20/05 - CANNES DAILY ON LITTLE NICHOLAS

ENTERTAINMENT / CANNES FILM FESTIVAL / CANNES DAILY / 20/05 - CANNES DAILY ON LITTLE NICHOLAS

20 May 2009 — People are complaining today in Cannes. Movie critics are complaining about Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds — not because they didn't like the movie but because they were required to wake up at 8:30 a.m. to see it. Pedestrians along the Croisette are complaining about the photographers who seem to outnumber movie celebrities this year and who, perhaps for lack of anything better to do, have taken to snapping pictures of anything that moves. Partygoers are complaining about being all dressed-up with no place to go.So why are we in such a good mood? Because we can't remember a time when we enjoyed the Cannes Film Festival as much as we're enjoying it in 2009. The sun has been shining every day since last Thursday (Cannes without rain looks a lot like paradise). We danced with Monica Bellucci (actually, we danced; she sat on a couch), and we drank beer with Eric Cantona (OK, he drank; we gawked) — who says nothing's happening in the evenings? And Brad Pitt showed up tonight for the premiere of Tarantino's movie and Angelina Jolie was there with him on the red carpet, and Penelope Cruz, starring in Pedro Almodovar's Broken Embraces, is in Cannes, too (although she hasn't been feeling too well). So let's stop whining about the absence of Hollywood stars, shall we?Uncomplaining update: We just saw Inglourious Basterds, and let us tell you right now, it's a great movie and lots of fun. (That'll teach us to listen to complaints from critics who haven't eaten a proper breakfast.) We're hoping all two-plus hours find their way to cinemas without any scene-scalping, because we liked every minute. No kidding.Inglourious Basterds takes place "once upon a time...in Nazi-occupied France" — but to be precise, it takes place in Quentin Tarantino's hyperactive imagination. The film doesn't aim for historical accuracy, it aims to get even, and it hits the spot. Slightly less cartoony and a bit less violent than Kill Bill, Tarantino serves up another big dish of revenge fantasy, artfully cooked (though perhaps not seasoned to everyone's taste), and he gives us plenty of food for thought.Little Nicholas takes place in an entirely different France and provides enjoyment of a thoroughly different sort. Laurent Tirard's pastel-hued comedy is shown through the eyes of a little boy growing up in the economic glory years (France, early 1960s), and it's a film that ruffles your hair, tweaks your nose, and sends you off to bed feeling warm all over. — Randall Koral (text and Cannes photos)This year NESPRESSO has Cannes covered, inside and out. Vincent Maraval gives us his take on the films his company, Wild Bunch, is screening during the festival ("Un Autre Regard", exclusively on NESPRESSO's website, daily at 6 p.m.). And Randall Koral, NESPRESSO's Cannes correspondent, serves up his impressions of the films and festivities as they happen ("Cannes Daily", 11 a.m. CET).