Two more movies set to screen at this year's Cannes Film Festival have been revealed today, just 24 hours before
Thierry Fremaux unveils the full lineup tomorrow.
Gus Van Sant's immensely weird romance movie
Restless will open the Un Certain Regard section of the festival on May 12th, whilst Dreamworks' 3D sequel to
Kung Fu Panda will play as a big out of competition spectacle. Two movies that couldn't be much more different but isn't this why we love film festivals and well, movies in general? Restless tells the story of a 'Mia Farrow in her prime' lookalike
Mia Wasikowska as a terminally diseased teenager who falls for a weird kid who after the death of a close one has a penchant for attending the funerals of strangers (
Henry Hopper, son of Dennis). Their relationship blossoms as they encounter the ghost of a Japanese World War II Kamikaze pilot (
Ryo Kase). Ah, so that's why a Gus Van Sant movie is playing in the section deemed for films dedicated to the original and different. The film was originally supposed to open in January from Sony Pictures until they realised they had an oddball on their hands that would only work with the hoity-totty crowd, and gave it to Sony Pictures Classics to go for the arthouse opening in Cannes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgq6SQTDYi8 Restless couldn't be further away from the animated kids movie
Kung Fu Panda 2, which
Thompson On Hollywood has announced will play outside of any competition, and inevitably it's more red-carpet delight for the Crosiette with
Angelina Jolie (her hubbie Brad Pitt already there for
Tree of Life) and
Jack Black likely to attend. Jennifer Yuh's directed
Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom opens in the U.S. on May 26th. Having struggled to get through a screening of the original movie, I might skip it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdaMGcOyfjM