I’ll be seeing The Help this Thursday evening, and looking forward to finally taking a look at it, after over a year of discussing it, and reading your mostly derisive comments about it over that same period of time. Although I’ve read the book, and obviously familiar with the content, I really don’t know what to expect here – whether it’ll be a faithful adaptation, or something more transgressive. I’m leaning towards the former, but I’ll find out for sure in a couple of days.

Unfortunately, I won’t be allowed to review the film here – at least not right away. But I should be able to give you some idea of what to expect.

It opens on August 10th here in the USA, but not until November in France. However, if any of our French readers lives in Deauville, France, or in the vicinity, you’ll get an opportunity to see the film 2 months earlier, when it’ll be the opening night film at the Deauville American Film Festival which runs September 2-11.

Other notable items announced for this year’s festival include a tribute to Danny Glover, and screenings of Sing Your Song (a documentary on singer, actor and Civil Rights activist Harry Belafonte), and The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, which we’ve given lots of coverage to on S&A. I saw it at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and reviewed it on the old site. Sing Your Song also premiered at Sundance.

Visit the festival’s website HERE for the full lineup of events and other relevant info.