20 films compete for Cannes' Palme d'Or on Sunday

CANNES - This year 20 films are in the main competition at the Cannes film festival, vying for the Palme d'Or for best picture that will be awarded on Sunday.

 

Here is the lineup with the average rating out of four by 10 international critics as published in trade magazine Screen:

 

- HELI by Amat Escalante, Mexico

 

Stars: Armando Espitia, Andrea Vergara. Synopsis: A 12-year-old girl falls in love with a police cadet, dragging her family into Mexico's brutal drug war.

 

Average Critic Score: 1.6

 

- JEUNE & JOLIE (Young & Beautiful) by Francois Ozon, France

 

Stars: Marine Vacth, Charlotte Rampling. Synopsis: The story of a 17-year-old girl's sexual discovery.

 

Average Critic Score: 2.4

 

- THE PAST by Asghar Farhadi, Iran

 

Stars: Berenice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, Ali Mosaffa. Synopsis: An Iranian man returns to Paris to finalise his divorce and is caught up in a family drama.

 

Average Critic Score: 2.8

 

- TIAN ZHU DING (A Touch of Sin) by Jia Zhangke, China

 

Stars: Jiang Wu, Baoqiang Wang, Zhao Tao. Synopsis: A violent and brutal critique of China confronting modernity.

 

Average Critic Score: 3.0

 

- JIMMY P. PSYCHOTHERAPY OF A PLAINS INDIAN by Arnaud Desplechin, France

 

Stars: Benicio del Toro, Mathieu Amalric, Misty Upham. Synopsis: A Blackfoot Indian returns from World War II with a mystery illness and requires the help of a psychoanalyst.

 

Average Critic Score: 2.0

 

- SOSHITE CHICHI NI NARU (Like Father, Like Son) by Hirokazu Kore-Eda, Japan

 

Stars: Masaharu Fukuyama, Machiko Ono, Yoko Mari, Lily Franky. Synopsis: The lives of two Japanese families are thrown into chaos when they find their children were swapped at birth.

 

Average Critic Score: 2.5

 

- INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS by Coen Brothers, USA

 

Stars: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake. Synopsis: A singer-songwriter navigates New York's folk music scene during the 1960s.

 

Average Critic Score: 3.3

 

- BORGMAN by Alex Van Warmerdam, Netherlands

 

Stars: Jan Bijvoet, Hadewych Minis, Jeroen Perceval. Synopsis: A dark fable about what happens to a typical middle-class family when the devil invades their suburban street.

 

Average Critic Score: 2.1

 

- WARA NO TATE (Shield of Straw) by Takashi Miike, Japan

 

Stars: Takao Osawa, Nanako Matsushima, Tatsuya Fujiwara. Synopsis: A thriller that charts the dangerous mission undertaken by four policemen protecting a killer.

 

Average critic score: 1.3

 

- UN CHATEAU EN ITALIE (A Castle in Italy) by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, France

 

Stars: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Louis Garrel, Filippo Timi. Synopsis: A comedy drama about a family of wealthy Italian industrialists falling apart when forced to sell their home.

 

Average Critic Score: 1.6

 

- BEHIND THE CANDELABRA by Steven Soderbergh, USA

 

Stars: Matt Damon, Rob Lowe, Michael Douglas. Synopsis: Based on an autobiographical novel, this recounts the tempestuous relationship between Liberace and his lover.

 

Average Critic Score: 2.5

 

- LA GRANDE BELLEZZA (The Great Beauty) by Paolo Sorrentino, Italy

 

Stars: Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli. Synopsis: A successful journalist questions the meaning of his existence amid the high life in Rome.

 

Average Critic Score: 2.8

 

- ONLY GOD FORGIVES by Nicolas Winding Refn, Denmark

 

Stars: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas. Synopsis: A drug-smuggler in Bangkok's underworld is compelled by his mother to find and kill the people behind his brother's murder.

 

Average Critic Score: 1.5

 

- GRIGRIS by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Chad

 

Stars: Souleymane Deme, Anais Morory, Cyril Guei. Synopsis: Grigris dreams of being a dancer despite a partly crippled leg but runs into trouble with a gasoline smuggling ring.

 

Average Critic Score: 1.8

 

- NEBRASKA by Alexander Payne, USA

 

Stars: Bruce Dern, Will Forte. Synopsis: An aging alcoholic father heads to Nebraska to claim a million dollar prize he claims to have won, accompanied by his estranged son.

 

Average Critic Score: 3.1

 

- LA VIE D'ADELE (Blue is the Warmest Colour) by Abdellatif Kechiche, France

 

Stars: Lea Seydoux, Adele Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechikouche. Synopsis: A love story between a 15-year-old girl named Adele and a sensual blue-haired girl who initially visits her in dreams.

 

Average Critic Score: 3.6

 

FILMS YET TO GET RATINGS:

 

- THE IMMIGRANT by James Gray, USA

 

Stars: Jeremy Renner, Joaquin Phoenix, Marion Cotillard. Synopsis: An immigrant is forced into a life of burlesque until a magician tries to save her and reunite her with her sister.

 

- MICHAEL KOHLHASS by Arnaud des Pallieres, France

 

Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Melusine Mayance, Delphine Chuillot. Ali Mosaffa. Synopsis: A period revenge drama which centres on a horse dealer in 16th century France.

 

- ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE by Jim Jarmusch, USA

 

Stars: Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska. Synopsis: An underground musician and his enigmatic lover are together for several centuries.

 

- LA VÉNUS À LA FOURRURE (Venus in Fur) by Roman Polanski, France

 

Stars: Emmanuelle Seigner, Mathieu Amalric. Synopsis: An actress tries to convince a director to give her a role. 

— Reuters