Movies to watch out for at the Cannes Film Festival

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Reunited: Pedro Almodóvar directs Penélope Cruz in Broken Embraces

War movie: Brad Pitt stars in Inglourious Basterds, the latest Quentin Tarantino offering

Lily Cole is among the cast of Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus

A total of 1,000-plus films are on offer at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Nick Roddick rounds up a few that might be worth a look

Cannes - the world's most important film event or just another party to which you're not invited?

Well, this year, the line-up points firmly towards the former: not for nothing is the Festival de Film the world's second most media-intensive event, after the Olympics.

Taking into account all the various strands there are 1,000-plus films on offer. Only 480 films were released in the UK last year. So dross there will certainly be.

But the official selection alone contains new films from directors who, between them, have won eight Palmes d'Or and a shelf-full of Oscars.

Whichever way you cut it, the Festival is not leaving many of its A-team on the bench this year.

Of course, picking what's going to be good is like betting on the jockey while knowing next to nothing about the horse.

But with everything still to play for, here - in alphabetical order - are a few movies that might be worth a look.

Antichrist

Who? Lars von Trier, long invisible on the arthouse circuit (his last film
sold less than 5000 tickets in the UK).

Why? It's a Gothic tale about a couple going back to nature to rekindle
their relationship. Given von Trier's penchant for being gratuitously offensive, the idea of him doing a horror movie (with sex, to judge by the
online trailer) is irresistible.

Where will you see it? Probably at another film festival (it doesn't yet have a UK distributor).

Broken Embraces (Los abrazos rotos)

Who? Pedro Almodóvar directing Penélope Cruz.

Why? Who could resist after what they did together in Volver? But critics in Spain have been less than enthusiastic, suggesting that this time the famous Almodóvar style may be mainly smoke and mirrors.

Where will you see it? In arthouses (and the sort of multiplexes where they
serve carrot cake) at the end of August.

Centurion

Who? Neil Marshall, director of The Descent, with a sword-and-sandal epic set on Hadrian's Wall and starring Michael Fassbender (Hunger).

Why? I'm hoping this will be my annual Market treat: Marshall is Britain's most promising genre director and this one has a bigger-than-usual budget.

Where will you see it? Anywhere but an arthouse.

Drag Me to Hell

Who? Cult director Sam Raimi gets back to basics with a story of a bank official placed under a powerful curse for turning down a loan (don't you love it already?).

Why? This looks like Raimi (plus brother Ivan) recapturing the spirit of Evil Dead after the big-budget pyrotechnics of Spider-Man
Where will you see it? Soon: it'll be all over the UK from May 27.

Enter the Void

Who? Gaspar Noé, a director who - as anyone who saw Irreversible will know -
can create dread the way Phil Specter created the wall of sound.

Why? Set in Tokyo, this is a story about a man shot in a police raid who spirit seeks to keep his promise of always protecting his sister, but finds his grip on the world beginning to disintegrate. Guaranteed to scare the horses.

Where will you see it? You'll have to wait: it doesn't have a UK distributor
yet.

Fish Tank

Who? Brit director Andrea Arnold, who won an Oscar for her short film, Wasp,
and a Cannes Jury Prize for her feature debut Red Road.

Why? Red Road came within sniffing distance of a Palme d'Or and it shouldn't
have taken three years for Arnold to make her next film. Now it's here, I'm not going to miss it.

Where will you see it? The arthouse circuit, but UK distributor Artificial Eye has yet to set a release date.

Humpday

Who? Relative newcomer Lynn Shelton won a Jury Prize at Sundance directing a cast of unknowns in a story about two straight friends who end up getting it on in a gay porno movie.

Why? The vogue for movies about porno movies is getting a little limp, but the idea of combining it with the currently fashionable bromance' genre (e.g. I Really Love You, Man) and throwing in a bit of mumblecore ought to be worth a visit.

Where will you see it? It may become a cult, otherwise search me.

The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus

Who? Terry Gilliam's new movie, which was already shooting when Heath Ledger died. Gilliam kept the footage, then divided up the rest of the role between Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell.

Why? Not everyone likes it, but with Gilliam, you kinda know what you're going to get. And it's unique.

Where will you see it? Multiplexes, but probably not for long.

Inglourious Basterds

Who? Quentin Tarantino (who clearly thinks misspelling is, like, real funny)
directing a cast headed by Brad Pitt.

Why? Having done martial arts, Tarantino is paying homage to all those Dirty Dozen-style war movies he used to watch on video. But can the 46-year-old enfant terrible can get some of his mojo back after the disaster that was
Death Proof?

Where will you see it? Multiplexes from August 21.

Looking for Eric

Who? Ken Loach's new film about a Man Utd fan who gets a little private help from an imaginary friend called Eric Cantona.

Why? I'm cheating a bit with this one, because I've already seen it. To me,
it's Loach's funniest film in years - and Cantona alone is worth the ticket price.

Where will you see it? Arthouses and tonier multiplexes from June 12.

Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire

Who? Director Lee Daniels tackles the story of an illiterate, grossly overweight pregnant Harlem teenager.

Why? The film (then called Push) won three top prizes at Sundance and earned rave reviews, some of them containing five words you never thought you'd see together: great performance by Mariah Carey.

Where will you see it? Arthouses only, unless UK distributor Icon decides to take a chance on Carey fans.

Samson and Delilah

Who? Nothing to do with the Bible: a movie about two Aboriginal teenagers in the Central Australian desert, written and directed by Aboriginal film-maker Warwick Thornton.

Why? Advance word from Australia - where it wowed the Adelaide Film Festival - is phenomenal.

Where will you see it? Probably on DVD, unless someone gets brave and releases it here.

Taking Woodstock

Who? Oscar-winner Ang Lee with a comedy about a kid working at his parents' motel who somehow helps start the granddaddy of all music festivals.

Why? OK, I'm a child of the 1960s, so these are my peeps. Lee is such a
chameleon (Pride & Prejudice, The Hulk, Brokeback Mountain) that it could be great (although it reportedly barely scraped into the line-up).

Where will you see it? It's a Hollywood studio film, so in your local multiplex (at the end of October).

Tetro

Who? Francis Ford Coppola. Enough said.

Why? The one-time giant of the new Hollywood' initially said Cannes wasn't “true to the personal nature of this film”. But maybe that's because they didn't put him in the competition (which he's won twice) coz he quickly said Yes' to the Director's Fortnight. Could this herald a late-career renaissance for one of the 20th century's most influential film-makers? Or will it be as, er, personal' as 2007's dreary Youth Without Youth?

Where will you see it? Too soon to say. Arthouse if it's any good, DVD if not.

Thirst (Bakjwi)

Who? Korean director Park Chan-wook with a horror film about a priest who becomes a vampire (working title was This Is My Bloods').

Why? I'd cross deserts to see a film by the man who made Old Boy, although
restraint is not something I'm expecting.

Where will you see it? Good old Tartan Films - back from the grave - have it
for the UK and can be counted on to squeeze it to the last drop of blood.

 

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