Best Bets Cannes 08: Main Competition

The heavyweights category (main comp) this year has a slew of great filmmakers – but it is the last experienced filmmakers that might make more of a splash. I’m guessing that the below five will send the buyers and critics into a frenzy…as well as get a sure shot at the Palme D’or…

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Adoration (Atom Egoyan)
Egoyan continues exploring themes of identity with a coming-of-age film in the age of the internet. Adoration may just be his best work since The Sweet Hereafter. 

La Mujer Sin Cabeza (The Headless Woman) (Lucrecia Martel)
Remaining with the theme of identity (a device found in her last picture Holy Girl, Argentinean director Lucrecia Martel brings a dramatic character study about a woman who believes to be guilty of something – but she is not sure what.

Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman)
The only directorial debut given a slot in the prestigious section was given to the person who gave us the mind bending fun found in Adaptation and Being John Malkovich
Charlie Kaufman’s highly anticipated dramedy Synecdoche, New York comes to the festival with a quality cast and a slew of distributors and their checkbooks.

Ari Folman (Waltz with Bashir)
If last year’s Palme d’or win proved anything is that you can start off a 12 day festival and still bring home the gold. Much buzz is backing a docu-animated offering from Ari Folman. A narrative set in 80’s Lebanon is sure to make Waltz with Bashir a critically approved favorite

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Le Silence De Lorna (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) –
With their undisputed Cannes track record, the Dardenne brothers come in as favorites. Little is known on their latest picture, except that it features Arta INSERT and as usual details the lives of those in very precarious living situations.

Here is the full list below:

Nuri Bilge Ceylan – Three Monkeys (Turkey-France-Italy)
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne – Le Silence De Lorna (France-Belgium)
Arnaud Desplechin – A Christmas Story (France)
Clint Eastwood – Changeling (US)
Atom Egoyan – Adoration (Canada)
Ari Folman – Waltz With Bashir (Israel)
Philippe Garrel – La Frontiere De L’Aube (France)
Matteo Garrone – Gomorra (Italy)
Charlie Kaufman – Synecdoche, New York (US)
Eric Khoo – My Magic (Singapore)
Lucretia Martel – La Mujer Sin Cabeza (Argentina-Spain)
Brillante Mendoza – Serbis (The Philippines)
Kornel Mondruczo – Delta (Hungary-Germany)
Walter Salles & Daniela Thomas – Linha de Passe (Brazil)
Paolo Sorrentino – Il Divo (Italy)
Pablo Trapero – Lion’s Den (Argentina-South Korea)
Wim Wenders – The Palermo Shooting (Germany)
Jia Zhangke – 24 City (China)
Steven Soderbergh – Che (US-Spain-France) — one four-hour competion title comprised of The Argentine and Guerrilla

Out of competition
Steven Spielberg – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (US)
Mark Osborne and John Stevenson – Kung Fu Panda (US)
Ji-Woon Kim – The Good, the Bad, and the Weird (South Korean)
Woody Allen – Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Spain-US)

Special screenings
Marina Zenovich – Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (US)
Wong Kar-wai – Ashes of Time Redux (Hong Kong-China-Taiwan)
Daniel Leconte – C’est Dur D’etre Aime Par Des Cons (France)
Marco Tullio Giordana – Sangue Pazzo (Italy-France)
Terence Davies – Of Time And The City (UK)

Midnight Screenings
Emir Kusturica – Maradona (Spain)
Jennifer Lynch – Surveillance (US)
Hong-Jin Na – The Chaser (South Korea)

Special Jury President’s screening
Alison Thompson – The Third Wave (US)