Cannes Begins; Let Puns and Pricing Complaints Follow

By Steven Zeitchik

Overnight, the crowds on the Croisette multiplied, the screenings cranked into gear and Jack Black decided to show up with humans in panda suits on a pier in the south of France.

On Wednesday morning,  journalists and critics -- when they weren't lamenting  the cost of a cup of coffee paid in dollars -- packed the first screening of the festival, the 10 a.m. critics showing of "Blindness." We were able to catch only the first half hour or so, but Fernando Meirelles' comments on his own work struck us as apropos -- the use of an anyonmous setting (the movie was shot in Sao Paulo), vague accents and the general lack of distinguishing locational details puts you a little off-kilter and gives the film a mystical, metaphysical feel.

On the business side, the real question will be the buyer action on available titles. While market pics and reel showings will inevitably provide a breakout, the competition lineup is where the cachet -- and sales buzz -- lies. A lot has been written about the effect of the tempered market, Hollywood labor pains and the contraction of specialty companies like Picturehouse. But like at all fests, the sales will in the end rest on reaction to the movies themselves.

For that, the hope lies, as reported in today's THR, with two lovers, a two-parter and a headtrip -- that is, with James Gray's romantic drama, Soderbergh's "Che" epic and Charlie Kaufman's "Synecdoche, NY." None of the three films have distribution, and while all have the kind of artistic ambition that could make them a commercial reach, they also have the artistic ambition that could turn them into this year's "No Country for Old Men."

Also, look for Israeli ani doc "Waltz with Bashir" as this year's "4 Weeks, 3 Months and 2 Days" -- a unique and perhaps even difficult film that will draw a small-midrange distributor and a modest amount of actual currency but enormous amounts of the cultural kind. And on the market side, "JCVD" will be the high-concept gamble -- a Jean Claude Van Damme biopic that's a parody of the aged action star. A Jean Claude Van Damme parody may be a comic redundancy, but then, aren't those the best kind.

Comments

[Sunita Jain]

Hey Steven,
I wonder if you can check out this feature film HOPE . Associated Press says it makes the STEM CELL issue a personal one. We in India dont understand much about this controversy but its very controversial in Europe and United States. I like the reviews on this movie and it was partly shot in New Delhi.
I hope I can visit Cannes too one day and will look forward to your blogging.
Sunita (New Delhi)

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