Final Cut -- Ladies & GentlemenCannes ClassicsThe product of three years in the editing room, the playful pic consists of quick cuts from more than 450 classics of world cinema, artfully collaged to tell a love story.

Therese DesqueyrouxOut of competitionClaude Miller's final film is tastefully upholstered, but the narrative generates little heat, empathy or momentum.

Miss LovelyUn Certain RegardDocumaker Ashim Ahluwalia ("John & Jane") makes an impressive transition to features with "Miss Lovely," an atmospheric tragedy set in the sordid world of Bombay's exploitation-film industry during the late 1980s.

ManiacMidnight screeningsA shocker of a remake, equal parts stylish and scuzzy, "Maniac" only marginally softens the grindhouse sleaze of William Lustig's 1980 original.

Journal de FranceSpecial screeningA tribute to a masterful eye, a humanistic heart and a wondrous life, "Journal" is a natural for docu fests and Euro satcasts.

Hold BackDirectors' FortnightImagine visuals from a less disciplined, zero-budget episode of "The Office," and the look of Rachid Djaidani's "Hold Back" becomes clear.

7 Days in HavanaUn Certain RegardPredictably patchy portmanteau pic "7 Days in Havana" sutures together seven flimsy-to-outright bad shorts set across a week in Havana, to forgettable effect.

MudCompetitionConfidently expanding his inquiry into the essence of American masculinity, Nichols' latest pressure-cooker pastoral conjures a wily figure of endangered Southern chivalry whose name is … you guessed it.

For Love's SakeMidnight screeningsLike a taxidermist, Takashi Miike removes the sinew and heart of the star-crossed amour between a good rich girl and a poor bad boy, only to stuff it with glossily macabre artifice, in "For Love's Sake."