I've been fortunate enough to have been able to go to Cannes for the past four years now, and I'm getting ready for my fifth. And, as I often say when explaining film festivals to people who've never been to one, it's not just an adventure; it's a job. Cannes is a "get-away" the same way running from a burning building is "a tour of the grounds"; there are plenty of movies, plenty of work, and the overall emotional tone of the event is a mix of exhaustion and exhilaration. The heady moments of pure movie magic come fast and furious with the muck-and-money reality of international financing and distribution happening all about you.

Going to Cannes means seeing at least 40, maybe 50 or more movies in 10 days, never mind actually thinking and writing about them; you'd think that that kind of pace would soon turn into a blur, and it does, but it's a glorious one. Here's some of my favorite movie going moments (highly subjective, of course -- I've not included last year's ridiculously strong quartet of Persepolis, No Country for Old Men, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, as they're still so fresh in my mind) from the past four years of the Cannes Film Festival; think of these as the rushed recollections of a film critic who knows exactly how lucky he's been.

According to a poll conducted by Pearl and Dean of UK movie audiences, Pan's Labyrinth, from Spain and Mexico, has officially become the nation's favorite foreign film. It and the #2 choice, Amelie (France) are currently the two all-time imported box office champs in the country's history. The rest of the list leaned drastically toward current films, award-winners and money-makers: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (China) and Spirited Away (Japan) (tied for third), City of God (Brazil), Cinema Paradiso (Italy), The Lives of Others (Germany), Life Is Beautiful (Italy), The Motorcycle Diaries (Mexico/Argentina) and Cache (a.k.a. Hidden) (France/Austria). (No Seven Samurai?)

Kathryn Jacob of Pearl and Dean saw good news in the poll: "Foreign films are now seven times more likely to be British box-office hits than they were a decade ago. British film audiences are becoming increasingly sophisticated and are no longer letting subtitles be a barrier to their enjoyment of a great film. Pan's Labyrinth is a beautiful example of a film that would have struggled to get screened in a multiplex 10 years ago, but which has truly captured the imagination of British cinema audiences today."

He may not be a great director -- perhaps not even worthy of his Oscar -- but Ron Howard is good enough at making the kind of movies he makes. His films are sufficient in quality for the masses who might not see a film by Michael Haneke, for instance. Therefore, Howard should be the one of the most suitable directors to strike a compromise between the demands of Hollywood and international cinema by successfully remaking a foreign film. Unfortunately, he's tried this before and failed miserably, with EdTV, which was a redo of Louis 19, Le Roi des Ondes (Louis the 19th, King of the Airwaves).

Now Variety is reporting that he may attempt to redeem himself by doing another remake, this time of Haneke's Caché. The original film stars Daniel Auteil and Juliette Binoche as a married couple who are terrorized by a series of mysterious videotapes, the first of which appears to be a surveillance tape of their home. It is a fairly slow, open-ended film that lacks the conventions that many Americans expect from a thriller, and obviously Universal, the studio releasing the remake, will want to amp up the suspense and consequences. This would be a silly approach, though, since Haneke's version is more suspenseful because it has few consequences.

As long as Haneke is going to be doing remakes of his own work, I have no reason to complain about other people redoing his films. And if those people who can't be bothered with the original Caché are interested in seeing a Hollywood translation, they are better off with Howard directing than most. They may even get to see it with Binoche reprising her role -- if producer Brian Grazer is smart, he'll ask for her. Now, if only Auteil could finally be recognized by the majority of Americans. Of course, he'll probably be replaced by either Russell Crowe or Tom Hanks. There is no timetable set up for the Caché remake, and if Howard is definitely interested, he'll have to sort out his future projects, which so far include Frost/Nixon, Angels & Demons, The Look of Real and East of Eden.

I like to think that my beautiful city of Seattle is home to so much wonderful film because there are so many brainy, intellectual film geeks here. In reality, it's probably as much because of the rainy weather here as anything else. Sure, we have an abundance of mainstream theaters like every other big city, but we also have lots of film that will feed your soul through the rest of your mundane week. Why settle for what's playing at the multiplex, when you can open the windows of your world through such a wide range of glorious world cinema, right here in your own backyard? We have lots of film here for the cinephile, and my fellow Emerald City residents will be able to come here to find out what's going on in film in Seattle,  every week, from now until the end of time. Well, maybe not until the end of time; life is impermanent. But film? Film is forever.

 

If all goes well (fingers crossed), there will be a series of these going up over the next week or so in an effort to manage the outrageous number of holiday releases. Today's installment is jam-packed with hilarity, featuring three comedies that may or may not actually be funny. The short: The Ringer is sweet, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 is painful, and Fun with Dick and Jane is, well, just that. Details follow.

• The Ringer: No one's wildly in love with The Ringer, but they don't hate it, either. Most, like Roger Ebert, come to realize that they "kinda liked its spirit," even though its studied fairness sometimes costs it "many chances to be funnier." Even Nathan Lee of The New York Times, who has no love for star Johnny Knoxville, grudgingly admits that the movie ultimately overcomes the "seemingly insurmountable handicap" of his presence "to wind up a fairly winning comedy."

• Cheaper by the Dozen 2: Let's just start with the fact that even our editors were not cruel enough to send any Cinematical staff to a screening, and close with this quote from Peter Bradshaw's review: "Of all the mysteries concerning those Extraordinary Rendition planes passing through UK airspace, one at least is solved. We now know what the in-flight movie is." Yikes. (Weirdly, Roger Ebert sort of liked it. So, you know, maybe it's not THAT bad - me, I'm not going to risk it, but do what you need to do.)

• Fun with Dick and Jane: For what it's worth, pretty much everyone likes Alec Baldwin. Other than that...our own Robert is not the only one to describe this as, like its title, "fun." Most people seem to find it inoffensive (which, considering Jim Carrey's track record, is probably something of an accomplishment) and mildly amusing, though there's one guy in Minneapolis who thinks it's a work of towering genius. And yes, we'll be keeping an eye on him.

Also hitting theaters in more limited release during this first wave of holiday openings are a blind Ralph Fiennes in The White Countess, Munich (James was impressed), and, at long last, the award-winning Caché (which Christopher saw as a meditation on the media).

Michael Haneke's new film is about the two ways in which we experience life through the media: we learn from its truths, and we are influenced by its lies. Or perhaps the film is about something else – if there is one thing of which the filmmaker is fond, it is open endings. To answer one critic's question for the director, which Haneke would not acknowledge: Yes, the film could be about the Iraq War. But couldn't the insistence to dwell on the war apply such a relationship to most recent films?

The issue of open-ended stories and the ambiguous responses they allow is a frustrating problem in cinema. Aside from alienating audiences in need of resolution, they are sometimes so unconditional that all meanings are negligible. Inconclusiveness is also easily criticized as evidence of either a conceit or a cop out, and often there is doubt that some storytellers wouldn't be better off releasing a blank page or screen if they're inclined to be so indefinite.