CANNES 2023 - remote notes

[Chris Knipp]

Cannes...


CERRAR LOS OJOS

Lower profile Competition films and a comeback after 30 years.

CLOSE YOUR EYES/CERRAR LOS OJOS (Victor Erice)
The 82-year-old Spanish SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE director’s first feature in 30 years uses a film-within-a-film structure to ruminate on memory, aging and cinema itself in telling the enigmatic tale of a disappeared actor, recounts Peter Bradshaw, who gives in four stars in his GUARDIAN review. "There is something deeply civilized and gentle about this film,"he says, referring to late bloomers like Malick and Manoel de Oliveira. Jordan Mintzer in HOLLYWOOD REPORTER calls the film "a moving homage to the power of movies." Run time 2 hours 49 minutes: it requires patience to see it unfold. In the Cannes Premiere section.

PERFECT DAYS (Wim Wenders)
In the Competition section. Bradshaw found it a tad lightweight, but gives it three stars. "Bittersweet tale of an apparently contented toilet cleaner has an ambient urban charm, but feels a little too understated," Bradshaws wrote. Guy Lodge in VARIETY thinks it's Wenders' "best narrative film in decades." "After a long run of off-the-boil fiction features," Lodge writes. "The German veteran hits the sweet spot," Lodge says, with "this simple, touching ode to working routine and everyday human connection."

LAST SUMMER/L’ÉTÉ DERNIER (Catherine Breillat)
Her Competition film, Bradshaw says, is a "too safe" remake of 2019 Danish drama QUEEN OF HEARTS and "pointlessly draws the sting" from a "dangerous romance" with the teenage stepson. Only two stars from Bradshaw for it. But Peter Debruge in VARIETY sees this film as a strong comeback. Léa Drucker is the femme who errs, who's a lawyer, and Samuel Kircher who plays the seductive stepson, is the brother of Paul Kircher, who debuted starring in Christophe Honnoré's WNTER BOY/LE LYCÉE last year and "is every bit as formidable a new acting talent," says Debruge.


L'ETÉ DERNIER