Cannes Review: Route Irish, Carlos and much more.

Robert here, scouring the internet to give you the latest on the films premiering in Cannes.  Most films are still getting mainly mixed reviews (which should flesh out one way or the other once a wider release is had) but unlike the earlier screenings, there are at least some passionate responses.

In Competition

• Of Gods and Men French director Xavier Beauvoi's film about monks who are confronted by fundamentalists is one such film. Aaron Hillis at Moving Pictures, calls the film "overly pious and not much else."  But Katie Muir at The Times Online says "It is the most intensely passionate film at Cannes so far this year."  Mike D'Angelo of The AV Club comes up in the middle, suggesting "Of Gods & Men never sets a foot wrong, but neither does it challenge the viewer to feel anything but passive admiration."
• Route Irish Ken Loach's Iraq war film was a late addition to the competition.  Screen Daily says the thriller "could be Loach’s most commercially accessible film to date"  And Time Out London says "It’s an uneven film...but it’s a necessary and energetic work"

• Poetry Lee Chang-dong, director of Secret Sunshine, directs this film about an old woman's discovery of poetry.  Screen Daily considers the Sirkian influence, calling the film "an intelligent melodrama about a sensitive woman in a bullying male world." Time Out London dubs the film "undoubtedly one of the best films in this year’s official competition."  But the AV Club is a little less convinced saying the film "works beautifully on a moment-to-moment basis but falters badly when the time comes to assemble its various vivid elements into a coherent, satisfying whole."
• My Joy This film about a lost trucker who becomes part of a brutal Russian village has Xan Brooks of The Guardian among its fans. "My Joy has me riveted" he writes.  Matt Noller of The House Next Door enjoyed it until the film "takes a bizarre turn at around the one-hour mark and doesn't look back." Whatever happens at the one-hour mark, it seems to have soured other critics as well, including The AV Club's Mike D'Angelo.

Special Screening

• Carlos Oliver Assayas' epic tale of the life of Carlos the Jackal is being called "an impressive work," by the L.A. Times.  Todd McCarthy of IndieWire says "It’s an astonishing film," as he, like other critics compares it favorably to Soderberg's Che.  The New York Times' Manohla Dargis is unsure how she feels on the film, but says of the director "Mr. Olivier, who appeared with his glamorous cast at the premiere, keeps you watching."