CANNES — Established auteurs, both young and
old, dominated the awards at the 58th Cannes Film Festival (May 11-22),
with Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne nabbing their second
Palme d’Or (after 1999’s “Rosetta”), for small-scale social-realist
drama “The Child,” and U.S. filmmakers getting a healthy chunk of the
main prizes.
n one of the few surprises in a generally
uncontroversial doling out of gongs, Tommy Lee Jones walked off with
best actor for his Peckinpah-like neo-Western, “The Three Burials of
Melquiades Estrada,” by Mexican writer Guillermo Arriaga, who won for
best script. Pic had been thought likely for some kind of nod, but not
for two awards.
Jim Jarmusch, whose “Broken Flowers” had been one
of the most enjoyable surprises in the competition, copped the Grand
Prix, traditionally seen as the runner-up award. In his acceptance
speech, Jarmusch payed lengthy tribute to his fellow competitors and
the fest in general, noting “the real honor (of competing in Cannes)
was to be alongside some great filmmakers.”
Jarmusch also singled
out for thanks one of his lead thesps, Bill Murray, who’d been hotly
tipped to win best actor since the film unspooled Tuesday.