|
Eastwood, Jolie in running for Cannes prizes
2008-05-25
Established Hollywood filmmakers and stars such as Clint Eastwood and Angelina Jolie were competing against movies from acclaimed international directors for the top honors at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday. Among critical favorites at the 12-day festival, which presented some solid entries though no obvious standouts, was Eastwood's "Changeling," starring Jolie in the true-life story of a Los Angeles woman battling corrupt police to find her missing son after authorities return the wrong boy in his place. Other warmly received tales among the 22 in the festival's main competition included: • Laurent Cantet's "The Class," a classroom drama shot in a French school using real students and teachers; • Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas' "Linha de Passe," a tale of four brothers in a Brazilian slum; • Ari Folman's "Waltz With Bashir," an animated documentary about war in Lebanon in the early 1980s; • Matteo Garrone's "Gomorrah," a study of the criminal underworld in Naples; • Paolo Sorrentino's "Il Divo," a lively portrait of former Italian Premier Giulio Andreotti and accusations against him of mafia ties; • And Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Three Monkeys," a subtle drama about a family's hard choices coming home to roost. The competition also featured "Lorna's Silence," a drama about an immigrant woman who enters a sham marriage to gain Belgian citizenship, from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, two-time winners of the Palme d'Or, the top Cannes award. Another past Cannes winner, Steven Soderbergh, was in the running with "Che," his two-part, four-hour epic about Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara, starring Benicio Del Toro. Soderbergh, who won the Palme d'Or for 1989's "sex, lies and videotape," received mixed reviews for "Che" from Cannes critics. A film from Kazakhstan, Sergey Dvortsevoy's "Tulpan," won a secondary competition called "Un Certain Regard." "Tulpan" is the story of an aspiring shepherd on the isolated Kazakh steppes who must wed before he can enter his chosen trade but is refused by the only prospective bride because she thinks his ears are too big. Bosnian director Aida Begic's "Snow," a drama about villagers struggling with the decision to leave their war-ravaged town, won top honors in another Cannes competition overseen by critics. Some high-profile films screened out of competition, including "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which premiered at Cannes four days before its worldwide theatrical release. The film pulled in $56 million (euro36 million) at the U.S. box office in its first two days. Also playing outside the Cannes competition were Woody Allen's romance "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" and Jack Black's animated comedy "Kung Fu Panda." While Cannes presented few outright bombs this time, critics found the lineup a bit tepid. Last year's competition included such films as Joel and Ethan Coen's "No Country for Old Men," which went on to win the best-picture Academy Award, and Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's animated coming-of-age tale "Persepolis," which was nominated for the animation Oscar. Last year's top prize went to Cristian Mungiu's Romanian abortion drama "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days." Satrapi is among those choosing this year's winners on the nine-member Cannes jury, which is led by Sean Penn and includes actress Natalie Portman and director Alfonso Cuaron. ___ On the Net: http://www.festival-cannes.fr
| 
