The Cannes Film Festival always generates a certain amount of controversy,
from movie stars practically stripping on the steps of the Palais to
dubious decisions by the international jury. Glenn Hogarty reports.
The initial talking point about this years festival is the dearth of titles from US studios. It
seemed that something like Mission: Impossible 2 would have been an obvious
choice for inclusion (or perhaps thats a bad example, as the film is still
in post-production), but US majors seem to have shyed away from this years
fest, with only three US produced films in the main competition. Those
three are Neil Labute's reputedly excellent Nurse Betty, starring Morgan
Freeman and Renee Zellweger, the Coen Brothers O Brother, Where Art Thou?
starring George Clooney and John Turturro, and The Yards by James Gray,
starring Mark Wahlberg and Faye Dunaway. Both Gray and Labute have
'graduated' from the fests Un Certain Regard section, and are in
competition this year with such established Cannes figures as Ken Loach
with Bread and Roses, his first film to be shot in the US (yet fully
financed in the UK); the controversial Lars Von Trier with his lavish,
big-budget musical Dancer in the Dark which boasts the unusual casting of
Bjork and Catherine Deneuve; and James Ivory with The Golden Bowl featuring
Uma Thurman and Nick Nolte.
Of course, these are just some of the titles which are actually in
competition. Much more of the activity on the Croisette revolves around
Market screenings, where production companies screen their wares in the
hope that they can secure international sales. While some of these titles
look less likely to have any luck in this area (one company boasts: "From
the Producer of Delta Force and Operation Thunderbolt: ELIAN- The True
Story of Elian Gonzalez" while another is attempting to sell something
called Forever Lulu, starring two of Hollywoods more, ahem....less bankable
actors, Patrick Swayze and Melanie Griffith....), many will
undoubtedly have more luck. Of the Irish interest at the Cannes market,
producer Rob Walpole and director/screenwriter Conor McPherson will be on
hand to screen (and hopefully sell) Saltwater, adapted from McPherson's own
play, 'This Lime Tree Bower'. The film has already been picked up by Buena
Vista International (Disney's distribution arm) in the Republic of Ireland.
Also screening in the sidebar at Cannes is Neil Jordan's short film Not I,
with Julianne Moore. This is the first of the Samuel Beckett plays to be
filmed under an ambitious plan by Michael Colgan of the Gate Theatre to
film all 13 plays (in fact, McPherson has directed another, along with
Canadian Atom Egoyan and a host of others).
It is always nigh impossible to even attempt to guess which way the jury
might swing this year. As always, the jury is a very mixed bag - this
year, it's president is Luc Besson (Nikita, Joan of Arc), with other
members including US director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs,
Beloved) and actors Jeremy Irons and Kristin Scott-Thomas. Word is very
positive on some of the titles (particularly by Coen Bros., Labute, Loach,
Oshima), while very little is known of some of the others.
Despite the lack of US produced films in Cannes, the festival (in
conjunction with the Independent Feature Project) has lined up an
impressive selection of participants for the American Directors press
conference. These include John Waters (whose new film, Cecil B. Demented ,
screens in a special slot, out of competition); Darren Aronofsky, director
of cult indie Pi, who will be screening his new title, Requiem for a Dream
and novice Karyn Kusama (whose Girlfight swept the boards at Sundance).
It's unlikely that the festival will be very big on glamorous star-power
this year, although characters like John Waters and the Coen Brothers
should certainly keep the proceedings moving along with some degree of
irreverence.
Finally, word in the industry has it that the hot titles at this years
festival are: Denys Arcand's Stardom (Arcand won the Palme d'Or for Jesus
of Montrea 10 years ago); Dancer, the debut film by Stephen Daldry which
is receiving favourable comparisons to Shine; Purely Belter, directed by
Mark Herman (Little Voice); and the Eurythmics' Dave Stewart's feature
debut Honest, a sixties romp, starring three of the All Saints.
- Glenn Hogarty
Visit the Cannes website at www.festival-cannes.org
