Race tightens for Cannes’ canine prize Palm Dog

THOMAS ADAMSON
Associated Press

CANNES, France (AP) — The race from the kennel is tightening for Cannes’ top canine prize, the Palm Dog, announced Friday.

Proving that the film industry is truly a dog eat dog world, four-legged performances have stolen the show in a number of pictures screened at the festival. And there’s no clear front runner.

Commentators had said that until now the most impressive canine scene came from a dog that plays Moujik in Bertrand Bonello’s “Saint Laurent,” the French fashion designer’s beloved pet.

In a realistic performance that had audiences moaning, the French bulldog stumbles clumsily and dies after munching though the myriad pills that have been scattered on the designer’s floor as he passes out.

But on Wednesday, following the screening of Jean-Luc Godard’s opaque 3-D film, “Goodbye to Language,” social media commentators say there’s new top dog Mieville, the director’s real-life pet. The loveable long-nosed protagonist plays Roxy who rolls in the snow and wags his tails as a narrator says: “A dog is the only thing on this earth that loves you more than he loves himself.”

Dogs also have starring roles in Kornel Mundruczo’s movie “White God,” a strong horror-thriller movie in which Hungary is befallen by a canine apocalypse.

In the more supporting role category, the Argentine film “Juaja,” directed by Lisandro Alonso, features a faithful dog with a skin disorder who leads Viggo Mortensen back on the right path, in a key point of the film.

And in “Map with the Stars” there is also a strong supporting performance by a glossy-haired dog, who rolls over motionless after’s he’s accidently shot by a 13-year-old movie star.

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Thomas Adamson can be followed at http://twitter.com/ThomasAdamsonAP

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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