In a couple of hours I’ll be reading Twitter reactions to Jeff Nichols‘ Mud, which’ll begin screening in Cannes at 8:30 am, or 20 minutes from now. It has to be better than The Paperboy, McConaughey-wise, and given the way Nichols handled Get Shelter…well, here’s hoping. I’ve been told that it’s just okay. Not a sophomore slump effort for Nichols, but decent, good enough, respectable.

For me Cannes 2012 was one of the most intriguing and nourishing festivals I’ve ever attended. Lacking, perhaps, in terms of historic, earth-shaking whateverness, but every day and almost every film was interesting (except for the stinkers), and for the first time in over 15 years there was no alcoholic revelry to dull the vision or muddy the focus.

I’m writing this from Berlin, and by the end of the day I’ll be in Prague.