Cannes prepares for prizes in festival finale

Among critical favorites at the 12-day festival, which presented some solid entries though no obvious standouts, was Clint Eastwood’s "Changeling," starring Angelina 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.

 

According to a report by the AP, other warmly received tales among the 22 in the festival's main competition included: Â

 

- Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s "Three Monkeys," a subtle drama about a family’s hard choices coming home to roost;

- 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 crime-ridden Brazilian slum;
- Ari Folman’s "Waltz With Bashir," an animated documentary about war in Lebanon in the early 1980s;
- Matteo Garrone’s "Gomorra," 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;

 

The leading contenders included Hollywood veteran Clint Eastwood and Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, underlining how Cannes seeks to unite mainstream cinema with smaller-budget, independent film making, Reuters reported.

 Â

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 dOr for 1989s "sex, lies and videotape," received mixed reviews for "Che" from Cannes critics.

 

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 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.

 

Photo: AFP