Nick-Davis.com: Cannes Index
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Jurors: Stephen Frears (president), Marco Bellocchio, Maggie Cheung, Toni Collette, Maria de Medeiros, Orhan Pamuk, Michel Piccoli, Sarah Polley, Abderrahmane Sissako
| Palme d'Or: | 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, Romania, dir. Cristian Mungiu |
| Grand Jury Prize: | The Mourning Forest, Japan, dir. Naomi Kawase |
| Jury Prize: | Persepolis, France, dirs. Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
Silent Light, Mexico, dir. Carlos Reygadas |
| Best Director: | The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Julian Schnabel |
| Best Actress: | Secret Sunshine, Jeon Do-yeon |
| Best Actor: | The Banishment, Konstantin Lavronenko |
| Best Screenplay: | The Edge of Heaven, Fatih Akin |
| 60th Anniversary Prize: | Paranoid Park, Gus Van Sant |
| Technical Grand Prize: | The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Janusz Kaminski, cinematographer |
FIPRESCI/International
Critics Prize: | 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, Romania, dir. Cristian Mungiu |
| Prize of the Ecumenical Jury: | The Edge of Heaven, Germany, dir. Fatih Akin |
| Camera d'Or (first feature): | Jellyfish, Israel, dirs. Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen |
 Competition Films I Have Seen:
Ranked in order of preference
My Palme d'Or
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (Romania, dir. Cristian Mungiu) -
Excellent, fresh, suspenseful; phenomenally assured acting and direction, and mature collapsing of any line between politics and "real life"
We Own the Night (USA, dir. James Gray) -
Unpretentiously gripping police thriller is also subtle, daring, and formally rigorous: a world-class revisiting of B-movie idioms
Alexandra (Russia, dir. Aleksandr Sokurov) -
Sokurov may have visual and thematic tics but they work so richly and never seem insincere; a new species of oneiric war film
The Edge of Heaven (Germany, dir. Fatih Akin) -
Template of intertwining lives seemed exhausted, but this well-shot, well-acted, well-written drama is elegant and emotionally direct
Secret Sunshine (South Korea, dir. Lee Chang-dong) -
Uneven contrivances, less bracing than Oasis, but still a gutsy, restlessly agnostic maternal melo. Jeon is great.
Zodiac (USA, dir. David Fincher) -
Fantastic in concept and retrospect, if somewhat wearying and patchy in the moment; kudos for playing smartly against serial-killer grain (full review)
The Mourning Forest (Japan, dir. Naomi Kawase) -
Enigmatic and austere in story, but gorgeous in color and crystalline in structure; not for everyone, but why won't niche distribs touch it?
No Country for Old Men (USA, dirs. Joel and Ethan Coen) -
Coens adapt script in register of philosophical ambition and direct with mind on brute suspense; both tracks engage but don't always jell
Silent Light (Mexico, dir. Carlos Reygadas) -
Lensing as ace as you've heard, almost as if fishing for compliments; story barely supports such meticulous filming, but easily worth a look
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (France, dir. Julian Schnabel) -
Another bio from Schnabel that accommodates gifts for color, light, flamboyant show-pieces, cloaking shaky script and iffy grasp of structure
Persepolis (France, dirs. Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud) -
Visually ingratiating with well-written scenes; not filmmakers' fault that they can't presume informed audience, but feels a bit low-balled
The Banishment (Russia, dir. Andrei Zvyagintsev) -
Zvyagintsev is great at mood, framing, implication. But unlike Return or Elena, second film feels heavy, overdrawn.
Paranoid Park (USA, dir. Gus Van Sant) -
Van Sant's apex? Really? Fine work, but sonic, visual, and montage motifs from preceding films pushed too insistently, hung on weak story
Death Proof (USA, dir. Quentin Tarantino) -
Can't handle this without merry Planet Terror to build up good will; formal tension soured by bloated first hour, unsettling glee in sadism
My Blueberry Nights (USA/Hong Kong, dir. Wong Kar-wai) -
Implies intriguing potentials for Wong amid looser community, under bigger sky, but mostly clichéd; actors elated to be cast but driftless
The Last Mistress (France, dir. Catherine Breillat) -
Drably costumey, momentum stalled, story threadbare, Argento and Aattou flat; only Claude Sarraute works, but her role is too confined
 Sidebar Selections I Have Seen:
Ranked in order of preference
You, the Living (Un Certain Regard: Sweden, dir. Roy Andersson) -
Andersson's tableaux mordants are ingeniously contrived but also accumulate rich, surprising poignancy along with howling laughs
Zoo (Directors' Fortnight: USA, dir. Robinson Devor) -
Tasked to build doc around wholly obfuscated incident, Devor resists judgment and reimagines the form, achieving eerie, lyrical ghost story
A Mighty Heart (Out of Competition: UK/USA, dir. Michael Winterbottom) -
So much more than an Oscar play or "biopic"; Jolie, film both smart and wrenching, with director's usual acumen for taking global pulse
Savage Grace (Directors' Fortnight: USA, dir. Tom Kalin) -
Key is not to expect psychological penetration of lurid real-life tale; film thrills as a series of sharp, hot, opaque stabs at its subject
Flight of the Red Balloon (Un Certain Regard: France, dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien) -
Glassy remoteness of other Hou films livens a bit here; who'd have guessed he was the man to loosen up Binoche so gloriously?
Boarding Gate (Out of Competition: France, dir. Olivier Assayas) -
Maintains auteur's fascination with creepy side of modern, global industry, but a self-conscious retreat from demonlover ambitions
Control (Directors' Fortnight: UK, dir. Anton Corbijn) -
Dwindles into tweedy Wife vs. Girlfriend conflict, but Corbijn finds continuity and contrast between punk highs and working-class anomie (full review)
Ocean's Thirteen (Out of Competition: USA, dir. Steven Soderbergh) -
Gang refreshed from Twelve but still missing Eleven magic; Barkin an unnerving presence; color, light raised to avant-garde abstraction
The 11th Hour (Special Screening: USA, dirs. Nadia Conners and Leila Conners Petersen) -
Makes potent, hard-to-argue case about ecology on brink of collapse; mere weeks later, though, hard to recall one image not of Leo
Jellyfish (Critics' Week: Israel, dirs. Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen) -
Like a short-story collection alternating among realist and lightly abstracted modes; piquant, uneven, but grows on you
Terror's Advocate (Un Certain Regard: France, dir. Barbet Schroeder) -
Assembly somewhat scattershot, as though Schroeder is encountering significant limits in access, though this augments creepy thesis
XXY (Critics' Week: Argentina, dir. Lucía Puenzo) -
Gutsy, candid portrait of intersexed teen, though film needs more shaping; not sure about sea life as key metaphor, but film looks good (full review)
Sicko (Out of Competition: USA, dir. Michael Moore) -
Starts with some of Moore's best-ever footage and explication, before giving way to outrageous and frankly insulting simplifications
The Band's Visit (Un Certain Regard: Israel, dir. Eran Kolirin) -
An appealing film, and absolutely nothing wrong with cozying up to a broad audience; charming but tiny, with no sense of excitement
Competition Films I'm Curious to See:
Ranked in order of interest; more on this year's lineup here (opens in a new window)
Import/Export, Austria, dir. Ulrich Seidl
The Man from London, Hungary, dir. Béla Tarr
Breath, South Korea, dir. Kim Ki-duk
Love Songs, France, dir. Christophe Honoré
| Also in Competition: |
Promise Me This, Serbia/France, dir. Emir Kusturica
Tehilim, France/Israel, dir. Raphaël Nadjari
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Sidebar Films I'm Curious to See:
Listed alphabetically; more on this year's lineup here (opens in a new window)
| Un Certain Regard: |
Actresses, France, dir. Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi
Mister Lonely, USA, dir. Harmony Korine
Munyurangabo, Rwanda, dir. Lee Isaac Chung
My Brother Is an Only Child, Italy, dir. Daniele Luccheti
Water Lilies, France, dir. Céline Sciamma
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| Directors' Fortnight: |
All Is Forgiven, France, dir. Mia Hansen-Løve
Après lui, France, dir. Gaël Morel
Before I Forget, France, dir. Jacques Nolot
Caramel, Lebanon, dir. Nadine Labaki
Chop Shop, USA, dir. Ramin Bahrani
La France, France, dir. Serge Bozon
Heartbeat Detector, France, dir. Nicolas Klotz
A Lost Man, Lebanon/France, dir. Danielle Arbid
Ploy, Thailand, dir. Pen-ek Ratanaruang
Smiley Face, USA, dir. Gregg Araki
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| Out of Competition: |
Back to Normandy, France, dir. Nicolas Philibert
Chacun son cinéma, Miscellaneous, dir. Theo Angelopoulos, et al.
Go Go Tales, USA/Italy, dir. Abel Ferrara
Roman de Gare, France, dir. Claude Lelouch
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