Just one day to go until Thierry Fremaux reveals the full lineup of films set to unspool at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and a couple more titles have been announced in advance of the fest. Joining “The Tree Of Life” and “Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” — both of which are set to screen out of competition — are two more titles, one arthouse fave and one blockbuster movie for everyone else.
First up, on May 12th, Gus Van Sant‘s “Restless” will open the Un Certain Regard section of the festival which is dedicated to “original and different” work seeking international plaudits. Originally set to be released by Sony in January, then pulled, handed over to Sony Pictures Classics and now headed for Cannes, the film centers on a 16-year-old girl (Mia Wasikowska) who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and falls in love with an off-beat boy (Henry Hopper) who likes to attend funerals and is suffering from the death of his family — which somehow produces the ghost of a young, Japanese kamikaze pilot from WWII (Ryo Kase). As odd as that sounds though, our script review noted that it is “nowhere as “emo” or black-lipsticky as some have suggested,” is actually “warm, truthful and pretty emotionally reeling near the end,” and is “different from anything we’ve read in a long time and does an extraordinary job of mixing dramatic, comedic and just strange tones all together.” So yes, we’re pretty excited. And it’s not Van Sant’s first time at Cannes, having picked up a Palme d’Or in 2003 for “Elephant” and receiving the festival’s 60th anniversary award for “Paranoid Park” in 2007.
Meanwhile, Thompson On Hollywood reveals another splashy premiere is set as “Kung Fu Panda 2” is getting all dressed up for the Croisette. The animated sequel will bring a red carpet likely to consist of Angelina Jolie, Jack Black, Jackie Chan and more, which should make paparazzi quite pleased. These films and more will be announced tomorrow, setting the movie world headed to their day planners to map out their plans.