DAILY

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Day 10 - September 10

"Girlfight" a Winner
Karyn Kusama's Girlfight apparently knocked out the jury. Tonight it won the Grand Prix as well as an acting prize for distaff puncher Michelle Rodriguez.
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Day 9 - September 9

Keepin' the Faith
Keeping the Faith is both actor Edward Norton's directing debut and a fine two hours' worth of comic yet thoughtful entertainment. Norton stars as a Catholic priest opposite Ben Stiller, who plays his best friend, a rabbi. God and the screenplay move in mysterious ways when Anna, the Gentile girl they both hung out with in 8th grade, moves back to Manhattan 16 years later.
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Day 8 - September 8

Running out of gas, leaping from the trees
The unqualified treat of the day was the tribute to Asia's biggest star, Chow Yun-Fat, who came with director Ang Lee to present their Chinese-language martial arts extravaganza Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Zowie! What a movie, thanks in great part to fight choreographer Yuen Wo Ping, who also gave The Matrix its distinctive moves. Chow told the capacity crowd, "Thank you to the people of France for giving me a lot of support throughout my career."
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Day 7 - September 7

Of Mice and Memento
Australian actor Guy Pearce, taking a few days off from shooting Kevin Reynolds' version of The Count of Monte Cristo in Ireland, is in Deauville to promote today's competition title Memento. (He also has a role in this evening's Gallic premiere, The Rules of Engagement.) Memento is the story of Leonard Shelby (Pearce), a bottle blond who suffers from short term memory loss and relies on Polaroid photos and notes to himself to make his way in the world.
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Day 6 - September 6

Bad Weather, Great Movies, Beautiful Music
The day conluded with a tribute to Hollywood Musicals with distinguished guests Leslie Caron, Joel Grey and Mickey Rooney.
Grey serenaded the capacity crowd with the trilingual signature tune from Cabaret after which the perfectly bilingual Caron told the crowd she's been on the stage for most of her life and "Even had the unique luck one night to dance with both Nureyev and Barishnikof on the same stage." Rooney and his wife, a gifted belter in her own right, did a comic duet on "You Made Me Love You" and "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off."
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Day 5 - September 5

It's Only the First Five or Six Decades of Filmmaking that are Hard...
The weather is terrific and the movies are pretty darn good today in Deauville. In addition to the young filmmakers in competition, Robert Altman is here with Dr. T and the Women and veteran producer Dino de Laurentiis (over 200 films from La Strada to the forthcoming Hannibal), still going strong in his 80s, was the subject of this evening's tribute.
Richard Gere stars as Dr. T, a prominent Dallas gynecologist whose currently unfair life revolves around the fair sex...
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Day 4 - September 4

The Anarchist and the Lobbyist
"I apologize because I made two films with Louis Malle (Pretty Baby, Atlantic City) and I slept with Catherine Deneuve (The Hunger), but I still can't speak French," said Susan Sarandon today as Deauville paid special tribute to the pulpy redhead with the enormous eyes whose intelligence has always been every bit as sexy as her body...
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Day 3 - September 3

Three Cheers for Frears and his countryman Figgis
We live in a flawed universe on an imperfect planet but High Fidelity is a perfect film. If you've already had a chance to see it in your home town and failed to do so, proceed to kick yourself and do penance. I am not a conspiracy buff, but it seems obvious that there's a conspiracy impeding the rightful box office success of terrific films that happen to star John Cusack. Case in point: Pushing Tin, presented at last year's edition of Deauville. Cusack was stupendous (in his patented low key hang-dog manner) as an air traffic controller.
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Day Two - September 2

Clint Rules the Skies and Triumphs on Shore
The portable white picket fence Deauville organizers chose as a barrier between the Space Cowboys podium and the hundred or so journalists who were clearly delighted to be in the same room as Clint Eastwood, James Garner, Donald Sutherland and Tommy Lee Jones, was as good a symbol as any for hard work rewarded. The words veteran, geezer, codger, duffer and oldster have been bandied about (in print and in the film itself) to describe these seasoned performers (Jones is a mere 53; Eastwood 70) and the roles they play, but the collective feeling in Deauville was Old is Cool.
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Day One - September 1

Deauville, We Have Lift-off!
For the 26th time in a row, the quaint Normandy resort town of Deauville has been transformed into a temporary landing strip for aliens from another planet: Hollywood. As in any good sci-fi endeavor, the locals are trusting, even enthusiastic. "Take our women and children. Inculcate them with an appreciation for American movies. Show us Major Stars that we might worship them. And show us movies ahead of their Official Release granting us bragging rights over our friends. Amen."
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Presentation

The seaside town of Deauville is spicing up for this year's 26th Festival. Organizers of the event have confirmed the appearance of celebrities ranging from Clint Eastwood to Carmen Electra. This year's sidebar festival Panorama will feature 11 films, 2 films will make world premieres, accompanied by a lineup of world-famous directors in attendance.
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