Films in Competition at Cannes: A-L

The Cannes Film Festival gets underway next week with 22 films in competition. Here's a look at each one. All info and pictures courtesy: http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en.html

---

AMOUR

Directed by : Michael HANEKE

Country: FRANCE, GERMANY, AUSTRIA

Year: 2012

Duration: 127.00 minutes


SYNOPSIS

Georges and Anne are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers.

Their daughter, who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family.

One day, Anne has an attack.

The couple's bond of love is severely tested.


CREDITS
Michael HANEKE - Director
Michael HANEKE - Screenplay
Darius KHONDJI - Cinematography
Jean-Vincent PUZOS - Set Designer
Nadine MUSE - Film Editor
Monika WILLI - Film Editor
Jean-Pierre LAFORCE - Sound
Guillaume SCIAMA - Sound

ACTORS
Jean-Louis TRINTIGNANT - Georges
Emmanuelle RIVA - Anne
Isabelle HUPPERT - Eva
Alexandre THARAUD - Alexandre

---

BAAD EL MAWKEAA (AFTER THE BATTLE) 

Directed by : Yousry NASRALLAH

Country: EGYPT, FRANCE

Year: 2012

Duration: 122.00 minutes

SYNOPSIS

Mahmoud was one of the horsemen coerced by lowly henchmen for Mubarak's regime into carrying out attacks on protesters in Tahrir Square on February 2, 2011.

He has since lost his job. Humiliated and ostracized, he lives near the Pyramids with his wife and sons.

His family is on the brink of despair when he meets Reem, a secular Egyptian divorcee who works in advertising. She is a fervent revolutionary who lives in a wealthy Cairo neighbourhood. Theirs is the encounter of two people, but also of two different worlds.



CREDITS
Yousry NASRALLAH - Director
Yousry NASRALLAH - Screenplay
Omar SHAMA - Screenplay
Samir BAHSAN - Cinematography
Mohammed ATTEYA - Set Designer
Tamer KARAWAN - Music
Mona RABI' - Film Editor
Ibrahim DESSOUKY - Sound

ACTORS
Mena SHALABY - Reem
Bassem SAMRA - Mahmoud
Nahed EL SEBAÏ - Fatma
Salah ABDALLAH - Haj Abdallah

---

COSMOPOLIS

Directed by : David CRONENBERG

Country: FRANCE, CANADA

Year: 2012

Duration: 108.00 minutes


SYNOPSIS

New York is in turmoil, the age of capitalism is drawing to a close end. Eric Packer, a high finance golden boy, dives into a white limousine. While a visit from the President of the United States paralyses Manhattan, Eric Packer has one obsession: getting a haircut at his barber’s at the other end of the city. As the day goes by, chaos sets in, and he watches helplessly as his empire collapses. Also he is sure that someone is going to assassinate him. When? Where? He is about to live the most decisive 24 hours of his life.



CREDITS

David CRONENBERG - Director

David CRONENBERG - Screenplay

Peter SUSCHITZKY - Cinematography

Arv GREYWAL - Set Designer

Howard SHORE - Music

Ronald SANDERS - Film Editor

ACTORS

Robert PATTINSON - Eric Packer

Sarah GADON - Elise Shifrin

Paul GIAMATTI - Benno Levin

Juliette BINOCHE - Didi Fancher

Mathieu AMALRIC - André Petrescu

Samantha MORTON - Vija Kinski

---

DA-REUN NA-RA-E-SUH (IN ANOTHER COUNTRY) 

 

Directed by : HONG Sangsoo

Country: KOREA (South)

Year: 2012

Duration: 89.00 minutes


SYNOPSIS

A young film student and her mother run away seaside town of Mohang to escape their mounting debt. The young woman begins writing a script for a short film in order to calm her nerves:

Three women named Anne appear, and each woman consecutively visits the seaside town of Mohang. The first Anne is a successful film director. The second Anne is a married woman secretly in an affair with a Korean man. The third Anne is a divorcée whose husband left her for a Korean woman.

A young woman tends to the small hotel by the Mohang foreshore owned by her parents. A certain lifeguard can always be seen wandering up and down the beach that lies nearby. Each Anne stays at this small hotel, receives some assistance from the owner’s daughter, and ventures onto the beach where they meet the lifeguard.

CREDITS

HONG Sangsoo - Director

HONG Sangsoo - Screenplay

JEE Yunejeong - Cinematography

PARK Hongyeol - Cinematography

JEONG Yongjin - Music

HAHM Sungwon - Film Editor

KIM Mir - Sound

ACTORS

Isabelle HUPPERT - Anne

YU Junsang - Lifeguard

JUNG Yumi - Wonju

---

DE ROUILLE ET D'OS (RUST AND BONE) 

Directed by : Jacques AUDIARD

Country: FRANCE, BELGIUM

Year: 2012

Duration: 120.00 minutes

SYNOPSIS

Ali suddenly finds himself in charge of Sam, his 5 years old son that he barely knows. Penniless and without friends, he leaves the north of France to seek shelter at his sister’s in Antibes. Even though she and her husband do not have much money, they make a room for them in their garage and take care of Sam.
Ali finds work as a bouncer at a local nightclub. After diffusing a fight one evening, he meets Stephanie a beautiful, self-confident woman. He takes her home and leaves her his number. But she is a princess and he is a poor fellow.
Stephanie is a killer whale trainer at the local Marineland. After a terrible accident one day, Ali gets an unexpected phone call from Stephanie.

When he sees her again she is crammed into a wheelchair. She has lost both her legs and her dreams.

Ali will share genuine moments with her, without pity, and help her to live again...


CREDITS

Jacques AUDIARD - Director

Jacques AUDIARD - Screenplay

Thomas BIDEGAIN - Screenplay

Craig DAVIDSON - Based on "De rouille et d'os" by

Stéphane FONTAINE - Cinematography

Michel BARTHELEMY - Set Designer

Alexandre DESPLAT - Music

Juliette WELFLING - Film Editor

Brigitte TAILLANDIER - Sound

ACTORS

Marion COTILLARD - Stéphanie

Matthias SCHOENAERTS - Ali

Armand VERDURE - Sam

Céline SALLETTE - Louise

Corinne MASIERO - Anna

Bouli LANNERS - Martial

Jean-Michel CORREIA - Richard

---

DO-NUI MAT (THE TASTE OF MONEY) 

Directed by : IM Sang-Soo

Country: KOREA (South)

Year: 2012

Duration: 114.00 minutes

SYNOPSIS

Young-jak who is a private secretary of madam Baek, the center power of Korean conglomerate, deals with immoral private issues of her wealthy family.

He reports to madam Baek that her husband, Mr. Yoon is having an affair with a Filipino nanny, Eva. Madam Baek is now despaired, then greedily seducing Young-jak for her sexual desire.

On the other hand, he begins to feel conflicted by madam Baek’s daughter, the only family member who approaches him with the true heart.

Lost between his morality and shortcut to successful life, he has to make the biggest decision he’s ever made to choose whom he will hang on to, in order to survive in this harsh world.

CREDITS

IM Sang-Soo - Director

IM Sang-Soo - Screenplay

KIM Woo-Hyung - Cinematography

KIM June - Set Designer

KIM Young-Hee - Set Designer

KIM Hong-Jip - Music

LEE Eun-Soo - Film Editor

ACTORS

KIM Kang-Woo - Youngjak, le secrétaire privé

BAEK Yoon-Sik - Kyungsun, le père

YOUN Yuh-Jung - Keumok, la mère

KIM Hyo-Jin - Nami, la fille

Maui TAYLOR - Eva, la bonne

ON Ju-Wan - Chul, le fils 

---

DUPA DEALURI (BEYOND THE HILLS) 

Directed by : Cristian MUNGIU

Country: ROMANIA, FRANCE, BELGIUM

Year: 2012

Duration: 150.00 minutes


SYNOPSIS

Alina returns to Romania from Germany, hoping to bring Voichita - the only person in the world she loves and was loved by - back to her. But Voichita has found God - and God is the hardest lover of all to be jealous of.

CREDITS
Cristian MUNGIU - Director
Cristian MUNGIU - Screenplay
Oleg MUTU - Cinematography
Calin PAPURA - Set Designer
Mihaela POENARU - Set Designer
Mircea OLTEANU - Film Editor
Cristian TARNOVETCHI - Sound

ACTORS
Cosmina STRATAN - Voichita
Cristina FLUTUR - Alina
Valeriu ANDRIUTA - Prêtre
Dana TAPALAGA - Mère Supérieure

---

HOLY MOTORS 

Directed by : Leos CARAX

Country: FRANCE, GERMANY

Year: 2012

Duration: 115.00 minutes

SYNOPSIS

From dawn to dusk, a few hours in the life of Monsieur Oscar, a shadowy character who journeys from one life to the next. He is, in turn, captain of industry, assassin, beggar, monster, family man...

He seems to be playing roles, plunging headlong into each part - but where are the cameras?

Monsieur Oscar is alone, accompanied only by Céline, the slender blonde woman behind the wheel of the vast engine that transports him through and around Paris. He’s like a conscientious assassin moving from hit to hit.

In pursuit of the beautiful gesture, the mysterious driving force, the women and the ghosts of past lives. 

But where is his true home, his family, his rest? 

CREDITS

Leos CARAX - Director

Leos CARAX - Screenplay

Caroline CHAMPETIER - Cinematography

Florian SANSON - Set Designer

Neil HANNON - Music

Nelly QUETTIER - Film Editor

Erwan KERZANET - Sound

---

JAGTEN (THE HUNT) 

Directed by : Thomas VINTERBERG

Country: DENMARK

Year: 2012

Duration: 111.00 minutes

SYNOPSIS

Following a tough divorce, 40-year-old Lucas has a new girlfriend, a new job and is in the process of reestablishing his relationship with his teenage son, Marcus. But things go awry. Not a lot. Just a passing remark. A random lie. And as the snow falls and the Christmas lights are lit, the lie spreads like an invisible virus. The shock and mistrust gets out of hand, and the small community suddenly finds itself in a collective state of hysteria, while Lucas fights a lonely fight for his life and dignity.

CREDITS

Thomas VINTERBERG - Director

Tobias LINDHOLM - Screenplay

Thomas VINTERBERG - Screenplay

Charlotte BRUUS CHRISTENSEN - Cinematography

Torben STIG NIELSEN - Set Designer

Nikolaj EGELUND - Music

Janus BILLESKOV JANSEN - Film Editor

Anne ØSTERUD - Film Editor

Kristian SELIN EIDNES ANDERSEN - Sound

ACTORS

Mads MIKKELSEN - Lucas

Thomas Bo LARSEN - Theo

Annika WEDDERKOPP - Klara

Lasse FOGELSTRØM - Marcus

Susse WOLD - Grethe

---

KILLING THEM SOFTLY

Directed by : Andrew DOMINIK

Country: USA

Year: 2012

Duration: 104.00 minutes

SYNOPSIS

When their poker game is knocked off by petty thieves, the Mob calls in their best enforcer, Jackie Cogan, to make things right. Under the eye of a mysterious driver, Jackie must track down and punish those responsible for the heist. His assignment is complicated by those he comes up against along the way - an aging, drunken hit man, some bumbling local gangsters, and the ladies’ man who ran the ill-fated game.


CREDITS

Andrew DOMINIK - Director

Andrew DOMINIK - Screenplay

Greig FRASER - Cinematography

Patricia NORRIS - Set Designer

Curtiss CLAYTON - Film Editor

Kirk FRANCIS - Sound

ACTORS

Brad PITT - Jackie

Scoot MCNAIRY - Frankie

Ben MENDELSOHN - Russell

James GANDOLFINI - Mickey

Richard JENKINS - Driver

Vincent CURATOLA - Johnny Amato

Ray LIOTTA - Markie Trattman

---

LAWLESS 

Directed by: John HILLCOAT

Country: USA

Year: 2012

Duration: 115.00 minutes

SYNOPSIS

LAWLESS is the true story of the infamous Bondurant Brothers: bootlegging siblings who made a run for the American Dream in Prohibition-era Virginia. In this epic gangster tale, inspired by true-life tales of author Matt Bondurant’s family in his novel "The Wettest County In The World", the loyalty of three brothers is put to the test against the backdrop of the nation’s most notorious crime wave.

CREDITS

John HILLCOAT - Director

Nick CAVE - Screenplay

Benoit DELHOMME - Cinematography

Chris KENNEDY - Set Designer

Nick CAVE - Music

Warren ELLIS - Music

Dylan TICHENOR - Film Editor

Lisa PINERO - Sound

ACTORS

Shia LABEOUF - Jack

Tom HARDY - Forrest

Jason CLARKE - Howard

Guy PEARCE - Charley Rakes

Jessica CHASTAIN - Maggie

Mia WASIKOWSKA - Bertha

---

LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE 

Directed by : Abbas KIAROSTAMI

Country: FRANCE, JAPAN

Year: 2012

Duration: 109.00 minutes


SYNOPSIS

An old man and a young woman meet in Tokyo. She knows nothing about him, he thinks he knows her. He welcomes her into his home, she offers him her body. But the web that is woven between them in the space of twenty four hours bears no relation to the circumstances of their encounter.


CREDITS

Abbas KIAROSTAMI - Director

Abbas KIAROSTAMI - Screenplay

Katsumi YANAGIJIMA - Cinematography

Bahman KIAROSTAMI - Film Editor

Mohamadreza DELPAK - Sound

Nobuyuki KIKUCHI - Sound

ACTORS

Tadashi OKUNO

Rin TAKANASHI

Ryo KASE