Of the final four films announced as official Cannes selections, I’m most interested in Andrei Ujica‘s The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaucescu, which will be shown out of competition. Because it’s emotionally satisfying to see a dogmatic murdering bastard eat lead for his sins, symbolically or otherwise.
The president of Communist Romania from 1974 until his firing-squad death in December 1989, Ceaucescu was a selfish, ruthless weasel of a dictator. The evidence is that he and his wife Elena deserved to be gunned down in a courtyard. Sic semper tyrannis.
The showing of Lucy Walker‘s Countdown to Zero, first seen at Sundance and acquired by Magnolia from Participant, was also announced. Ditto the last two competiton entires — Wang Xiaoshuai‘s Chongqing Blues, and Kornel Mondruczo‘s Tender Son — The Frankestein Project.
