Here are the movies that will play in competition at this years Cannes Festival, with commentary:

"My Blueberry Nights," Wong Kar-wai, China (opening night film)

Love Wong Kar-Wai.

"Auf Der Anderen Seite" ("On the Other Side"), Fatih Akin, Germany

Akin is an interesting filmmaker, let's see if he is evolving.

"Une Vieille Maitresse" ("An Old Mistress"), Catherine Breillat

Always the possibility for a great film with Breillat, but her last couple of movies haven't been that good.

"No Country for Old Men,"  Joel and Ethan Coen, United States

Do I need to say something? Two great directors working with very good source material in a genre that they haven't tried before. Really looking forward to it.

"Zodiac," David Fincher, United States

Meh

"We Own the Night," James Gray, United States

No idea.

"Les Chansons d'Amour," Christophe Honore, France

No idea.

"Mogari No Mori," Naomi Kawase, Japan

No idea.

"Breath," Kim Ki-duk, South Korea

One of my favorite young (somewhat) directors. Pretty much anything he does is mesmerizing and worth seeing.

"Promise Me This," Emir Kusturica, Bosnia

Maybe he will strike gold again.

"Secret Sunshine," Lee Chang-Dong, South Korea

No idea.

"4 Luni, 3 Saptamini Si 2 Zile" ("4 Months, 3 weeks and 2 days"), Cristian Mungiu, Romania

You tell me.

"Tehilim," Raphael Nadjari, France

I really know nothing about french cinema.

"Stellet Licht" ("Silent Light"), Carlos Reygadas, Mexico

Hmmmm…

"Persepolis," Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud, Iran and France

Uhmmmm…

"Le Scaphandre et le Papillon" ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"), Julian Schnabel, United States

Schnabel's visual work can be striking, his storytelling less so.

"Import Export," Ulrich Seidl, Austria

No idea.

"Alexandra," Alexandr Sokurov, Russia

Hopefully it will have more than one shot.

"Death Proof," Quentin Tarantino, United States

Really?

"The Man from London," Bela Tarr, Hungary

No idea.

"Paranoid Park,"  Gus Van Sant, United States

Gus is always interesting, often good, rarely great.

"Izgnanie" ("The Banishment"), Andrei Zvyagintsev, Russia

Hmmm, it's from Russia.

And out of competition:

"L'age des tenebres" ("The Age of Darkness"), by Denys Arcand, Canada (closing night film)

Denys Arcand films can be political, but they are always political in a thoughtful, self-critical and humane way.

"Sicko," Michael Moore, United States

Michael Moore's film can be political, but they are always political in a thoughtless, non self-critical way.

"Ocean's Thirteen," Steven Soderbergh, United States

This year's The DaVinci Code

"A Mighty Heart,"  Michael Winterbottom, Britain

Still haven't really liked any of Winterbottom's films. Maybe this will be the first.

"Go Go Tales,"  Abel Ferrara, United States

No idea.

"U2 3D," Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington, Ireland and United States

I'm one of the only people in the world that finds U2 boring.

"11th Hour," Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners, United States
No idea.

"The War," Lynn Novick and Ken Burns, United States

I recognize the name Ken Burns.

"He Fengming" ("Chronicle of a Chinese Woman"), Wang Bing

It's about a Chinese woman.

I'll try to do more detailed pieces about each of the movies in the near future.

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