Only God Forgives
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm
Gosling and Refn are back to cause more trouble, after their 2011 collaboration Drive sent the Riviera into a spin with its synth-pop stylings and bruising ultra-violence (earning Winding Refn a Best Director gong in the process). Expect more of the same from their second team-up, which sees Gosling playing a man caught up in Bangkok’s criminal underbelly, ordered by his mother (a terrifying Scott Thomas) to take out his brother’s killer.
Films on the beach
We're extremely excited about catching The Birds on the beach this year.
As long as we don't have any French seagulls swooping down to eat our popcorn.
We're not sure we can handle that kind of interactive experience.
Zulu
Director: Jérôme Salle
Starring: Orlando Bloom, Forest Whitaker, Tanya van Graan
The closing film of Cannes 2013, Salle’s first English-language effort – set during the Apartheid era – is a conspiracy thriller about two Cape Town cops (Bloom, Whitaker) with opposite upbringings who team up to investigate the murder of two young women.
With its tricky subject and ballsy casting (can Bloom prove the haters wrong?), this is definitely one to keep an eye on…
Mad marketing stunts
As long as we live, we will never forget the sight of Jerry Seinfeld perilously plummeting on a zip line whilst dressed as a giant bee.
It's an image that will haunt our dreams, and colour our nightmares.
We can't wait to see what this year's massive stunt will be. Leonardo DiCaprio doing the macarena while dressed as a Martini glass, anyone?
Inside Llewyn Davis
Director: Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring : Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake
Returning to the Croisette with their first film in competition since 2007’s No Country For Old Men , the Coen brothers will be hoping to pick up their second Palme d’Or with this musical drama – starring Drive ’s Oscar Issac as a singer-songwriter navigating the folk music scene in ’60s New York.
Coffee in the Palais
After getting up at 5.30am to make sure we have our place in the queue for the latest Reygadas flick, there's nothing like gulping back one of the free (flavoured) espressos handed out at the Palais.
Sometimes it's the small things that keep us going through the festival.
You know, that and our massive passion for cinema, obviously.
The Past
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Starring: Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, Ali Mosaffa
His last film, A Separation , won him an Oscar – could this follow-up net Farhadi a Palme d’Or? Following on thematically from his last movie, The Past follows Ahmad (Mosaffa) – an Iranian man who travels back to France to finalise a divorce from his estranged wife ( The Artist ’s Bérénice Bejo), uncovering more than a few skeletons along the way…
Parties in the hills
Very, very occasionally, we get to go to swanky parties in the Cannes hills.
They usually end up with us stumbling into the night, desperately looking for non-existent public transport whilst attempting to avoid ending up in our very own horror film.
Still, it's nice to be invited.
Nebraska
Director: Alexander Payne
Starring: Bruce Dern, Will Forte, Bob Odenkirk
Nebraska native Alexander Payne follows up his Oscar-lauded The Descendants by returning to his roots for a Midwestern road movie.
Bruce Dern plays an aging alcoholic travelling across the US with his estranged son ( SNL comedian Forte) in order to claim a huge lottery payout. A spiritual sequel to Sideways , perhaps?
Madness of the marketplace
If Cannes was a super-villain, it would be Two-Face. One side is high-brow and swanky, whilst the other is gnarled and twisted and almost entirely populated by oddities. Have a guess at which one we prefer?
We can't wait to see all the amazing posters for films that will never, ever be seen outside of the marketplace at this year's festival.