Tireless movie reviewer Lisa Nesselson is back with a mid-point look at how the competition is shaping up:

There’s an occupational hazard heading into the final weekend at Cannes: Radio reporters with microphones and TV reporters with cameras surge up out of nowhere demanding to know “What do you think will win?”

If the running tally of critical opinions in the trades can be trusted (which, of course, it can’t), then Jacques Audiard’s entrepreneurial prison primer “A Prophet” is the front runner and Jane Campion’s affecting account of a  doomed 19th century romance, “Bright Star,” is a close second.

Jacques Audiard's "A Prophet"

Quentin Tarantino’s WWII revenge fantasy-cum-Western “Inglourious Basterds” took Cannes by storm on Wednesday. It’s a relatively straightforward but creative re-writing of history involving high ranking Nazis and very tough Jews.

Skeptics say that despite the trademark Tarantino humor, the fact that German and French-speaking characters are subtitled will be a commercial stumbling block.  To this, on behalf of all Americans, I say “Yes we can!”  Read subtitles, that is.  The rest of the planet does when watching Hollywood fare.

Are we, like, stupider than the rest of the planet?  Case closed.

Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist” made headlines when reporters took some of its more violent imagery out of context. Although it can’t be denied that the film is a squirm-inducing experience, it should be acknowledged as an intense portrait of grief. IFC has picked it up for the U.S. along with Ken Loach’s working class comedy “Looking for Eric.”

In that film, a put-upon middle aged postal worker in Manchester, England works out the solutions to almost all of his problems with the help of his idol, real-life French soccer legend Eric Cantona.  You don’t need to be even slightly interested in the sport most of the world calls “football” to warm to this tale of getting by with a little help from one’s friends.

Pedro Almodovar’s “Broken Embraces” got a warm reception from the French.

Alain Resnais, who turns 87 next month, has made a bittersweet ode to random impulses in “Wild Grass,” the story of a woman who loses her wallet and the man who finds it.

Xavier Giannoli’s “In the Beginning” is based on the near-incredible true story of a homeless man who convinced a small French town to build a stretch of highway.

That doesn’t sound like it could hold your attention for two and half hours, but it’s a fascinating look at trust, hope and the universal human yearning to be useful.  It’s suspenseful, funny and touching with a wonderful central performance from François Cluzet, the harried protagonist in “Tell No One.”

So, so far French directors (Audiard, Resnais, Giannoli) are looking very good indeed on home soil, with Gaspar Noe’s long-awaited “Enter the Void” still to come. (Lisa Nesselson)

Posted by Nancy