1 The French Renaissance
There’s a renewed confidence in the French films on show in Cannes this year,
perhaps stirred by the Palme d’Or win last year by Laurent Cantet’s The
Class. The clear frontrunner for the big prize this year is Jacques
Audiard’s superb prison drama, A Prophet, a dazzling piece of cinema. Also
impressive is Army of Crime, Robert Guédiguian’s sweeping tale of French
Resistance fighters. And a smash hit with the domestic audience was The
French Kissers, a ribald teen sex comedy that screened in Director’s
Fortnight.
Wendy Ide
2 Cannes Classics
Thanks to the queues for the competition films, Martin Scorsese’s modest
sidebar of Cannes Classics has recorded its best attendance levels ever. Fed
up with the struggle to attend morning press screenings, journalists have
been pitching up to enjoy what is traditionally an unexplored strand of the
festival. With the financial help of the World Cinema Foundation, Scorsese
is showcasing a handful of immaculately restored gems from all corners of
the globe. The high point has been Edward Yang’s four-hour 1991 Taiwanese
epic, A Brighter Summer Day, which defies its ludicrous running time to tell
the gripping story of two warring streetgangs in Taipei in the early 1960s.
James Christopher
3 Non-professionals
Star power isn’t everything. Some of the most impressive performances have
come from newcomers and non-actors. Katie Jarvis’s fierce intensity in
Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank is blistering. Gabourey Sidibe is extraordinary in
Precious, a harrowing story of a marginalised girl who overcomes the
appalling circumstances of her early life to become a strong, confident
young woman. And the brilliant Australian aboriginal drama Samson and
Delilah stars Rowan McNamara and Marissa Gibson, non-actors who are
mesmerising as a pair of teenagers on the run.
Wendy Ide
4 Trash glamour
Cannes wouldn’t be the exotic circus it is today without the generous help of
the world’s top self-publicists. Mariah Carey, who has a small role as a
social worker in Precious, made a far larger splash than her film by turning
up with the paparazzi on Roberto Cavalli’s enormous yacht. Not to be
out-papped, Paris Hilton has been modelling her latest one-piece thong to a
delighted press pack at the Eden Roc Hotel on Cap d’Antibes. Her reason for
being in Cannes is admirably less complicated than Carey’s. To promote
herself, of course. Paris, Not France is a documentary about her life shot
in 2006 by Adria Petty (daughter of Tom) which Paris has now decided — after
most of the embarrassing scenes have been erased — to flog to the rest of
the world.
James Christopher
5 Low-key parties
The glitzy Hotel du Cap is no longer the destination of choice for revellers
this year. The coolest parties are laid-back beach events with great music
and a select guest list. Sam Taylor-Wood, the artist turned director, hosted
one of the best to celebrate her feature debut Nowhere Boy. Guests included
Paris Hilton, Colin Firth and a smattering of models. Where last year there
were between five and ten bashes every night, this year there are just two
or three. Competition for tickets has been fierce and those who rock up late
have frequently been left outside because events are oversubscribed. The
answer? Host your own bash. The local supermarket Monoprix is rammed with
credit-crunched delegates stocking up on cheap rosé wine, crisps and plastic
cups.
Wendy Ide
6 Blood
The official competition is awash with blood. But the number of pints sunk by
the two vampire stars of Park Chan-Wook’s demented Korean thriller, Bak-Jwi
(Thirst), has inspired a sort of squeamish Palme d’Or blood-watch. This
extraordinary melodrama about the taboo relationship between a vampire
priest and a young, sexually obsessed woman in his parish is as affecting as
Romeo and Juliet. But long and lavish shots of blood pumping out of freshly
opened arteries has instigated an unofficial competition to discover the
most grisly film of all. So far Bak-Jwi is winning comfortably.
Wendy Ide
7 Gay cinema goes mainstream
Gay themes are everywhere, from Jim Carrey’s acclaimed performance in I Love
You, Philip Morris to Lou Ye’s languid competition title Spring Fever to Ang
Lee’s amiable story of personal growth against the backdrop of the world’s
most famous rock festival, Taking Woodstock. The funniest of the bunch is an
ultra-low-budget American indie called Humpday, about two heterosexual male
college friends who, in a drunken evening, agree to make a gay porn film
together. In the cold light of day, neither is prepared to back down from
the dare.
Wendy Ide
8 Designer leggings
Cannes is not simply a barometer for the future of cinema, it is surprisingly
astute about the future of fashion. Given the number of designer skin-tight
leggings on display, the hot new bit of executive kit is a toned and shapely
hoof. The most expensive and dramatic leggings are hand-painted pieces of
art. The surprise is how ubiquitous they have suddenly become. The most
arresting spectacle on the Croisette this week was supplied by eight tall
Slavic models wearing gold lamé bikinis and leggings that could arguably
have been tailored by a graffiti artist.
James Christopher
9 Cheap gimmicks
Credit-crunch movie marketing has moved away from the big, bold and super
expensive promotional event in favour of cheap but eye-catching stunts.
Everyone was talking about the nude cyclists who pedalled down the Croisette
with an army of sweating photographers in hot pursuit. This selfless act by
the cast of the Belgian comedy The Misfortunates meant that the film was on
everybody’s radar. And a man with a sandwich board has been handing out
mocked-up newspapers to promote Iron Sky, a sci-fi spoof about Nazis on the
Moon, in the Cannes market.
Wendy Ide
10 Dogs
The Palm Dog Award for Best Dog in Competition is never a foregone conclusion
until the final credits have rolled. But this tongue-in-cheek ritual, judged
by critics including myself, is an essential staple of Cannes. The
competition this year has been dominated from the very beginning by
Disney-Pixar’s crowd-pleasing animation Up. The talking dogs, trained by
Christopher Plummer’s evil explorer, are the toast of the Croisette, despite
hot dog competition from mutts owned by Gypsies in Andrea Arnold’s film Fish
Tank.
James Christopher
