Don't do this at home kids!!

If you use 3D glasses as sun glasses you might get your eye sight ruined forever.

However, you should use 3D glasses to watch a 3D movies such as Avatar, Up, Coraline, How to train your Dragon, because those films were actually made to be shown on 3D and, contrary to what Mark says, they DO work on 3D. Yes, they work on 2D as well, but so do good films shown on Black & white TVs. If a film is good, is good! If it's bad, it's bad whether on 2D or 3D.



Mark hasn't had his Cannes meltdown and that's a good thing, but he has definitely bored me to death with his 3D debate.

Where's Stephen? ;-)

Kermode, if you read this please tell us which films are worthy of the Palme d'or.

Must. Have. Sunglasses. (And accompanying T-Shirt reading "30% Colour Loss - To be Worn Anywhere Outside a Cinema.)



And on that note, who else thinks it's time for Kermode to open his own online store for official merchandise? Maybe he can mass produce signed copies of that hysterical ID pass at Cannes.

Yes predictions for Palme d'or indeed!??

Doug Liman movie sounds promising though...I can't believe you actually enjoyed it more than a Loach movie!

Loved the music that kicks in at the end, what's it called?

Whatever you may think Dr.K the Cannes Film Festival is so important to cinema as it gives films exposure that might not get exposure in a world of big American Hollywood movies that eat up everything.



It is a platform that deserves to be there and many of the world's best filmmakers thank Cannes for the career they have!

Cannes every year until a meltdown? Keep up these video diaries!

Welcome home!

Video diary of a critic having a meltdown over the course of a week, entered into competition the following year as an example of new media 'cinema verite'. Beat Jean Luc at his own game...



Still think you should try Sundance...

I'd like the Mike Leigh film to win the Palme d'Or - simply because I'm a huge fan - but I think the film with the best chance of picking up the award is Of Gods and Men.

It's also time to acknowledge our Alien series comments...

It's too bad you decided to play hooky last year as this year seems to have been pretty uneventful in comparison to 2009 Cannes where we had Antichrist, The White Ribbon, Inglourious Basterds and Enter the Void in the line-up, for better or for worse.



Your description of Fair Game sounds less than appetizing, actually. The positive review is intriguing and I like Naomi Watts, but Sean Penn and rousing American patriotism... eh. It's probably an okay movie, but it also smacks of awards bait and I've heard enough about Bush and Iraq and the CIA to fill several lifetimes already, it's old news. It's not very American to say so I'm sure, but given our ability to saturate every market with our films anyway, it's a lot less exciting to hear about how one of our own mainstream dramas is doing at Cannes than it is to hear the world cinema buzz... though the thing about the French mooing is pretty funny and thank you for sharing.



That Exotica shirt is fantastic, by the way.

@Amber



Do you know if there is a UK release date for Enter the Void? There was a Bradshaw article mentioning there was no to date, something which is quite baffling.....

S Ford: I wish I knew. We haven't gotten it yet here either outside of the festivals... IFC snapped up the stateside distribution rights I heard, but still no word on an actual release date and I certainly haven't seen even a hint of release information for the UK. It seems pretty ridiculous, doesn't it?



Can anybody else help?

The Plame affair is one of many events showing the venal character of the mad men from the Bush Jnr. administration. Some should have faced prosecution for the lies, deceit and violence which saw thousands of innocent people die. May they suffer sleepless, guilt-ridden nights for the rest of their lives! A shameful, horrendous bunch.



Anyone interested in the details of the Plame case are kindly asked to read the work of Larisa Alexandrovna; a proper investigative journalist alongside others like occasional BBC Newsnight contributor Greg Palast, who also, unfortunately, receive threats because their work gets too near the truth:



https://www.atlargely.com/atlargely/valerie_plame/



Mark, as you found Moore's 'Fahrenheit 9/11' hard to watch, please watch '9/11 Press for Truth', which Larisa Alexandrovna worked on.



Thanks for the excellent blog. Like the t-shirt too. I'm guessing it refers to the film of the same name. 'Exotica' is one of my all-time favourite films.

On the subject of Fair Game, I'm reminded of the film Nothing But the Truth, starring Kate Beckinsale and Vera Farmiga, released last year. It was a slightly ficitonalised version of the Palme case, but never made it to cinemas as the distributor went bankrupt (which is a shame, as it's by far in a way Beckinsale's best performance to date).

My question is: Did you get a chance to see Nothing But the Truth, and if so, how does it compare with Fair Game?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

I think the Cannes has way too much security. I didn't manage to see hardly any movies.



The one I had a ticket for, Route Irish, I didn't see because, I got there on time, but apparently I should have got there 30 minutes before on time.



I didn't get many meetings, so it was mostly a waste of time. Maybe I can figure it out if I go a few more times.



I didn't think much prices there food and drink costs about double London prices.



The best thing I can say is it's in a nice location the weather is good.



I much prefer the Raindance Film Festival in London.

@echobase

Not a major thing, but, "he has definitely bored me to death with his 3D debate." Fair enough, 3d films are made to make use of 3d effects and are probably best when seen in 3d, but for those of us with imperfect vision (or perhaps just disproportionately imperfect vision (I have the joy of having one slightly long sighted eye and one slightly short sighted,)) those 3d glasses take a cinematic masterpiece and turn it into a headache inducing blur.

I don't know if his 3d debate is a purely artistic issue or if it's the "oh god, my eyes are melting" issue, but 3d doesn't work for all of us. (Perhaps they could invent prescription 3d glasses? Wouldn't that be cool... and expensive?)

get yer cameraman involved,

Winners have been announced



Palme d'Or

LUNG BOONMEE RALUEK CHAT (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) directed by Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL



Grand Prix

DES HOMMES ET DES DIEUX (OF GODS AND MEN) directed by Xavier BEAUVOIS



Award for Best Director

Mathieu AMALRIC for TOURNÉE (ON TOUR)



Award for Best Screenplay

LEE Chang-dong for POETRY



Award for Best Actress

Juliette BINOCHE in COPIE CONFORME (CERTIFIED COPY) directed by Abbas KIAROSTAMI



Award for Best Actor Ex-aequo

Javier BARDEM in BIUTIFUL directed by Alejandro GONZÁLEZ IÑÁRRITU

Elio GERMANO in LA NOSTRA VITA (OUR LIFE) directed by Daniele LUCHETTI



Jury Prize

UN HOMME QUI CRIE (A screaming man) directed by Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN

Really pleased for Weerasethakul. His last three films were all excellent, and I'm expecting great things from 'Uncle Boonmee'. It's still a real shame that Leigh didn't win it though.

It is good to see Asian cinema getting more recognition; and that SE Asia has an emerging film industry, even if more people are likely to watch action flicks like Raging Phoenix or with Tony Jaa than watch Uncle Boonmee.



But could this award also have something to do with the current protests in Thailand? Weerasethakul has also protested against the Thai government's censorship.



Still, Tim Burton liked it, so that's a recommendation of sorts.

Jaspar: as another Leigh fan I have to agree with the slight disappointment there, but it truly does sound like Weerasethakul really deserved it this year. I've only seen one of his films myself unfortunately, Tropical Malady, but it's one of my favorites of the last few years so I'm way past excited about Uncle Boonmee.



Also have to second Spoononaut's 3D comment - for those of us who wear glasses, it really, really sucks.

I was interested to hear your colleague Peter Bradshaw describe Fair Game as "the worst kind of liberal reactionary bullshit" (a quote I'd kill to see on the poster!) So what's new? Most Hollywood anti-war films present US aggression as a "mistake" with Americans cast as victims of "noble intentions gone awry". It's what put me off The Deer Hunter and Black Hawk Down.



I also had to smile listening to Mark Cousins enthuse over the Godard flick calling it "provocative and exciting". Now that's definitely going on the poster.

Personally, I believe the guy who won it was partly to do with the 'Cannes Clique'. He was a judge for Cannes in the last few years.



I love his earlier film Tropical Malady, and think he has more than enough ability to win the award for his abilities themselves. However I do believe that connections in the art industry in particular are absolute, as cynical as that may seem.

Not wishing to sound like a broken-record, but the aptly named 'New Wave Films' has picked up the UK distribution for Jean-Luc Godard's Film Socialisme. They also covered the recent cinema release of Jia Zhangke's 24 City, as well as the DVD release of Jean-Marie Straub's Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach.

People, I can 99% assure you ENTER THE VOID will be released in the UK in late September –and it will be quite special, watch this space for further info.

Ok, appreciate the apology the the sunnies but what about that t-shirt!?