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| Cosmopolis |
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| On The Road |
A week from today, the 65th annual Cannes Film Festival will be getting underway on the south coast of France, opening with Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom,” and as ever, it’s possibly the biggest date in the cinephile calendar, with a host of hotly anticipated films set to premiere over the ten days that follow. A jury headed up by Nanni Moretti, and also including Andrea Arnold, Ewan McGregor, Alexander Payne, Diane Kruger and Jean-Paul Gaultier will have to decide which of over twenty films to award the Palme d’Or to. But while the In Competition category will be typically fierce in competition, there’s plenty of gems to find in the Directors’ Fortnight, Un Certain Regard and Critics’ Week sidebars too.
Once again, The Playlist are packing our suntan lotion and shorts to hit the Croisette, and we’ll be bringing our extensive coverage from next week. But to get you warmed up, we’ve picked out 15 of the films that we’re most looking forward to while we’re in Cannes. Read on for more, and let us know what you’re most eager to hear about from the festival.
1. "Cosmopolis" - dir. David Cronenberg - France/Germany/Canada
Synopsis:
Based on the novel by American author Don DeLillo, this centers on Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson), a young multi-billionaire making an epic, ultimately doomed limo ride across New York City.
What You Need to Know:
At the outset, "Cosmopolis" seems to fall in line with the mannered, critic-friendly films of the recent Cronenberg era. It is, after all, an adaptation of a critically revered and best-selling novel and stars hunky heartthrob-of-the-moment Robert Pattinson. But having seen those first few trailers, the movie seems more atypical and dangerous (a good thing, since "A Dangerous Method" felt far too safe for a filmmaker known for exploding heads and genital mutilation), and certainly a return to a more recognizable kind of picture for the director with a number of Cronenberg's favorite thematic tics look to be explored, including man's relationship with modern technology, the messiness of murder, and sexual obsession. The big question is whether "Twilight" star Pattinson can pull off that lead role. His starring efforts outside the vampire franchise, like "Water For Elephants" and "Bel Ami," have mostly been met by shrugs, but we're impressed with what we've seen of him here, and if he ever wins over his doubters, it'll be on this one. He's got a strong supporting cast behind him which'll help, with Juliette Binoche, Paul Giamatti, Samantha Morton, Jay Baruchel, Sarah Gadon and Mathieu Amalric along for the ride.
10. “On The Road” - dir. Walter Salles - U.S/France/Brazil
Synopsis:
Long-time-coming adaptation of Jack Kerouac's famous Beat Generation novel. Drifter poets Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty travel across the country in search of themselves, colliding with a rigid and impermeable society along the way.
What You Need To Know:
Over thirty years in the making, director Francis Ford Coppola has been trying to get this picture made since the mid 1970s. Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles signed on to make the picture in 2005, with Coppola exec producing, but none of it became a reality until early 2010 when casting and financing finally coalesced. Starring Garrett Hedlund and Sam Riley as the two leads and Kristen Stewart, Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen, Amy Adams, Steve Buscemi, Terrence Howard and more in support, it's certainly got a mean cast (even if the two leads are relatively unproven quantities), and Salles, as the man behind "The Motorcycle Diaries," seems to be as strong a fit for the material as you could hope for. But will one of the great unfilmable novels give in to the attempt, or will it serve as nothing more than a good stab at a tricky piece? Fingers crossed, it'll be the former.
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