Monthly Archives: May, 2011

The jury comprised of Emir Kusturica and peers caught critics by surprise in selecting a pair of unpopular Croisette items for this year's Un...

With 14 of 16 members in our 2011 Critics' Panel voting, we naturally had to come to a gridlock. We have a two way tie with four votes apiece for The Tree of Life and Le Havre winning the Palme D'Or and in second place we have Pedro with three votes apiece for The Skin I Live In. We have one vote for The Artist, one for The Kid With a Bike and one person voted for Drive -- which must have crazy Vegas odds. I asked our 2011 panel to submit their winner predictions for the top three prizes and if they wanted to add anything further then we'd mention them as well.

I remember when they announced the titles for this year's Main Competition and being baffled/puzzled by the inclusion of Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive. Yesterday we found out why it was deserving selection alongside the 19 other competing titles. Starring a soft/angry Ryan Gosling, this is a genre mixer with references/homages to Bullit, Michael Mann's nocturnal cityscapes and it embodies the viciousness of Cannes' winner Oldboy. A film that will won't work for some, but for others this is a game changer -- three folks gave this a perfect score.

Saving the best for last, it was nice to watch a world premiere for a film that had already won an award (the jury,...

If there is anything especially hopeful in this bleak, off-putting in the queasy kind of way portrait of a serial killer is the assured...