Cannes 2022, remote notes

[Chris Knipp]

THE ADVENTURES OF A MULE (IN COMPETITION FOR THE PALME D'OR)



EO (Jerzy Skolimowski) .
Cannes, in Competition. Jordan Mintzer of Hollywood Reporter warrants it merits "the Palme d'Eyore." This free-spirited mule has an adventure traveling from Poland to Italy so this is a road movie, I guess. The director had played Naomi Watts' racist uncle in EASTERN PROMISES, and his FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA I reviewed as part of the 2008 NYFF -a literally very dark drama of a strange man who becomes falsely accused of rape. The director was then seventy and now is eight-four. A Beckettian tale with an added sweetness, I observed. Unlike Bresson's AU HAZARD BALHAZAR, Mintzer observes, Skolimowski adopts "a directly experimental approach, filling his movie with breathtaking imagery and a daunting soundscape atop a minimalist narrative."

Cannes tends to get more exciting as it goes along. This is just day 3.