You may read elsewhere that journalists had to brave crowds to see the movie, but that statement needs to be put in context. When "Inglourious Basterds" played here in 2009, the morning press screenings were held in two theaters with a combined capacity of slightly more than 2,700—and both those theaters, it was mentioned at the subsequent press conference, filled up. This year, Cannes chose to schedule the equivalent press screenings in two theaters with a combined capacity of about 1,350, which math would indicate is … half.



While a precise comparison is unfair—a lot of non-journalists attend those morning screenings, while the scrum today appeared to be exclusively press—factor in the absence of a typical day-after screening, and anyone with Cannes experience who looked at the schedule could foresee what might charitably be called an "overflow." In practice, this meant several hours of anxious journalists standing in close proximity to one another, ready go medieval on any colleague who dared to cut in line. In the three and a half hours I waited (I have a lower-level badge), I am pleased to report that my line mates kept things civil, and that we even handed out numbers to ensure that we held our places. I was personally prepared to tackle anyone who cut in front of a delightful Italian journalist ahead of me. He had shown up nearly five hours early.



If it sounds like I'm stalling from talking about the movie, that's because the perennial Cannes translator, press conference moderator, and gadfly Henri Béhar introduced the movie with a request from Tarantino and the producers. "They would greatly appreciate it if you could avoid revealing anything that would prevent audiences worldwide from enjoying the film just as you are today," he said, echoing a letter that Tarantino had already posted.

That's a fair request, I think—though some of my colleagues disagree—and one that leaves a lot of leeway for the writer. But what exactly could we tell you about the film that wouldn't in some way alter the experience of seeing it so fresh? Let's start with how the movie was shown: on 35-millimeter film, which is becoming an increasingly rare luxury at screenings of new movies, even here. According to a press release from Kodak, only 11 features in Cannes and its parallel festivals this year were actually shot on film, including "The Lighthouse" from the other day (and, sadly, the Oliver Laxe film that we all missed).