Maybe it’s the rain or maybe it’s because it’s the seventh day of the festival, but there doesn’t seem to be very much going on today. Most of the red carpets seem to have been cancelled (it isn’t terribly glamorous to slop down into the Auditorium however nice your dress may be) and I’ve seen most of the films being shown this afternoon, so this afternoon I went to see the other exhibition as part of the Focus India section, “En route vers l’Inde”. I don’t really see how it can be called an exhibition - there were about 20 pictures hung on a brick wall at the back of the Archeological Museum, most of them with the same three people. I take more pictures than that on holiday. I left feeling faintly bemused and cheated.

Before that I went to the press screening of Across the Universe, the newest film from film and theatre director Julie Taymor. Set against the background of the political turbulence and music of the 60s , Across the Universe is a musical following the story of Jude (Jim Sturgess), a youth from Liverpool who travels to America to discover his roots only to meet Max (Joe Anderson) and fall in love with his sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). Moving to New York he becomes caught up in the hippie revolution, meeting various weird and wonderful characters along the way. But when Max is drafted into the army and the anti-war movement grows, Jude and Lucy find themselves caught up in forces beyond their control.

This is undoubtedly a very ambitious project: it takes guts to make not just a film but a musical about the 60s using Beatle’s songs. As the film’s musical director Elliot Goldenthal commented, “if you try to reproduce the Beatle’s music you’re dead.” And, apart from the odd cameo from Bono, Salma Hayek, Jo Cocker and Eddie Izzard, the main protagonists are almost completely unknown. Yet overall the film is interesting and well done and the potential pitfalls are in many ways its greatest strengths. Taymor’s background directing on stage stands her in good stead and the film is unashamedly theatrical, the genre allowing it to treat popular and potentially disastrous subjects with. The youth of the actors and the liberal methods used on set, which sound pretty hippie themselves, give the film an energy and exuberance so often missing - what Taymor describes as the “synergy of human beings in a live space.”

While there are definitely points where it runs away with itself, including an acid trip scene featuring Eddie Izzard as Mr Kite and new draftees carrying the statue of liberty over a bonsai version of a Vietnamese jungle, and some of the links to the songs feel a bit forced, the choreography and soundtrack are beautifully crafted. Sturgess, Wood and Anderson all give wonderful performances both musically and theatrically. Generally impressed and happy to see someone trying to do something original for a change.

Last night I also went to see the press screening of El pasado, from director Hector Babenco based on the novel by Alan Paul and featuring Gael Garçia Bernal. Apart from the fact that Bernal takes his clothes off all the time (which personally is probably reason enough for me to see it) this doesn’t have that much to recommend it. There’s nothing consciously wrong with it as such, it just doesn’t seem to quite hang together. Bernal is as magnetic as ever, but the female characters are all rather one-dimensional, making much of the action implausible. I left feeling like I must have missed something.

Last but not least, the festival organizers last night announced the successes of The Business Street which ran from 18-21st. Unfortunately they wouldn’t give me a pass (the organizer nearly had a heart attack when I asked) so all of my info is second hand, but from the looks of it is has been a success and grown since last year: all in all there were 142 screenings, including 25 market premiers. 600 accredited professionals (up from 440) and 250 buyers (up from 160) attended, as well as 60 sellers from 40 productions companies. Overall the US, UK, France and Germany had the most number of attendees there, though there was a selection from all over the world. Good to see this area is growing and we shall have to wait for more information next year.