You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger by Woody Allen, filled Cannes with liveliness early Saturday afternoon. The film gathered more movie lovers and curious media than any other afternoon showing in the Grand Theatre Lumiere of the Cannes Film Festival. Fan hopefuls desperately searched for spare tickets and the lucky attendees filed in an un-organized, bulky line awaiting the gates to open.

    Allen's film was set to capture members of a family, their lives and their tangled love attempt to try and solve their problems. It involves a little romance, some treachery and a few laughs. Displaying the lives of the people's whose passions, ambitions and anxietes can go from ludacrious to dangerous. The film includes an international cast of Josh Brolin, Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Freida Pinto, Naomi Watts, and Lucy Punch.

    The expectations were set high for the famous director and writer, Woody Allen. Only a few that left the world premier stated the movie was fantastic, many had mixed reviews. One source believed it wasn't Allen's best, but definetely in his top half of movies. While another expressed it was set in a good direction, a classy film and  that he enjoyed the movie, but wasn't blown away by it. The overall outcome to Allen was that as a director, he is amazing, but the movie, it wasn't a favorite.

    The press conference after the premier was, as with anything involving Woody Allen, witty and entertaining.  Although a few memory lapses of names from Allen, the famous seventy-four year old tried to answer each question with depth. Allen stated that his "grim, nightmare experience" on life could possibly be shown through some characters in the movie. Explaining that one must have their own delusions to happily live, linking to the characters in the movie who are portrayed as slightly crazy but are the happiest by the end of the film. Woody Allen added humor to the conference when asked how he felt about death. "Well the relationship remains the same...I'm strongly against it. It's a bad business getting old." The director and cast then debated the title, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, could depict happiness or sadness. A tall dark stranger could be to some the person of their dreams and for others the grim ripper. From beginning to end, any person could see the admiration held by the cast to Allen. The director felt the same by announcing much direction wasn't necessary when hiring such a wonderful international cast. Though the movie, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, seem to some not to be one of the best Woody Allen movies, the friendly, well-known cast, intriguing plot and, of course the direction by Woody Allen make this a hard-to-miss movie.

-Summer Hawkins