It’s about the films, really

Cannes, France

Don’t let those photographs of Robert Mitchum frolicking in the surf or Madonna flashing her underwear fool you, the Festival de Cannes has never been an easy, open place. But this year, it’s something else again.

Just getting here at all proved problematic for the estimated 150,000 attendees, including some 4,000 journalists from 75 countries: a massive nationwide public workers strike eliminated 80% of airline flights and two-thirds of all trains on the very day most people traveled. Once the weary cinematic pilgrims arrived, they were handed a stern warning about SARS from France’s Ministry of Health. Even though most Asian visitors had volunteered for medical checkups before they’d left, they were directed to report any suspicious symptoms, and all festival-goers were told to leave a forwarding address in case of unknown exposure.

Terrorism was another threat no one was exactly ignoring. The festival announced that video surveillance cameras had been installed in the Palais des Festivals, that the addition of a hologram had made identification badges fraud-proof, and that an additional five squadrons of police would be patrolling key areas.

Having fun yet?

Obviously, it’s the films that are supposed to make Cannes worth the perennial trouble, but even that satisfaction looks chancy this year. Incomplete films from Cannes veterans like Jane Campion, Quentin Tarantino, Emir Kusturica and the Coen brothers are not ready for consideration, and the quality of some of the replacements is difficult to gauge.

Perhaps sensing this, the festival has opted for tradition whenever it can, including scheduling “Fanfan La Tulipe” for opening tonight. An old-fashioned swashbuckler that stars Penelope Cruz and Vincent Perez, “Fanfan” is a remake of a 1952 film that had Gina Lollobrigida and Gerard Philipe in the leads.

The festival is also making a big deal of its multi-event tribute to the late Federico Fellini. Even the unusual text-only Cannes poster, designed by American artist Jenny Holzer, presents the Italian phrase “Viva Il Cinema!” in giant hot pink letters over a smaller, equally hot pink “Hommage a Fellini.”

For want of something more reliable to latch onto, other outlets like L’ Express magazine have taken up the Fellini theme for their covers. And Maiffret, the classic Cannes chocolatier, has created a circular film tin and filled it with truffles arranged around a central chocolate disk with “Hommage to Fellini” spelled out in chocolate letters and his credits painstakingly hand-inscribed. If only the maestro could have lived to see -- or at least taste -- this.

The French buzz

If Cannes-issue magazine covers are any judge of what the French are excited about in the festival, it is “The Matrix Reloaded,” which screens out of competition on Thursday night. No fewer than four magazines have star Monica Bellucci on their covers, not even caring that she’s wearing the same silver dress from the film in almost all of them.

Also of major interest here is Nicole Kidman, who stars in Lars von Trier’s sure-to-be-different “Dogville.” She’s on the cover of the prestigious Cahiers du Cinema as well as the more populist Studio, which informs its readers that “the most glamorous Hollywood star is the heroine of the most radical film in the competition.”

Aside from “Dogville,” the most eagerly anticipated English-language film might be “Mystic River,” Clint Eastwood’s take on the much-lauded Dennis Lehane thriller, adapted by “L.A. Confidential’s” Brian Helgeland and starring Sean Penn, Laurence Fishburne, Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins. Two other American films, both of which look to be distinctly less traditional, are also in the competition. Gus Van Sant weighs in with the HBO-financed “Elephant,” his look at that oh-so-rarely viewed aspect of American life, high school. And Vincent Gallo co-stars with Chloe Sevigny in the self-directed story of a motorcycle racer at loose ends ominously called “The Brown Bunny.”

Of the other U.S. films lurking in hidden corners of the festival, the most involving just might be documentaries. Errol Morris’ “The Fog of War” is a timely examination of former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, “Bright Leaves” is a personal doc about tobacco companies by Ross McElwee, and “Charlie: The Life and Art of Charlie Chaplin” is an examination of just that by Richard Schickel.

Also of documentary interest is “Mike Brant: Laisse moi t’aimer,” an intriguing Franco-Israeli doc about a handsome Israeli who became an unlikely French pop star before an untimely death. (Those who can’t afford the trip to France can see this in the homier confines of Encino and Hollywood in this month’s Israel Film Festival.)

Back in the competition, several films by notable overseas directors are also in the pack. Hector Babenco’s “Carandiru” has been a huge success in his native Brazil, Canadian Denys Arcand’s “Invasion of the Barbarians” is a sequel to his “Decline of the American Empire,” “Purple Butterfly” is Chinese director Lou Ye’s follow-up to the well-received “Suzhou River,” and “Bright Future” is one of the latest films from prolific Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (“The Cure”). In the mix as well are new films by at least five French directors: Raoul Ruiz, Bertrand Blier, Claude Miller, Andre Techine and Bertrand Bonello.

Never liking to be left behind when the winds of international politics are blowing, Cannes has scheduled not one but two films shot in Afghanistan, both claiming to the first post-Taliban feature lensed there. “Five In the Afternoon,” by young Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf, is in the competition, while the Directors Fortnight has an Afghan-Japanese co-production called “Oussama” directed by Sedigh Barmak.

Speaking of countries that begin with “A,” 2003 has turned out to be a particularly strong year for Austria, which has a national record five films -- including an out-of-competition feature by Michael Haneke -- in varying parts of the festival. Looking to be especially intriguing is Bady Mink’s documentary “In the Beginning Was the Look,” an avant-garde exercise using thousands of Alpine view postcards.

That film finds itself in the Fortnight, the longtime rival to the main Cannes festival, and this year headed by someone new, Francois Da Silva, who seems determined to do things differently. “We are not in competition with the main selection, I am not interested in the same films,” he told reporters. And even though his selections lack stars, “I hope some will come from elsewhere in the festival to watch them.”

Always of interest at Cannes is the protean Marche du Film, the movie market at which hundreds of films unlikely to be in competition anywhere come to be bought and sold. Among the most intriguing titles this year are “The Holy Cannoli,” “How My Mother Gave Birth to Me During Menopause,” “Adam & Evil,” “Frankenstein’s College Party,” and a Spanish film described as follows: “Not a bird . . Not an airplane . . Not a rooster either . . It is Kirik, a little extraterrestrial to save the planet.”

Surely we’re having fun by now.