Cannes 2022, remote notes

[Chris Knipp]

'FESTIVAL DE CANNES' begins today, May 17, 2022

For the full Reuters story go HERE
For the full list of Cannes 2022 selections go HERE

CANNES, France, May 16 (Reuters) - The Cannes Film Festival is gearing up for a bumper 75th anniversary edition with a selection of big Hollywood names, buzzy newcomers and previous Palme d'Or winners – a splashy return even as the conflict in Ukraine looms over festivities.

"I honestly think this is one of the best Cannes line-ups in years," said Scott Roxborough, European bureau chief for The Hollywood Reporter.

The festival runs from May 17-28, resuming its traditional calendar following two years of pandemic disruptions. It was canceled in 2020, and last year moved to July, when it was held under strict COVID protocols.

This year, the parties are back and Hollywood heavyweights will include Tom Cruise's "Top Gun Maverick" – bringing the star to Cannes for the first time in three decades – as well as Baz Luhrmann's Elvis biopic, starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks.

"It's tradition to have our American friends – let's not forget that the Cannes Festival, in 1939 and in 1946, was practically co-built, co-invented by France and Hollywood," festival director Thierry Frémaux told a press conference.

Actor Forest Whitaker will be on hand to receive the festival's Honorary Palme D'Or for lifetime achievement.

David Cronenberg will mark his return to horror films with "Crimes of the Future," featuring Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Stewart and Léa Seydoux.

[Chris Knipp]

CANNES 2022 FILMS IN COMPETITION

ARMAGEDDON TIME - James Gray United States
BOY FROM HEAVEN - Tarik Saleh Sweden
BROKER / 브로커 - Hirokazu Kore-eda South Korea
BROTHER AND SISTER / Frère et sœur - Arnaud Desplechin France
CLOSE -Lukas Dhont Belgium, Netherlands, France
CRIMES OF THE FUTURE David Cronenberg Canada, Greece, France
DECISON TO LEAVE / 헤어질 결심 - Park Chan-wook South Korea
THE EIGHT MOUNTAINS / LE OTTO MONTAGNE - Charlotte Vandermeersch, Felix van Groeningen Italy, Belgium
EO - Jerzy Skolimowski Italy, Poland
FOREVER YOUNG / LES AMANDIERS - Valeria Bruni Tedeschi France
HOLY SPSIDER - Ali Abbasi France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark
LEILA'S BROTHERS / برادران لیلا - Saeed Roustayi Iran
MOTHER AND SON / UN PETIT FRÈRE - Léonor Serraille France
NOSTALGIA -- Mario Martone Italy
PACIFICTION / TOURMENT SUR LES ÎLES -- Albert Serra France, Spain, Portugal, Germany
R.M.N. -- Cristian Mungiu Romania, France
SHOWING UP -- Kelly Reichardt United States
THE STARS AT NOON Claire Denis United States, France
TCHAIKOVSKY'S WIFE / Жена Чайковского -- Kirill Serebrennikov Russia, France
TORI AND LOKITA / TORI ET LOKITA -- Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne Belgium, France
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS -- Ruben Östlund Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, France, Greece

[Chris Knipp]

COUPEZ ! (FINAL CUT) (FINNEGAN OLDFIELD, CENTER)

CANNES 2022 FILMS OUT OF COMPETITION

ELVIS - Baz Luhrmann Australia, United States
FINAL CUT (opening film) / COUPEZ ! - Michel Hazanavicius France
THE INNOCENT/L'INNOCENT - Louis Garrel France
MASCARADE - Nicolas Bedos France
NOVEMBRE - Cédric Jimenez France
THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING- George Miller Australia, United States
TOP GUN: MAVERICK - Joseph Kosinski United States

[Chris Knipp]

CANNES 2022 UN CERTAIN REGARD and PREMIERE LISTS

UN CERTAIN REGARD
*Les Pires, dirs: Lisa Akoka, Romane Gueret
Burning Days, dir: Emin Alper
*Metronom, dir: Alexandru Belc
All The People I’ll Never Be, dir: Davy Chou
Sick Of Myself, dir: Kristoffer Borgli
Domingo And The Mist, dir: Ariel Escalante Meza
*Plan 75, dir: Hayakawa Chie
*Beast, dirs: Riley Keough, Gina Gammell
Corsage, dir: Marie Kreutzer
*Butterfly Vision, dir: Maksim Nakonechnyi
The Silent Twins, dir: Agnieszka Smocynska
The Stranger, dir: Thomas M Wright
*Joyland, dir: Saim Sadiq
*Rodeo, dir: Lola Quivoron
Godland, dir: Hlynur Palmason

CANNES PREMIERE
Nos Frangins, dir: Rachid Bouchareb
Nightfall, dir: Marco Bellocchio
Dodo, dir: Panos H Koutras
Irma Vep (series), dir: Olivier Assayas

[Chris Knipp]

Some comments on the Competition films.

ARMAGEDDON TIME (James Gray).
It stars Anne Hathaway, Anthony Hopkins, and Jeremy Strong. The film was shot in the state of New Jersey with cinematographer Darius Khondji, dp for other Gray films as well as UNCUT GEMS. Earlier Robert De Niro, Oscar Isaac, Donald Sutherland, and Cate Blanchett were to be involved but dropped out. The subject is reportedly related to Gray's own youth in Queens growing up in the 1980's. I hope it's great. I love James Gray. His work seems to have fallen off and become less personal since THE IMMIGRANT with Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix in 2013 (NYFF), which I called "an impressive-looking wrong turn." This should be personal.
_____________________________

There are at least a dozen other big names, who are: Hirakasu Kore-eda (who everybody loves), Cronenberg (a return to horror), Arnaud Desplechin (important current French director who is uneven), Park Chan-wook (the Korean shock-master of OLDBOY), Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (the bilingual actress, sister of former Sarkozy spouse Carla Bruni; tens to be lightweight as a director; this one features Louis Garrel), Albert Serra (who I can't stand), Cristian Mungiu (prince of the humorless, fun-free Romanian school), Kelly Reichardt (strong American indie filmmaker who's always one to look forward to), Claire Denis (one of France's greatest living directors, whose new feature is from a novel by Denis Johnson, in English, set in Latin America), Kirill Serebrennikov (what I've seen by this Russian - Cannes isn't excluding them - has been interesting-to-great), the Dardennes brothers (the eminent Belgian social-issue filmmakers, multiple Golden Palm winners), and Ruben Östund (known for the THE SQUARE - winner of the Palme d'Or in 2017 - and other skillful provocations).

STARS AT NOON (Claire Denis).
In 1984's Nicaragua, a mysterious English businessman and a headstrong American journalist strike up a romance as they soon become embroiled in a dangerous labyrinth of lies and conspiracies and are forced to try and escape the country. Mostly unknown cast, but John C. Reilly and Benny Safdie have roles.

[Chris Knipp]

ROSCHDY ZEM, LOUIS GARREL IN L'INNOCENT

OUT OF COMPETITION FILMS

FINAL CUT / COUPEZ ! (Michel Hazanavincius). Out of Competition opening night film.
A little film crew making a budget zombie movie is cut short when they're attacked by real zombies. A remake of the Japanese film included and reviewed here as part of the 2018 New York Asian Film Festival, Shin'ichirô Ueda: ONE CUT OF THE DEAD (2017). This French version looks promising with a cast including Romain Duris, Bérénice Bejo, and Finnegan Oldfield, among others. It has possibilities, but the original was hilarious, and remakes are risky.

L'INNOCENT / THE INNOCENT (Louis Garrel). Out of Competition.
Garrel's fourth feature as a director/writer/star is a twistier tale that features himself with Roschdy Zem, Anouk Grinberg, Manda Touré. Abel, his usual alter ego, is horrified when he learns his mother Sylvie (Grinberg) is going to marry a man in prison. But when he meets Michel (Zem), he changes his opinion. The premise sounds like a serious turn, but the stills suggest otherwise. Opening in French theaters in October.

[Chris Knipp]

CANNES BEGINS. opening film COUPLZ ! (FINAL CUT) and Tom Cruise in TOP GUN: MAVERICK.

The surprise guest of honour at the Cannes 75th edition opening ceremony on Tuesday evening was Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who addressed the audience by video link.

Bradshaw says Michael Hazanavicius' COUPEZ ! (FINAL CUT) IS "an undemanding, easygoing way to kick off the Cannes film festival" but gives it an easygoing 3/5 stars in the Guardian. It's "appreciably sillier and more eccentric than the original," he writes, referring to the 2017 Shin’ichirô Ueda cult film it's a splattery remake of. It lacks the "sophistication and gloss" of the film the director is famous for, the 2012 silent film pastiche THE ARTIST. COUPEZ ! TRAILER . . . BETTER ONE

TOP GUN: MAVERICK: Tom Cruise's nearly forty years later TOP GUN sequel has also shown Bradshaw gives that 3/5 stars in the Guardian too. Cruise has lost none of his looks, muscle, and élan, this has Ed Harris, Val Kilmer, Miles Teller and Joe Hamm in it, and it has gotten "universal acclaim" and an 81% approval rating on Metacritic. Cruise's character remains a test pilot by avoiding promotion above the rank of captain, and as a teacher on a special mission, confronts extreme challenges and ghosts from his past. Oddly, says Bradshaw, there's none of the homoerotic tension of the Tony Scott original and equally weirdly this is less progressive on gender issues. "Cruise’s movie-star chops are still miraculous though." Who is the director, Joseph Kosinski? TOP GUN: MAVERICK TRAILER

[Chris Knipp]

TCHAIKOVSKY'S WIFE (Kirill Serebennikov) Todd McCarthy in Deadline calls the currently in exile Russian artist's new film "churningly emotional and visually rich" and explains that it shows various levels of society where trouble is coming. One reason this film is out of favor at home is it brings out the composer's gay side. The focus is on Nina Miliukora, "whose single obsession in life is to become his wife," which Tchaikovsky only accedes to for as conventional facade. In the Guardian Peter Bradshaw goes into great detail. but still gives the film 3/5 stars. CLIP reminded me of Sokorov's RUSSIAN ARK.

[Chris Knipp]

FOUR MORE COMING FILMS AT CANNES 2022 (not previously mentioned)


Leah Mondesir-Simmonds and Eva-Arianna Baxter as the young Gibbons sisters in Silent Twins.
Photograph: Courtesy of Jakub Kijowski/Focus Features

Summaries from Peter Bradshaw:

ONE FINE MORNING (Mia Hansen-Løve)
Transgressive passion is the foundation of this movie from Mia Hansen-Løve, with Léa Seydoux as Sandra, a single mum with a young daughter, trying to find care for her elderly father, and embarking on an intense affair with an old friend.

MEN (Alex Garland)
A frisson of League-of-Gentlemen unease in a creepy English country village where all the men (played by Rory Kinnear) have a weird resemblance to each other: Jessie Buckley stars in this scary movie from Alex Garland.

SILENT TWINS (Agnieszka Smoczynska)
Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska takes on the story of the British “silent twins”. Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance star as identical twins June and Jennifer Gibbons – who spoke to no one but each other, wrote “outsider art” novels and were eventually sent to Broadmoor for arson and theft.

PARIS MEMORIES (Alice Winocour)
Virginie Efira stars in Alice Winocour’s drama as a woman caught up in a terrorist attack in a Paris bistro. Some months later, stricken with PTSD and amnesia, and plagued with fragmented memories, she makes a determined attempt to reconstruct her past.

[Chris Knipp]

CANNES, MAY 18.



SCARLET/L'ENVOI (Pietro Marcello)
From the director of MARTIN EDEN, which I reviewed in the 2019 NYFF and which had lasting US arthouse success, comes the story of a "daydream believer" who "makes her own magic" in a "lovely French romance," is a "slight but satisfying choice" to open Directors' Fortnight, says Variety's critic. The Playlist critic says it's "a lukewarm exercise in magic realism." Deadline's reviewer says it's "a film of many parts" that "may not always fit together perfectly" bit each "is admirable and enjoyable in its own way." One thing is clear: the director, whose 15th film this is, has switched from Italian this time to French and a French setting. He has also enlisted some well known French actors, including Yvonne Moreau, Naomi Lvovsky, and Louis Garrel.

[Chris Knipp]

THE CANNES JURIES

The main jury chooses the Grand Prix and Palme d'Or from the Competition films. This year's jury president is the French actor Vincent Lindon, which should promise a focus on moral responsibility and seriousness, if he is the guiding spirit. The photo above at the opening red carpet event shows Jury president Vincent Lindon, center, with, from left, Ladj Ly, Deepika Padukone, Asghar Farhadi, Rebecca Hall, Noomi Rapace, Joachim Trier, Jasmine Trinca, and Jeff Nichols


COMPETITION JURY
Vincent Lindon (Président du Jury)
Rebecca Hall (Membre du Jury)
Deepika Padukone (Membre du Jury)
Noomi Rapace (Membre du Jury)
Jasmine Trinca (Membre du Jury)
Asghar Farhadi (Membre du Jury)
Ladj Ly (Membre du Jury)
Jeff Nichols (Membre du Jury)
Joachim Trier (Membre du Jury)

UN CERTAIN REGARD JURY
Valeria Golino (Président du Jury)
Debra Granik (Membre du Jury)
Joanna Kulig (Membre du Jury)
Benjamin Biolay (Membre du Jury)
Édgar Ramírez (Membre du Jury)

SHORT FILMS - COMPETITION
Yusri Nasrullah (Président du Jury)
Monia Chokri (Membre du Jury)
Laura Wandel (Membre du Jury)
Félix Moati (Membre du Jury)
Jean-Claude Raspiengeas (Membre du Jury)

CAMERA D'OR JURY
Rossy de Palma (Président du Jury)
Jean-Claude Larrieu (Membre du Jury)
Eléonore Weber (Membre du Jury)
Olivier Pélisson (Membre du Jury)
Lucien Jean-Baptiste (Membre du Jury)
Samuel Le Bihan (Membre du Jury)
Natasza Chroscicki (Membre du Jury)

[Chris Knipp]

CANNES MAY 18-19


FINN WOLFNARD, JULIANNE MOORE IN WHEN YOU FINISH SAVING THE WORLD

WHEN YOU FINISH SAVING THE WORLD (Jesse Eisenberg).
Cannes Critics' Week. Things seem slow because this is the second festival showing of this movie, yes; it debuted at Sundance in Jan. Critics' Week section. In the Guardian Bradshaw gives it his standard 3/5 stars and describes it as "a sweet-natured and well acted movie about Ziggy (Finn Wolfhard), an insufferable and naive teenage boy in high school, who preens himself on all the followers he has for his livestreamed folk-rock songs...[and] His equally insufferable but idealistic mother, Evelyn (Julianne Moore)." Not a great but a watchable movie, Bradshaw concludes. David Erlich of IndieWire is warmer, saying it "splits the difference between Noah Baumbach and Miranda July in a way that still allows his own voice to break through," and makes it a Critic's Pick. Metacritic rating: 64%.

LE OTTO MONTAGNE/THE EIGHT MOUNTAINS (Felix van Groeningen, Charlotte Vandermeersch)
Cannes: in Competition. Bradshaw's first Cannes 2022 rave, 5/5 stars for what he calls a "rich, beautiful and inexpressibly sad film" that concerns "the friendship between men who can’t talk about their feelings and about winning and losing at the great game of life." variety calls it "stirring, sprawling, epic and intimate." An adaptation of the best-selling 2016 novel by Paolo Cognetti, winner of Italy’s prestigious Strega Prize. The Belgian Groeningen is known for the emotionally messy film epic THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN but he also did a recent English-language debut with Timouthee Chalamet, BEAUTIFUL BOY. David Rooney of Hollywood Reporter sees LE OTTO MONTAGNE as a string of "cathertic moments" that "ultimately lacks weight."

GOD'S CREATURES (Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer)
Cannes Directors Fortnight. In an Irish coastal village, as in THE DEEP END a mother takes desperate measures to save her returning son, with Emily Watson. A bit too "doom-laden," says Bradshaw, but there's some good acting. 3/5 stars again. The Variety review is cagey but admires the film for making us watch Emily Watson again. David Rooney in Hollywood Reporter thought the heavy brogues should make A24 subtitle the film for releases outside Ireland. "Even if the drama is a touch too sluggish about tightening its grip, the emotional power of the final act is considerable."

[Chris Knipp]

CANNES MAY 19.


STILL FROM ALMA VIVA

ALMA VIVA (Cristèle Alves Meira)
Cannes International Critics Week. A Portuguese creature story. Variety: "Meira's feature debut is an uneven work that combines anthropological and documentary details with more supernatural elements." See the detailed Screen Daily review.

MEN (Alex Garland)
Cannes Directors' Fortnight. A24 release. The writer-director of EX MACHINA AND ANNIHLIATION, as well as the writer of the depressing sci-fi film NEVER LET ME GO, has come up with a creeper that has thrilled some but others find doesn't quite make enough sense. Good acting from Jessie Buckley and from Rory Kinnear, the latter, whether meaningfully or not, in multiple roles and disguises. The picture comes out in US theaters tomorrow. The Times review has cleverly said it "puts the 'male' in malevolent."It has garnered a mediocre Metacritic rating of 65%. MEN TRAILER

[Chris Knipp]

JAMES GRAY'S AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL 'ARMAGEDDON TIME', ON WHICH CRITICS DIFFER


JAYLIN WEBB AND MICHAEL BANKS REPETA IN ARMAGEDDON TIME

ARMAGEDDON TIME (James Gray).
Cannes in Competition. Bradshaw pans it with a 2/5 star rating: "A middle-class boy capitalizes on his privilege in Reagan-era New York in James Gray’s uncharacteristically syrupy movie" set in Eighties Queens that is "weighed down with a sentimental and self-regarding staginess." A coming of age tale where an artistic boy has to negotiate the temptations of a posh, racist, Trump-involved school and his black public school buddy falls by the wayside. "Armageddon" is a word used by Presidential candidate Reagan. Metacritic rating: 73% shows most critics don't share Bradshaw's low opinion, but there's no raft of raves either. Owen Gleiberman's very fine Variety review better delineates this film's considerable charms - and its ultimate faults. May be more appreciated by the French than the Academy, observes Scott Feinberg in his Hollywood Reporter review, which notes the "strong performances." (Gray has never had an Oscar nomination.)

Fine the press conference for ARMAGEDDON TIME HERE. James Gray makes it should like his film is a powerful attack on capitalism.

[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.