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Thread: Cannes 2022, remote notes

  1. #16
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    FROM 'THE VERDICT', FILMS IN OTHER SECTIONS.


    STILL FROM LES HARKIS

    FATHER & SOLDIER/TIRAILLEURS (Mathieu Vadepied)
    Cannes Un Certain Regard opening film. Affecting portrait of paternal love hinges on intensely involving performances by Omar Sy (the "Lupin" star known on Netflix) and Alassane Diong, as an African father who goes to war to protect his conscript son. Tirailleurs Sénégalais were a corps of colonial infantry in the French Army. This film is set during or just before WWI.

    GOD'S CREATURES (Saela Davis & Anna Rose)
    Cannes Directors' Fortnight. Emily Watson plays a troubled Irish matriarch in this "handsome but heavy-handed family psychodrama" from directing duo Seala Davis and Anna Rose Holmer. There have been a lot of reviews of this and it sounds strong. Bradshaw goes only for 3/5 and calls it "a tense cine-ballad of guilt and shame."

    LES HARKIS (Philippe Faucon).
    Cannes Directors Fortnight. "A fiery and timely reflection about a dark episode in French history at the risk of being written out of the books with the normalization of far-right politics in the country," says Clarence Tsui. "Philippe Faucon’s humble mastery of cinematographic pithiness puts under the microscope the cruel page of history of local soldiers engaged on the French side during the Algerian war," says Fabien Mercier (Cineuropa). Philippe Faucon was born in Morocco, and he specializes in depicting the fallout of French colonialism. I reviewed his FATIMA in 2016 (R-V).
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 05-21-2022 at 10:09 AM.

  2. #17
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    May 20. THE GOOD ONES ARE COMING. Mia Hansen-Løve - a Cannes winner.


    PASCAL GREGGORY, LEA SEYDOUX IN UN BEAU MATIN

    ONE FINE MORNING/UN BEAU MATIN (Mia Hansen-Løve)
    Cannes Directors Fortnight. Bradshaw gives this French film 4/5 stars and compliments its "briskly and urbanely photographed Paris." The ubiquitous Léa Seydoux appears in short hair and jeans in this humdrum, pleasingly mainstream romance about a young mother who raises her daughter alone while seeking help for her sick father (Pascal Greggory). While this is happening, Sandra (Seydoux) reconnects with Clément (Melvil Poupaud), a friend not seen in a while and, though he is married, a passionate relationship begins. Jon Frosch in Hollywood Reporter calls the film "quietly miraculous" and says it "make[s] the old feel new again." The director, who for 15 years was partners with Olivier Assayas, has made ten films 90% of which have been critical successes, and her last, BERGMAN ISLAND, did unusually well in the US. ONE FINE MORNING has been nabbed by Sony Pictures Classics.

    CORSAGE (Marie Kreutzer)
    Cannes Un Certain Regard. Reviews are uniformly enthusiastic for this film where Vicky Krieps "gives an exhilaratingly fierce, uningratiating performance" as the 19th-century Empress Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary, says Bradshaw, who gives it 4/5 stars. Adam Solomans of IndieWire calls this film "fierce, revisionist history." Variety calls it "sneaky and terrific" and Krieps "superb." Kreutzer's Metascore, by the way, is 83%, though this film is not included on that site yet. In many ways this is "a study in anger," Bradshaw says, and "an austere and angular picture," but the critics love it, and it seems a triumph for the multilingual Luxembourgish actress Vicky Krieps, who has been emerging lately as a more and more important international star.

    ENYS MAN (Mark Jenkin).
    Cannes Directors Fortnight. A second 4/5 stars from Bradshaw for what he calls "another eerie prose-poem of a film, about a isolated woman lost inside her own mind" and "a supremely disquieting study of solitude" from the British director of the 2019 BAIT. Laila Latif in IndieWire calls it an "experimental tale of loss" and "an artfully constructed folk horror film" about "never-ending grief."

    BOY FROM HEAVEN (Tarik Saleh)
    Cannes. In Competition. Another 4/5 stars review from Bradshaw: "Egypt’s religious and secular institutions both breed mistrust in Tarik Saleh’s superbly realized paranoid nightmare." It's about a rural fisherman's son with a prestigious fellowship to study at Al Azhar, the ancient Islamic university in Cairo, who gets somehow embroiled in a power struggle between religious and political force when the grand imam dies; Bradshaw is reminded of John Le Carré by this undercover spy movie from the maker of 2017'S THE NILE HILTON INCIDENT. Jordan Mintzer in Hollywood Reporter notes that it's a conventional thriller but in a "thrillingly unconventional setting." Filmed in Turkey and Sweden.


    TAWFEEK BARHOUM IN BOY FROM HEAVEN
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 05-25-2022 at 07:08 PM.

  3. #18
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    MAY 20 additions.


    MELVIL POUPAUD, MARION COTILLARD IN BROTHER AND SISTER

    BROTHER AND SISTER/FRÈRE ET SOEUR (Arnaud Deplechin).
    Cannes, in Competition. This film starring Melvil Poupaud and Marion Cotillard, already widely reviewed, is about long estranged siblings who're reunited due to their parents' demise. IndieWire says it's a "greatest hits retread" and thus a "lesser effort" from the French auteur. Variety calls it an "overwrought melodrama" explaining the attention-getting violent events it begins with. It has elements in common with Desplechin's excellent A Christmas Tale while lacking any of its richness and charm, Variety concludes. Bradshaw, who pungently summarizes the film's plot, gives it 2/5 stars and says it "has plenty of filmmaking elan but not one line of plausible dialogue." Desplechin's auteur reputation, Cotillard's international fame, and Poupaud's suave charm will still draw French film fans. See the AlloCiné critic rating: 4.0, 80% (though the spectator rating is 2.5). TRAILER

    PLAN 75 (Chie Hayakawa)
    Cannes, Un Certain Regard. This "Speculative sci fi" film that adds a "social realist treatment" in this Japanese international coproduction about a future time when the government routinely widely euthanizes the elderly via a voluntary program. There has been a lot of interest in the provocative subject. The Hollywood Reporter review just describes, doesn't assess, this unusual film that responds to hardened attitudes in Japan the first-time director says she encountered after ten years of living in New York, plus the fact that Japan has by far the world's oldest population and that puts a clearly perceived growing burden on the social system. TRAILER
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 05-28-2022 at 01:53 PM.

  4. #19
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    MAY 21, CANNES DAY 5


    STILL FROM WAR PONY

    WAR PONY (Riley Keough, Gina Gammell).
    Cannes, Un Certain Regard. The Variety review gives us a handle on this film about two Native American males at different stages (teens, early twenties), which Bradshaw's enthusiastic 4/5 stars summary doesn't quite, when it says this is the picture Larry Clark would have made if he'd spent time at the Pine Ridge Reservation: "hustling, skating and stealing drugs from otherwise distracted adults," "presented without judgment." The two first-time directors "developed this unvarnished portrait in collaboration with their actors" (as Larry Clark would have done).

    THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING (George Miller)
    Cannes. Out of Competition. Miller's first since MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015), GUARDIAN'S Xian Brooks gives it 3.5 stars, saying this "belated followup" to his previous film is "a loquacious Arabian Nights-style fantasy" and "a consciously unfashionable" one based on the short story "The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye" by A. S. Byatt concerning "a wary academic" and "a chatty genie" that "may leave you wanting for more." Mainly a two-hander between Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba. After the Cannes showing it got a six-minute ovation; but it's Metascore is 59%, brought low by David Rooney in Hollywood Reporter, who thinks it may be okay as a "palate cleanser" between FURY ROAD and the soon-to-come next MAD MAX movie, but the aa"mysteries it conjures" are "windy and academic," and lack emotional power. Bradshaw gave it 3/5 stars too. Release date: Aug. 31, 2022. TRAILER

    Xian Brooks in the Guardian of May 21 a breezy and eloquent summary of this week's Cannes hits and roster of the ones (including the ELVIS biopic-musical, Kelly Reichardt's latest SHOWING UP, and an Iranian serial killer thriller HOLY SPIDER) coming up on the Cannes menu next week.
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 05-28-2022 at 01:57 PM.

  5. #20
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    A SMALL SCOTTISH DEBUT IS A CRITICAL HIT OF DAY 5.
    (MAY 21).



    FRANKIE CARO, PAUL MESCAL IN AFTERSUN

    AFTERSUN (Charlotte Wells).
    Cannes, Critics' Week. This Scottish-born, NYC-based director's 96-minute debut feature, which MOONLIIGHT director Barry Jenkins produced, is the bittersweet reminiscence of a woman's (probably too young, certainly emotionally challenged) divorced father when they went to the seaside in Turkey twenty years earlier. Its performances by Irish actor Paul Mescal (of the much admired series "Normal People") and nine-year-old Frankie Caro have garnered raves. Carlos Aguilar in The Wrap calls it a "heart-achingly stirring and sensorially entrancing debut feature." Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian gives it 5/5 stars and calls it "captivating" and "brilliant," describing the subtlety of the unfolding picture of memories that now mean much more than at the time. ("What a pleasure," he concludes.) Anna Smith in Deadline says it's "absorbing" and "a terrific two-hander with engaging supporting performances." Fionnualla Halligan of Screen Daily says this "Marks Wells out as one of the most promising new voices in British cinema in recent years." She says "you have to go back to Lynn Ramsey to find a voice with this much potential." Sheri Linden in a lengthy review in Hollywood Reporter calls this debut "sharp and tender" and "indelible" and goes into detail about the richness and subtlety of the performances, especially Mescal's. This sounds like Competition material, but its modesty seems to mark it for small release, only with more critical praise and perhaps lasting recognition.
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 05-25-2022 at 07:27 PM.

  6. #21
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    ÖSTLUND'S NEW SATIRE IS POPULAR, DESPITE DETRACTORS. (MAY 21).


    CHARBI DEAN AND HARRIS DICKINSON IN TRIANGLE OF SADNESS

    TRIANGLE OF SADNESS (Ruben Östlund).
    Cannes, In Competition. Critics differ sharply on this high profile new film from the Swedish director but it appears an audience favorite. Östlund this time skewers the beautiful (fashion models) and Euro super-rich, as he skewered the art world in his 2017 Palme d'Or winner, THE SQUARE, but this time in English. The protagonists are Charbi Dean as an "Instagram princess/model" and Harris Dickinson as her failing male model power couple partner, who go on a freebie ride on a luxury super yacht to make up after a big row. Bradshaw likes the way the odd world of the cruise ship is conveyed but thinks the targets are messily missed and the critiques clichéd and awards a lousy 2/5 stars. The Variety reviewer finds the film "wickedly funny" and admires the "meticulous precision" in the way Östlund "constructs, blocks and executes scenes"; he goes into more detail about the action, which concludes marooned on a desert island where " a Rolex is worth nothing, but it helps to be hot." Jonathan Romney in Screen Daily admires some scenes and some satirical points but finds this film "lacks the pitiless ironic cool" of Östlund's two previous films and is "laborious" in its "take on the excesses of capitalism." Robbie Collin of The Telegraph gives this a 5/5 stars and calls it "the best Cannes film so far." Ben Croll of The Wrap condemns the film as "overlong and under-stuffed" (it runs two hours and a half, including diarrhea and projectile vomiting) but says it left the "notoriously tough" Cannes audience "doubled over with laughter" - and it got a 7-8 minute standing ovation, longest so far. Given that and the director's track record, it's likely to figure at Cannes awards time, despite the detractors.
    EXCERPT/TRAILER
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 05-28-2022 at 03:30 PM.

  7. #22
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    MAY 22, CANNES DAY 6



    HOLY SPIDER

    HOLY SPIDER (Ali Abbasi)
    Cannes, in Competition. This Iranian film is a serial killer capture story based on fact with a feminist angle, a portrait of Iran's patriarchal society shot outside Iran, in Amman, Jordan. An ordinary family man is killing sex workers to "cleanse" the holy city of Mashhad. He is caught after strangling 16 women through the efforts of a woman journalist despite an indifferent police and legal system. The film is a mixture of "grimy, scuffed realism" with "flashier serial-killer-movie flourishes," says the Variety review notes; it also departs from convention not only in having an inept killer (who only succeeds because of public indifference) but in including a long follow-up of trial and public reaction. Bradshaw in the Guardian, who gives it a neutral 3/5 stars, finds its mix of fact and invention winds up making real events seem unreal. IndieWire gives it a B. Fionnuala Halligan in ScreenDaily admiringly calls it an "arresting Iranian noir" that "throws a dark, dark web" and is "a tough watch" that "shows how far fundamentalist morality can be twisted." No US distribution yet, and it could be a hard sell, despite much topical interest and a bold new approach for the 41-year-old Denmark-based maker of SHELLEY (2016) and BORDER (2018). TRAILER

    TROUBLE IN MIND (Ethan Coen).
    Cannes, Special Screenings. While Joel was making MACBETH Ethan was making this documentary about Jerry Lee Lewis, the rock 'n roll, then country, then gospel singer who rebrandedf himself as an evangelist and is still alive at 86. It's great, says Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian, who gives it an admiring 4/5 stars.

    FOREVER YOUNG/LES AMANDIERS (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi)
    Cannes, In Competition. It's the "endlessly tedious story of self-involved drama students," reports Guardian's Bradshaw, who gives it a miserable 2/5 stars. More specifically the setting is Patrice Chéreau's Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre in the 1980s. Chéreau was a charismatic director and promoter responsible for memorable films, L'Homme Blessé, Intimacy, His Brother, Gabrielle, and numerous important European opera productions. Les Amandiers was reportedly a very notable training ground for young actors. But as Lovia Gyarkye of Hollywood Reporter points out, the fact that Bruni Tedeschi was a student at the school in the early Eighties makes for "a sweet but oddly circumspect film" ... "ruled by a friction between warring demands" between the "allure of wistful memories" and "the rigor of complex appraisal." Chéreau is played by Bruni Tedeschi's former squeeze Louis Garrel, says Bradshaw, "with much smouldering imperious charisma."

    DIARY OF A FLEETING AFFAIR/CHRONIQUE D'UNE LIAISON PASSAGÈRE (Emanuel Mouret)
    Cannes. Premieres. A single mother (Sandrine Kiberlain) and a married man (Vincent Macaigne) enter what they think will be only a passing spring affair, purely physical, no love, but they discover they have a lot in common. Mouret's 11th feature; I've reviewed 4 or 5, starting with his first, the 2007 SHALL WE KISS?(UN BAISER, SI'IL VOUS PLAÎt ?). That was light and charming; sometimes he's been overwrought recently, but this appears to be a return to simplicity. Perfect for English speakers of rather retro taste who want "a typically French movie." That's essentially what Lee Marshall says in his Screen Daily review. But Macaigne's no debonair French lover; he's nervous and insecure. Not Kiberlain though. "Too often cast as a neurotic," says Marshall, she this time "seizes with both hands not just the comedy remit but the chance to play an uncomplicatedly sex-positive modern woman who is fully in control of her life, while Macaigne is a perfect foil." But with Mouret, as a French critique in Cine Series points out, it's always light and on the edge of comedy, and it's all about the talk. The French see Woody Allen here.


    The important films reported here today are Ruben Östlund's TRIANGLE OF SADNESS and Ali Abbasi's HOLY SPIDER.
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 05-26-2022 at 12:18 AM. Reason: ER

  8. #23
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    CANNES MAY 22, cont'd



    A STRANGER ( Thomas M. Wright)
    Cannes, Un Certain Regard. An investigation into a murder in the Australian outback stars Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris. Leslie Felperin's review for Hollywood Reporter describes a rearranged timeline making "more challenging than the average crime drama but also more interesting" a film that's a true-crime story that's "a stylish but sometimes ponderous meditation on male bonding, trust and identity." Variety calls it "an eerie, understated thriller." Screen Daily also makes it sound appetizing, describing it as a very special mood piece, "more of a felt experience than a traditional policier" and a film that's "all about the hunt, not the crime."
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 05-22-2022 at 07:10 PM.

  9. #24
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    CANNES MAY 22, cont'd


    PARK JI-MIN IN RETURN TO SEOUL

    RETURN TO SEOUL (Davy Chou)
    Cannes, Un Certain Regard. Chou's new film concerns a 25-year-old woman who was adopted by a French couple who on impulse returns to Seoul to explore her roots but does so with an innate "appetite for discorder," says Wendy Ide's positiveScreen Daily review. The film with its shifting time-line - she meets her biological parents and revisits the country over an eight-year period, as South China Post explains - winds up being as much a portrait of the shifting personality of Freddie (Park Ji-min)) and her appealing, yet abrasive personality in different roles (party girl, "pilled-up club kid with a tattoo artist boyfriend. . .steely businesswoman," hiker in the country's wilds) as of cultural encounters. This is the French-Cambodian filmmaker's second feature to screen at Cannes; the previous one was the 2016 DIAMOND ISLAND (ND/NF) which I described as "A very visual film, full of night lights, fluorescent neon-pastel colors, and pretty faces: considerable formal beauty, a hypnotic mood." This looks from the still to have a similar attractive dark exoticism in some of its backgrounds. It has been bought by Sony.
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 05-23-2022 at 09:30 PM.

  10. #25
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    BRADSHAW'S TOP-RATED SO FAR (at day six) - AND THE SCREEN DAILY JURY GRID


    STILL FROM TROUBLE IN MIND

    Six the Guardian chief critic Peter Bradshaw has liked quite a lot, two he has found outstanding.

    4/5 Four out of five stars:
    ONE FINE MORNING/UN BEAU MATIN (Mia Hansen-Løve). Directors Fortnight.
    CORSAGE (Marie Kreutzer). Un Certain Regard.
    ENYS MAN (Mark Jenkin). Directors Fortnight.
    BOY FROM HEAVEN (Tarik Saleh). In Competition.
    WAR PONY (Riley Keough, Gina Gammell). Un Certain Regard.
    TROUBLE IN MIND (Ethan Coen). Documentary]

    5/5 Five out of five stars:
    THE EIGHT MOUNTAINS.LE OTTO MONTAGNE (van Groeningen, Vandermeersch). Competition.
    AFTERSUN (Charlotte Wells). Critics' Week.


    THE SCREEN DAILY JURY GRID

    (See it online HERE.)



    JURY GRID CURRENT SUMMARY:
    2.8 ARMAGEDDON TIME - James Gray
    2.7 EO - Jerzy Skolomowski
    2.5 TRIANGLE OF SADNESS - Ruben Östlund
    2.5 R.M.N. - Christian Mungiu
    2.3 BOY FROM HEAVEN - Tarik Saleh
    2.2 TCHAIKOVSKY'S WIFE - Kirill Serebrennikov
    2.1 THE EIGHT MOUNTAINS - Felix Van Groeningen
    2.1 BROTHER AND SISTER - Arnaud Desplechin
    2.1 HOLY SPIDER - Ali Abassi
    1.8 FOREVER YOUNG - Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 05-27-2022 at 05:32 PM.

  11. #26
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    MAY 22, cont'd.


    VIRGINIE EFFIRA, TAHAR RAHIM IN DON JUAN

    DON JUAN (Serge Bozon).
    Cannes. Premiere. An offbeat musical riff on Molière stars Tahar Rahim and Virginie Effira. As a fan of French cinema I include this, however little interest it has for the Anglophone audience, because those are two of the most popular of the "young" French movie actors. "Young" in quotes since she is 45 and he is 40. "Young radical" Serge Bozon is 49 and my knowledge of him goes back to LA FRANCE (2007) seen at the SFIFF. Bozon and his usual cowriter Axelle Ropert present the story of an actor on his way to play in Molière's Dom Juan who runs into five different versions of the woman (Effira) who jilted him at the altar, which gives Effira a chance to show her versatility, and Rahim, Whose character gets jilted on his wedding day and goes searching, to get beat up multiple times in this feminist film with music. Allan Hunter in ScreenDaily explains that Rahim is "frequently slapped, punched or rejected," and plays his part with "the bemused anguish of a rake who may recognize his failings but seems unable to transcend them." Hence "In Bozon’s version, it is Don Juan who ends up feeling seduced and abandoned." Hunter finds the use of music recalls Christophe Honoré's LOVE SONGS, another reason this may not be for the US or UK audience, since my New York colleagues didn't seem to share my passion for that film at all. DON JUAN comes out in theaters in France May 23. DON JUAN is out in France now and the AlloCine ratings are terrible: critics 64 (3.2), spectators 36 (1.8). TRAILER (Omits singing)

    SMOKING CAUSES COUGHING/FUMER FAIT TOUSSER (Quentin Dupieux).
    Cannes. Midnight Screening. A slight effort from the French maker of absurdist, surreal comedies, says Stephen Dalton on Verdict. This "unashamedly goofy tenth feature," his second festival premiere in three months, is a "loosely linked jumble of comic skits, splatter-horror gags and knowing riffs on nostalgic childhood TV tropes," too slight and disconnected for the kind of "warm international welcome" he earned recently for his 2019 DEERSKIN and 2020 MANDIBLES. This one has Vincent Lacoste in it, as well as Adèle Exarchopoulos and Anaïs Demoustier. Something about fighting intergalactic villains using "the lethal chemical ingredients of cigarettes as explosive death-ray weapons." Effortless fun to watch, instantly forgotten after its lean 80 minutes. Valerie Complex of Deadline says Dupieux always has a theme and this is hating smoking.
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 05-25-2022 at 01:53 PM.

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    #4 ON THE JURY GRID NOW: CHRISTIAN MUNGIU'S R.M.N.


    STILL FROM R.M.N.

    R.M.N. (Cristian Mungiu)
    Cannes, In Competition.(Shown May 21). Jessica Kiang on Variety praises the ruthless clarity of this "scabrous social division drama," a delineation of the social fracturing of the nation of Romania. Jordan Mintzer says in Hollywood Reporter says "R.M.N" is Romanian for "MRI," and that fits because this is "a full-scale brain scan" of a country "beset by multiple conflicts" including the "racial, social, political, national, ecological," and even, here anyway, the "emotional variety." This is a "slow-burn, small-town drama" set in rural Transylvania. This is, Mintzer says, typically "masterly understated filmmaking" notable for "a few stand-out sequences," especially a full-reel one in the town hall that "throws all the issues on the table" before "erupting into chaos." Mungiu won the Palme d'Or with his 2007 abortion film, and his GRADUATION (NYFF 2016) won him Best Director here. At #4 in the current Screen Daily Jury Grid, R.M.N. is a must-see to watch for. But maybe too slow in spots, says Mintzer. And Bradshaw is less charmed, rating it a neutral 3/5 stars. He points out it's about prejudice against local Sri Lankans, and Mungiu's style "as unemphatic and low-key as ever."

    R.M.N. TRAILER
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 05-28-2022 at 01:40 PM.

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    MAY 23, CANNES DAY 7 COMPETITION PREMIERES: DECISION TO LEAVE, CRIMES OF THE FUTURE, AND TORI AND LOKITA.


    PARK HAE-IL AND TANG WEI IN DECISION TO LEAVE

    DECISION TO LEAVE (Park Chan-wook)
    Cannes. In Competition. It's Peter Bradshaw's second Cannes 2022 5/5 stars film, which "keeps the viewer off balance at every turn," he says in his rave Guardian review. Park rocked Cannes with his lurid revenge drama OLDBOY in 2004 (I can even remember reading Anthony Lane's New Yorker review before seeing it). His last feature was HANDMAIDEN (2016), which I waited in line to see in Paris. There was a SNOWPIERCER TV series 2020-2022. DECISION TO LEAVE begins with a police investigation of a death in the mountains. But this one is a "police procedural romance." Bradshaw notes the "deliciously manipulative plot twists," but also "tension and intrigue," "grandstanding emotional confrontations," and (not least) "ingenious use of mobile phone technology" which often messes up modern day thrillers. The Chinese star Tang Wei (of Ang Lee's LUST, CAUTION) is "magnificent" as a murder suspect unconcerned over her husband's death, whom the married, insomniac police detective (Park Hae-il) gradually falls in love with. David Rooney's Hollywood Reporter review mentions Douglas Sirk, Hitchcock, and Almodóvar as sources or parallels. Rooney compliment's Park's later-stage career simultaneous mastery of complex plot, rich characters, and set designs as ingenious as they are aesthetically pleasing. David Erlich in IndieWire calls this "the most romantic movie of the year." The Variety review notes the "wildly satisfying ending" to this "scintillating work of genre art." This clearly looks like one of this year's most admired and enjoyed Competition films (it will go to the top of the Jury Grid).

    DECISION TO LEAVE TRAILER (With English subs..)
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 05-28-2022 at 01:29 PM.

  14. #29
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    THE MUCH AWAITED CRONENBERG PREMIERE (MAY 23)


    VIGGO MORTENSEN, LEA SEYDOUX IN CRIMES OF THE FUTURE

    CRIMES OF THE FUTURE (David Cronenberg)
    Cannes. In Competition. Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Stewart, and Léa Seydoux star in a return to body horror set in the near future where some humans have accepted acceleration evolution, and others try to police it. Written 20 years ago, and unchanged, the 79-year-old director's first film in 8 years. Release in theaters June 3.Peter Bradshaw awards the film 4/5 stars and says that "as he did with 90s hit CRASH, the director creates a bizarre new society of sicko sybarites where pain is the ultimate pleasure and 'surgery is the new sex'." People perform or observe surgery for kicks. Viggo's lead character specializes in being operated on to have things taken out or put in, and Léa is his partner and live celebrity performance surgeon. Kristen is a peripheral inspector figure. The script is a bit "undercooked" and everything doesn't really come together at the end, says David Rooney in Hollywood Reporter. It "coiuld do with a scalpel" says Jordan Farley of Total Film. But Cronenberg has his own unique metaphorical take on the horror movie, says the Variety review. "None of it makes a lick of sense," says AV Club's Jordan Hoffman, "but there's a surreal flow...that carries you from scene to scene." Not particularly geared for a pandemic world; but why should it have to be? "it’s an extraordinary planet that Cronenberg lands us down on," concludes Bradshaw, "and insists we remove our helmets before we’re quite sure we can breathe the air." The Metascore at present is a so-so 72%. We'll see where the Jury Grid places it; probably midway.

    CRIMES OF THE FUTURE TRAILER
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 05-26-2022 at 12:34 AM.

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    GASPARD ULLIEL'S LAST SCREEN APPEARANCE (MAY 21)


    GASPARD ULLIEL, VICKY KRIEPS IN MORE THAN EVER

    MORE THAN EVER/PLUS QUE JAMAIS (Émily Atef)
    Cannes, Un Certain Regard. This "steady and stirring film" by the French-Iranian director (MOLLY'S WAY, 3 DAYS IN QUIBERON), as Lovia Gyarkye calls it in an admiring Hollywood Reporter) review, features Vicky Krieps with Gaspard Ulliel in his last screen appearance. Ulliel died in a tragic ski accident in January at the age of 37. Here he plays the husband of a woman wasting away from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which gives her only a few years to live. Hélène and Matthieu (Vicky and Gaspard) have a strong bond nurtured over many years. Because things have gone badly of late and the situation is so different, Hélène makes an "existential" decision to take a solo trip to Norway to meet a blogger, to find peace and reconnect with the couple's powerful love. Sadness and silences are powerful here, says Gyarkye, and a sense of Matthieu coming to terms with impending loss. This made me think of Rodolphe Marconi's 2004 The Last Day, released the same year as Gaspard's César-winning turn in A Long Engagement. That film too is about silences and tragedy. It's sad and ironic that Gaspard Ulliel's last role was as someone coming to terns with the impending loss of someone dearly loved. Nikki Braughan in Screen Daily admires the film's "messy realism," its detail in considering not in soft focus but up close, frankly and unsentimentally, what it's like at the end. But it's Stephen Dalton in his review for Verdict who seems to grasp the solemnity of this moment and speaks most eloquently of Ulliel's accomplishments. He notes the tenderness of this performance is unusual, More Than Ever features one of Ulliel’s most tender performances — "an anomaly in the career of a beautiful and gifted actor," who, "with his Alain Delon-esque features, grave voice and searing presence" would make you "do a double-take as soon as he walked on screen," and was more known for playing "sinister villains like Hannibal Lector" or "tortured creators like Yves Saint-Laurent." The film is "not a downer" but ultimately life-affirming. Ulliel is "touching and memorable as a man" who ultimately can't quite enter his dying partner's "headspace." But this is Krieps movie; and Ulliel is gone from it for a long period, returning in person only at the end. Atef gives a brief interview about what a pleasure it was to work with Ulliel. The film comes out in France Nov. 9, 2022.

    MORE THAN EVER TEASER
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 05-28-2022 at 01:38 PM.

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