Cannes 2014: Ryan Gosling's crapocalypse, Ash strikes gold and more

You'd be forgiven for thinking that all eyes and cameras were trained on Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan walking the red carpet in Cannes, but the fact of the matter is that Rai-Bachchan having rediscovered her waistline is of interest to absolutely no one at the festival. Plus, lovely as she may look — and she does look gorgeous — considering how Bachchan was photographed wearing a dress that makes her look like the Oscar statuette's significant other, it may have given the impression that confused her film events. (Incidentally, Kristin Chenoweth wore the same Roberto Cavalli gown earlier this year, at the Oscars.)But for all the gold on Rai-Bachchan's person, it's the Palme d'Or that is on Cannes's mind at the moment. The early buzz for Damian Szifron's Wild Tales proved to be right on target. Wild Tales, a set of six standalone shorts, is a hit with the critics. Produced by Pedro Almodovar (and others), the six short films are all about vengeance and they're hilarious. Sony Classics has picked up Wild Tales, which Szifron described as "people on the verge of nervous breakdown".Hollywood's report card at Cannes is a mixed one this year. Everyone was impressed by Steve Carell in Foxcatcher. Carell put on a prosthetic nose and changed his voice to play the millionaire John du Pont who sponsored an Olympic wrestling team and ended up committing murder. Directed by Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher tries to understand du Pont and what may have led him to commit the crime. The film also stars Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo and Sienna Miller.[caption id="attachment_1536785" align="alignleft" width="380"]

Ryan Gosling at Cannes. AFP[/caption]While Carell is being applauded and praised for his fantastic acting performance, Ryan Gosling hasn't got much love from the critics at Cannes for his directorial venture Lost River. Starring Christina Hendricks and set in Detroit, Lost River is clearly Gosling's attempt at paying odes to filmmakers like David Lynch and Terence Malik. Unfortunately, the resulting effort has earned the film the title of "crapocalyptic". It appears that along with the river, Gosling also lost the plot.Gosling can console himself with the fact that he's fared marginally better than a Cannes' favourite, Atom Egoyan. Egoyan's The Captive is a thriller that is about child sex abuse and the critics hated it. From script to acting, every aspect of the film got slammed. The film's story starts off as similar to Prisoners, but Egoyan has thrown in pedophilia, stun guns and all sorts of ludicrous twists and turns. In The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw wrote of The Captive: "There may have been some sense in which Atom Egoyan intended his new film to be bizarre. But surely not bizarrely acted, bizarrely written, bizarrely directed and bizarrely, completely and culpably misjudged?"The other Canadian director in the list, David Cronenberg, has fared much better. Maps to the Stars is a vicious, angry and unforgiving look at Hollywood and its celebrities. Most critics have loved the film. The film has a glittering star cast, including Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson, John Cusack and Mia Wasikowska.When the list of selected films had first been released, there had been some grumbling that there weren't enough new names among the directors and that Cannes was favouring those who are regular prize winners at the festival. Of the regulars, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have proved they are well worth the love they get from festivals. Their new film, Two Days One Night, is currently one of the favourites for the Palme d'Or. Starring Marion Cotillard, the film is about a woman who will lose her job as a result of downsizing if she can't convince her colleagues to forgo their annual bonus. Cotillard has won rave reviews for her performance. Now to see if the Cannes jury (headed by director Jane Campion) agree with the critics.