The 2008 Cannes Film Festival promises to be a battle of the Hollywood
vs the art house directors.
CANNES FRANCE, (MAY 12, 2008) REUTERS -
Hollywood legends and obscure arthouse directors descend on Cannes
from Wednesday (May 14) for the world's biggest film festival that combines
edgy cinema with A-list celebrities, glitzy parties and frenetic deal-making.
Brazilian Fernando Mereilles, director of the acclaimed drama 'City of God',
will open this year's Cannes film festival with the English-language
'Blindness', festival organizers said.
'Blindness', starring Julianne Moore as the only person able to see in
a town in which everyone else is mysteriously struck blind, follows
Mereilles's previous English-language production 'The Constant Gardener'.
"And this year we wanted to start a new cycle with the idea that
the most important thing for the festival," festival delegate general,
Thierry Fremaux, told Reuters. "Yes, you have the parties, yes, it's the
Cote d d,Azur, yes, the business, the glamour - but the the most important
thing is the cinema."
Hollywood Reporter film critic Kirk Honeycutt believes the 2008 line
up will not disappoint.
"This is an interesting because there's a lot of people that have
been here many times before and there's a lot of people who are rookies in
terms of Cannes. Even if not brand new people, we don't know what to expect of
them. So it's a nice balance this year.
Clint Eastwood is in the main competition with 'Changeling', starring
Angelina Jolie, pitting him against, among others, Kornel Mundruczo of Hungary
in the kind of David-and-Goliath contest on which Cannes thrives.
Out of competition, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas will be on the
famed red carpet in the palm-lined sea-front town with the latest Indiana
Jones adventure , 'The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull', featuring Harrison Ford
and Cate Blanchett.
Woody Allen also presents 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' starring Penelope
Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem.
The 61st edition of the super-charged 12-day movie marathon has a
strong South American flavour, with two Argentinean and two Brazilian films in
the main competition line-up.
From Argentina comes Pablo Trapero's prison drama 'Leonera' and
thriller 'The Headless Woman' by Lucrecia Martel, and Brazil has Walter
Salles's 'Line of Passage' as well as 'Blindness'.
"I think it reflects what people have been talking about, and that
is the re-emergence of quality cinema throughout Latin America, including
Mexico, Argentina and Brazil," said Jay Weissberg, Rome-based critic for
trade publication Variety.
U.S. director Steven Soderbergh also presents 'Che', his two-part,
four-and-a-half-hour epic on Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara, with Benicio
del Toro in the title role.
Adding to the star power in Cannes will be Gwyneth Paltrow and Joaquin
Phoenix, who are in competition with James Gray's 'Two Lovers', as is Philip
Seymour Hoffman with Charlie Kaufman's 'Synecdoche, New York'.
Previous winners of the Palme d'Or vying for the prize again in 2008
are Belgium's Dardenne brothers, Soderbergh and German director Wim Wenders,
whose 'Palermo Shooting' features Milla Jovovich, Dennis Hopper, Patti Smith
and Lou Reed.
But the critics aren't predicting any clear winners.
"I don't anticipate because it doesn't do any good," said
Kirk Honeycutt. "The guy whose film you really want to see is the one who
disappoints you most and someone you've never heard of is the one that just
leaps of the screen at you. I remember when Tarantino first came her in 94 and
Pulp Fiction came up very much towards the end - you know, bad slot you would
think. Clint Eastwood was jury president that year and he told me later that
film just blew everybody away."
Singer Madonna is due to be in Cannes and Robert De Niro will present
the Palme d'Or at the closing ceremony on May 25.
Two of sport's most charismatic but troubled figures are also expected
in the Riviera resort -- Argentinean soccer hero Diego Maradona and U.S.
heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson, both the subjects of new documentaries.
