The 2010 Cannes Film Festival in Posters, Round 2

Here are 34 more posters for films playing at this year's Cannes Film Festival. All are new titles, aside from Somos lo que hay [We Are What We Are] as I found a different, larger poster for it. From the competition, we have La princesse de Montpensier, Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (thanks ouiouioui!) and Hors-la-loi (which leaves only Another Year, Fair Game, Chongqing Blues, Route Irish and My Joy un-represented in that section). From the Cannes Classics section: La 315ème section, Psycho, The Leopard, Boudu Saved from Drowning, Tristana, La compagne de Ciceron, Le grand amour, The Tin Drum, Kiss of the Spider Woman, The African Queen, Au petit bonheur and La bataille du rail. The rest: O Estranho Caso de Angélica, Bedevilled (which might be the cover sheet of a press booklet), Benda Bilili!, Chatroom (easily the worst reviewed film at the festival so far), Aurora, Le quattro volte, Octubre, Sandcastle, Picco, Simon Werner a disparu..., La casa muda, Unter dir die Stadt, The Wanderer, Udaan, Los labios, Marţi, după Crăciun and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. There may be one more update when the festival closes.

Cannes Line-Up 2010

The films have been announced, and while my suspicions yesterday were premature, I suppose the absence of Béla Tarr's latest is the only real surprise (granted it was going to be hard to surprise me as I wasn't following what was expected to be showing this year). In the Competition line-up, Mike Leigh and Abbas Kiarostami are the only former Palme d'Or winners, but many other previous award recipients, such as Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nikita Mikhalkov, Bertrand Tavernier and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, will be presenting their films. New films from Jean-Luc Godard, Manoel de Oliveira, Lodge Kerrigan, Hong Sang-soo, Radu Muntean, Cristi Puiu and one of last year's big winners Xavier Dolan will be shown in the Un Certain Regard section, and the latest from Woody Allen, Stephen Frears, Oliver Stone and Gregg Araki will also be shown out of competition. The line-ups are below.

Another Year, d. Mike Leigh, UK, w. Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton
Biutiful, d. Alejandro González Iñárritu, USA, w. Javier Bardem, Blanca Portillo
Burnt by the Sun 2, d. Nikita Mikhalkov, Russia
Copie conforme [Certified Copy], d. Abbas Kiarostami, Iran/France/Italy, w. Juliette Binoche
Des hommes et des dieux [Of Gods and Men], d. Xavier Beauvois (Le petit lieutenant), France, w. Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale, Roschdy Zem
Fair Game, d. Doug Liman, USA, w. Naomi Watts, Sean Penn
Hors-la-loi [Outside the Law] d. Rachid Bouchareb (Days of Glory), France/Algeria/Belgium, w. Jamel Debbouze, Roschy Zem, Sami Bouajila
Housemaid, d. Im Sang-soo (The President's Last Bang), South Korea
La nostra vita, d. Daniele Luchetti (My Brother Is an Only Child), Italy, w. Raoul Bova, Elio Germano, Riccardo Scamarcio
Outrage, d. Takeshi Kitano, Japan, w. Kitano, Jun Kunimura
Poetry, d. Lee Chang-dong (Oasis), South Korea
La princesse de Montpensier, d. Bertrand Tavernier, France/Germany, w. Gaspard Ulliel, Lambert Wilson
Tournée, d. Mathieu Amalric, France, w. Amalric, Damien Odoul
Un homme qui crie [A Screaming Man], d. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Abouna), Chad
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, d. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand
You. My Joy, d. Sergei Loznitsa (Revue), Ukraine

Un Certain Regard

Les amours imaginaires [Heartbeats], d. Xavier Dolan, Canada, w. Dolan
Aurora, d. Cristi Puiu (The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu), Romania, w. Puiu
Blue Valentine, d. Derek Cianfrance, USA, w. Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams
Chatroom, d. Hideo Nakata (Dark Water), UK
Chongqing Blues, d. Wang Xiaoshuai (Beijing Bicycle), China
O Estranho Caso de Angélica [The Strange Case of Angelica], d. Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal
Film socialisme, d. Jean-Luc Godard, Switzerland/France, w. Patti Smith
Life Above All, d. Oliver Schmitz (Paris je t'aime)
Los labios, d. Ivan Fund, Santiago Loza, Argentina
Ha Ha Ha, d. Hong Sang-soo, South Korea
Marţi, după Crăciun [Tuesday, After Christmas], d. Radu Muntean (Boogie), Romania, w. Dragos Bucur
Octubre, d. Daniel Vega
Pál Andrienn [Adrienn Pál], d. Ágnes Kocsis (Fresh Air), Hungary/Netherlands/France/Austria, w. Éva Gábor
R U There, d. David Verbeek (Shanghai Trance), Taiwan
Rebecca H. (Return to the Dogs), d. Lodge Kerrigan, USA
Simon Werner a disparu..., d. Fabrice Gobert
Udaan, d. Vikramaditya Motwane, India
Unter dir die Stadt [The City Below], d. Christoph Hochhäusler (I Am Guilty), Germany

Out of Competition

Tamara Drewe, d. Stephen Frears, UK
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, d. Oliver Stone, USA, w. Michael Douglas, Shia LaBoeuf, Carey Mulligan, Josh Brolin, Charlie Sheen, Susan Sarandon, Frank Langella, Vanessa Ferlito
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, d. Woody Allen, USA/Spain, w. Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin, Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins

Midnight

L'autre monde [Blackhole], d. Gilles Marchand (Who Killed Bambi?), France, w. Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Melvil Poupaud
Kaboom, d. Gregg Araki, USA/France, w. James Duval, Roxane Mesquida, Kelly Lynch

Special Screenings

Abel, d. Diego Luna, Mexico
Chantrapas, d. Otar Iosseliani
Draquila - l'italia che trema, d. Sabina Guzzanti, Italy
Inside Job, d. Charles Ferguson
Nostalgia de la luz [Nostalgia for the Light], d. Patricio Guzmán, France
Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow, d. Sophie Fiennes (The Pervert's Guide to Cinema), Netherlands

The Decade List: Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

Vicky Cristina Barcelona – dir. Woody Allen

No film last year glued a glimmering smile on my face as strongly and thoroughly as Woody Allen's effervescent Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Perhaps I was witnessing one of my favorite directors come back to life after a decade-long stint of mediocre films, many of which featuring his most incompetent muse to date, Scarlett Johansson, a sad replacement for Diane Keaton and Mia Farrow. Or perhaps it was such a relief to feel those temptations to say that he'd "lost it" dissipate within the film's earliest moments. Ultimately, it doesn't matter whether low expectations and dwindling confidence were to thank for what was easily my best "cinema experience" of ‘08.

In ways no other director can compete, Allen pulled me through the ringer with alternating moments of hilarity and stomach-dropping poignancy. As Vicky, the 'Woody Allen character' of Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Rebecca Hall nailed neurotic dissatisfaction, culminating in the heart-sinking moment where her entire façade shatters near the end of the film as she tells Javier Bardem, quite simply, "I'm scared." As Cristina, the self-proclaimed free-spirit amid a love-triangle with Bardem and the smoldering Penélope Cruz, Johansson is as tolerable as she's ever been, with Allen exposing the two things most directors miss in the actress: a brimming sexuality that's deeper than physical voluptuousness and the seeping fear that she isn't up to snuff. I (still) have no reservations in claiming Vicky Cristina Barcelona to be among the highest tier of Allen films, within the ranks of Stardust Memories, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters, Annie Hall and Deconstructing Harry.

With: Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz, Patricia Clarkson, Chris Messina, Kevin Dunn, Pablo Schreiber, Carrie Preston, Zak Orth, Christopher Evan Welch
Screenplay: Woody Allen
Cinematography: Javier Aguirresarobe
Country of Origin: Spain/USA
US Distributor: The Weinstein Company

Premiere: 17 May 2008 (Cannes Film Festival)
US Premiere: 15 August 2008

Awards: Best Supporting Actress – Penélope Cruz (Academy Awards); Best Supporting Actress – Penélope Cruz (BAFTA Awards); Best Picture, Musical/Comedy (Golden Globes); Best Supporting Actress – Penélope Cruz, Best Screenplay (Independent Spirit Awards); Best Supporting Actress – Penélope Cruz (Goya Awards, Spain); Best Foreign-Language Film (Cinema Brazil Awards); Best Ensemble Cast – Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz (Gotham Awards)

My favorite time of year: John Waters' Top 10 of 2009

Not only does the end of each year bring me to want to relive my favorite Christmas movie (sorry Arnaud Desplechin, Bruce Willis), but it also marks the time when John Waters provides his Top 10 films of the year for Artforum. Last year his #1 was a tie between Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Christophe Honoré's Love Songs [Les chansons d'amour], both of which made my list too although there were quite a few of you who weren't as impressed. This year, it's Ulrich Seidl's Import/Export. The real joy of his lists though is the sentence or two that accompany the films. You can read it all at the link above, but the two highlights for me were Antichrist ("If Ingmar Bergman had committed suicide, gone to hell, and come back to earth to direct an exploitation/art film for drive-ins, this is the movie he would have made.") and In the Loop ("A smart, mean, foulmouthed British satire about the struggle for global power that asks the all-important question: How do you debate the invasion of Iraq if your gums start to bleed in the middle of your presentation?"). Ha!

1. Import/Export, d. Ulrich Seidl
2. Antichrist, d. Lars von Trier
3. In the Loop, d. Armando Iannucci
4. World's Greatest Dad, d. Bobcat Goldthwait (hello, Shakes the Clown!)
5. Brüno, d. Larry Charles
6. Lorna's Silence [Le silence de Lorna], d. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
7. Broken Embraces [Los abrazos rotos], d. Pedro Almodóvar
8. The Baader Meinhof Complex [Der Baader Meinhof Komplex], d. Uli Edel
9. Whatever Works, d. Woody Allen
10. The Headless Woman [La mujer sin cabeza], d. Lucrecia Martel

DVDs, Acquisitions, Etc. - 7 August

In addition to the DVD releases below, Sony will be releasing Mary Shelley's Frankenstein on Blu-ray on 13 October. There weren't any other exciting Blu-ray release announcements made, so I didn't create a section for it this time around.

- Ace [Asso], 1981, d. Franco Castellano, Giuseppe Moccia, MVD, 11 August, w. Edwige Fenech
- Hot Dogs on Ibiza [On est venu là pour s'éclater], 1979, d. Max Pécas, Sinful Mermaid/MVD, 11 August
- Landscape No.2 [Pokrajina St.2], 2008, d. Vinko Moderndorfer, Vanguard, 25 August
- The Mama Cass Television Program, 1969, Falcon Picture Group, 25 August
- Attention [L'attenzione], 1984, d. Giovanni Soldati, Sinful Mermaid/MVD, 22 September, w. Stefania Sandrelli
- The Brothers Bloom, 2008, d. Rian Johnson, Summit Entertainment, also on Blu-ray, 29 September
- Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie, 2008, d. Jay Delaney, Oscilloscope Pictures, 29 September
- Shrink, 2009, d. Jonas Pate, Lionsgate, 29 September, w. Kevin Spacey, Mark Webber, Saffron Burrows, Robert Loggia, Gore Vidal, Dallas Roberts, Pell James, Laura Ramsey
- Steam, 2007, d. Kyle Schickner, Wolfe Video, 29 September, w. Ally Sheedy, Ruby Dee, Kate Siegel, Chelsea Handler
- Summer Storm, 1944, d. Douglas Sirk, VCI, 20 October
- Whatever Works, 2009, d. Woody Allen, Sony Pictures, also on Blu-ray, 27 October
- Up, 2009, d. Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Walt Disney, also on Blu-ray, 10 November
- A Woman in Berlin [Anonyma - Eine Frau in Berlin], 2008, d. Max Färberböck, Strand Releasing, 10 November, w. Nina Hoss
- Margaret Cho: Beautiful, 2009, d. Lorene Machado, Image Entertainment, 17 November
- The New Year Parade, 2008, d. Tom Quinn, Carnivalesque Films, 24 November
- The Silent Scream, 1980, d. Denny Harris, Scorpion Releasing, 24 November

In acquisition news, Strand picked up the latest from André Téchiné, The Girl on the Train [La fille du RER], which boasts a pretty impressive cast which includes Catherine Deneuve, Ronit Elkabetz, Michel Blanc, Mathieu Demy, Nicolas Duvauchelle and Émilie Dequenne in the title role.

I must have missed the official announcement, but via ioncinema.com, it looks as though Haim Tabakman's Eyes Wide Open, which premiered at Cannes this year, was picked up by here! Films for a 2010 release. The film opens on 2 September in France and will screen at TIFF.

Milestone has found a partner in Oscilloscope Pictures after New Yorker's closure earlier this year. The studio, who previously released Mikhail Kalatozov's I Am Cuba, Manoel de Oliveira's I'm Going Home [Je rentre à la maison], Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep, Orson Welles' The Trial [Le procès] and Marcel Ophüls's The Sorrow and the Pity [Le chagrin et la pitié] among others, has several titles lined up for the near-future, including Kent MacKenzie's The Exiles (which is featured prominently in Los Angeles Plays Itself), Margot Benacerraf's Araya and a 30th Anniversary edition of Rob Epstein's Word Is Out.

Also, be sure to check out IFC.com's Fall Movie Preview, which covers the "Indie" Theatrical Releases; a guide to On Demand as well as DVD and Internet releases and what you can find at the selected Repertory Theatres around the country (and elsewhere). It's sure to be more helpful than whatever Entertainment Weekly has to offer. If you want some tips from yours truly, steer clear from Nicolas Winding Refn's heinous Bronson, which Magnolia will premiere On Demand. It's a skuzziest showboat of a movie, best appreciated by the douchebag Guy Ritchie devotees. Also, I'd advice against IFC's Festival Direct title Better Things, which boasts the claim "The Dardenne brothers meet Lynne Ramsay" on Soda Pictures' R2 DVD artwork. I know plenty of people, myself included, who could hardly say no to such a description, but don't be fooled by that or its gorgeous overcast aesthetics; it's pretty barren. All for now.

2009 Notebook: Vol 8

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is the second film I've watched twice this year, and though I know I'm not alone in my love for it, I just can't seem to get enough of it. It made sense to watch it again to, sort of, get the best of both worlds, as Almodóvar and Allen have been my go-tos when nothing new looks remotely appealing. I'm still having problems with the labeling of the films (On the Bus, for example, should fall somewhere between "Good" and "Middle-of-the-Road"), but hopefully that'll work itself out. I'm going to try to do a fair amount of writing today, so check back.

The New Favorites

Les corps ouverts - dir. Sébastien Lifshitz - 1998 - France - N/A - with Yasmine Belmadi, Pierre-Loup Rajot, Margot Abascal, Mohamed Damraoui, Malik Zidi, Dora Dhouib, Sébastien Lifshitz

The Good

L'important c'est d'aimer [The Main Thing Is to Love] - dir. Andrzej Żuławski - 1975 - Mondo Vision - France/Italy/West Germany - with Romy Schneider, Fabio Testi, Jacques Dutronc, Claude Dauphin, Klaus Kinski, Roger Blin, Gabrielle Doulcet

Martyrs - dir. Pascal Laugier - 2008 - France - The Weinstein Company - with Morjana Alaoui, Mylène Jampanoï, Catherine Bégin, Robert Toupin, Patricia Tulasne, Isabelle Chasse, Juliette Gosselin, Xavier Dolan-Tadros

On the Bus - dir. Dustin Lance Black - 2001 - USA - 10% Productions

The Bad

Too Much Flesh - dir. Pascal Arnold, Jean-Marc Barr - 2000 - France - N/A - Jean-Marc Barr, Élodie Bouchez, Rosanna Arquette, Ian Brennan, Ian Vogt

Revisited: The Old Favorites

Bugcrush - dir. Carter Smith - 2006 - USA - Strand Releasing - with Josh Barclay Caras, Donald Eric Cumming, David Tennent, Eleonore Hendricks, Alex Toumayan, Billy Price

Old Joy - dir. Kelly Reichardt - 2006 - USA - Kino - with Daniel London, Will Oldham, Tanya Smith

Vicky Cristina Barcelona - dir. Woody Allen - Spain/USA - 2008 - MGM/Weinstein Company - with Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz, Patricia Clarkson, Chris Messina, Kevin Dunn, Pablo Schreiber

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown [Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios] - dir. Pedro Almodóvar - 1988 - Spain - MGM/Sony Pictures - with Carmen Maura, Julieta Serrano, María Barranco, Antonio Banderas, Rossy de Palma, Kiti Manver, Fernando Guillén

Revisited: Les Autres

Party Girl - dir. Daisy von Scherler Mayer - 1995 - USA - First Look - with Parker Posey, Guillermo Díaz, Sasha von Scherler, Omar Townsend, Anthony DeSando, Donna Mitchell, Liev Schreiber