A Mirror Floating in Water

This year at Cannes film festival, Thai film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives won the Palme d'Or. It was directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk-EoUb0nvg

Judging from the trailer it looks like a calm surrealist film shrouded in ambiguity and the supernatural but with a meditative and steady style not dissimilar to Weerasethakul's other work.

The synopsis from Wikipedia: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives centers on the last days in the life of its title character. Together with his loved ones – including the ghost of his dead wife and his lost son who has returned in a non-human form – Boonmee explores his past lives while contemplating the reasons for his illness


Winner in the Un Certain Regard section was South Korean director Hong Sang-soo's comedy appropriately titled Hahaha. Judging by the one clip I found it appears to be filled with a subtle and quircky humor that so many Eastern filmmakers are talented at conveying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JzmKm0q4bU


French film Of God's and Men directed by Xavier Beauvois won the Grand Pix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tsnPmmVYx4

Synopsis from Wikipedia: It centers around an actual event in 1996, when seven French Trappist monks were kidnapped and beheaded in Algeria.

Winner of the directors award was Mathieu Amalric who directed and starred in the raunchy comedy On Tour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLwN4H2ac5E (WARNING: trailer not for kiddies)

Synopsis from Wikipedia: In a road movie narrative, the plot follows the troupe as they tour French port cities with their show, which was performed for actual audiences during the production.


This years film festival somewhat inappropriately opened with the world premire of Ridley Scott's newest multi-million dollar blockbuster Robin Hood; a strange choice considering the fact that the works of filmmakers like Godard, Kiraiostami and Weerasethakul are also being shown.


Probably the most anticipated film of the entire festival was the premire of what legendary French director Jean-Luc Godard has considered to be his last film, Film Socialisme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhqOFWdtDdY

There's about an equal amount of people who hate Godard as there are those who love him. Love him or hate him, he has been France's most influencial filmmaker for half-a-century and has probably been the most endlessly innovative director in the history of cinema since Orson Welles. With his retirement at 80, the cinema will have lost one of her greatest posterboys.

Synopsis from Wikipedia: According to an official synopsis[3], a large part of the film will be set on a cruise ship sailing around the Mediterranean Sea. During the film, the ship visits Egypt, Israel, Odessa, Greece, Naples and Barcelona. There is also a second storyline involving a politically-involved family with two young children. Characters will include an aging war criminal, a former United Nations official and a Russian detective.


Mike Leigh's Another Year garnered quite a lot of praise at the festival and was expected by many to win the Palme d'Or. Leigh has always been one of those beautifully humane directors from the likes of Renoir and has always found a way to present both the human tragedy and comedy of everyday middle-class life. I really look forward to seeing this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scCz6Qcw3d8

Synopsis from Cannes website: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. Family and friendship. Love and warmth. Joy and sadness. Hope and despair. Companionship. Loneliness. A birth. A death. Time passes.....


Previous winners of the Palme d'Or

2009: The White Ribbon - Michael Haneke http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUj9gDtA9HQ

2008: The Class - Laurent Cantent http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8HWJqgMAhU

2007: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days - Cristian Mungui http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NwJzdPIJPA

2006: The Wind that Shakes Barley - Ken Loach http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2n...y-tra_creation

2005: L'enfant - Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nbBpVo9_pg


2004: Fahrenheit 9/11 - Michael Moore http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsFwz...ext=1&index=20

2003: Elephant - Gus Van Sant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXjWS79Sp4o

2002: The Pianist - Roman Polanski http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itR0-I9idXk

2001: The Son's Room - Nanni Moretti

2000: Dancer in the Dark - Lars von Trier http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6Oc3Oe_LpQ