Eric Lavallée

You'll Need These to See 'Up'....or at least the 3D version. The glasses are definitely not a necessity to enjoy the superb Pixar film - the tenth so far. I took more to heart some of the themes (ageism, closed mindedness) that play out in the picture and the mixture of comedic wit and sincere dramatic cues over the "technology". Colorful, imaginative and with very little lineage to Albert Lamorisse's 1956 classic (The Red Balloon), I was impressed by the depth of field, placement of items within the frame and how long shots and close-ups were used to great affect. It's hard to find any fault with Pete Docter's Up.

After a crazy year where they brought six or seven titles to Cannes (including Tulpan, Waltz with Bashir) in various competition categories, this year The Match Factory bring only a pair of titles in Ajami and Kinatay.

Focus currently have three films that carry enough weight to make everyone take notice without much effort. Ang Lee and Pedro Almodovar are part of the official competition while Alejandro Amenabar's Agora receives a non- competition slot.

I wish I could break my schedule to include one of the two market screenings held for Jonathan Auf Der Heide's Van Diemen's Land. A good friend of IONCINEMA.com showed off the haunting trailer – please watch it here on the official website. I hope that I can catch this film somewhere on the festival circuit - and maybe some company like Magnolia Pictures can pick this up for a modest sum and make a run with it.

This year Mk2 bring Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos's Dog tooth and Mathias Gokalp's Nothing Personal in the sidebars and they have Abdellatif Kechiche's next (Black Venus) in production (the director gave us brilliant The Secret of the Grain in 2007/08) and they also have Patrice Chereau's long awaited film – Persecution starring names like Romain Duris and Charlotte Gainsbourg.