Can Cannes
by Adam Dawtrey10 February 2009 - this article originally appeared in Finch’s Quarterly Review Issue 3
Even Cannes won’t be immune from the credit crunch. There will be fewer parties, fewer people. But there will still be just as many movies. Which ones? Here are some likely candidates, says Adam Dawtrey
Inglourious Basterds Stand by for one of the biggest bunfights in recent Cannes history, if Quentin Tarantino unveils his long-awaited WW2 actioner on the Croisette. It’s got Brad Pitt, Mike Myers, Sam Jackson, Diane Kruger, Til Schweiger, Michael Fassbender – but at Cannes, if nowhere else, the biggest star of them all is Quentin.
Angels and Demons The Cannes launch of The Da Vinci Code is generally remembered as a disaster – terrible reviews, terrible party, terrible film. And yet the movie was a worldwide smash. So are they really going to put themselves through it again with the sequel? A worldwide release date of May 15 suggests they are.
Brüno Whether Sacha Baron Cohen actually secures a slot at the festival, or simply pitches up uninvited and hogs the cameras in an outrageous bathing suit as he did with Borat, you can be sure Brüno will steal the front pages.
Terminator: Salvation This won’t be part of the official festival, either, but this June release will be plastered all over the front of the Carlton Hotel, and may well screen as part of a mega-junket.
Bright Star Australian director Jane Campion’s debut Sweetie was booed at Cannes in 1989, but it made her name. She looks set to return this year with this period romance between the poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). Can she rescue a career that’s been drifting since The Piano?
Looking For Eric Unlikely though it seems, Cannes stalwart Ken Loach has collaborated with French soccer icon Eric Cantona for this movie about a man obsessed with the former Manchester United star.
Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky and/or Coco avant Chanel Fingernails are being sharpened for a catfight between two rival biopics of the ultimate French fashionista Coco Chanel. Dutch director Jan Kounen focuses on her relationship with radical Russki composer Igor Stravinsky. French director Anne Fontaine has the winsome Audrey Tautou in the eponymous role. Stand back and watch the fur fly.
Mr Nobody It’s 13 years since Flemish director Jaco van Dormael released his last movie, the glutinously sentimental The Eighth Day. Mr Nobody is a fantastical romance about a man who wakes up as an old man, and must work out what happened to his life.
Creation Charles Darwin finds his faith, and that of his family, challenged by his scientific discoveries. Married couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connolly play the Darwins, Jon Amiel directs.
The Limits of Control If Cannes regular Jim Jarmusch be bothered to make yet another trip to the Croisette, he will bring a classy cast to parade the red carpet, including Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, John Hurt and Gael Garcia Bernal.
Broken Embraces Pedro Almodóvar always releases his films in April in Spain, then takes them to Cannes. Why should this year be any different? Penélope Cruz stars.
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