Go figure...The Tree of Life wins the Palme d'Or!

Behold the prizes:

Official Competition Palme d'Or: The Tree Of Life (dir: Terrence Malick)

Grand Prix (Runner-up to main award): (tie) Kid With A Bike (dir: Dardenne brothers), Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

Best Actor: Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

Mise en Scene (Best Director): Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive)

Best Actress: Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia)

Prix du Scenario (Screenplay): Joseph Cedar, Footnote (Israel) Prix Du Jury: Poliss (dir: Maiwenn)

Palme d'Or Court Metrage: Cross Country (dir: Maryna Vroda)

Camera d'Or (Best First Film): Las Acasias (dir: Pablo Giorgelli)

-Joey's Two Cents: The top prize going to The Tree of Life was mildly surprising, but it was always going to be an all or nothing endeavor (shame on me for predicting otherwise). Overall, I was right about the acting awards, which I'm kind of proud of, and counting my alternates, I hit on Director as well...thoughts?

While we wait for the Palme d'Or announcement...

Soon enough, we'll know the identities of the honorees, but first thing's first...here are my updated predictions for the big prizes, since they've been requested of me. Do note that I'm mixing in the buzz I've heard with some of my own theories and just a little bit of guesswork as well. Bombs away:

Palme d'Or: The Artist (Alternate: Drive)
Grand Prix: We Need to Talk About Kevin (Alternate: The Tree of Life)
Jury Prize: This Must Be The Place (Alternate: Sleeping Beauty)
Best Director: Lynne Ramsey for We Need to Talk About Kevin (Alternate: Nicolas Winding Refn for Drive)
Best Actor: Jean Dujardin for The Artist (Alternate: Ryan Gosling for Drive)
Best Actress: Kirsten Dunst for Melancholia (Alternate: Tilda Swinton for We Need to Talk About Kevin)
Best Screenplay: The Artist (Alternate: The Tree of Life)

Now, for the already announced winners, via Variety:

Aki Kaurismaki's ''Le Havre,'' Pierre Schoeller's ''The Minister'' and Jeff Nichols' ''Take Shelter'' shared awards Saturday at Cannes from the Fipresci Intl. Federation of Film Critics.
Also announced Saturday, Cannes' Ecumenical Jury awarded its main Prix to Italian Paolo Sorrentino's Sean Penn starrer ''This Must Be the Place.''

Fipresci plaudits go to one outstanding film in Cannes Competition and Un Certain Regard and a third in either Directors' Fortnight or Critics' Week.

Which 10 films have the strongest chances of walking away with the top prize at Cannes?

Well, everyone's got their opinions right now (and mine are certainly different from this), but Total Film has 10 flicks as the ones to look out for. Personally, I'm of the thinking that the jury could go in a strange direction and choose Drive or go classic and pick The Artist, but that's just me. Here's the list of 10, with elaborations after the cut:

The Tree of Life
Polisse
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Le Gamin Au Velo
Melancholia
Sleeping Beauty
The Artist
The Skin I Live In
Drive
This Must Be The Place

Do we have any clue how Robert De Niro's jury at Cannes might vote?

Well, not really (and Lars von Trier's new film 'Melancholia' just debuted today to strong reviews, making this a somewhat stacked festival so far, which can only make the decisions harder), but The Wrap has some details on what's going on with the jury on Day 8 of the Cannes Film Festival:

Pundits have begun to speculate about which film might win this year's Palme d'Or – but there's always a wild card in this card of Cannes speculation, because the award is chosen by a small group of people whose tastes and working relationships aren't always easy to determine.

That's why a report from Jeff Wells is so fascinating. Wells says he's spoken to "a journalist friend with some inside knowledge of the character of this Cannes jury," and that his pal laid out the dynamic. Jury president Robert De Niro, his source says, is "not likely to try to lobby for personal choices or views" (which presumably means he won't carry the same clout as reportedly assertive past jury presidents like Robert Altman and Roman Polanski).
The most knowledgeable jury members, according to this report, are "Carlos" director Olivier Assayas and journalist Linn Ullmann, the daughter of Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullman, while the least knowledgeable might be Hong Kong director Johnnie To, who "has a somewhat myopic, know-nothing view of other films or filmmakers."

The other jury members – actors Jude Law, Uma Thurman and Martina Gusman, producer Nansun Shi and director Mahamat Saleh Haroun – are not mentioned in Wells' report. The big questions, of course, are whether this info is accurate – and if it is, whether it tells us anything about what film might win. And the answers might be who knows?and probably not, though it's fun to speculate.