No, I’m not going to Cannes this year. The competition starts on Wednesday and runs through the 22nd. But if I was, I’d have my work cut out for me with what looks to be such a strong list of 20 films competing for the Palme D’Or. I wish the best of luck to Jury President Robert De Niro in selecting from such a field.
He’ll be assisted by the likes of Jude Law, Uma Thurman, Olivier Assayas (“Summer Hours,” “Carlos”) and several more film experts to choose the winner in the main competition. This year’s opening film is Woody Allen’s latest, “Midnight in Paris.” It is being shown out of competition, along with Jodie Foster’s “The Beaver” and the Rob Marshall directed “Pirates” sequel (thank god), and Allen is just one of many notable directors premiering films. Interestingly enough, 22 women are showing films at the festival this year, a record for Cannes and possibly film festivals everywhere.
So there’s a lot to be excited for. And I’ll do my best to recreate the experience of being there with this preview rundown of the competition’s front runners and a few more worth mentioning.
Pedro Almodovar – “The Skin I Live In”
Pedro Almodovar is by far the best Spanish director since Luis Bunuel. As the director of critically acclaimed and visually stunning works like “Broken Embraces,” “Volver,” “Bad Education,” “Talk to Her” and “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,” he’s made some of the most powerful movies about women in the last two decades. The strange thing about his entry, “The Skin I Live In,” is that it does not star Penelope Cruz and is about a plastic surgeon (Antonio Banderas) hunting the man who raped his daughter. Still though, he’s the only Oscar winner of the 20 competing directors, and he has as good a chance as any.
Nuri Bilge Ceylan – “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia”
Here we have a Turkish director who has been nominated for the Palme D’Or for the fourth time in his six feature film career. He’s taken home the Best Director award, the FIPRESCI Prize and the Grand Prize of the Jury for his various entries. Perhaps his most well known work is “Climates,” which Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips called the third best movie of the last decade.
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne – “The Kid with a Bike”
The Dardenne brothers are well known at Cannes. They’ve won the Palme D’Or twice with their films “Rosetta” in 1999 and “The Child” in 2005, and some critics would say those are not even their best movies. Their storytelling and cinematography style subtly influenced Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan.” Their latest film, “The Kid with a Bike,” follows a boy who has been abandoned by his father and left in the care of an unqualified foster family.
Julia Leigh – “Sleeping Beauty”
Julia Leigh’s modern day adaptation of the classic fairy tale is the Australian director’s debut film. The film is being sanctioned and presented by Jane Campion (“The Piano”) and stars Emily Browning of this year’s “Sucker Punch.”
Maiwenn – “Polisse”
Maiwenn Le Besco, or just Maiwenn as she goes by in her films, is perhaps better known as an actress from “Leon the Professional” and “The Fifth Element.” But she’s an actress-turned-director and “Polisse,” her third feature and first nomination, tells the story of a female journalist covering a juvenile police beat who ends up having an affair with one of her story subjects.
Terrence Malick – “The Tree of Life”
“The Tree of Life” is easily the most hyped about American film at the festival. I expressed my excitement for Malick’s visual sci-fi meets quaint ’50s family drama back in my summer preview article, but the film stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn and marks the first time one of Malick’s films has been accepted into competition since he won Best Director for “Days of Heaven” back in 1978.
Takashi Miike – “Ichimei” (“Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai”)
Takashi Miike has long been known solely as a cult horror director from Japan, but with not one but two films in 2011 (the other the critically acclaimed “13 Assassins”), he’s being quickly cemented as a modern day Akira Kurosawa. “Ichimei” is also notable because it will be the first 3-D film to ever be shown in official competition at Cannes.
Nanni Moretti – “Habemus Papam” (“We Have a Pope”)
Italian director Nanni Moretti won the Palme D’Or back in 2002 for “The Son’s Room,” a crushing portrait of a family following their son’s death. His latest, which also stars Moretti, takes place after the election of a new Pope and the connection he has with his therapist.
Lynne Ramsay – “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
“We Need to Talk About Kevin” is a British film starring John C. Reilly and the excellent Tilda Swinton in a story about a grieving mother following her own son’s killing spree at a high school. Ramsay is no stranger to Cannes, having won in the short film competition before, but this is her first feature entry in the main competition.
Lars Von Trier – “Melancholia”
It’s amazing Cannes keeps letting Lars Von Trier come back to their festival. In 2009, “Antichrist” stirred up such hatred and fervor amongst the French critics that it received one of the lowest ratings in the festival’s history. And then again, he did win back in 2000 for “Dancer in the Dark.” “Melancholia” (pictured above) is a sci-fi set at a wedding with a conflict between two sisters played by Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg. It also stars Kiefer Sutherland, John Hurt and Stellan Skarsgard.
Nicolas Winding Refn – “Drive”
I have not seen any of Winding Refn’s films, but they have not been well received. His most well known film is “Bronson,” starring “Inception’s” Tom Hardy as a prisoner with an alter eg0, that of Charles Bronson. “Drive” has a wonderful cast of Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman, Albert Brooks and Christina Hendricks of “Mad Men.” It tells the story of a stunt driver (Gosling) who is being chased by headhunters after a heist gone awry.
The other entries are:
Bertrand Bonello – “L’Apollonide” (“House of Tolerance”)
Alain Cavalier – “Pater”
Joseph Cedar – “Heart Shylayim” (“Footnote”)
Aki Kaurismaki – “Le Havre”
Naomi Kawase – “Hanezu No Tsuki”
Radu Miahileanu – “La Source des Femmes” (“The Source”)
Markus Schleinzer – “Michael” (First film)
Paolo Sorrentino – “This Must Be the Place”
I’ll be back on May 22 to report the winners of the festival and when you can see these films stateside.