Cannes 2012

[John Edmond]

Ahhhh, thanks for that. With Swinton on board I was half-expecting Mekong Hotel to be his post-Palme d'Or breakout attempt. Relative breakout of course.

[ianungstad]

It's nice to see the new Bertolucci film playing Cannes, I didn't even know that the film was in post. Has any other of the recent Argento films screened at Cannes? I'm hoping that it's maybe a sign that Dracula might actually be good? I've heard rumors that Brandon Cronenberg's Antiviral is really good, so nice to see his first film land a high profile Un Certain Regard slot.

[domino harvey]

I thought the Paperboy was still in preproduction for some reason. A lot of young Tiger Beat-ers are gonna be walking that carpet!

[Alan Smithee]

Blind, I'm calling POST TENEBRAS LUX as the one to watch. I'm so glad it's finally finished.

["membrillo"]

I'm so glad it's finally finished.

+100

[swo17]

So excited for new Loznitsa, Dominik, Reygadas, Kiarostami, Cronen-- *passes out*

[ianungstad]

Surprised to see that "Place Beyond the Pines" isn't on the list. According to the Variety site, it was screened to the selection committee at the last minute (Tuesday), so it stands a reasonable chance of being a late addition.

[Finch]

Lee Daniels in competition?! No, really?

The trailer for the Loach was fab so will definitely see it on June 1. Also looking forward to the Reygadas, Cronenberg, Haneke, Audiard, Anderson, Kiarostami, Dominik, Vinterberg and Mingiu.

[John Cope]

Pretty cool toward the Cannes list overall (I'll admit that the total absence of the Oliveira was beyond disappointing). Of everything announced, the Bertolucci is by far the one I'm most anticipating, but that's playing out of competition. Of the actual competition entries, I'll be pulling for Jeff Nichols.

[ianungstad]

Deadline has a quote from Thierry that there are still another 3-4 competition films that will be announced at a later date. Wouldn't be surpised if the Oliviera and Cianfrance were two of them.

[beamish13]

I wonder if one of the mystery features could be Greenaway's GOLTZIUS AND THE PELICAN COMPANY.

[beamish13]

I'm very giddy about the fact that Leos Carax has finally completed a new feature. I really hope that the new restorations of TESS and ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA tour in the States.

[warren oates]

Even without Wong Kar Wai or Malick, a very strong line-up this year at Cannes. Looking forward to the Cronenberg, Carax, Loznitsa, Dominik, Kiarostami, Haneke, Nichols, Reygadas and Resnais films. Also curious about the Hillcoat, Seidel, Vinterberg and Mungiu. If even half of these films are any good and make it to the U.S. in the next year or so, that's a lot to look forward to.

[Jeff]

What an absolutely marvelous lineup. The Wong isn't finished, and Malick films are never really finished, so I wasn't surprised by their absence. Not a single competition film I wouldn't want to see. Even Paperboy: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire sounds interesting.

Deadline has a quote from Thierry that there are still another 3-4 competition films that will be announced at a later date. Wouldn't be surpised if the Oliviera and Cianfrance were two of them.

Perhaps the Assayas as well.

[puxzkkx]

I don't believe that there were more than 23 films In Competition throughout all of last decade - I'd be very surprised if "three or four" films were added.

Apparently the Assayas film was seen and rejected. de Oliveira has actually shown more films in Venice than Cannes recently so I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up there. Park Chan-wook for instance also has a history with that festival. I'm wondering where the Donzelli film went, actually. But perhaps it isn't finished.

[yoshimori]

So the "leaked list" was 11/24.

MORE OR LESS CORRECT:
APRES LA BATAILLE Yousry Nasrallah
BIG HOUSE Matteo Garrone
COSMOPOLIS David Cronenberg
DE ROUILLE ET D’OS Jacques Audiard
ELEFANTE BIANCO Pablo Trapero
LE GRAND SOIR Gustave Kervern et Benoit Delépine
IN ANOTHER COUNTRY Hong Sangsoo
LAURENCE ANYWAYS Xavier Dolan
MISHIMA (provisional title) Koji Wakamatsu
MOONRISE KINGDOM Wes Anderson
PROVIZORIU Cristian Mungiu

INCORRECT:
GEBO ET L’OMBRE Manoel de Oliveira
IL EST DIFFICILE D’ETRE UN DIEU Alexei Guerman
THE LAND OF HOPE Sono Sion
MAIN DANS LA MAIN Valérie Donzelli
THE MASTER Paul Thomas Anderson
THE BURIAL Terrence Malick
PYTHON DOC
NO Pablo Larrain
PIAZZA FONTANA Marco Tullio Giordana
A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE Roy Andersson
THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES Derek Cianfrance
RHINOS SEASON Bahman Ghobadi
STOKER Park Chan-wook

I'm looking forward to the 2012 fest. I want to see more films than I possibly can, and the Fortnight and Critics' Week films haven't even been announced yet! But I'd rather've seen the leaked list's Guerman, Sono, and Andersson than anything that's made it.

[ianungstad]

Well this is what was posted on Deadline:

Following last year’s stellar lineup (The Artist, Midnight In Paris, etc), Cannes Film Festival general delegate and artistic director Thierry Frémaux had a tough task to come up with an equally ripe selection this year. It seems he succeeded given that words being tossed around the French film biz today include “impressive” and “sumptuous.” However, he tells me he didn’t feel pressure to outdo himself. “Last year at this time no one knew, even me, that it would be considered a very good year.” He’s still going to announce another 3 or 4 titles, but he says he doesn’t even know what they are yet.

[puxzkkx]

Preliminary predictions:

PALME D'OR - Cosmopolis
GRAND PRIX - Post Tenebras Lux
PRIX DU JURY - After the Battle
BEST DIRECTOR - Andrew Dominik, Killing Them Softly
BEST ACTOR - Jean-Louis Trintignant, Love
BEST ACTRESS - Cosmina Stratan, Beyond the Hills
BEST SCREENPLAY - Reality

[Alan Smithee]

The question is what would Moretti do? Cronenberg seems unlikely but man it would be very cool for him to get his first Palme. Based off the book I would guess no. It's a good piece. Very tuned in to the times. Especially since it was written ten years ago but I don't know that Pattinson has the Dick swinging gravitas the character needs and I think it may be a little too episodic for the usual Cannes crowd.

[ianungstad]

Take this with a grain of salt but on the imdb page for Cosmopolis, a user posted that a screening was held last week for the investors that financed the film. He passed on the following tidbit:

The teaser is NOT a good representation of the final film. Apparently a good 80% of the film takes place in the back of a limo, with Pattison on his cell phone. The impression was that it should’ve been a play, as (despite the teaser) it’s not a visual heavy film. The dialogue is also not in “traditional English” (think Clockwork Orange, but “not as cool”). It’s also apparently a “highly intellectual film” (no surprise for Mr. Cronenberg), but intellectual to the point of audience alienation.

Josh Dickney at Variety had also posted some reactions to a screening of On the Road for buyers a few weeks back. According to him reactions were quite mixed with a lot of buyers feeling the film was too long (2h20), no narrative structure and too sexually explicit.

Both films sound wonderful to me but I think these are going to be quite polarizing films and neither is likely a strong contender for the palm. As far as distribution goes, in spite of the Hollywood casts, I think they might wind up at smaller companies like Magnolia, IFC, Roadside. Especially with the amount of other high profile Hollywood product that is up for sale in competition and at the market.

[puxzkkx]

I've got to say I'm a bit nonplussed with the selection sight unseen - lots of big names but the films in question either seem quite dry (to my tastes at least) or 'minor' works. I guess I'm looking forward to the Haneke and the Loznitsa most of all but the Cronenberg, Seidl, Nasrallah, Mungiu and Im look interesting.

[Mr. Ned]

Frankly, I think the Palme d'Or is Cronenberg's to lose from the looks of Cosmopolis. I'm happy he decided to stick so close to the source material and not revise any of Delillo's dialogue ('But we want what we want: we want a haircut') or deliciously deadpan narrative tangents. Pattinson looks simpering enough to pull off this role, too. The novel was one of my favorites from my college years so my anticipation may be a little biased, but I cannot imagine a better director to pull off the book's ambience; this is a movie of the year, for sure.

[zedz]

I've got to say I'm a bit nonplussed with the selection sight unseen - lots of big names but the films in question either seem quite dry (to my tastes at least) or 'minor' works. I guess I'm looking forward to the Haneke and the Loznitsa most of all but the Cronenberg, Seidl, Nasrallah, Mungiu and Im look interesting.

Don't you think jumping to any conclusions about the value of the films (or what prizes they might ultimately deserve or receive) is slightly premature, considering nobody has actually seen any of the films yet?

For my money, going by past performance of the directors alone, half of the line-up could be masterpieces. Or it could be 100% embarrassing misfires. Who knows?

[Hail_Cesar]

Reygadas and Audiard have the best movie titles and those two films are the one I am expecting the most...

Funny fact, 23 y.o. Xavier Dolan was extremely disappointed to be "only" in Un Certain Regard... He was expecting a Palme d'or for his third film... What a funny character...

[puxzkkx]

I've got to say I'm a bit nonplussed with the selection sight unseen - lots of big names but the films in question either seem quite dry (to my tastes at least) or 'minor' works. I guess I'm looking forward to the Haneke and the Loznitsa most of all but the Cronenberg, Seidl, Nasrallah, Mungiu and Im look interesting.

Don't you think jumping to any conclusions about the value of the films (or what prizes they might ultimately deserve or receive) is slightly premature, considering nobody has actually seen any of the films yet?

For my money, going by past performance of the directors alone, half of the line-up could be masterpieces. Or it could be 100% embarrassing misfires. Who knows?

Well, I'm drawing my conclusions from plot synopses - but I'm prepared to eat my words of course.