Cannes today, gone tomorrow (Who's Hou?)

A few days in and we can already say this is one of the most exciting edition for a long time, the frustration of not being there is growing!

There have been a couple of disappointments, from 2 Chinese directors making a film in a foreign language (Won Kar Wai with My blueberry nights in English and Hou Hsio Hsien with The red balloon in French with Juliette Binoche) and who seem to have lost their touch in the process.

Funny how, for a day, My blueberry nights, being the film opening the festival, was the most important and talked about film in the world. A few months from now, it might do well at the French box office, get a limited release in London and New York and then vanish in the history of cinema as a minor part in the career of a great filmmaker.

But apart from that, some strong contenders for an award have already emerged.

No country for old men is showing the Coen's brothers back to form after the godawful Intolerable cruelty and the average Ladykillers, a dark film in the vein of Blood simple.

And coming out of nowhere, a Romanian film called 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days describing the trials of a young woman and her quest for a clandestine abortion during the Ceaucescu reign took the festival by storm. It social realism is likely to have tickled the fancy of the president of the jury Stephen Frears.

I love the way, without Cannes, this film would simply not have existed in the eyes of the media and got released in a handful of arthouse cinemas and largely ignored. Instead, it got into the spotlight for a day, caught the eye of critics along with film buyers even before picking up a prize. Its young actress has already been snatched up by Francis Ford Coppola for its long awaited new film.

So much more to come in the next days, the hip Asia Argento is in no less than 3 different films, by such varied directors as Oliver Assayas, Abel Ferrara and Catherine Breillat. The later is back with a period drama which is preceded by a great buzz, proving what a great director she can be, freed from pretentious sex scenes and without the need for an actor hung like a donkey.

Here is Asia looking very glam on the red carpet



I am personally getting very excited about a French animation film called Persepolis about the rise of Islamic extremism in Iran in the 70's, with the voices of Catherine Deneuve and her daughter Chiara Mastroiani. The film looks fantastic and with such a topical subject, I am expecting great things! Here is a short teaser