As I type these lines there are rumors that “Mud,” by the American Jeff Nichols, may find its way to the top rungs of the competition prizes—some are even talking of a Palme D’Or upset. Matthew McConaughey, who came to the Croisette to present a film for the first time in his career, plays the Mud of the title, an enlightened vagabond living on a deserted island on the Mississipi river—his past is heavy with blunders. Two independent-

“All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring” (Chuck Palahniuk). I think that Chuck Palahniuk must be a fan of Leos Carax’s films. Because the diminutive French filmmaker’s “Holy Motors,” which is competing for the Palme D’Or, is never boring as his new film shows. “Holy Motors” represents everything that’s cinema ought to be: poetic, unpracticed in following convention and filled with mystery. He-

A community slides into mass hysteria after accusations of child molesting surface. But instead of a full-blown witch-hunt or courtroom drama story we’re treated to a cool-headed and transfixing tale of a life coming undone. Thomas Vinterberg co-founded Dogme 95 along with Lars Von Trier and several others. He’s the brain behind “The Celebration,” having written and directed the 1998 feature film which came to embody the nascent

Opening shot: a bird’s eye view of Naples, with Mount Vesuvius in the background, as if God were gazing at his Creation. Director Matteo Garrone’s camera glides toward some unknown destination, a shot which is set to the sound of the enchanted Alexandre Desplat-composed score (in affect, at least, it’s reminiscent of the “Nutcracker Suite”). We get closer to earth when, steadily, a white horse-drawn carriage, festooned with tall

The reserve of goodwill directed at filmmaker Benh Zeitlin is […]

There’s potential for vice in the leitmotif of Ulrich Seidl’s […]

The Un Certain Regard (U.C.R.) program was officially launched during […]

There are a million stories to be told from post-revolutionary Egypt but they won’t be told by an Egyptian filmmaker. The narrative of Yousry Nasrallah’s “After the Battle” which he wrote himself and which will have its premiere today in Cannes, held promise: as Egypt is still in the throes of revolutionary fervor an unlikely alliance forms between two people from different ends of the social spectrum who, under normal circumstances, might

What would the Cannes Festival be without a little fracas? Some kind of polemic has been making the rounds of the French media this week concerning the lack of women filmmakers in the official selection at the Cannes Festival--twenty-two films, by male directors all, are vying for awards this year. Things turned nasty when Virginie Despentes, Fanny Cottençon, and Coline Serreau (a screenwriter-director, actress and director respect-

As reported by Variety “Pinocchio” will be the first animated […]