Gunning for Bush

Farenheit 9/11 has been the film festival's red-hot ticket, fired by a blitz of advance publicity. First, the original US distributors, Disney, dropped the movie. Then director Michael Moore claimed in Cannes that his original investors, Icon, pulled out after the company's head, Mel Gibson, received a warning call from the White House.

Certainly, the film mounts a passionate attack on the Bush administration, blazing through the contested 2000 election, the close business connections between the Saudi royals, the Bin Laden family and the President's associates, the government's dubious response to 9/11 and its shabby treatment of war veterans to mention but a few of its themes.

The big surprise is the tone. The war in Iraq has been a ripe target for black satire, as seen in such stage shows as The Madness of George Dubya and one expected Moore to take a similar tack. But Fahrenheit 9/11 is sober - least by his usual standards - and finally, as bereaved mothers lament at length, downright tearful. The flamboyant director keeps a low profile, displaying only flashes of his mordant humour and leaving Bush himself to supply the comic relief.

It is barnstorming agit-prop, aimed squarely at Americans: Moore makes no secret of his desire - to oust Bush in this autumn's elections.

His restraint will be welcomed by those who found Bowling For Columbine manipulative. But whether this will be another international success for him or a film for the age is another matter.

The Assassination of Richard Nixon is based on the little-known true case of Sam Byck, who tried to assassinate the then-President in 1974 by crashing a plane into the White House. Politics here are on the back burner: it's an intimate portrait of a failed salesman who sinks into madness.

Sean Penn carries the film with another mesmerising performance, but the thin script does not delve very deeply into the American nightmare.

The critics' favourite in competition, by a long chalk, is Look At Me, an incisive, elegantly realised comedy about the evershifting relationships and bruising powerplay between a group of Parisians. The director is Agnès Jaoui, whose first film, The Taste of Others, was a huge hit (though poorly distributed in the UK).

Like a vintage Woody Allen with a French twist, Look At Me is that rare beast: a festival hit that will also strike a resounding chord with the general audience.