'Star Wars' Hamill goes to dark side in Cannes festival comedy

Star Wars legend Mark Hamill -- Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy -- goes over to the dark side in a new offbeat comedy to be shown at next month's Cannes film festival.

"Brigsby Bear" has already been hailed by US critics at the Sundance festival as an "eccentric heartfelt" hit and will close Critics' Week in Cannes, the organisers said Friday.

In the film, Hamill plays strongly against type.

He portrays a toy inventor who keeps his only child in an underground bunker and brainwashes him with endless episodes of his television show, "Brigsby Bear". 

Claire Danes and Greg Kinnear also star in the movie which is co-written by "Saturday Night Live" regular Kyle Mooney.

Hollywood actor Josh Hartnett features alongside Japanese star Koji Yakusho of "The Eel" fame in another bittersweet comedy in the sidebar selection, "Oh Lucy!"

For the first time an animated film, Ali Soozandeh's "Tehran Taboo", has made the cut, exploring the touchy subject of sexual morality in the Iranian capital.

Critics' Week director Charles Tesson said he had wanted the selection "to shine a light on the political and human realities" of the world.

Of the seven films in competition, another is a documentary set in the Congo, "Makala", with three from Latin America.

Cannes, the world's top film festival, runs in the southern French resort from May 17 to 28, with Critics' Week -- focusing on new talent -- running from May 18 to 26.

Source: AFP