Well it's an eclectic mix that have been entered. Tough call on who'll win.

Simon | April 20, 17:55 CET

Thats impressive and amazing. Who would ever thought the Rock and Sean William Scott would be in the Cannes. :P Sarah on the other hand, is no surprise. So is the film actually 100% finished?

kurya | April 20, 18:52 CET

Moby, who is doing some of the music for the film, was in the audience for a preview screening of a rough cut on 9 January, after filming had been completed. It seems likely that a finished cut is probably completed now.

Moby commented on the film on his blog: "It's remarkable. Some people will love it, and some will hate it. It's not going to be a movie that allows for ambivalence or indifference."

alien lanes | April 20, 19:10 CET

Some of my favourite movies are in the love-it-or-hate-it area. Dusk Till Dawn tends to spring to mind.

gossi | April 20, 19:21 CET

Wow, when I went to sleep last night, the rumor was that it would be in the festival, but out of competition. People thought Richard Kelly (writer/director) was hesitant even about that, because of the bad experience his first movie, Donnie Darko, had at Sundance.

dreamlogic | April 20, 19:21 CET

I'm sure Ken Loach will win this again. They bloody love him France

Jona | April 20, 19:31 CET

From the festival website


In the original (or one of the many) scripts, SMG's character was supposed to have a musical number on roller skates about Marxism. That was cut, but apparently there is still a dance number with her, The Rock, and Mandy Moore.

I wish I could go to Cannes and see the movie, but most of us will have to wait until fall.

dreamlogic | April 20, 19:53 CET

In Competition? :O That's amazing!
Congrats to Sarah, this is a sign, I can feel it... :D

Angel TheVampire | April 20, 20:07 CET

That is the most impressive Cannes Competition list I have seen in years. I wanna go. whimper

Charmuse | April 20, 23:14 CET

Congratulations, SMG! :-)

billz | April 21, 00:05 CET

gossi, I found Dusk Til Dawn extremely strange. I am a big fan of Quentin Tarantino and I quite like Rodriguez's work, so I was expecting it to be good. The first half was excellent, very tense with a forboding atmosphere and good characters, however as soon as the vampires actually appeared then the second half descended, in my opinion, into farce, completely unbelievable and ridiculous and I didn't believe in any of the characters anymore. I just felt they went too overboard on the campy vampires and stuff, rather than delivering on the drama. But it wasn't the worst film I've ever seen.

And congratulations to Sarah. Does anyone know who the favourite is? Do more commerical films, like The Da Vinci Code, usually win, or is it actually down to the quality of the film? I think it would be a great award for the film to gain which would definitely give it more momentum for when it is released. I want to see Sarah being really successful.

Razor | April 21, 00:21 CET

Wow! This is great news. Even if it doesn't win, I think just being in the running probably already says a lot about the quality of this movie. Anyway, I wish it all the best at the festival.

Silent Night | April 21, 00:40 CET

High profile films like 'The Da Vinci Code' rarely win the Palme d'Or. The last "big" one was probably 'Pulp Fiction' in 1994. The last five winners are:

2005: L'Enfant (Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne)
2004: Fahrenheit 9/11 (Michael Moore)
2003: Elephant (Gus Van Sant)
2002: The Pianist (Roman Polanski)
2001: La stanza del figlio (Nanni Moretti)

alien lanes | April 21, 00:44 CET

Without getting into the whole politics of thing (as this isn't the place), I'd say Fahrenheit 9/11 was one of the highest profile movies of 2004. That and Passion of the Christ.

Simon | April 21, 00:58 CET

Simon, you're absolutely right. For some reason I managed to forget the impact and coverage (and box office success) the film had. The other four films, though, seem to suggest that the award could could anywhere.

alien lanes | April 21, 01:06 CET

Very true. That's what makes the Palme d'Or so interesting. It never seems to pander to the usual suspects.

Simon | April 21, 01:09 CET

Southland Tales is a musical? Uggh.

JigSaw | April 21, 05:23 CET

Uggh, like Once More With Feeling, uggh? Or Cabaret uggh? How about Singing in the Rain or The Bandwagon uggh?

Anyway, what I gather is that ST isn't really a "musical" in the way those movies are . . . but how exactly it incorporates the musical-ness has yet to be revealed. How they could have shelved the rollerskating Marxism is beyond me, though.

dbp, thanks for the Moby heads-up. I'm not a huge fan of his work, but I admire his integrity (if that makes any sense), and his recommendation is great to have. As for the Cannes thing - like any award, the Palme d'Or has its own politicking and petty favoritism. I note, for example, that the winners from 2002-2004 each share a certain, hmm, thumbing the nose at the States, shall we say?

SoddingNancyTribe | April 21, 05:54 CET

The award has gone to a musical before! Bjork and Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark won in 2000 - much to my delight :)

Though as SNT says... that film also had a rather anti-US sentiment

aapac | April 21, 09:59 CET

The Pianist was a great film despite Roman Polanski being the director of it.

[ edited by eddy on 2006-04-21 17:47 ]

eddy | April 21, 19:46 CET

That's a strange comment, eddy. I'd have thought Knife in the Water, Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown establish Polanski's abilities as a director. I even have a weird affection for Bitter Moon's excesses . . .

SoddingNancyTribe | April 22, 10:28 CET

And as someone commented here recently, his MacBeth was something to remember. Nakedness and heads rolling down steps. Ah, good times.

Lioness | April 22, 21:17 CET