Maybe it's because we spend most of our time rushing between a stuffy Soho office and stuffy Soho screening rooms that, for us, everything to do with the annual Festival de Cannes is normally the very pinnacle of sophistication and glamour, but this afternoon's Festival announcement at a press conference in Paris was something of a fusty and downbeat affair with festival dignatories taking pains to point out how the financial crisis has negativel affected film production blargh blargh blargh blargh... indeed, it says a lot when the day's biggest news is that Terrence Malick's eagerly anticipated Tree of Life will NOT be ready for the competition.
Now, out in the cold light of day we're scanning the list of films that DID make it and can't help but be a little disappointed. Last year's compeition gave us genius, beauty and controversy in equal measure (think A Prophet, The White Ribbon, Bright Star and Antichrist) but at first glance all we have to look forward to in this year's competition is a film about a White House controversy from Doug Liman (Fair Game), a retreat from experimentalism in the form of Takeshi Kitano's gangland thriller Outrage and Ridley Scott's Robin Bloody Hood
But perhaps we're being unfair. Yes, we were hoping that there was going to be an announcement concerning Inception - which we're still keeping our fingers crossed will close the festival - but we shouldn't let that disappointment get to us - there's still plenty to look forward to at the year's best, busiest and most exciting film festival... isn't there?
First up on our to-see list will be Cannes regular Mike Leigh's latest slice of realism from the streets of Britain Another Year and La nostra vita by Daniele Luchetti's whose brilliant My Brother is an Only Child charmed us when it hit UK screens back in April 2008. Beyond that we'll be intrigued to see Im Sang-soo's The Housemaid (a remake of one of the greatest Korean films ever we think), Abbas Kiarostami's latest excercise in Juliette Binoche obsession The Certified Copy and one-time Bond baddie Mathieu Amalric's latest directorial effort Tournée.
Evaluating these films (and others, see below) will be President of the Jury Tim Burton and his team of judges which includes the Italian actress Giovanna Mezzogiorno, the French screenwriter/director Emmanuel Carrère and, we don't quite know how to break this... British actress Kate Beckinsale.
But please, try not to get quite so downheartened as us: there's still a bunch of out-of-compeition premieres to look forward to (Tamara Drewe from Stephen Frears, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger from Woody Allen and Oliver Stone's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps), there's still the second and third tier categories Un Certain Regard and The Director's Fortnight (which have become more and more exciting in recent years), they've yet to announce the closing night film (please, M. Jacob: Inception! Inception! Inception!) and the Festival director (M. Jacob) has assured us that more films would be added to the lineup as the opening ceremony approaches.
Let us know what you think of this year's selection in the comments section below and come back on May 12 for all our coverage of Cannes 2010, live from the Croisette.
SL
Festival de Cannes 2010
Official Selection: In Compeition
Robin Hood directed by Ridley Scott (opening film)
Tournée directed by Mathieu Amalric
Des hommes et des dieux directed by Xavier Beauvois
Biutiful directed by Alejandro González Inárritu
Un homme qui crie n'est pas un ours qui danse directed by Mahamat Saleh Haroun
The Housemaid directed by Im Sang-soo
The Certified Copy directed by Abbas Kiarostami
Autoreiji directed by Takeshi Kitano
Poetry directed by Lee Chang-Dong
Another year directed by Mike Leigh
Fair Game directed by Doug Liman
You, my Joy directed by Sergey Loznitsa
La nostra vita directed by Daniele Luchetti
Utomlyonnye solntsem 2 directed by Nikita Mikhalkov
La Princesse de Montpensier directed by Bertrand Tavernier
Loong Boonmee Raleuk Chaat directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
