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: Moartea domnului Lăzărescu (2005)

Moartea domnului Lăzărescu [The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu] – dir. Cristi Puiu

Like a hypochondriac’s nightmare as directed by Frederick Wiseman, The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu gruelingly takes its audience through the hellish, final night on earth for Dante Lăzărescu (Ion Fiscuteanu), a lonely alcoholic in his early 60s. Feeling pains in his stomach, he phones an ambulance, which begins a series of hospital misadventures, each of them sending him away due to their overcapacity. By his side the whole time is the poor EMT Mioara (Luminiţa Gheorghiu, a brilliant character actress who also co-starred in 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and Code Unknown). Part Dante’s Inferno, part Dardenne brothers, part E.R., The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu strangely morphs into the most excruciating comedy of the past decade, though director Cristi Puiu insists that wasn’t his intention. Based partially on an actual case of a dying man who was eventually left on the street by the paramedics after being turned away from several hospitals, the film mainly stemmed from the director’s own bout of hypochondria and anxiety. The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu was the film that began Romania’s surge into the international film world’s consciousness (leading to, among others, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, 12:08 East of Bucharest, Police, Adjective and California Dreamin’, to name a few) and remains the most striking of its national peers.

With: Ion Fiscuteanu, Luminiţa Gheorghiu, Gabriel Spahiu
Screenplay: Cristi Puiu, Răzvan Rădulescu
Cinematography: Andrei Butica, Oleg Mutu
Music: Andreea Paduraru
Country of Origin: Romania
US Distributor: Tartan Films

Premiere: 17 May 2005 (Cannes Film Festival)
US Premiere: 24 September 2005 (New York Film Festival)

Awards: Un Certain Regard Award (Cannes Film Festival); Audience Award, Best Director, Best Actor – Ion Fiscuteanu, Best Actress - Luminiţa Gheorghiu, Best Romanian Film, FIPRESCI Prize (Transilvania International Film Festival); FIPRESCI Prize: Best Actor – Ion Fiscuteanu (Palm Springs International Film Festival); Golden Swan: Best Actor - Ion Fiscuteanu (Copenhagen International Film Festival); Silver Hugo: Special Jury Prize (Chicago International Film Festival)