Cannes Bits and Pieces

Ryan Gosling takes a "Drive" at Cannes

Among the news and notes from the Cannes Film Festival this morning is the story about the first film that we can predict with a high degree of certainty that will play at Telluride's 38th Film Fest...from 1902..."A Trip to the Moon."  Kenneth Turan in the LA Times is telling the world today about Serge Bromberg's presentation of the restored motion picture at Cannes and his desire to unspool it at Telluride in the fall.  I'll bet it happens.

Check Turan's story here:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-cannes-moon-20110520,0,6411082.story

Meanwhile, as Cannes gallops towards its conclusion this weekend, 3 big name films have played since my last post and we are beginning to gather reaction to them. 

Pedro Almodovar's "The Skin I Inhabit" starring Antonio Banderas has taken the top spot in Ioncinema.com's collective critical response to the 20 films in competition.  You can find the latest chart here:
http://www.ioncinema.com/images/cannes2011/day10part1.pdf

The chart is indicating this morning Nicolas Winding Refn's "Drive" starring Ryan Gosling and Carrie Mulligan is faring moderately well.

You can also see that early reaction to Sean Penn in Paolo Sorentino's "This Must Be the Place" is less than enthusiastic.

With just a couple of films left to unspool in the competition, here are the top 5 from Ioncinema's collective critical chart as of this morning:

1) "The Skin I Inhabit"/Almodovar
2) "The Kid with a Bike"/Dardennes
3) "La Harve"/Kaurismaki
4 (tie) "The Tree of Life"/Malick and "Melancholia"/Von Trier

Right below those 5 are: "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and "The Artist."

Additionally, spec pieces are beginning to appear about which films have the best shot at the Palme D'Or.  And it's all over the place.  Almodovar?  Malick?  The Dardennes? Ramsay?  Hazanavicius?  Kaurismaki? Others?  Lots of possibles and no strong consensus among those reporting from France.
But keep in mind that last year the critics loved Mike Leigh's "Another Year" and it was rewarded with bupkas...

We'll know soon.