The Nespressos are going cold, the Pellegrino's gone flat and the culinary puns are running increasingly dry as we reach the end of the 67th Cannes Film Festival. On paper it might have lacked the same oomph as last year's big name ballot but the selection this year has still left us thrilled and serene. It's been a competition which had a lot to say about money but which still found space for more organic fare, not to mention a 3D head scratcher from one Jean Luc Godard. So with the Palme d'Or ceremony just hours away lets attempt a quick punt at what should/could/will win and of course, far more importantly, our very own top 5.

Le Top 5

Honourable mention: Leviathan

Had we a touch more time to digest it, this marvelously crafted take on the book of job would most certainly have crept up the list. Strange, staggering and often darkly funny, Andrei Zvyagintsev (good luck with that) threw a late spanner in the works for most critics, and just maybe for the Jury too...



5. Whiplash

J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller go to war in a university jazz band for Damien Chazelle's Sundance conquering debut. The film is explosive. The ovation was too. A full review here.



4. Two Days, One Night

The Dardennes delivered a wonderfully tight story of a woman who is given a week to canvas her colleagues to ask they forego their bonuses so that she can keep her job. The brothers from Belgium are already two times winners here and while we doubt we'll be seeing a third for now, Marion Cotillard is surely a lock for her shrunken, brave lead role. Full review here.



3. Red Army

Gabe Polsky's defiantly nationalist documentary on the Soviet Union's Red Army hockey team might just be one of the most rousing, impassioned sport films to ever hit the screen. Polsky (a player himself of Russian descent) understands the politics of his subject but, far more importantly, the great beauty of their play too. The funny and charming maverick Vyacheslav Fetisov, the film's main focus, has a comet named after him. What more do you need to hear?



2. Foxcatcher

Bennet Miller not only made it three in row with his bleak, brilliant Foxcatcher but, with that great eye for the affluent American psyche, managed to improve on everything too. We expect awards tonight and many more come February. Full review here.



1. The Wonders

Oh the incomparable pleasure of the festival unknown. This writer entered the Salle Debussy with no knowledge of director Alice Rohrwacher, nor expectations of what her new film would bring, but left feeling transcendental and just plain old alive. An unexpected and devastating delight. Full-blooded, gushing review here.

L'Awards

Palme d'Or

Will: A near impossible call but twenty five year old Xavier Dolan's Mommy might just be ballsy enough to stand out from the crowd.

Should: The Wonders. Try and keep up.

Could: Anything from Mr. Turner, Leviathan, Foxcatcher or Winters Sleep

Grand Prix

Will: Mr. Turner

Should: Foxcatcher. Again, keep up.

Best Actor

Will: Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)

Should: Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)

Best Actress

Will: Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night)

Should: Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night)

L'Epilogue

Phew, well that's all folks. Off to skull a few overpriced domestic beers before the award show begins. Fingers will be crossed for Alice Rohrwacher (not to mention Athletico Madrid). Apologies for saturated news feeds and, as ever, thanks for tuning in. 

As this year’s competition tips over to its second half we find a set of brothers from Belgium punting for a third Palme d’Or. They won here with Rosetta in ’99 and again with L’Enfant in 2005, now Jon Pierre & Luc Dardenne return to the croisette with Deux jours, une nuit (Two Days, One Night), a starkly contemporary piece of social realism starring Marion Cotillard.

The concept is clear and the brothers set it up fast. We open on the casual, domestic Sandra (a plainly clad and brave Marion Cotillard). It’s Friday evening, she’s helping with dinner. She takes a call to tell her that she’s just lost her job; her colleagues apparently having voted to oust her in favour of their €1000 bonuses. She’s naturally distraught but quickly gets to work to change the tide. Her mate calls to say that the vote will be redone on Monday so Sandra sets out through the gauntlet to try convince a majority of her 16 workmates to forsake the cash so that she can stay on.

The game is obviously rigged. Lacking the legal footing to fire her straight out the employers have set a trap for their workers by claiming that the company can only afford to pay for one thing or the other. We learn Sandra has taken time off for her depression. We also learn the boss is continuing to sway votes. It’s a grubby business indeed but Sandra must soldier on. She seeks empathy over pity and tries her best to keep the meds at bay, while taking modicums of strength from her friends and family.

The blame of course rests on the bean-counters upstairs, but by extracting them from the equation the Dardennes force us instead to think elsewhere. It's a draining but fascinating exercise as we are requested to try on a host of other people’s shoes. We might think it easy to say where our vote would lie but life is just never that simple.

Two Days, One Night is a tight, contained piece of work that bears all the hallmarks of its master directors. It's packed with insights on our fundamental relationship with money but is, of course a starkly humanist effort at heart. A socially conscious and defiant film that celebrates the strength we all can give and take from everyday acts of kindness.

Last night Roger Ebert’s widow took to the stage to present a documentary on her late husband’s life. In her moving speech she referenced Ebert’s synonymous mantra of Cinema as the "empathy machine". This morning in the Salle Lumiere we found that machine humming along proudly in rude health.