Catching the only American film in competition, Fair Game, demanded another crushing 8:30am start. It features Naomi Watts (pictured) and Sean Penn on stupendous form as Valerie Plaime and Joseph Wilson respectively. Famously, the pair was at the centre of a furore seven years ago.
Her cover as a CIA op was deliberately blown by the White House to discredit an article in the New York Times written by her husband – a former ambassador – in which he claimed the government had manipulated evidence, such as the existence of WMDs, to justify the war on Iraq.
The picture is well handled by director Doug Liman – and it means well – but it left me a little cold. The reverse is true of Ken Loach’s take on the same war, Route Irish. Two childhood friends, Frankie and Fergus, travel to Iraq to work for private security firms – the former dies on Route Irish (the most dangerous road in the country). The latter returns to try to learn what happened on that fatal day, and becomes closer and closer to his dead pal’s lady.
Tipped to win the Palme d’Or, though, is Sergei Loznitsa’s My Joy, a tale of Ukrainian truck driver Georgi who is forced to take a wrong turn on the motorway and finds himself stranded in the middle of nowhere. There’s no doubt that this is a bumpy ride but this is also a very bold and original film.
After three films in a day, I needed a beer, so I sloped off to the Beau Rivage, a hotel/bar with all the charm of a dose of thrush. It was packed full of badly dressed, suntanned men in cowboy boots and almost pretty women in overly revealing shiny outfits. The whole gathering looked like the wrap party for Grace Gives Head.
After one drink, we crossed the road and went to Hotel 341, where that ever-so-groovy Parisian haunt, Le Baron, has set up shop for the duration of the festival.
What a difference. DJ Misty Rabbit and chums belted out a set of ironic, iconic tunes that thrilled the crowd who, really rather chic, seemed to be mainly composed of stunning women, not least Michelle Williams (mother of Heath Ledger’s child) and Carey Mulligan, while in the VIP room, David Piper hosted a karaoke evening with a trad jazz band. It was so excruciatingly groovy that I couldn’t take it and slipped off early… at 4:30 am…
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