(Welcome to Cannes Check, your annual guide through the 20 films in Competition at next month’s Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on May 15. Taking on a different selection every day, we’ll be examining what they’re about, who’s involved and what their chances are of snagging an award from Steven Spielberg’s jury. We’re going through the list by director and in alphabetical order — next up, James Gray with “The Immigrant.”)

The director: James Gray (American, 43 years old). For whatever reason, sometimes an American filmmaker gathers more of a following among critics abroad than in his own home country, and Gray is one of those. A graduate of the USC film program, though otherwise (as plainly reflected in his films) a born-and-bred New Yorker, Gray got an early start on the European festival circuit: his 1995 debut feature, “Little Odessa,” won him the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival when he was just 25 years old. Since then, every one of his four subsequent features — he’s not exactly prolific — has been placed in Competition at Cannes. The French, in particular, groove to Gray’s low-key, 1970s-accented tales of crime and heartbreak in the Big Apple. As if to prove it, he has a writing credit on a second film in Cannes this year: Frenchman Guillaume Canet’s out-of-competition “Blood Ties,” a New York-set thriller. 

The talent: Gray isn’t the only name linking “The Immigrant” and “Blood Ties”: Oscar winner Marion Cotillard (Canet’s partner, incidentally) is in both films, and takes the lead here. Joining her at the top of the bill in what one of the Competition’s starrier entries are another two Oscar nominees: Jeremy Renner and Joaquin Phoenix. Phoenix, of course, is a Gray regular, having also appeared in the director’s last three films. The lower-wattage supporting cast has (obviously, given the subject matter) an international flavor, including players from Poland (Dagmara Dominczyk), Ukraine (Ilia Volok) and Armenia (Angela Sarafyan), as well as long-serving American hardman Antoni Corone. (Also, I don’t know how significant a presence burlesque performer DeeDee Luxe is, playing a character called Bandits Roost Tart, is, but those names are too fun not to type.)

As with Gray’s last film, 2008’s “Two Lovers,” the director co-wrote the script with the late Ric Menello, famed for his filmic hip-hop collaborations. Among his co-producers, meanwhile, is Greg Shapiro, who shared in the Best Picture Oscar for “The Hurt Locker” four years ago. Below the line, the name to get excited about is Iranian-born, Oscar-nominated cinematographer Darius Khondji, whose long list of impressive credits — “Seven,” “Evita,” “My Blueberry Nights,” “Mindnight in Paris” — includes last year’s Palme d’Or winner, “Amour.” Editor John Axelrad also cut Gray’s last two films; he’s joined by Kayla Emter. Production designer Happy Massee, who evidently has a lot to work with in this period piece, has a music video background, and also worked on “Two Lovers.” 

The pitch: Known at different points as “Lowlife” and “Nightingale,” the originally-scripted “The Immigrant” is Gray’s first film to travel beyond New York’s recent past, and looks to be his glossiest work to date. Set in 1920, Cotillard plays Polish immigrant Ewa, who, upon her arrival at Ellis Island, is separated from her sister and released alone into Manhattan: there, she finds refuge in the employ of a charismatic pimp Bruno (Phoenix). Potential salvation from a grim life of prostitution arrives in the form of Bruno’s cousin Orlando (Renner), a magician with whom she begins a passionate love affair. This appealingly simple synopsis suggests that Gray is working once more in the classical romantic vein of “Two Lovers,” though perhaps with inflections of Hollywood melodrama. The film, which has reportedly been complete for some time, is being distributed by The Weinstein Company — which is especially notable given that Gray and the Weinsteins fell out over Miramax’s handling of “The Yards” in 2000.

The pedigree: As I mentioned at the top, French Cannes patrons may place Gray higher up the auteur ladder than American ones — though “Two Lovers,” a small film which found a select group of devotees on both sides of the pond, arguably shortened the distance a little. Cannes programmers have certainly been loyal to Gray, though its jurors have been less generous: the director’s three previous Competition entries earned not one prize between them. He may be seen as a pet director of the French, though it’s still Venice that handed him the biggest (and earliest) coup of his career. The addition of three major stars in their prime — with Phoenix once more an object of critical fascination following “The Master” — lends extra cachet. 

The buzz: Strong. We’ve been waiting some time for “The Immigrant,” which was rumored to be ready ahead of last year’s Venice Film Festival — though it always seemed likelier that Gray would hold out for a fourth straight Cannes berth. Whispers from those who have seen the film (and it’s not just the Weinstein publicity machine) describe the film as a significant formal advance for the director, and it’s already being pegged as one to watch for the American awards season — which would be unfamiliar territory indeed for Gray. (You might speculate that the decision to change the title from the sexier, more evocative “Lowlife” to the nobler-sounding “The Immigrant” is not unrelated.) We’ll wait and see, though early stills have at least guaranteed us a visual treat.

The odds: Cannes oddsmaker Neil Young pegs Gray’s Palme chances at a healthy 8-1. Of course, advance excitement doesn’t necessarily translate into festival gold, particularly for a starry production guaranteed a life outside the fest — my gut feeling is that Steven Spielberg will be inclined to subvert expectations by crowning something on the less mainstream end of the spectrum. (Many US prestige pictures that are showered with awards later in the year leave Cannes empty-handed: think “L.A. Confidential” or “No Country for Old Men.”)  Still, as long as Cannes keeps selecting him, Gray’s awards duck has to break at some point: this could be his year to take Best Director, for example. Meanwhile, home favorite Cotillard — whom many expected to win at Cannes last year for “Rust and Bone” — will once more be in a crowded Best Actress conversation. 

The premiere date: Friday, May 24.

In the next edition of Cannes Check, we’ll be sizing up a rather less starry entry in this year’s Competition lineup: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s “Grigris.”

PREVIOUS CANNES CHECKS:

Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi’s “A Villa in Italy”

Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Inside Llewyn Davis”

Arnaud des Pallières’s “Michael Kohlhaas”

Arnaud Desplechin’s “Jimmy P.: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian”

Amat Escalante’s “Heli”

Asghar Farhadi’s “The Past”

If you followed along with our summer movie countdown over the last few weeks, you saw that Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pacific Rim” was #1 on the list. It beat out stiff competition from the likes of “Iron Man 3,” “Man of Steel” and “Star Trek Into Darkness,” and that’s no easy feat given that those are all films derived from intellectual properties with built-in fan bases. “Pacific Rim” is brand new, thought up out of clear blue sky from the mind of screenwriter Travis Beacham. That it was made at all is already a huge win. That excitement is at such a fever pitch is gravy.

My hunch is that the freshness of the concept could hold it back a bit at the box office, though. That’s just how these things work. It’s part of the “formula” that goes into the Hollywood machine that, ergo, cranks out familiar cookie-cutter product year in and year out. But of course I hope my hunch is wrong, and come what may, nothing will top “Pacific Rim” for sheer scale this year, of that you can be sure.

So it’s understandable, then, that Warner Bros. would cook up a bit of promotion that attempts to match that scale. Indeed, the tagline of the film is “Go big or go extinct,” and a new banner promotion embodies that spirit, to say the least. I mean…does this thing exist outside of a JPEG? Can you put it on a wall? It’s HUGE! If I was Beacham I’d have a room in my house dedicated to just wrapping this thing around all four walls. It’s a dazzling piece of promo art to whet the appetite as we await the film’s release.

Naturally, this thing is too big to fit in the confines of a puny blog post, so click on the image below to get the full monty.

“Pacific Rim” tears into theaters July 12. 

I’m struggling with using the “Iron Man Three” title, I just noticed. That’s how it’s written in the film’s credits, but is that going to take hold? I’m also curious why the choice. Anyway, way off on a tangent here, so let’s get down to brass tacks. Marvel’s latest hits US theaters today after already crossing $300 million worldwide. It is likely to dominate the summer box office with ease (I’m betting “Man of Steel” won’t touch these numbers and “Pacific Rim” will probably struggle more than people are willing to admit). The reviews are in and they’re mostly positive.

We’ve had tons of coverage here at HitFix, most of it over at Drew McWeeny’s Motion/Captured blog. He loved the movie. I was more reserved. We can all agree it’s a great way to kick-start the season. If you want something a little more low key, I recommend “The Iceman,” starring upcoming Superman baddie Michael Shannon. But if it’s octane and high concept you’re after, this is your best bet — though ironically enough, it’s not a movie built on set pieces so much as character. (Our picks for Robert Downey Jr.’s best characterizations can be found here.) In any case, when you get around to seeing the film, head on back here with your thoughts. And feel free to vote in the poll below.

Bradley Cooper has been moving right along with his post-“Silver Linings” playbook. He’s currently shooting David O. Russell’s “American Hustle” and smartly backed away from the on-going circus that is “Jane Got a Gun” this week. Earlier today it was announced that Steven Spielberg will be tackling “American Sniper” with Cooper in the lead role as the most lethal sniper in US military history, while he attached himself to the Steven Knight-scripted “Chef” not too long ago.

On the latter, it’s a fantastic script and an unbelievably meaty role. For a time David Fincher was looking into it with Keanu Reeves in the starring role as a high-strung two-time Michelin Star chef dodging drug dealer debts and mixing it up from Paris to New York.

In truth, I’d say the part is tailor made for Robert Downey Jr. (funnily enough, given the retrospective treatment here this afternoon). But it’s a great opportunity for Cooper, too, and his “Place Beyond the Pines” helmer Derek Cianfrance was also flirting with it for a time. Now, it looks like John Wells is inching toward a deal to make it his “August: Osage County” follow-up.

I’m really impressed with all these moves Cooper has been making. He’s on the cusp of a very defining moment in his career, coming off his first Oscar nomination, dabbling with masters and finding his way to a sort of creative freedom that will probably surprise us just as his work in “Silver Linings Playbook” did. It kind of reminds me of where Ben Affleck probably should have gone after “Good Will Hunting” before falling into the movie star rabbit hole. Cooper, and certainly his representation, seems to have a tasteful eye and a clear idea of the kind of star he wants to be.

Meanwhile, John Wells is in an interesting place, too. I was a big fan of the former WGA West president’s directorial debut, “The Company Men,” and I’m eager to see how he navigates the waters of Tracy Letts’s brilliance with this year’s “August: Osage County” (sure to be an awards contender).

Honestly, though, I wouldn’t have pegged “Chef” as something in his wheel house. It feels more like a Shane Black/Robert Downey Jr. thing to me, but stretching and being versatile with material like this is a sure sign that Wells is looking to expand his own horizons. So I’m pulling for him. Again, it’s a great project, and keep your eye on Cooper to pick up more awards attention for his performance, particularly with The Weinstein Company peddling it for as much. The role is just that juicy.

Meanwhile, for a taste (so to speak) of Cooper all suited up for such a part, there’s always TV’s short-lived “Kitchen Confidential” to give you an idea (though the character in “Chef” is way, way darker than this):

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uXv0anYsMU&hl=en_US&version=3]

In March, we talked about some of the rule changes the Academy is making to the short film categories — one of which is that Student Academy Award winners will qualify for Oscar consideration. So it’s worth keeping an eye on this year’s Student Academy Award competition; some of the films selected could pop up at the big show next year. 

The Academy has named 43 films — 34 from the US, nine international — as finalists in this year’s competition, with winners to be named in six categories: Alternative, Animation, Documentary, Narrative and Foreign. The ceremony takes place on June 8 at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The US finalists have qualified through regional competitions, while the foreign candidates were selected by an executive committee.

Check out the full list of finalists below. Who knows: one of them could be the next Spike Lee, John Lasseter, Robert Zemeckis or Trey Parker — all past Student Academy Award winners.

Alternative
“Beyond the Spheres,” Meghdad Asadi Lari, Rochester Institute of Technology
“Bottled Up,” Rafael Cortina, Occidental College
“Bye Hyungjik,” Hyungjik Lee, Florida State University
“The Compositor,” John Mattiuzzi, School of Visual Arts
“File Not Found,” Maria Sequeira, University of Southern California
“The Pirate of Love,” Sara Gunnarsdottir, California Institute of the Arts
“Zug,” Perry Janes, University of Michigan

Animation
“Couch & Potatoes,” Chris Lam and Eunsoo Jeong, San Jose State University
“Dia de los Muertos,” Lindsey St. Pierre and Ashley Graham, Ringling College of Art and Design
“Drifters,” Ethan Clarke, California Institute of the Arts
“Make a Wish,” Heejin Kim, School of Visual Arts
“Peck Pocketed,” Kevin Herron, Ringling College of Art and Design
“Runaway,” Emily Buchanan and Esther Parobek, Ringling College of Art and Design
“Still I Breathe,” Sang Ho Lee and Zack Lydon , School of Visual Arts
“Watercolors,” Robert Kornstein, New York University
“Will,” Eusong Lee, California Institute of the Arts

Documentary
“The Battle of the Jazz Guitarist,” Mark Columbus, University of California, Los Angeles
“Every Tuesday: A Portrait of The New Yorker Cartoonists,” Rachel Loube, School of Visual Arts “Everybody”s Business,” Laura Green, Stanford University
“Graceland Girls,” Jordan Theresa Salvatoriello, Emerson College
“A Second Chance,” David Aristizabal, University of Southern California
“Through the Fire,” Eunice Lau, New York University
“Vultures of Tibet,” Russell O. Bush, University of Texas at Austin
“Win or Lose,” Daniel Koehler, Elon University
“Wonder Workshop,” Amitabh Joshi and Erik Spink, School of Visual Arts

Narrative
“Caught,” Bruce Li, New York University
“Cootie Contagion,” Joshua Smooha, Florida State University
“Footsteps,” Thomas (Hyungkyun) Kim, New York University
“Josephine and the Roach,” Jonathan Langager, University of Southern California
“Kalifornija,” Tomas Vengris, American Film Institute
“The Midwife”s Husband,” Deja Bernhardt, University of Texas at Austin
“Ol” Daddy,” Brian Schwarz, University of Texas at Austin
“Samnang,” Asaph Polonsky, American Film Institute
“Un Mundo para Raúl (A World for Raúl),” Mauro Mueller, Columbia University

Foreign Film
“Erbgut (Liquidation),” Matthias Zuder, Hamburg Media School, Germany
“För Sverige i Tiden (King of Sweden),” Jonas Westbom, Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, Sweden “Kanyekanye,” Miklas Manneke, AFDA The South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance, South Africa
“The Library of Burned Books,” Alasdair Beckett-King, London Film School, United Kingdom
“Miss Todd,” Kristina Yee, National Film and Television School, United Kingdom
“MO,” Jakub Kouril, FAMU, Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Czech Republic “Parvaneh,”Talkhon Hamzavi, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland
“To Guard a Mountain,” Izer Aliu, The Norwegian Filmschool, Norway
“Tweesprong (Crossroads),” Wouter Bouvijn, Rits School of Arts, Erasmus College Brussels, Belgium

Tomorrow Robert Downey Jr. suits up once again as Marvel’s keystone in Shane Black’s “Iron Man 3.” It’s expected to be the end of a trilogy, though we’ll surely see Tony Stark again (as the film’s closing credits promise). It’s also a bit of a door closed on the actor’s rebirth which began, in no uncertain terms, with his return to insurability in the 2008 original. What better time, then, than to look back on his finest work over the last three decades?

Downey is obviously one of the most versatile (perhaps the best) actors of his generation and his story off the screen has been as captivating as those he’s helped bring to the screen. A rise-fall-redemption narrative is always intriguing in Hollywood, whether it’s behind the scenes or in the multiplex, and Downey has come out the other end not just relevant again, but a bankable, blockbuster superstar that he wasn’t just six years ago.

We’ve put our heads together to come up with what we think are his 10 greatest performances. Great work brief and expansive in films like “Black and White,” “Good Night, and Good Luck.” and “Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus” had to make way for the rest, though at this rate, we’re likely to have enough for another list before long; the next phase in Downey’s career could be a new golden age.

Click through the gallery below to see our picks and feel free to rate them as you go. And tell us your favorite Downey performance in the comments section below.

There was a moment in a Saturday Night Live sketch a few years back, around the time of “The Social Network,” between Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg. Samberg jokingly said to his buddy, “Why can’t you just make more music?” Timberlake stood and, as he turned to leave, exclaimed, “I’m trying to take this seriously, okay?!”

Indeed, the Mouseketeer-turned-boy-band-member-turned-solo-artist-turned-actor (whew) has been making a strong go of the silver screen over the last decade. In my opinion, he’s found fertile ground. I know it was a little difficult to take at first for a lot of people, but I’ve been a fan of his work since “Alpha Dog.”

Timberlake has worked with filmmakers like David Fincher, Clint Eastwood and the Coens as of late, making all the right movies. And now he’s poised to take on a big leading role in a biopic of 1970s record icon Neil Bogart.

Bogart was pivotal in the careers of many music industry superstars in the 1960s and 1970s, from Curtis Mayfield to Gladys Knight, KISS to The Village People. The new film “Spinning Gold,” written by Bogart’s son, Timothy Scott Bogart, will tell his story. Producers Mark Damon (“Monster”), Laurence Mark (“Dreamgirls”) and Gary A. Randall (TV’s “Saving Grace”) have also announced that they will co-host a film launch party for distributors at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival (which Timberlake will presumably be attending in support of not only this but the Coen brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis”).

“‘Spinning Gold’ is about a larger than life man who achieved so much in his short life and helped define a generation,” Damon says in the press release. “And with some of the music industry”s luminary artists lining up to join Justin in telling Neil”s incredible life story, the film is going to be a wild, music extravaganza that will light up the screen.”

On that note, the film’s soundtrack will include seminal hits of the era “re-imagined by some of today”s most influential artists.”

Damon has a personal interest in bringing the story to the screen, he says, because he started his career working with Bogart at Casablanca Records and Filmworks.

It will be interesting to see what sort of filmmaker saddles up to the project after buyers get a look over in the Cannes Film Market. Obviously many films, from “Coal Miner’s Daughter” to “Bird,” “La Bamba” to “The Buddy Holly Story,” “Ray to “Walk the Line” find a path through the awards season. Of course, many fail to make a dent — “Cadillac Records,” for instance, or “Control.” But perhaps this will be a big opportunity for Timberlake to be taken even more seriously as he makes his way further into the waters of screen actor.

We’ll find out…

The collective mind of the film world may be squarely on Cannes right now, but the Venice Film Festival — which runs this year from August 28 to 7 September — has taken this moment to remind us of its existence by announcing the winner of its annual Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement: Oscar-winning director William Friedkin.

The festival, which is celebrating its 70th edition this year, will honor the 77-year-old American not just with the award, but by premiering a restoration of his 1977 thriller “Sorcerer” — something of a rehabilitated classic in cinephile circles. Friedkin won the the 1971 Best Director Oscar for the influential police thriller “The French Connection” (which also took Best Picture), though his most enduring contribution to popular cultural remains 1973’s head-spinning horror film “The Exorcist,” a box-office monster that defied genre bias to receive 10 Oscar nominations. (It lost the top prizes to a signficantly more comforting hit, “The Sting.”)

Friedkin has never won anything before at Venice, though two of his films have premiered at the festival. The less said about 1995’s catastrophic erotic thriller “Jade,” which played out of competition, the better — though Venice festival director Alberto Barbera groups it with “Sorcerer,” “Cruising” and “To Live and Die in L.A.” as “films far ahead of their time.” Hmm. Anyway, he had more luck on the Lido two years ago with his ribald black comedy “Killer Joe,” which went down a storm with the Venice crowd, even if the jury passed it by. In explaining the selection of Friedkin, Barbera states:  

“[He] contributed in a prominent way – the revolutionary impact of which has not always been recognized – to the profound renewal of American cinema regarded as ‘the New Hollywood”. Friedkin exploded the rules of documentary filmmaking in several works for television that were seminal for their dry, harsh and unpredictable point of view, and later revolutionized the popular genres of the crime film and the horror film, basically inventing the modern blockbuster.”

Friedkin, meanwhile, offered these words of thanks: “Venice, especially during the Film Festival, is a spiritual home to me. The Golden Lion is something I never expected but am proud to accept with gratitude and love.”

Some may choose the “never expected” line as stock modesty, but Friedkin’s career has been more uneven than most of his New Hollywood peers: the highs have been very high indeed, but his CV is speckled with unsightly misfires (“The Guardian,” the aforementioned “Jade”) and rote potboilers (hey, remember “Rules of Engagement?”) that are unlikely to be featured prominently in any lifetime achievement montage. In recent years, however, he’s regained relevance with his two spiky Tracy Letts adaptations (“Killer Joe” and “Bug”) and his active media presence — he’s a vocal Twitterer.

If anything, however, Friedkin seems even more enthused about the new lease of life given to “Sorcerer,” his striking reinterpretation of French classic “The Wages of Fear” — he confirmed on Twitter that the Venice premiere of the restoration will be followed by a DVD and Blu-ray rerelease. Rarely screened in a theatrical environment these days, it’s the film the director holds dearest within his oeuvre:

“I consider Sorcerer my most personal film and the most difficult to achieve. To realize that it”s going to have a new life in cinema is something for which I”m deeply grateful. To have its world premiere at the Venice Festival is something I look forward to with great joy. It is truly a Lazarus moment.”

(Welcome to Cannes Check, your annual guide through the 20 films in Competition at next month’s Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on May 15. Taking on a different selection every day, we’ll be examining what they’re about, who’s involved and what their chances are of snagging an award from Steven Spielberg’s jury. We’re going through the list by director and in alphabetical order — next up, Asghar Farhadi with “The Past.”)

The director: Asghar Farhadi (Iranian, 41 years old). Since making his debut feature, “Dancing in the Dust,” in 2003, Farhadi — who cut his teeth in theater and TV — has been steadily climbing the festival prestige ladder. It’s the Berlin Film Festival that can take credit for propelling him to the big league: “About Elly,” his fourth feature, was a hit there in 2009, laying the groundwork for the global arthouse sensation of “A Separation” two years later. Two years, innumerable international awards and an Oscar later, Cannes has declared him ready for his Competition close-up with his sixth film — and his first shot outside his homeland. 

The talent: When Farhadi was making the Oscar rounds last year, you wouldn’t necessarily have guessed that his next film would pair him with one of the Best Supporting Actress nominees on the very same circuit. Melissa McCarthy’s day will surely come, but this time it’s Argentine-born Bérénice Bejo — getting to use her vocal cords in her first lead role since “The Artist” — who gets the privilege. (The role was originally given to an over-committed Marion Cotillard, who has two films herself in Cannes this year.) Joining Bejo is French-Algerian star Tahar Rahim, who landed plaudits for his breakout turn in “A Prophet” four years ago, and more recently impressed in last year’s Un Certain Regard hit “Our Children.” Completing the film’s lead triangle is Iranian actor and filmmaker Ali Mosaffa (husband of “A Separation” star Leila Hatami, incidentally), in his first collaboration with his compatriot. The film’s supporting cast includes Cesar-nominated young actress Sabrina Ouazani (“Of Gods and Men,” “The Secret of the Grain”) and Italian veteran Valeria Cavalli.

As with “A Separation,” Farhadi takes a solo writing credit; producer Alexandre Mallet-Guy’s short but evidently hand-picked list of credits includes “Taxidermia” and “Cold Souls.” Below the line, it’s a mix of old and new collaborators for the director. “A Separation” cinematographer Mahmoud Kalari is back on board, but the editing scissors have been handed to gifted, Oscar-nominated Frenchwoman Juliette Welfling (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” “Rust and Bone”). In a less obvious connection, Welfling also worked on “The Hunger Games,” as did Franco-Russian musician Evgueni Galperine — who composed the score here with his father Youli. Production designer Claude Lenoir’s credits include Kieslowski’s “Three Colors” trilogy.

The pitch: Farhadi’s films are linked by their subtle investigation of politics via fragile domestic conflicts, their knotty but concentrated relationship networks betraying his training as a theater director. “The Past” looks to be no exception, even if this French production transports Farhadi’s concerns beyond home borders. Like “A Separation,” it’s a breakup drama at its base. Bejo and Mosaffa play a couple — French and Iranian, respectively — whose marriage dissolves when he decides to leave Paris and return to Tehran. After fours’ separation, he returns to France to finalize their divorce to find his wife living with another man (Rahim) and maintaining a tense relationship with their young daughter. The trailer for the 130-minute film leads us to expect another tough, even-handed drama of emotional and cultural conflict: it promises to draw as many adverse reactions from Iranian conservatives as “A Separation” did, and has already been screened for local censors. No US distributor yet, but it seems like a good fit for Sony Pictures Classics.

The pedigree: Farhadi may be a Cannes freshman, but he arrives in Competition as a member of the new auteur elite. (Hey, last year Time magazine even named him one of the world’s 100 Most Influential People.) After earning his flying wings in Berlin — Best Director for “About Elly” and the Golden Bear for “A Separation” — and landing the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar (as well as a writing nomination) for his extravagantly acclaimed last effort, admittance to the Croisette club always seemed likely for his follow-up, particularly with a French production. How “The Past” fares will go some way towards determining whether he’s in there for good. 

The buzz: Expectations are high for all the obvious reasons, though there’s always a degree of nervousness when a well-regarded filmmaker moves into a new territory: will Farhadi’s fine-tuned ear for dialogue and nuanced argument, plus his delicate touch with actors, serve him as well in a French-language film? I’m hearing encouraging early whispers, but matching the reception for “A Separation” is no easy assignment.

The odds: Sight-unseen consensus currently has the film among the frontrunners for the Palme d’Or; critic and oddsmaker Neil Young currently has it in second place with odds of 6-1. It’s hard not to agree at this point: in recent years, the top prize has usually gone to an auteur with an established reputation and following, though the prospect of rewarding Farhadi on his Cannes debut still has a certain freshness to it that the jury may find appealing. Meanwhile, if “The Past” aims for the heart as directly as “A Separation” did, jury president Steven Spielberg would seem a likely sympathizer. If not the Palme, it’s easy to foresee awards for acting, direction or screenplay in particular. 

The premiere date: Friday, May 17.

In the next edition of Cannes Check, we’ll be sizing up one of the starriest entries in this year’s Competition lineup: James Gray’s “The Immigrant.”

PREVIOUS CANNES CHECKS:

Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi’s “A Villa in Italy”

Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Inside Llewyn Davis”

Arnaud des Pallières’s “Michael Kohlhaas”

Arnaud Desplechin’s “Jimmy P.: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian”

Amat Escalante’s “Heli”  

Film Independent has revealed the line-up for this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival, cherry-picking this and that from Sundance and Cannes with a few other things thrown in here and there.

World premieres include Alexander Mirecki’s “All Together Now,” Ava DuVernay’s “Venus Vs.,” Robert Machoian and Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck’s “Forty Years from Yesterday” and Joe Burke’s “Four Dogs.” Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Only God Forgives” will see its North American debut at the fest via a Gala presentation, following in the footsteps of his last film, “Drive.”

Holding over from Sundance, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash’s “The Way, Way Back” will close out the fest, while Ryan Coogler’s “Fruitvale Station” will make an appearance as a Gala as well.

The International Showcase features buzzed efforts from previous festivals such as Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The Act of Killing” (a Telluride 2012 debut), the animated “Ernest & Celestine” (Cannes 2012) and Haifaa Al Mansour’s “Wadjda” (Venice 2012).

Previously announced, Pedro Almodóvar’s “I’m So Excited” will open the fest.

Check out the full line-up below. The 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival, returning to the downtown L.A. Live complex for a fourth year, runs June 13 – 23.

Narrative Competition (12):

“All Together Now,” Alexander Mirecki – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“Forev,” Molly Green, James Leffler – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“Forty Years From Yesterday,” Robert Machoian, Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“Four Dogs,” Joe Burke – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“Goodbye World,” Denis Henry Hennelly – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“The House That Jack Built,” Henry Barrial – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“I.D.,” Kamal K M – India – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
“Mother, I Love You,” Janis Nords – Latvia – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
“My Sister”s Quinceañera,” Aaron Douglas Johnston – USA – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
“Pollywogs,” Karl Jacob, Todd Arthur Cottam – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“Winter in the Blood,” Andrew Smith, Alex Smith – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“Workers,” Jose Luis Valle – Mexico/Germany – US PREMIERE

Documentary Competition (10):

“All of Me,” Alexandra Lescaze – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs,” Grace Lee – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“Code Black,” Ryan McGarry – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“The Island of Saint Matthews,” Kevin Jerome Everson – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“Llyn Foulkes: One Man Band,” Christopher Quilty, Tamar Halpern – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“My Stolen Revolution,” Nahid Persson Sarvestani – Sweden – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
“The New Black,” Yoruba Richen – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“Rain,” Olivia Rochette, Gerard-Jan Claes – Belgium – US PREMIERE
“Tapia,” Eddie Alcazar – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“Purgatorio,” Rodrigo Reyes – Mexico/USA – US PREMIERE

International Showcase (15):

“The Act of Killing,” Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn – Denmark/Norway/UK (Drafthouse Films)
“Black Out,” Eva Webber – UK – NORTH AMERCAN PREMIERE
“Boxing Day,” Bernard Rose – UK
“Dormant Beauty,” Marco Bellocchio – Italy
“Drug War,” Johnnie To – China
“Ernest & Celestine,” Stéphanie Aubier, Vincent Patar, Benjamin Renner – France (Gkids)
“The Expedition to the End of the World,” Daniel Dancik – Denmark
“The Fifth Season,” Peter Brosens, Jessica Woodworth – Belgium/Netherlands/France
“House with a Turret”, Eva Neymann – Ukraine
“The Moo Man,” Andy Heathcote, Heike Bachelier – UK
“Nobody”s Daughter Haewon,” Hong Sang-soo – Korea – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
“The Patience Stone,” Atiq Rahimi – Afghanistan/France/Germany/UK (Sony Pictures Classics)
“Wadjda, “Haifaa Al Mansour – Saudi Arabia/United Arab Emirates/Germany (Sony Pictures Classics)
“When I Saw You,” Annemarie Jacir – Palestine/Jordan/Greece/United Arab Emirates/USA
“The Women and the Passenger,” Valentina Mac-Pherson, Patricia Correra – Chile – US PREMIERE

Summer Showcase (17):

“Ain”t Them Bodies Saints,” David Lowery – USA (IFC Films)
“Brothers Hypnotic,” Reuben Atlas – Netherlands/USA
“Casting By,” Tom Donahue – USA (HBO Films)
“Concussion,” Stacie Passon – USA (RADiUS-TWC)
“The Crash Reel,” Lucy Walker – USA (HBO Films)
“Crystal Fairy,” Sebastián Silva – Chile (IFC Films)
“Europa Report,” Sebastián Cordero – USA (Magnolia Pictures/Magnet Releasing) – US PREMIERE
“First Cousin Once Removed,” Alan Berliner – USA (HBO Films)
“Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction,” Sophie Huber – Switzerland
“In a World…,” Lake Bell – USA (Roadside Attractions)
“Our Nixon,” Penny Lane – USA
“Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton,” Jeff Broadway – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“Short Term 12,” Destin Daniel Cretton – USA
“The Spectacular Now,” James Ponsoldt – USA
“Venus Vs.,” Ava DuVernay – USA (ESPN) – WORLD PREMIERE

Community Screenings (5):

“Brasslands,” Adam Pogoff, Jay Sterrenberg, Bryan Chang – USA – FIGat7th Screening
“Dazed and Confused (1993),” Richard Linklater – USA – 20th Anniversary Screening – FIGat7th Screening
“Hairspray (1988),” John Waters – USA – Grand Park Dance-A-Long – 25th Anniversary Screening
“Inequality for All,” Jacob Kornbluth – USA – Grand Performances Screening
“Life of a King,” Jake Goldberger – USA– Project Involve Screening – WORLD PREMIERE

The Beyond (3):

“Delivery,” Brian Netto – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
“Lesson of the Evil,” Takashi Miike – Japan – US PREMIERE
“You”re Next,” Adam Wingard – USA (Lionsgate)

Retro (3):

“Amarcord (1973),” Federico Fellini – Italy – 40th Anniversary Screening
“Between Two Worlds (2009),” Vimukthi Jayasundara – Sri Lanka/France – LAFCA”s The Film That Got Away
“Two Men in Manhattan (1958),” Jean Pierre-Melville – France (Cohen Media Group) – 55th Anniversary Screening

I’m hardly alone in this, but I continue to resist the notion that Steven Soderbergh’s professed retirement from feature filmmaking is permanent — not least because he’s been on such vigorous creative form lately. “Magic Mike,” of course, cracked my Top 10 of 2012 list, while his lithely nasty Hitchcockian thriller “Side Effects” is on course to be one of my favorite mainstream genre entertainments of this year — it would be an enormous pity for him to bow out just as he seems to have perfected the rarely performed trick of the counter-intuitive audience movie.

Still, after reading the lucid, witty but subtly angry keynote speech he delivered yesterday at the San Francisco Film Festival, his retirement doesn’t seem quite so rash or ill-thought. He may not address his decision directly in the speech, but it’s not hard to read between the lines: stepping away from cinema is his weary response to an industry he finds increasingly stifling and exasperating at a practical level.

The grievances raised by Soderbergh are hardly unusual: money men shy away from the unconventional, studios are over-reliant on tracking and focus-grouping, too much is spent on promoting already expensive films and too little on the small ones, and so on and so forth. They take on extra piquancy, however, coming from someone who’s been working both within and around Hollywood’s limitations for nearly a quarter of a century.

Here, for example, is his explanation of why his latest film “Behind the Candelabra” — which the Cannes Film Festival, for one, is treating as a theatrical feature — was in fact made for television:

“So then there”s the expense of putting a movie out, which is a big problem. Point of entry for a mainstream, wide-release movie: $30 million. That”s where you start. Now you add another 30 for overseas. Now you”ve got to remember, the exhibitors pay half of the gross, so to make that 60 back you need to gross 120. So you don”t even know what your movie is yet, and you”re already looking at 120. That ended up being part of the reason why the Liberace movie didn”t happen at a studio. We only needed $5 million from a domestic partner, but when you add the cost of putting a movie out, now you”ve got to gross $75 million to get that 35 back, and the feeling amongst the studios was that this material was too “special” to gross $70 million. So the obstacle here isn”t just that special subject matter, but that nobody has figured out how to reduce the cost of putting a movie out.”

He later tosses in a casual shout-out to Kickstarter — a pointed aside given the recent controversy over Zach Braff’s recent decision to turn down studio funding in favor of a Kickstarter campaign. Soderbergh’s description of the targets and obligations attached even to modest studio funding gives some idea of why it may no longer seem like the ideal resource to filmmakers with other options (Braff’s apparent unwillingness to dip into his personal fortune is, of course, a separate issue for many.)

Soderbergh also bemoans the fact that studios rarely nurture individual talents across a developmental series of films, instead assigning funding on a project-by-project basis; “Upstream Color” director Shane Carruth, he says, is the type of filmmaker studios should “find and sort of let them do their thing within certain economic parameters.” Carruth’s an interesting example to pick, given that he — as he explained in our recent interview — decided to forgo traditional distribution models, instead marketing and releasing “Upstream Color” himself. It’s a process that relieves some pressures and creates others, but Soderbergh believes that bringing such talents into the studio fold could be mutually beneficial:

“I”d bring them in and go, ok, what do you want to do? What are the things you”re interested in doing? What do we have here that you might be interested in doing? If there was some sort of point of intersection I”d go: Okay, look, I”m going to let you make three movies over five years, I”m going to give you this much money in production costs, I”m going to dedicate this much money on marketing. You can sort of proportion it how you want, you can spend it all on one and none on the other two, but go make something.”  

He would know, after all. Round about the time Soderbergh was winning the Palme d’Or for an against-the-grain work like “sex, lies and the videotape,” you wouldn’t have guessed that he’d eventually be persuaded to bring his stylistic verve to an all-star studio jaunt like “Ocean’s Eleven.” But some of Soderbergh’s best films — “Erin Brockovich,” say, or “Magic Mike” — have proved that not only can a filmmaker prosper when forced to mesh his sensibility with those of a reasonably constructive studio (and, in some cases, a powerful star), but that audiences can respond in kind. Soderbergh closes his speech by reminding us of another filmmaker, now firmly — though by no means anonymously — embedded in the Hollywood system, who was once very much on the outside looking in: 

“A few years back, I got a call from an agent and he said, “Will you come see this film? It”s a small, independent film a client made. It”s been making the festival circuit and it”s getting a really good response but no distributor will pick it up” … The film was called “Memento.” So the lights come up and I think, It”s over. It”s over. Nobody will buy this film? This is just insane. The movie business is over … So whenever I despair I think, OK, somebody out there somewhere, while we”re sitting right here, somebody out there somewhere is making something cool that we”re going to love, and that keeps me going.”

So do Soderbergh’s films, for my money. May his retirement be a restful and temporary one. In the meantime, check out the full transcript of his speech over at Deadline — it’s a must. 

“Looking forward” is the phrase we use most often when discussing the Cannes Film Festival, given that it showcases many of the year’s most anticipated specialty films — many of which stoke that anticipation by taking their sweet time to land in theaters. But looking backward is also a significant part of the festival… or it has been, at least, since the Cannes Classics strand was introduced to the Official Selection in 2004.

It’s an increasingly popular notion that major film festivals shouldn’t only foster the classics of the future, but preserve those of the past too. To that end, Cannes Classics features a diverse range of cinematic restorations, ranging from polished-up Hollywood favorites to more exhaustively reconstructed obscurities from all corners of world cinema. Many of them go on to show their new, improved selves in theatrical re-releases or shiny new DVDs and Blu-rays, so even cinephiles who haven’t a small fortune spare to splash out on a Riviera trip can reap the benefits of the programme.

This year’s selection is a particularly catholic one. Among the star attractions is a restoration of “Vertigo,” almost exactly 55 years to the day after its release — it seems apt that Hitchcock’s spiralling psychological thriller is getting a facelift just months after being voted the greatest film of all time in Sight & Sound’s decennial critics’ poll. Kim Novak will be attending the screening as the festival’s Guest of Honor.

The strand isn’t exclusively devoted to films with such glowing legacies, however. Also at the festival will be Fox’s 4K restoration of their infamous historical epic “Cleopatra,” which bankrupted the studio and was pilloried by critics — though it nabbed four Oscars and a Best Picture nomination. The film celebrates its golden anniversary this year, and ox clearly feels the time is right for a reappraisal; children of stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton will be in attendance.

That’s not the only Oscar-grabber in the mix. The 1987 Best Picture champ, Bernardo Bertolucci’s lavish Chinese royalty biopic “The Last Emperor,” will also be shown in a very new light — in 3D. This stately film, which won nine statuettes overall, isn’t exactly typical of this kind of mainstream fare usually subjected to 3D conversions, but Bertolucci’s unprecedented, already eye-popping location work in Beijing’s Forbidden City should gain further dazzle in the third dimension.

Sticking with the Oscar connection, audiences who only got to know recent Best Actress runner-up (or so we assume) Emmanuelle Riva as the 85-year-old star of “Amour” may be interested to see her more youthful visage in a restoration — from the original negative — of Alain Resnais’s seminal 1959 film “Hiroshima, Mon Amour.” Only last year, Resnais had a new film in Competition at Cannes; Cannes Classics can also serve as a reminder of how active certain legends still are. The film is set for a re-release in France in July — here’s hoping it travels.

Other French canon titles in the lineup include Jean Cocteau’s “Beauty and the Beast,” Rene Clement’s “Plein Soleil” and Jacques Demy’s “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” — the only former Palme d’Or winner getting the Cannes Classics treatment this year. A more modern proposed classic comes in the shape of Patrice Chereau’s visceral historical biopic “Queen Margot,” which took the Jury Prize and Best Actress at Cannes in 1994. Co-star (and current jury member) Daniel Auteuil will be among those cheering the restoration on.    

There’s plenty of more esoteric fare in the lineup, much of it tantalising — including a restoration of the rarely seen portmanteau film “Visions of Eight,” dedicated to the 1972 Munich Olympics, and featuring contributions from Milos Forman and Arthur Penn, among others. The abundance of classic titles is countered, meanwhile, by two new film-focused documentaries, looking back at the role of women and children in film, respectively. Check out the full list of Cannes Classics titles on the next page.

“The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz” (Ted Kotcheff, 1974)

“An Autumn Afternoon” (Satyajit Ray, 1952)

“Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau, 1946)

“Borom Sarrett” (Ousmane Sembene, 1963)

“Charulata” (Satyajt Ray, 1964)

“Cleopatra” (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1963)

“Con La Pata Quebrada” (Diego Galan, 2013) 

“The Desert of the Tartars” (Valerio Zurlini, 1976)

“Fedora” (Billy Wilder, 1978)

“Goha” (Jacques Baratier, 1957)

“La Grande Bouffe” (Marco Ferreri, 1973)

“Hiroshima, Mon Amour” (Alain Resnais, 1959)

“Le Joli Mai” (Chris Marker and Pierre Lhomme, 1963)

“The Last Detail” (Hal Ashby, 1973)

“The Last Emperor” (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1987)

“Lucky Luciano” (Francesco Rosi, 1973)

“Manila in the Claws of Light” (Lino Brocka, 1975)

“Opium” (Arielle Dombasle, 2013)

“Plain Soleil” (Rene Clement, 1960)

“Queen Margot” (Patrice Chereau, 1994)

“Shepard and Dark” (Triva Wurmfeld, 2013) 

“A Story of Children and Film” (Mark Cousins, 2013)

“The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” (Jacques Demy, 1964)

“Vertigo” (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)

“Visions of Eight” (Milos Forman, Kon Ichikawa, Claude Lelouch, Youri Ozerov, Arthur Penn, Michael Pfleghar, John Schlesinger, Mai Zetterling, 1973)

(Welcome to Cannes Check, your annual guide through the 20 films in Competition at next month’s Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on May 15. Taking on a different selection every day, we’ll be examining what they’re about, who’s involved and what their chances are of snagging an award from Steven Spielberg’s jury. We’re going through the list by director and in alphabetical order — next up, Amat Escalante with “Heli.”) 

The director: Amat Escalante (Mexican, 34 years old). The youngest director in Competition by a comfortable margin, Escalante was born in Barcelona, but has lived most of his life in the small central Mexican city of Guanajuato. In 2002, the 23-year-old director’s debut short “Amarrados,” won several awards on the international festival circuit. Three years later, his feature-length debut, “Sangre,” premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes — as did his follow-up, “The Bastards,” in 2008. “Heli” is his third feature; sandwiched between his last two films is a contribution to 2010’s Mexican portmanteau project “Revolucion.” It also includes work by Escalante’s regular producer Carlos Reygadas — whose mantle the younger director is looking to inherit.

The talent: Escalente’s first two features were largely populated with novice actors, as such is the case again with “Heli.” It’s a taste he shares with his aforementioned friend and collaborator Reygadas — last year’s Best Director winner for the polarizing “Post Tenebras Lux,” here attached as a co-producer. Chief producer Jaime Romandia, meanwhile, has steered all the work of both directors, while editor Natalia Lopez cut “Lux,” as well as Reygadas’s “Silent Light.” It’s a tight family. Escalante, meanwhile, is also a co-producer, and co-wrote the script with his “Bastards” collaborator Gabriel Reyes. 

The pitch: Details on the film are scarce, and conflicting synopses don’t exactly clarify the picture. One that is widely doing the rounds describes the film as the story of a young boy, Heli, searching for his mysteriously vanished father — encountering police corruption, drug trafficking and sexual abuse along the way. Another from production company Le Pacte, however, reads somewhat differently, referring the protagonist as a 12-year-old girl, Estela, whose family is drawn into a cycle of violence when she falls in love with a young police officer involved in a drug ring. Perhaps the focus shifted somewhere along the way, or it balances multiple narratives; either way, family and criminality seem to be on the cards, suggesting the film is consistent with Escalante’s previous, reportedly rather bleak depictions of Mexico’s working class. It’s set and shot around the director’s home town. 

The pedigree: Like Reygadas, Escalante has been loyally fostered by the Cannes Film Festival; all three of his features have cracked the Official Selection. “Sangre” and “The Bastards” both played in Un Certain Regard. Though the former won the FIPRESCI Critics’ Prize for the section, neither film was extensively embraced by critics, audiences or even international distributors that a step up to Competition seemed obligatory, but Thierry Fremaux is clearly a believer — and the Reygadas stamp, even after “Post Tenebras Lux,” carries a lot of clout in auteur-watching circles.

The buzz: In a Competition lineup so heavy on veteran auteurs, Escalante is one of its lower-profile entrants, but expectations are nonetheless high for “Heli” — not least because in 2010, it was one of four winners of the Sundance Institute’s NHK Award for promising future international projects. Coincidentally, two of the films with which it shared the honor have since played Cannes, both in Un Certain Regard: Andrei Zvyagintsev’s “Elena” in 2011, and a little film called “Beasts of the Southern Wild” last year. Is Escalante’s film up to such company? Words on the film hasn’t escaped yet, but Fremaux has no qualms about keeping directors in secondary strands if he believes that’s where they belong; clearly, he’s confident Escalante is ready for his close-up.   

The odds: The New Mexican Wave — so to speak — has been well-rewarded at Cannes in recent years: last year, for example, Reygadas’s surprise Best Director win (his second award from a Competition jury) was complemented by the Un Certain Regard award for Michel Franco’s “After Lucia.” The national movement has yet to produce a Palme d’Or winner, however. Escalante may still be a little too green to change that, though juries often like to subvert the auteur hierarchy by giving a lesser award to one of the lineup’s less seasoned directors. Cannes oddsmaker Neil Young currently has the film mid-pack at 16-1. 

The premiere date: Thursday, May 16.

Check back in tomorrow, when we’ll be sizing up one of the Competition’s most eagerly awaited entries: Asghar Farhadi’s “The Past.”

PREVIOUS CANNES CHECKS:

Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi’s “A Villa in Italy”

Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Inside Llewyn Davis”

Arnaud des Pallières’s “Michael Kohlhaas”

Arnaud Desplechin’s “Jimmy P.: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian”

I kind of feel like I can’t let a year lived in New York go without some commentary on the Tony Awards, which we rarely really get into around here. Alas, looking across the nominees, I see I’ve missed a great many of the top players so far. But I’ll get to them. At least I have a bit of a cheat sheet now.

On the musicals side, “Kinky Boots,” “Matilda” and “Pippin” are on the to-do list before I move back to Los Angeles. Each of them were nominated, as was “Annie,” which is being developed as a film by Will Smith with “Beasts of the Southern Wild” star Quvenzhané Wallis in the lead. I’ll be heading out to catch Tom Sturridge, Ben Foster and Alec Baldwin in “Orphans” soon enough, as well as “The Trip to Bountiful,” which has drawn raves for Cicely Tyson’s work.

I did, however, see “Lucky Guy,” the late Nora Ephron’s swan song about the life and times of New York journalist Mike McAlary. Tom Hanks, in his Broadway debut, took on the role and he received his first ever Tony nomination as a result. I knew Courtney B. Vance would be nominated, if nothing else, because his performance was probably the best one in the production; indeed, he was shortlisted for Best Featured Actor. It was also nominated for Best Play, Best Direction of a Play, Best Scenic Design of a Play and Best Lighting of a Play.

The overall nominations leader was the musical “Kinky Boots” with 13, narrowly beating out “Matilda”‘s 12. On the play side of things, the revival “Golden Boy” led the way with eight. “Lucky Guy” and Christopher Durang’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” weren’t too far behind with six nods apiece.

Check out the major categories below and for a full list, head on over to the Tony Awards website.

Best Play
“The Assembled Parties”
“Lucky Guy”
“The Testament of Mary”
“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”

Best Musical
“Bring It On: The Musical”
“A Christmas Story: The Musical”
“Kinky Boots”
“Matilda: The Musical”

Best Book of a Musical
“A Christmas Story: The Musical”
“Kinky Boots”
“Matilda: The Musical”
“Rogers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella”

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
“A Christmas Story: The Musical”
“Hands on a Hardbody”
“Kinky Boots”
“Matilda: The Musical”

Best Revival of a Play
“Golden Boy”
“Orphans”
“The Trip to Bountiful”
“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

Best Revival of a Musical
“Annie”
“The Mystery of Edwin Drood”
“Pippin”
“Rogers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Tom Hanks, “Lucky Guy”
Nathan Lane, “The Nance”
Tracy Letts, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
David Hyde Pierce, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”
Tom Sturridge, “Orphans”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Laurie Metcalf, “The Other Place”
Amy Morton, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
Kristine Nielsen, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”
Holland Taylor, “Ann”
Cicely Tyson, “The Trip to Bountiful”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Bertie Carvel, “Matilda: The Musical”
Santino Fontana, “Rogers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella”
Rob McClure, “Chaplin”
Billy Porter, “Kinky Boots”
Stark Sands, “Kinky Boots”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Stephanie J. Block, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”
Carolee Carmello, “Scandalous”
Valisia LeKae, “Motown: The Musical”
Patina Miller, “Pippin”
Laura Osnes, “Rogers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Danny Burstein, “Golden Boy”
Richard Kind, “The Big Kinfe”
Billy Magnussen, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”
Tony Shalhoub, “Golden Boy”
Courtney B. Vance, “Lucky Guy”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Carrie Coon, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
Shalita Grant, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”
Judith Ivey, “The Heiress”
Judith Light, “The Assembled Parties”
Condola Rashad, “The Trip to Bountiful”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Charl Brown, “Motown: The Musical”
Keith Carradine, “Hands on a Hardbody”
Will Chase, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”
Gabriel Ebert, “Matilda: The Musical”
Terrence Mann, “Pippin”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Feature Role in a Musical
Annaleigh Ashford, “Kinky Boots”
Victoria Clark, “Rogers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella”
Andrea Martin, “Pippin”
Keala Settle, “Hands on a Hardbody”
Lauren Ward, “Matilda: The Musical”

Best Direction of a Play
Pam MacKinnon, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
Nicholas Martin, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”
Bartlett Sher, “Golden Boy”
George C. Wolfe, “Lucky Guy”

Best Direction of a Musical
Scott Ellis, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”
Jerry Mitchell, “Kinky Boots”
Diane Paulus, “Pippin”
Matthew Warchus, “Matilda: The Musical”

The 67th annual Tony Awards will air live on Sunday, June 9 at 8pm/7pm central on CBS.

The last time Woody Allen went to France, the result wasn’t too bad. 2011’s “Midnight in Paris” scored a number of Oscar nominations, for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and even a surprise bid for Best Production Design (formerly Best Art Direction). Allen himself won his third writing Oscar to date, and his fourth overall, for penning the script, beating out stiff competition from Best Picture winner “The Artist.”

Well it seems he’s heading back for his next film, which will go into production this year. There is no title, naturally, as of yet, but the film will star Colin Firth and Emma Stone, the latter a natural fit and a rather obvious choice, given Allen’s penchant for scooping up popular young ingenues for his films. He will once again be collaborating with cinematographer Darius Kondji, production designer Anne Seibel and costume designer Sonia Grande on the film, all of whom worked with him on “Midnight.”

The film will be Allen’s eighth set in Europe after the recent string of “To Rome with Love,” “Midnight in Paris,” “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” “Cassandra’s Dream,” “Scoop” and “Match Point.”

Allen will, however, make a quick pit stop in his home town of New York in between for “Blue Jasmine,” which hits theaters in July.

So “Iron Man 3” launches the summer movie season this Friday. Drew flipped for the movie. I…wasn’t so enthused. I loved the Shane Black flourishes and I admire the film’s balls for doing what it does with the Mandarin character (no spoilers). I like the idea of boiling it down to more of a Tony Stark film than an Iron Man film. I enjoyed myself. But I had issues with the central villain (Guy Pearce), I felt like the self-containment missed an opportunity to push the overarching story forward and I thought it danced unsuccessfully with fallout from “The Avengers.” (I am, though, very glad to see the film brought such a huge economic boost to North Carolina.)

Call me mixed, I guess. But that’s my one-off. Nevertheless, it’s a great film to kick off the season, even if it ranked way down at #20 on HitFix’s big countdown. When I look at that list of 25 movies, though, I have to say, it makes me feel really proud to be a part of the site as we’ve been the last nearly two years. The variety is superb, a wonderful cross-section of the team’s taste and sensibilities. It’s just the right mixture of blockbuster and counter-programming fare and I think it’s a great primer for the season ahead.

Last week Guy and I offered up some under-the-radar prospects as an addendum to the big countdown, and today, with the whole thing wrapped up, we have a top five. And that top five is every bit as varied as the whole, which is awesome. The one-two punch of art house and multiplex at the top says it all.

Check out the full list with commentary in the gallery below and please tell us, what summer movie — big or small — are you most looking forward to in 2013? What films will potentially find a head of steam for the upcoming awards season? Which will soar? Which will bomb? Tell us all your thoughts in the comments section and we’ll be back for your thoughts on “Iron Man 3” on Friday.

(Side note: I put this up on Twitter last week but I’ll throw it up here, to: “Captain America: The First Avnger” > “The Avengers” > “Iron Man” > “The Incredible Hulk” > “Iron Man 3” > “Thor” > “Iron Man 2.” I’m a fan of “The Incredible Hulk,” so its placement really says nothing about “Iron Man 3,” so much. The only one I actively dislike, actually, is “Iron Man 2.” We’ll see how “Thor: The Dark World” fits in this fall.)

Regular readers know how hard I fell for “Drive” at Cannes two years ago, so when the news broke that Ryan Gosling and director Nicolas Winding Refn were reuniting for a similarly hard-boiled thriller, I admit my usually well-behaved inner fanboy let out a rather loud yelp. Yes, “Only God Forgives” had me at hello — and that was before they added one of my favorite working actors, Kristin Scott Thomas, to the mix. Gosling’s sleek posturing, Refn’s heightened action styling and Scott Thomas vamping it up as a black-hearted gangster mama? Did this film somehow get made in my subconscious?

Probably not, since I’m not the only one champing at the bit for “Only God Forgives,” which has its world premiere at Cannes in just a couple of weeks’ time: the blogosphere is currently having kittens over three new clips that were released for the film earlier today.

In the interests of full disclosure, I haven’t watched the clips in full myself: particularly with films I’m anticipating as heavily as this one, I prefer to avoid pre-release materials as much as possible, and I’m not a big fan of out-of-context clips in any event. But a cursory glance at these is pretty tantalizing, not least because Scott Thomas seems to be pretty flashily showcased in them, asserting her maternal dominance over Gosling’s character and looking trash-fabulous in the process.

Could she be to “Only God Forgives” what Albert Brooks was to “Drive?” And if so, as silly as it is even to think such things in April, could a Best Supporting Actress campaign be on the cards? Okay, I’m not going to go any further with that thought, but the performance promises to be a riot, in any event. Meanwhile, the film itself could hardly look any more dazzling, albeit in a rough-and-ready manner. Bring it on. 

Check out the clips below if you so fancy, and share your thoughts. How eagerly are you anticipating this particular summer reunion?

(Welcome to Cannes Check, your annual guide through the 20 films in Competition at next month’s Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on May 15. Taking on a different selection every day, we’ll be examining what they’re about, who’s involved and what their chances are of snagging an award from Steven Spielberg’s jury. We’re going through the list by director and in alphabetical order — next up, Arnaud Desplechin with “Jimmy P.”)

The director: Arnaud Desplechin (French, 52 years old). After studying film at the Sorbonne, Desplechin began his career as a cinematographer, before transitioning swiftly to charmed auteur status: in 1991, his lengthy debut short, “La vie des morts,” premiered at Cannes and won the prestigious national Jean Vigo Award. The very next year, his debut feature, “La sentinelle,” played in Competition at the festival; since then, Desplechin has cultivated a reputation as one of France’s most literate writer-directors, with his films usually distinguished by knotty, novelistic storytelling, generous running times and a number of loyally recurring actors — Mathieu Amalric chief among them. “Jimmy P.” is the director’s seventh narrative feature — he segued into documentary with 2007’s intimate family portrait “The Beloved” — and his first since 2008’s well-received “A Christmas Tale,” ending the longest gap between films in his career to date.

The talent: The aforementioned Amalric (best known to international audiences for “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” and “Quantum of Solace”) makes his fifth appearance in a Desplechin film; it’s a collaboration that has netted him two of his three Cesar wins. The actor’s only recognition at Cannes, however, has been for his work behind the camera: he won Best Director for “On Tour” three years ago. (Side note: he’ll be popping up in two Competition films this year, the second being Roman Polanski’s “Venus in Fur.”) In the title role, and sharing the lead with Amalric, is Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro — a Best Actor winner at the festival in 2008 for “Che.” Rounding out the cast is an unlikely international assembly of actors, including Gina McKee (who has largely been confined to TV of late), Elya Baskin (Mr Ditkovich from the “Spider-Man” films), Misty Upham (“Frozen River”) and soap opera veteran A Martinez.

Desplechin, as usual, has co-written the screenplay — his collaborators this time include Julie Peyr (who also co-scripted steamy French drama “Four Lovers”) and, in his first non-documentary credit, esteemed New York film critic and archivist Kent Jones. Below-the-line artists include cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine (best known for his work with Jacques Audiard, he hasn’t worked with Desplechin since 2003’s “Playing ‘In the Company of Men'”), editor Laurence Briaud (who has cut all Desplechin’s films), production designer Dina Goldman (“A Prairie Home Companion”) and undervalued costume designer David C. Robinson (“Zoolander,” “Shame”), while the biggest name among them is the composer — two-time Oscar winner Howard Shore, who also scored Desplechin’s “Esther Kahn.”.  

The pitch: Desplechin’s second English-language film (2000’s Summer Phoenix-starring “Esther Kahn” was the first) has a rather impressive full title: originally billed as “Jimmy Picard,” it now goes by “Jimmy P.: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian.” If that sounds a bit like a case study, that’s exactly what it is: the film is based on a 1951 text by French-Hungarian psychoanalyst and anthropologist George Devereux (played in the film by Amalric), documenting his treatment of Native American WWII veteran Picard (Del Toro). Admitted to a Kansas hospital with severe headaches no doctor could explain, original Blackfoot tribe member was admitted to Devereux’s care, beginning a process of healing and cultural understanding, as well as a lifelong friendship. It could be a rather icky story in Hollywood hands, but Desplechin has dodged obvious sentimentality before: we’re counting on rich emotion and robust performances, while the reported running time of 114 minutes is positively ascetic by the director’s narrative-film standards. No US distributor yet for this American co-production, shot on location in Michigan and Montana.

The pedigree: In terms of the thematic scope and stylistic mannerisms of his work, as well as the regard in which he’s held relative to his peers, some critics have positioned Desplechin as France’s answer to Robert Altman — a comparison assisted by the new film’s dive into Americana. “Jimmy P.” is the director’s fifth feature to play in Competition at Cannes; the previous four, however, all left the festival empty-handed. (He has a similar always-the-bridesmaid track record at the Cesar Awards: eight nominations, no wins.) He did, however, take the country’s single most prestigious film award, the Prix Louis Delluc, in 2004 for “Kings and Queen” — funnily enough, his one film to go to Venice instead of Cannes.

The buzz: Word on the film itself hasn’t escaped, but with only the reputation of those involved to go on and its higher degree of crossover appeal, Desplechin’s film might be the most broadly anticipated of the six French entries in Competition: it’s a passion project that the director has fostered for two decades, and the level of detail and research at script level is said to be impressive. Planting one foot on each side of the Atlantic in the casting of its star leading men, it should find more of an audience than Desplechin’s last English-language effort.

The odds: Critic and Cannes oddsmaker Neil Young currently places the film in the middle of the Palme d’Or pack with odds of 16-1. Sight unseen, I’d be tempted to shorten them a little, and not just because the film’s touching true story sounds like something that might hit home with Steven Spielberg: given that they change every year, Cannes jurors don’t gather guilt in the same way that Academy voters do, but if they’re at all aware of Desplechin’s festival history, there may be a sense that he’s due some kind of reward. One of the film’s bigger obstacles to the Palme, however, may be its lead actors. If Amalric and Del Toro deliver in their apparently meaty roles, the jury may deem a joint Best Actor prize appropriate recognition for the film — which, under current rules, would prevent it from taking the top prize.

The premiere date: Saturday, May 18.

Check back in tomorrow, when we’ll be sizing up one of the Competition’s more under-the-radar entries: Amat Escalante’s “Heli.”

PREVIOUS CANNES CHECKS:

Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi’s “A Villa in Italy”

Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Inside Llewyn Davis”

Arnaud des Pallières’s “Michael Kohlhaas”