Buck, about whom Cindy Meehl has made the eponymous documentary, is the original horse whisperer, the one on whom the book was based and the Robert Redford film made. Redford himself makes an appearance in the film describing how his first reaction on seeing the lanky man with the ten-gallon hat and the fringed outfit was “Oh,boy!” and how he soon realized what an impressive human being he was dealing with. That’s Buck.

The Locarno Film Festival closed yesterday; here’s the comment from our colleague Eric J. Lyman at The Hollywood Reporter:

“Abrir Puertas y Ventanas (Back to Stay), the story of two sisters struggling with the death of the grandmother who raised them, won two major prizes at the Locarno Film Festival including the storied Golden Leopard honor, while Din Dragoste cu Cele Mai Bune Intentii (Best Intention) was given another two awards and Japanese film Tokyo Koen was given Locarno’s first-ever special jury prize

Basically, if the year overall has been stuffed to the gills with good movies then Cannes will have a great edition. But if the vintage is not a good one, it will show down on the riviera. On the other hand, Toronto and the Venice Film Festival (the "Mostra") have the perfect time slot. Because anything that's been done in the first half of the year will be scheduled for a Mostra or a Toronto premiere--once the large blockbusters have cleared the Summer pipeline, here come the indie and foreign heavy-hitters; but sales will go in a frenzy at Toronto, since the Mostra does not have a market.

The news is that I saw Melancholia here in Paris where it came out on Wednesday (since France’s Wednesday is our Friday). I understand that Melancholia will come out in the U.S. at the end of September and hope to land an interview with someone from the film. My review will appear in these columns on the day of the release.

You know someone is bad when news of their death, no matter how early or how gory, causes you to, if not actually rejoice (we’re too civilized for that) at least breathe lighter as if some evil force had finally been vanquished. Does this sound too melodramatic? Then it applies perfectly to Uday Hussein, son of infamous Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein who was killed along with his brother Qusay at the beginning of the U.S.-led invasion, to most people’s relief.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has chosen Brett Ratner (he previously directed X-Men and Horrible Bosses) to produce the next Oscars telecast, which will take place on February 26th. It’s an interesting move, that shows the Academy is fighting to reverse the tide, ie., their poor ratings. Last year's audience share was a whopping 10% lower than 2010.

We’ve reached a crisis point in the American comedy: why can’t Jason Bateman get promoted or laid?

This summer's comedies are stocked with middle-aged men who dream of having sex but never do. That’s a healthy sign for marriage, I suppose. But if you’re a married dad who secretly wishes he could spread the seed again, do you want to spend $10 to go watch a movie about another guy who can’t, either?