Earlier today the Festival de Cannes, the most prestigious film festival in the world, announced the complete lineup of films vying for the coveted Palme d’Or, as well as those screening out of competition. After consecutive wins for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and The Tree of Life, two of my favorite films but both somewhat controversial choices, I’ll be very interested to see which film generates the most buzz along the Riviera. And, of course, to see which film gets greeted with the infamous Cannes boos. The early reaction around the Internet is that this lineup skews a bit heavily towards American filmmakers, but many big names in international cinema are also represented. Here’s a selection of a few projects I’m most interested in.
- Wes Anderson – Moonrise Kingdom
- Anderson re-teams with many of his regular cast members for what looks to be another coming of age comedy. His most recent, Fantastic Mr. Fox, used animation as a new medium for Anderson to rediscover the delicate emotion balance he strikes so well.
- David Cronenberg – Cosmopolis
- Based on Don DeLillo’s book, Cosmopolis looks like a densely-packed, slightly-surreal, kinetic journey.
- Michael Haneke – Amour
- A story of love between octogenarians, starring the amazing Jean-Louis Trintignant. Could it really be a sentimental Haneke film?
- John Hillcoat – Lawless
- Though I didn’t like The Road, The Proposition had great grittiness and an original visual style.
- Abbas Kiarostami – Like Someone In Love
- Will this continue Kiarostami’s recent trend of more scripted material, or harken back to some of his old, more improvisational efforts?
- Walter Salles – On the Road
- It certainly seems like a tough book to adapt. I’m intrigued by the casting of Garret Dillahunt.
- Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild
- This looks like a dazzling film and it certainly dazzled at Sundace, winning much of the awards. Let’s see how it fares with the often stingy French critics.
- Apichatpong Weerasethakul – Mekong Hotel
- Apichatpong’s long-gestating project on man’s relationship with water, and apparently something to do with pigs. Though this film is only an hour long, it may be the project rumored to star Tilda Swinton. More early information here.
Also screening will be films from these other acclaimed directors: Jacques Audiard, Andrew Dominik, Matteo Garrone, Hong Sangsoo, Ken Loach, Cristian Mungiu, Jeff Nichols, Alain Resnais, Carlos Reygadas, Thomas Vinterberg, Xavier Dolan, Bernardo Bertolucci, Philip Kaufman, Dario Argento, Takashi Miike and Ken Burns.
Film Capsule 