Eight years may not be that long to turn into film that most iconic of iconic novels, Jack Kerouac's "On the Road," the book that has launched many into sustained bouts of daydreaming. Because eight years is the time it took for the project to mature. Plus, the film was lensed by one of our better filmmakers and is based on the ultimate American myth, the road story (the open road is there for the taking, there’ll always be someone motoring

A fishing boat in which Senegalese men from different ethnic backgrounds will have to huddle for two weeks during an ocean crossing. Filmmaker Moussa Touré ‘s “La Pirogue,” currently shown in the Un Certain Regard section, wants to incite a dialogue between people confined in a small living space. But the stakes are very high, and the fiction film is very much based on reality. Thirty men (a mixture of Peuls, Guineans, and Muslims

For the Bondurant gang, purveyors of apple brandy in the depression-era south, legend--their own, that is--is the stuff that makes the world turn; their illegal business thrives on it. That they are viewed as invincible by foes helps keep the deck stacked in their favor and keeps the moonshine dollar flowing in, the occasional shootout with a rival notwithstanding. When Forrest (Tom Hardy), the eldest of the Bondurant brothers gets

Could there be a better week for Sacha Baron Cohen to release a film called “The Dictator”? A few days ago, Cohen parked a camel in Cannes, in what seemed like the first act of a cult of personality. Pairing a touch of showmanship, a frisky film, and the spotlight of the festival, the star of “Borat” all but declared himself the worldwide ruler of comedy. Like many public rituals under totalitarians, “The Dictator” is long on stagecraft but a little

Judging from the line of people waiting to get into a still-closed Théâtre Lumière (seating capacity: 2,281) at 7:45 this morning the anticipation was high for Jacques Audiard’s return to the Croisette, “Rust and Bone.” It was in this same theatre that three years ago we discovered the history- and career-making “A Prophet,” one of the best films made in the last twenty years. One can’t help wondering if the self-effacing Audiard felt any sort

If Standard & Poor’s assessed film production values Wes Anderson would remain a AAA-rated cineaste year in and year out. The level of detail that went into every square inch of “Moonrise Kingdom,” which had its premiere here in Cannes a few hours ago, is above perfection. But “Moonrise” fails on other levels. Adult characters wretchedly watch as their kids go about resolving the problems of their day (only to finally prevail, at the very

Comic book mavens rejoice, for Marvel Studios has concocted a heady and wonderful sensory brew in “The Avengers.” Weaving together the origin stories of Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America, “The Avengers” packages a star-studded cast, one that could easily have imploded under its own weight, into a fleet-footed, yet cohesive, plotline. Nefarious forces from other worlds threaten Earth, led by the sneering and magnetic trickster god