The Cannes lineup and screening guide has gone up and from the looks of it, and from Oscar’s standpoint, there are some titles to keep an eye on. Those are:
Official Selections:
Changeling, starring Angelina Jolie and directed by Clint Eastwood
Che (The Argentine; Guerrilla), starring Benicio Del Toro, directed by Steven Soderbergh
Synecdoche, New York, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, written and directed by Charlie Kaufman
Out of Competition:
What Just Happened, starring Bruce Willis, directed by Barry Levinson
Special Screenings:
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, directed by Marina Zenovich
These are the names and titles that jump off the page in an obvious way. But because nothing is ever that predictable, we reserve our right to change our minds later if any of these films end up with the hotly desired fifteen minutes standing ovation.
One does wonder, though, which film will get the dreaded booing, always a risk when starting the season early at Cannes.
No Response for "Cannes to Watch"
Mmmm… Moulin Rouge! was booed at Cannes and ended up nominated for Best Picture
Their selection this year doesn’t seem as appealing as it has in the past. The Che movies and Kaufman’s directorial effort definitely strike me as interesting, but not much else. Hell, we barely have to wait a week for Indiana Jones to get here so we can all see it.
I, of course, have not seen it, but if I were to just take a guess at one semi-high profiled film to get booed, I’d guess What Just Happened? I heard it wasn’t very good from a few people, and even those who liked it said, if nothing else, it got kind of long and boring after a while.
Thats always the fun part of Cannes seeing what movies are trashed beyond any desire to see it and the ones that can’t get to the USA fast enough. (I mean it was 10 months before “4 months 3 weeks and 2 Days” got here I went nuts!)
I’m really hoping the Che movies puts Soderbergh’s career back on track. I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed a film of his since “Traffic,” and it’s not for a lack of trying. I’ve always thought of him as a good director.
I can’t wait for the Guevara films either. I hope that critics give it a fair shake (I remember Ebert giving a negative review to the beautiful “Diarios de Motocicleta” primarily because of his own personal (and valid) issues with Guevara’s politics). With del Toro headlining and Soderbergh at the helm, I’m confident about the film’s prospects.
Isn’t the Roman Polanski documentary going to premiere on HBO, making it ineligible?
I’m so stoked for Synecdoche, New York. I’m predicting that to be one of the biggies this year. Although I could end up being entirely wrong…
But I think Hoffman’ll get some good recognition for it at the very least.
“Moulin Rogue” was booed, yes.
But so was “The Brown Bunny.”
Ya never know.
I think that the Che films could go either way. Showing the two films together and almost four and a half hours may not be the best way to present it. But I am looking forward to seeing how it does at Cannes.
By the way, I hate Cannes’ new website presentation. It looks nice initially, with the white background in place of the black background used previously. But every year I always looked forward to seeing each individual films’ pages complete with photos, credits, synopsis and sample dialogue. The photos are too small, even when you click to enlarge them, and the overall appearence is somehow less… I don’t know, momentous?
R.I.P. old style Cannes web-pages (since I know we’ll never see it again.)
Baz Luhrmann’s Australia already has Oscar’s golden guy in its bag.
The make up job in Synedoche, NY looks horrible.
As good as good as Benecio Del Toro was in Traffic, I just laugh a little everytime I remember his man-kini scene in that movie.
The Polanski doc had a short (very short) run in NY and LA, so it does qualify. I should have added Merielles Blindness to the list, though.
I think Blindness is a strong contender to get a nomination for Julianne Moore. I wouldn´t mind seeing Fernando Meirelles being nominated for best director either. In Cannes, I think the movie won´t go so well though.
I think Blindness is the strongest contender to be booed
Moulin Rouge was booed at Cannes? I don’t remember hearing about that! Well, now I have a film-festival crush. You tell ‘em, Cannes!
Still Cringing at What They Did to “Roxanne,”
BENj
PS, I cannot WAIT for Synecdoche, NY. Can you believe it’s been four years since Kaufman’s last film? I’m starved! If this new one isn’t genius, I’ll probably end up going all emo and tattooing a tear below my eye or something.
CC, agree with you. The web site of the most notorius and important film festival of the world was never such a big thing, but actually, now gets worse!
And the database research is a shame. Suffer from a severe lack of information about past years events, specially from past decades – c’mon it should have all in it.
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