Classic odd couple tale Up lifts Cannes

THE Cannes film festival rolled out its red carpet with an old-style mix of humour and emotion yesterday, as the animated comedy Up lifted the mood at the start of cinema’s biggest and glitziest gathering.

The 10th feature by Disney’s Pixar studio has been hailed by critics and was warmly welcomed at its first Cannes screening, setting the 12-day festival off on a buoyant note.

The 62nd edition of the festival is expected to feature fewer of the celebrity-driven events that have been its hallmark as studios cut budgets in the recession but the glamour of Cannes remains a powerful magnet for the industry.

With Up – the first animated feature to open the festival – it continues a long tradition of starting with an eye-catching potential blockbuster although it also meant that there were perhaps fewer big stars than in previous years.

“We’re just a bunch of animation geeks from northern California and here we are on the red carpet at Cannes,” Pixar head John Lasseter said as he mounted the famous steps.

The tale of a gruff old widower and a zealous boy scout who float off to South America in a house borne aloft by coloured balloons, Up looks back unashamedly to the good humoured and sentimental style of filmmakers like Frank Capra.

Its dazzling 3D digital effects add a striking new dimension to a classic odd couple tale.

“I knew this movie was going to be very unusual but also loaded with heart,” Lasseter told reporters.

The main competition has a familiar air and features several past winners of the coveted Palme d’Or award, from Quentin Tarantino to Ken Loach and New Zealand’s Jane Campion.

Tarantino, back with his World War Two movie Inglourious Basterds with Brad Pitt, has attracted much of the early buzz.

But there are plenty of other stars including Penelope Cruz, who stars in Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces or former France and Manchester United soccer star Eric Cantona who appears as himself in Loach’s Looking for Eric.

Campion brings Bright Star based on the romance between 19th century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, while Lars von Trier is presenting a horror movie called Antichrist.

Other highlights include Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock about the rock festival and Lou Ye’s Spring Fever, made in defiance of a five-year ban from film- making imposed by China for his previous movie Summer Palace.

Out of competition, Terry Gilliam has perhaps the biggest movie in Cannes. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is the late Australian actor Heath Ledger’s final screen role, which had to be completed by Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law.