As you read this I am just about to land in New York, before hopping on a plane to Nice as I make my way to the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, something I would not have been able to do had it not been for the generous contributions from the RopeofSilicon readers. It’s almost impossible to tell you how much more energized I am to cover this year’s festival due to the help from the readers and I have to say, it’s quite a line-up I’ll be reviewing for you this year, which brings us to the following list.
If you haven’t yet had a look at this year’s line-up I have the complete list right here where you’ll find the list of 20 films competing for this year’s Palme d’Or, the films selected for the Un Certain Regard, those playing Out of Competition, the Directors’ Fortnight and Critics Week selections, Midnight Screenings, Special Screenings, Short Films and the Cinefondation Selection. Of all those films I’ve put together a list of ten I’m most looking forward to seeing, but as with any list of this sort, it’s nearly impossible to stop at ten. In fact, there are eleven more in addition to my “top” ten that I’m looking forward to seeing.
The “honorable mentions” include the James Franco-directed adaptation of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, Sebastian Silva‘s thriller Magic Magic starring Juno Temple, Michael Cera and Emily Browning, Steven Soderbergh‘s much-anticipated Behind the Candelabra starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon and signifying what could be the filmmaker’s final feature film.
I expect Johnnie To‘s Blind Detective will be my first time seeing one of his films, Alex Van Warmerdam‘s Borgman looks like something akin to what we’ve seen from Giorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth) in recent years, Ari Folman‘s The Congress will be a hot ticket and I’m really excited to see Ryan Coogler‘s Sundance hit Fruitvale Station.
Rounding out the list of Honorable Mentions is Francois Ozon‘s Jeune et Jolie, Arnaud Desplechin‘s Jimmy P. with Benicio del Toro and Mathieu Amalric, Takashi Miike‘s surprise Competition entry Shield of Straw and Roman Polanski‘s new film Venus in Fur, which was a hard one to keep out of the top ten.
So, with names like Soderbergh, Polanski, Miike, Folman, Ozon and Desplechin out of the top ten, what’s left to be included in the top ten? Yeah, it’s either going to be an amazing year in Cannes or a supremely disappointing one. I, for one, remain highly optimistic, especially considering the directors, stars and the variety of films playing the festival this year.
Let’s have a look at the ten films I’m most looking forward to seeing over the next couple weeks…
NOTE: Screening time and dates are the first possible opportunity I will have to see these films. A couple of them I may see at a different time depending on potential schedule conflicts. All times listed are Central European Summer Time (CEST) and a tentative schedule of my screenings can be found here.
#10
Only Lovers Left Alive
DIR.Jim Jarmusch
SCREENING: Friday, May 24 at 7:30 PM / 2 hours 3 minutes / In Competition
Jim Jarmusch‘s Only Lovers Left Alive was the final film added to the Competition and the mere fact the director of Down by Law and Mystery Train is directing a film starring Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston should be enough, but add to the fact Swinton and Hiddleston play a pair of centuries old vampire lovers simply adds to the intrigue.
The film co-stars John Hurt, Mia Wasikowska and Anton Yelchin.
Speaking to Vice.com, Jarmusch commented on Jozef van Wissem‘s contribution to the score saying:
None of the score for Lovers is really written for specific scenes. Jozef wrote quite a few lute pieces for the film, so there will be solo lute pieces as score. Myself, Carter Logan and Shane Stoneback have a band together called Squirrel and we’ve started adding stuff to what Jozef already gave us. What we’ll have is a kind of modular score. Sometimes we’ll add to them or even take his lute away to make it a more rock and roll thing. Other times it will be only his lute, or it may be his lute with drums and feedback or just another guitar. Jozef’s pieces are the guide and themes throughout the film and then we add and subtract from them. And one of the main characters in the film is a musician, so we’ll create his music too.
Here’s a listen to a song featuring van Wissem and Jarmusch. Maybe this is a sampling of what the score might sound like.
#9
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
DIR.David Lowery
SCREENING: Screening TBA / 1 hour 45 minutes / Critics Week Special Screening
Picked up out of Sundance by IFC Films, I’ve heard David Lowery‘s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints features a strong performance from Rooney Mara and a strong supporting performance from Ben Foster.
The story centers on Bob Muldoon (Casey Affleck) and Ruth Guthrie (Mara), an impassioned young outlaw couple on an extended crime spree, are finally apprehended by lawmen after a shootout in the Texas hills. Although Ruth wounds a local officer, Bob takes the blame. But four years later, Bob escapes from prison and sets out to find Ruth and their daughter, born during his incarceration.
Director of photography Bradford Young won the Cinematography Award at Sundance and the images that have been released so far, suggest for good reason.
