Cannes 2012 Update: That's Amour

We're about halfway through the 65th annual Cannes Film Festival, and the only thing drearier than the weather is this year's crop of Competition titles. Going in, there was a great deal of excitement, but so far, it's been five days of mostly muted praise. Yousry Nasrallah's After the Battle has been the only all-out failure; Michael Haneke's Amour (pictured above), on the other hand, is the only rousing success.

In between are films like Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom, Hong Sang-soo's In Another Country, Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt, and John Hillcoat's Lawless (among others) that have their fair share of admirers, but no one going to bat for them with the same kind of gusto Drive, The Tree of Life, Melancholia, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, and others got last year.

Amour, though, is a universally revered portrait of love at the end of life. Michael Haneke's latest stars Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant (who are right in the thick of the race for Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively), as well as Isabelle Huppert. Oddly enough, the film, despite the praise, hasn't been talked about much as a potential Palme play (at least not from what I've seen). I think folks are weary of the fact that Haneke won so recently—a fair point and something I brought up in my Cannes Director Spotlight piece on him. So maybe it's a Grand Prix and some acting love. If that's the case, what's the favorite for the top prize.

Certainly not Beyond the Hills. Cristian Mungiu's follow-up to the extraordinary 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days isn't getting close to the kind of love needed to win over a jury. Ditto Kiarostami's Like Someone in Love, which was met with boos (though I remain optimistic about it as far as personal expectations). Maybe Jacques Audiard's Rust and Bone, which might trail only Amour as far as critical praise and positive buzz go among the Competition titles so far, but I suspect it's peaked.

Perhap then it's something that hasn't premiered yet. That's where my money is going, and two titles stand out. One is Carlos Reygadas' Post Lux Tenebras, which I previously predicted would be too obtuse to win over the Nanni Moretti-helmed jury. That still might be the case, which is why I'm thinking he's got a better shot at Best Director, but the film has apparently already screened for buyers, and its buzz is really strong.

Another film that's already screened for buyers is my new Palme pick. It's Sergei Loznitsa's In the Fog, a film I labeled in my Cannes preview as a solid long-shot bet. Of course, it's helped by the fact that heavy hitters have fallen to the wayside, but Loznitsa's curious inclusion into the Competition for the second time and for his second narrative feature, I thought, spoke volumes of what the Cannes programmers thought of the Ukrainian director. We'll find out soon enough. Ditto on Cosmopolis, The Paperboy, Killing Them Softly, Post Lux Tenebras, On the Road, and others.

See, there's still plenty of time for this lineup to live up to the pre-festival hype. Just need a few knockouts in this last group. I'll be back in a few days to survey the damage.