostra Vita (Daniele Luchetti)
  • Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois)
  • Outrage (Takeshi Kitano)
  • Outside the Law (Rachid Bouchareb)
  • Poetry (Lee Chang-dong)
  • The Princess of Montpensier (Bertrand Tavernier)
  • A Screaming Man (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)


The great Mathieu Amalric (and cast) for Tournée
  • Tournée (Mathieu Amalric)
  • Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
    The sometimes confounding Thai director's latest has the longest title (love it) but is actually the shortest film in competition (90 minutes)
  • You, My Joy (Sergei Loznitsa)

Un Certain Regard
This popular sidebar of films, a competition which runs parallel to the main field, is generally where they put younger still maturing talent and "original and different" films. Though a certain 101 year old Portuguese master is here, so...
  • Adrienn Pál (Ágnes Kocsis)
  • Angelica (Manoel de Oliveira)
    This 101 year-old's 49th project -- god he has more stamina than Clint Eastwood! -- also goes by the titles The Strange Case of Angelica or O Estranho Caso de Angélica
  • Aurora (Cristi Puiu)
    From the director of the acclaimed Romanian film (is there any other kind?) The Death of Mr. Lazarescu. Like that film, this one is lengthy... the lengthiest from either lineup with a 179 minute running time.
  • Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance -first feature!)
    I'm already eager to see his second (third?) feature I liked this one so much. Cannes lists this as a first feature -- meaning he's eligible for their directorial debut award (a very big deal) but according to the IMDb his feature debut came some 10 years back when he made Brother Tied. Maybe that one doesn't count for some reason. The IMDb can be a confusing place.
  • Chatroom (Hideo Nakata)
  • Chongqing Blues (Xiaoshuai Wang)
  • The City Below (Christoph Hochhäusler)
  • Hahaha (Hong Sang-soo)

Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother) returns to Cannes, the scene of his debut triumph

  • Heartbeats (Xavier Dolan)
    This film from the writer/director/actor/gay wunderkind is also referred to as Les Amours Imaginaires which is a much more evocative title, don't you think? Click here for more info on the film
  • Life Above All (Oliver Schmitz)
  • The Lips (Iván Fund & Santiago Loza)
  • Octubre (Daniel Vega -first feature!)
  • R U There (David Verbeek)
  • Rebecca H. (Return to the Dogs) (Lodge Kerrigan)
  • Simon Werner Disappeared… (Fabrice Gobert -first feature!)
  • Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard)
  • Tuesday, After Christmas (Radu Muntean)
  • Udaan (Vikramaditya Motwane -first feature!)

Out of Competition
Who knows the politics behind the Out of Competition field each year. But this is where you'll find big name directors who can benefit from a Cannes premiere without the nerve wracking 'will it win anything?' drama.

Brolin. Stone. Douglas. LaBeouf. Mulligan
  • Carlos (Olivier Assayas)
    One of France's most fascinating directors returns with this true story of the infamous criminal "Carlos the Jackal"
  • Tamara Drewe (Stephen Frears)
    I liked Chéri more than most but I still think it was something like a textbook definition of Missed Opportunity in a few substantial ways. Will Frears regain his artistic footing? Can we get something on the level of his late 80s / early 90s work again any time soon? Please. Pretty please. This is based on a graphic novel and stars Gemma Arterton
  • Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Oliver Stone)
    I can't decide whether this movie needed a sequel or not. One can make an argument either way. But the movie will answer the question as to whether or not it did. It's 136 minutes long which... well, I hope Stone has enough to say to keep that going.
  • You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (Woody Allen)
    Just discussed here.

Special Screenings
"Special" Interpret that however you will.
  • 5XFavela (Carlos Diegues)
  • Abel (Diego Luna -first feature!)
    Both of the Y Tu Mama Tambien boys have moved into direction. I remember two teenagers talking about this one on the bus in Park City this past January (it played at Sundance). I can't for the life of me recall their conversation other than that they thought it was "weird"
  • Chantrapas (Otar Iosseliani)
  • Draquila: L'Italia Che Trema (Sabina Guzzanti)
    trailer here
  • Inside Job (Charles Ferguson)
  • Nostalgia For The Light (Patricio Guzmán)
  • Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow (Sophie Fiennes)
    a documentary about an installation artist
Midnight Screenings
They'll have to add more of these. The festival lasts a fortnight!

Thomas Dekker (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) does
leading manboy duties for indie favorite Gregg Araki
  • Blackhole (Gilles Marchand)
    This is also known as L'Autre Monde and stars Gallic hotties Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet (from the sticky Love Songs) and Melvill Poupaud (from the brilliant A Christmas Tale)

    the trailer for Blackhole. Me want

  • Kaboom (Gregg Araki)
    Quiet Earth calls this an oversexed sci-fi romp. I can still remember vividly seeing The Living End (his debut) in the movie theater. I hadn't ever seen anything like it.
Don't you wish you were in France?

Other Blog Reactions to Check Out:
Thompson on Hollywood some chatter about the films that didn't make the cut or weren't finished in time
Women and Hollywood No female directors in competition
Independent Eye Light on American films
Indie Wire the lineup and poll. which film are you most excited for?
Guardian Cannes '09 will definitely be a tough act to follow
*

22 comments:

john said...

Yeah, i wish i was in france too, but according to Schnabel himself, Miral will be not going to Venice instead:

http://showbiz411.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/schnabel-says-no-to-cannes-yes-to-venice-and-toronto/

Though with 5 in competition slots remaining here's hoping.

john said...

p.s. Kate Beckinsale is a member of the jury! I assume she's fulfilling the glamour quota.

NATHANIEL R said...

John... i've updated the previous post with jury members. Looks like anne thompson was wrong: No Gael Garcia Bernal.

Cédric (Paris) said...

Bernal is a jury member actually. He's the Caméra d'or jury president.

Glenn Dunks said...

"This popular sidebar of films, a competition which runs parallel to the main field, is generally where they put younger still maturing talent and "original and different" films."

There was also a time when these filmmakers could get into the main competition. Lest we forget that Soderbergh's sex lies and videotape and Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction won the Palme d'Or for only the sophomore film of said director.

Katey said...

Nat I didn't realize you liked Blue Valentine that much. I've kind of soured on it since Sundance because of all the boys believing it spoke to THEM, primarily because it totally shafts the point of view of Michelle Williams' character. But of course, if it picks up enough steam to finally get that girl a leading actress Oscar nomination, I'll jump right on board.

NATHANIEL R said...

Cedric -- source? the official press release never mentions him. and the reports were the main jury.

i'd love to hear more about the camera d'or jury. where do i go to read that???

Robert said...

Not sure what to make of Godard and de Oliveira getting shoved into the Un Certain Regard section, especially since the main competition could use a few more high profile submissions.

I suppose we'll see what else get's added. I'm sorry to see that Tree of Life and The Turin Horse aren't in the lineup.

Samson said...

IS "Tree of Life" not involved in this festival? Did I miss something?

NATHANIEL R said...

Samson... the rumors are still swirling. Maybe it's just not completed yet. Maybe they'll add it (expect 3-5 more titles to be added to the competition lineup before Cannes kicks off mid may)

Danielle said...

Man, this is kind of disappointing! Where's Rabbit Hole? The Rum Diary? Will Tree of Life ever make it to the big screen? Stay tuned, I suppose...

NATHANIEL R said...

depending on what source you read 3 to 6 more films will be added.

juligen said...

I am still with doubts about Wall Street 2, but I can deny, SO HAPPY to see Mulligan going to her first Cannes experience. Sigh, what a year this girl had :)

NoNo said...

Don't you wish you were in France?

Uhhh...yeah!

Godard in Un Certain Regard is odd.

Hopefully, Blue Valentine is so well received that they push up that release date. Of all the stars walking the carpet, I'm excited to see Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams the most.

I can't wait for the other names to come out.

cal roth said...

Certified Copy is starred by Juliette Binoche! If she wins she will have the triple crown of film festivals, being a Cannes, Berlin and Venice Best Actress winner! How great is that? Here's rooting.

Bing147 said...

Certified Copy, Poetry and Tournee are my most anticipated in competition.

As for Kaboom, my brother was on the set for about 5 days as an extra (he's done a LOT of extra work) and said he's never seen anyone less professional than Dekker. Apparently he spent almost the entire time drunk and ranting at cast and crew and screaming then disappearing for long periods and then showing up crying and screaming. He was told this was pretty much normal by members of the cast. But he said Juno Temple was awesome and very professional.

Rodrigo the Hated One said...

mmm still Dekker looks hot in that pic...

方忠偉 said...

I'm looking forward to these two Korean films.

Juan Carlos said...

I am looking forward to Biutiful, Another Year and Octubre (it´s from my country, Peru).

Octubre (which means October in spanish) is the story of an alcoholic man who wants to kidnap a woman in comatose state who is hospitalized.

No Bad Movies said...

Remember...Doug Liman brought us Swingers. He has it in him to tell a good story.

Park Seongwook said...

Can't wait to see Another Year, Biutiful, The Housemaid, Outrage, Poetry, Weerasethakul movie, Blue Valentine, Hahaha, Kaboom, and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.

I'm lucky enough to see The Housemaid and Poetry soon. I'll share my thoughts on those in your cinematically speaking post. ;)

Reform Plastics said...

Looking forward to new films from Leigh, Godard and the excellent Thai director...

I'm feel i'm in last chance saloon with Ridley Scott - he has made such uninspiring cinema lately.

Burnt by the Sun 2?! Didn't they learn from the original then:)