Cannes curtains go up

By Mike Collett-White

CANNES, France (Reuters) - Cannes Film Festival opened on Wednesday with a blend of art house movie-making and raw star power fitting for cinema's greatest showcase, which turns 60 this year.

Chinese director Wong Kar Wai, best known in the West for "In The Mood For Love", brought "My Blueberry Nights" to the palm-lined Riviera resort, his first English language film starring singer Norah Jones in her screen debut and Jude Law.

Hundreds of onlookers and reporters crowded around the famous red carpet to see the stars turn out for the film's world premiere, which kicks off 11 hectic days of networking, deal making and partying among thousands of movie professionals.

Jones, best known as a Grammy award-winning singer who has sold tens of millions of records, said she "jumped blindly" into her first feature, but would not be drawn on whether movies would replace music as her day job.

"I thought, 'Let's have lunch, maybe he wants the music,' and he said: 'Do you want to be in a movie?'," she said of Wong. "I said: 'OK, you're amazing.' I really just jumped in with a good feeling of trust for him," she told reporters.

"My Blueberry Nights" is one of 22 competition films, but hundreds more, including major Hollywood productions, are screened and touted, luring the likes of Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and George Clooney to France's southern coast.

Selectors chose five U.S. productions in the main competition, although two have already been released in their home country to a cool reception.

CRITICAL "DISCONNECT"