Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is in unknown territory this year. The director presented his in-competition film, Biutiful, Monday at the Cannes Film Festival (Grand Theatre Lumiere 8:30 AM, 3:00 PM, 7:00 PM). This is Inarritu's first film without his usual screen writer, Guillermo Arriaga. The much publicized break-up caused the director to inaugurate a new direction with his latest feature. The film follows a linear approach, contray to the Inarritu's common use of complex stories.

    Biutiful is an allusion to the daily struggle of Uxbal, the main character, who is torn between the future of his children and his survival in the ghetto. For casting, the Mexican director has taken on some of the iconic actors of Pedro Almodovar: Blanca Portillo (Volver) and Ruben Ochandiano (Broken Embraces). At the head of this configuration he has placed Javier Bardem, who was in Canner previously in 2007 for No Country For Old Men, and in 2005 for the Jury Emir Kusturica.  

    The whole team of Biutiful was present at the morning press conference. The prominent question, of course, was directed towards Inarritu, about the writing process of the film. The director made clear that he has always had complete and total control over his films and the process for this particular film wasn't very different. Although, Inarritu did express his relation to this film was different. For the first time, he feels satisfied with his final production. Reasoning that the movie is 'alive', allowing him to feel something everytime he watches.