Cannes movies
The 2012 Cannes Film Festival buzz keeps getting stronger for a variety of movies. So far, the only confirmed screening is that of Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, which will open this year’s festival on May 16. What else?
Well, according to Premiere there are a number of strong possibilities – none directed by Lars von Trier, who doesn’t have any new movie ready, anyways. Below are a few highly likely Cannes 2012 entries:
- Jacques Audiard’s Un gout de rouille et d’os / Rust & Bone, which was supposed to open in October in France, but has had its debut pushed forward to May 17. The psychological drama stars Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts.
- David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis. As per Premiere, the film’s seller at the last Berlin Film Festival presented an “unbelievable” Cosmopolis promo reel, and even announced date and time for the film’s Cannes screening. Do the math: Cosmopolis opens in France on May 23. Robert Pattinson, Sarah Gadon, Juliette Binoche, Jay Baruchel, Samantha Morton, Kevin Durand, Paul Giamatti, and Mathieu Amalric are featured.
- Abbas Kiarostami’s Like Someone in Love (previously The End). Kiarostami shared the Palme d’Or with Shohei Imamura in 1997; two years ago, his Certified Copy earned Juliette Binoche the Best Actress Award at the festival. The Iranian filmmaker will quite possibly be back this year. Shot in Japan, The End features Rio Kase, Denden, Rin Takanashi, and Tadashi Okuno.
- Woody Allen’s To Rome with Love, though in all probability out of competition. Last year, Midnight in Paris also debuted at Cannes. To Rome with Love‘s international cast includes Allen himself, Penélope Cruz, Ornella Mutti, Roberto Benigni, Greta Gerwig, Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg (as the Woody Allen surrogate?), Riccardo Scamarcio, Ellen Page, Alison Pill, Alessandro Tiberi, and Judy Davis. The film’s previous title, Nero Fiddled was actually much better, but someone somewhere surely decided to cash in on the Midnight in Paris success. (If this catches on, I can see “Waltz in Warsaw,” “Tired in Tirana,” “Doing Dublin,” etc. in Allen’s cinematic future.) Possibly, To Rome with Love will be accompanied by Robert Weide’s 3h30 million documentary on Allen, the concisely titled Woody Allen: A Documentary.
- Leos Carax’s Holly Motors. If so, that’ll be the first feature solely directed by Carax since the poorly received Pola X, which was screened at Cannes back in 1999. The Holly Motors cast includes Eva Mendes, Kylie Minogue, Michel Piccoli, Denis Lavant, Jean-François Balmer, and Edith Scob.
Below are a few more strong Cannes 2012 possibilities:
- Alain Resnais’ Vous n’avez encore rien vu / You’ve Seen Nothing Yet. The veteran Resnais – who turns 90 next June – completed his version of Jean Anouilh’s Eurydice last April. The film’s all-star cast includes Mathieu Amalric, Lambert Wilson (as Orpheus), Michel Piccoli, Anne Consigny (as Eurydice), Sabine Azéma (also as Eurydice), Hippolyte Girardot, Michel Robin, Pierre Arditi (also as Orpheus), Denis Podalydès, and Anny Duperey.
- Terrence Malick’s The Funeral (possibly a provisory title), supposedly about an American man whose marriage to an European woman flounders. He then begins a relationship with a woman from his own hometown. Malick’s drama features Ben Affleck, Jessica Chastain, Rachel McAdams, Rachel Weisz, Javier Bardem, Michael Sheen, Olga Kurylenko, Amanda Peet, and Barry Pepper.
- Twi-haters will be gritting their teeth in horror and despair, while Robsten fans will rejoice in case Walter Salles’ On the Road – starring Garrett Hedlund, Sam Riley, and Bella Swan herself, Kristen Stewart – also makes the cut. (Remember, Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward Cullen in the Twilight movies, will most likely be seen in Cosmopolis at this year’s festival.) Salles’ The Motorcycle Diaries was screened at Cannes in 2004, and let’s not ignore the fact that his film version of Jack Kerouac’s seminal novel opens in France on May 23 [not May 16 as previously posted; the Cannes Film Festival opens on the 16th]. Also in the On the Road cast: Amy Adams, Kirsten Dunst, Alice Braga, and Viggo Mortensen.
- According to Premiere, neither Berlin nor Venice dared to invite Michael Haneke to present his latest film, Amour, which was completed last spring. That’s because the German director of Hidden and The White Ribbon has strong ties to Cannes. Amour, the tale of an elderly couple attempting to cope with the wife’s debilitating stroke, marks the return of 81-year-old veteran Jean-Louis Trintignant, absent from the big screen since Janis and John (2003). It also features Isabelle Huppert, Certified Copy‘s William Shimell, and 85-year-old veteran Emmanuelle Riva (Hiroshima Mon Amour).
Among the other strong possibilities for the 2012 edition of the Cannes Film Festival are Xavier Dolan’s Laurence Anyways, in which Melvil Poupaud decides he wants to become a woman; Andrew Dominik’s crime thriller Killing Them Softly, starring Brad Pitt; and Carlos Reygadas’ Post Tenebras Lux, i.e., “Light After Darkness,” which sounds like another dreamlike Reygadas effort.
Also: François Ozon’s Dans la maison / In the House, starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Denis Menochet, and Emmanuelle Seigner; Joachim Lafosse’s Aimer à en perdre la raison / Loving Without Reason, starring A Prophet‘s Tahar Rahim and Niels Arestrup, in addition to Émilie Dequenne, who is supposed to be outstanding as an infanticidal mother; and Pablo Larraín’s No, starring Gael García Bernal as an ad executive who organizes a campaign to bring down Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1988.
Kristen Stewart / Garrett Hedlund / Sam Riley / On the Road photo: MK2 Productions.
Penélope Cruz / Alessandro Tiberi / To Rome with Love photo: Medusa Film.