Jury still out on Cannes films
2006-05-23 09:25
Cannes - As the Cannes Film Festival hit the halfway mark on Tuesday, the field remained wide open with critics largely divided on which of the 20 films could carry off the coveted Palme d'Or.
Several hotly-awaited movies have yet to be screened to the audiences and jury, and with everything still to play for, one of them could yet tip the scales in their favour.
US director Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst as the young queen uprooted from her homeland and filmed in Versailles, promises to be a feast for the eyes.
Brad Pitt's Babel
And no doubt there will be unseemly jostling for places at Wednesday's screenings, as well as for Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Babel starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, to be shown on Tuesday.
Babel, set in the Moroccan desert, tackles man's lack of communication in this hi-tech world, and has been filmed in four languages, including Arabic.
It is pitted against another Mexican film, the fantastical Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro, which has been creating a buzz, but will not be seen until the eve of Sunday's awards ceremony.
Acclaim for Almodovar film
If the critics are anything to go by, Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar seems to be carrying the day so far with his evocative Volver, which has handed Penelope Cruz her best performance to date.
But some argue that although it shows Almodovar at the top of his art, it lacks the edge which could hand him the prize.
Coming up close behind in the critics' polls by both trade revues Screen International and Le Film Francais is Ken Loach's gut-wrenching tale The Wind That Shakes the Barley about the early days of Ireland's struggle for independence from Britain.
Jury seeks films which engage and move them
The jury is headed for the first time by a Chinese director, Hong Kong's Wong Kar-Wai, who has stressed he has no agenda and is looking for movies which engage and move the jury, which could work against Lou Ye's compelling love story Summer Palace set against the backdrop of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Lou's courageous film, a rare attempt to treat the pro-democracy movement, has angered Beijing's censors as it is being shown without their permission, and could reportedly earn Lou a five-year ban from film-making.
Glamour and parties
Southland Tales, US director Richard Kelly's sprawling sci-fi about the end of the world, seems to have bombed, while Fast Food Nation, an indictment of the junk food industry, also failed to satisfy appetites.
Thanks to a galaxy of stars and two Hollywood blockbusters - The Da Vinci Code and X-Men: The Last Stand - the southern French resort has been awash with glamour and parties since the festival opened on May 17.