Thursday, April 16, 2009

Festival de Cannes 2009


A tentative roster of this years selections of the Cannes Film Festival have emerged, nothing is totally confirmed yet, but these films (many of which look mighty juicy) are favorites for selection. I've always been fascinated to the allure of Cannes, as it's the easily the most prestigious and important of the film festivals-- anything that reminds me of film in a historical sense makes me salivate. Rumored pictures are:

Inglourious Basterds- Quentin Tarantino's latest, a Naxi- saga with Brad Pitt. Tarantino has a history with the festival when his Pulp Fiction won the Palme D'Or in 1994. (Link to trailer)

Taking Woodstock- Ang Lee's latest centered on the famous music festival stars Demetri Martin, Imelda Stuanton and Emile Hirsch... me can't wait. (Link to trailer)

Tetro- Francis Ford Coppola's latest, an Argentine family drama with Vincent Gallo-- hum a melding of Coppola with The Brown Bunny auteur-- I might be afraid of this one.

Bad Lieutenant- Werner Herzog's remake of the infamous NC-17 rated Harvey Keitel film, this time starring Nicolas Cage-- hopefully will improve Cage's rep.

Antichrist- Lars von Trier's latest starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg; von Trier, a notorious wacko, reportedly threw his Grand Prix prize in a river a decade ago. (Link to trailer)

Drag Me to Hell- Sam Raimi's return to horror-- an odd Cannes choice, but I'm game. (Link to trailer)

Up- Pixar's latest masterwork (hopefully; probably) has already been slated to open the festival in digital 3-D, a Pixar and Cannes first-- perhaps it will be in competition and win the big prize. (Sigh)

Bright Star- Jane Campion's (The Piano) latest, a biopic of John Keats with Ben Whishaw (I'm Not There) and Abbie Cornish (Stop Loss.)

Looking for Eric- the latest from Scottish director Ken Loach, who specalizes in socially concious working class Scottish depravity-- his 2003 film Sweet Sixteen is my personal favorite, and his 2006 film The Wind That Shakes the Barley won the Palme D'Or, so he always has to considered a favorite for selection.

Vengence- a Hong Kong thriller from filmmaker Johnny To.

The White Ribbon- the latest from Michael Hanake (The Piano Teacher, Funny Games, Cache)-- be very afraid.

Broken Embraces- Pedro Almodovar's latest noir stars Penelope Cruz-- salivate!

Official selections will be announced on April 23, and the festival starts May 13.

source: Awards Daily

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