The Cannes Film Festival kicked off last night with the latest from Pixar, Up, and the early word is predictably positive. “Up possesses all the aesthetic and philosophical values that audiences have come to expect from Pixar: rich, intricately detailed visuals, un-snarky humor and a genuinely affecting story,” writes Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post. Eugene Hernandez of Indiewire calls it “a grand visual spectacle on a big screen, pulling viewers into a striking three dimensional world and eschewing the sort of visual sight gags found in typical 3-D movies.” The Telegraph reports a minor quibble: “I'm not convinced it needs to be seen in 3-D: the images are less distinct than is ideal. But the quality of writing, its delicious sound design, and the emotional punch it packs all make this one of Pixar's finest achievements to date.”
Charlotte Higgins of the Guardian does her best to reassure us that we aren’t missing anything by not being there. “Most news journalists I know have a love hate relationship with it. My day (I'm writing this Wednesday evening) is far from over – but at least I wasn't sitting up till 3am, like my colleague at the BBC Razia Iqbal, putting together a package for the Today programme. Mostly it consists of queuing, with some occasional shoving or sweaty rushing, spliced with trying to ask questions in enormous press conferences – but the mic rarely gets passed to you, because there are hundreds of reporters, from everywhere from Iceland to Hong Kong, also competing to get a word in.”
As he prepares for the Cannes premiere of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus on May 24, Terry Gilliam speaks to The Independent about completing the project without Heath Ledger. “I suppose I’m in an interesting position because while I’m cutting the film I’m basically working with him every day and he’s fine; he’s in good shape…Ideas are floating around. Then finally we decided, ‘OK, let’s get three other people to take over the part’. And we were lucky because we have a magic mirror in this movie. Not every movie has a magic mirror. So you can very genuinely say that these other actors are different aspects of the character that Heath plays. And it works.”
Tales from the Golden Age, which will have its premiere in the Un Certain Regard section, has secured distribution from IFC. “I am very glad that IFC Films decided to stay close to me and continue the difficult work of presenting Romanian films in US,” said director Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days).