CANNES 2024 - remote notes

[Chris Knipp]

The 2024 Directors’ Fortnight lineup

[FEATURES]
THIS LIFE OF MINE by Sophie Fillières Opening Film
IN HIS OWN IMAGE by Thierry de Peretti
CHRISTMAS EVE IN MILLER'S POINT by Tyler Taormina
DESERT OF NAMBIA by Yôko Yamanaka
EAST OF NOON by Hala Elkoussy
EAT THE NIGHT by Caroline Poggi & Jonathan Vinel
EPHUS by Carson Lund
GAZER by Ryan J. Sloan
GHOST CAT ANZU by Yôko Kuno & Nobuhiro Yamashita
GOOD ONE by India Donaldson
MONGREL by Chiang Wei Liang & You Qiao Yin
VISITING HOURS by Patricia Mazuy
SAVANNA AND THE MOUNTAIN by Paulo Carneiro (Portugal)
SISTER MIDNIGHT by Karan Kandhari
SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING BORROWED by Hernán Rosselli
THE FALLING SKY by Eryk Rocha & Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha
THE HYPERBOREANS by Cristóbal León & Joaquín Cociña
TO A LAND UNKNOWN by Mahdi Fleifel
THE OTHER WAY AROUND by Jonás Trueba (Spain)
UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE by Matthew Rankin
PLASTIC GUNS by Jean-Christophe Meurisse [Closing Film]

The old symbol for the series used the word "réalizateurs" for directors; the new image for this year uses the word "cinéastes".
The 2024 Cannes Film Festival runs May 14-25.

The Directors’ Fortnight creative director Julien Rejl announced the program on Tuesday. (Directors’ Fortnight, or Quinzaine des Cinéastes, is the big independent sidebar that presents 'adventurous' works simultaneously with Cannes.)

The 21 Directors' Fortnight feature selections come from 14 different countries including four American films (Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, Carson Lund’s Eephus, Ryan J. Sloan’s Gazer and India Donaldson’s Good One). There are five French films, two Japanese, one Palestinian, and films from Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Chile (eight films from the Americas). There will be a special screening of Chantal Akerman’s Histoires d’Amérique: Food, Family and Philosophy.

[Chris Knipp]

Milo Machado-Graner in SPECTATEURS by Arnaud Desplechin

Cannes 2024: newly added films

SOURCE

CANNES COMPETITION AND OTHER ADDITIONS.

The Festival de Cannes has added over a dozen titles to the Festival including three to the Competition roster. The latter include Michel Hazanavincius' animated feature THE MOST PRECIOUS OF CARGOES and Mohammad Rasoulof's THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG. Hazanavincius' is the first animated feature in Cannes Competition since Ari Folman's 2008 WALTZ WITH BASHIR. It is adopted from Jean-Claude Grumberg's bestselling novel about the Holocaust and WWII. Score by Alexandre Desplat. It will release in France Nov. 20. Voiced by the late Jean-Louis Trintignant with Grégory Gadebois and Dominique Blanc.

Mohammad Rasouloof has previously presented MANUSCRIPTS DON'T BURN and A MAN OF INTEGRITY in Un Certain Regard and his last film, THERE IS NO EVIL (2020), won the Golden Bear in the Berlinale, when he was barred from attending by the Iranian government, which has withdrawn the filmmaker's passport and repeatedly detained him in prison.

To Cannes Premiere has been added MARIA by Jessica Palud, a biopic about Maria Schneider based on the book by the subject's cousin Vanessa Schneider, about the tragic life of the actress who starred opposite Marlon Brando in Bernardo Bertolucci’s LAST TANGO IN PARIS. It costars HAPPENING star Anamaria Vartolomei with Matt Dillon as Brando, also including Alain Attal.

International films joining the Special Screenings lineup include Chinese filmmaker Lou Ye’s untitled documentary feature set against the backdrop of the pandemic; Arnaud Desplechin’s feature SPECTATEURS depicting the filmmaker's youth with ANATOMY OF A FALL child actor Milo Machado-Graner and Mathieu Amalric as his alter ego; and Oliver Stone’s LULA, about Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Added to Un Certain Regard is actress Céline Salette’s directorial debut NIKI, another biopic, about the French-American artist Niki de Saint-Phalle, who is played by Charlotte Le Bon.

Full list of the Cannes additions:

Un Certain Regard
WHEN THE LIGHT BREAKS by Rúnar Rúnarsson
NIKI by Céline Sallette
FLOW by Gints Zilbalodis

Cannes Premiere
VIVRE, MORIR, RENAITRE by Gaël Morel
MARIA by Jessica Palud

Special Screenings
SPECTATEURS by Arnaud Desplechin
NASTY by Tudor Giurgiu
LULA by Oliver Stone
AN UNFINISHED FILM by Lou Ye

Out of Competition
LE COMTE DE MONTE-CRISTO by Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte

Competition
THE MOST PRECIOUS OF CARGOES by Michel Hazanavicius
TROIS KILOMMETRES JUSQU'A LA FIN DU MONDE by jusqu`A Emanuel Parvu
HE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG by Mohammad Rasoulof

[Chris Knipp]

Tsui Hark's classic 1984 comedy SHANGHAI BLUES to be part of this year's Cannes Classics

Hong Kong – April 23, 2024 [From the press release.] – A restored 4K version of Tsui Hark’s SHANGHAI BLUES (1984) will be screened as part of the Cannes Classics program at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.

Set against the backdrop of wartime Shanghai in the 1940’s, the film weaves a poignant love story involving a soldier (Kenny Bee) and a young woman (Sylvia Chang) who vow to meet after the war ends, but circumstances keep making them miss their reunion. The film is a blend of romanticism, satirical wit, and whimsical sophistication that showcases Tsui Hark's skill at fusing genres.

The film has been meticulously restored under Hark's supervision with new grading and new dubbing, with each character speaking in their native dialects - Mandarin, Shanghainese, Cantonese and other from various regions to add an extra layer of authenticity and depth to the entertaining script.

SHANGHAI BLUES has a special place for Tsui Hark as the first film of his production company, Film Workshop, established in 1984 with Nansun Shi. Itr also represents the heyday of Hong Kong cinema.

[Chris Knipp]

Nathalie Emmanuel (in black), Adam Driver (in car), on the set of COPPOLA'S MEGALOPOLIS, Jan. '23. GETTY IMAGES

Is Francis Ford Coppola's MEGALOPOLIS going to be a historic flop - or a sleeper classic?

SOURCE

TRAILER

TEASER

He was aged 80 when he began on it. It was his first film since 2010 when he delivered TWIXT, the third of three "small" (ca. $10 million) commercial failures. He first began writing on it in 1983.

He mortgaged part of his (now successful) Sonoma County vineyards to raise the $150 and it was shot in Augusta, Georgia.

He had long wanted to make this movie. It was a story based on ancient Roman history. Something starring Adam Driver, a struggle to rebuild a destroyed New York-like city.

He invited a handpicked crowd of family and friends and honchos for an exclusive IMAX screening, No US distributor resulted, and reactions were like "experimental," "confusing." Some think a small company like A24 or Neon might pick it up.

Whatever, it's certainly one of the talked-about movies at Cannes. In France response has been more positive: notorious risk-taker Le Pacte has taken it on. Maybe it will be a sleeper, like APOCALYPSE NOW, rejected by the US Press, which co-won the Palme d'Or with Volker Scheendorf's THE TIN DRUM, and eventulaly became acknowledged as a classic after very limited release.


Coppola on the MEGALOPOLIS set.


First official image from MEGALOPOLIS released by Coppola.

[Chris Knipp]

Cannes begins


LÉA SEYDOUX AND APHAEL QUENARD IN QUENTIN DUPIEUX'S LE DEUXIÈME ACTE

LE DEUZIÈME ACTE/THE SECOND ACT (Quintin Dupieux). Opening Night film. An amiable meta comedy that breaks down the fourth wall ("constantly folding in on itself, producing one illusion out of the shell of another") and is unlike Depieux's earlier material because it's got famous actors, Louis Garrel, Vincent Lindon, Léa Seydoux (see Peter Bradshaw's 3 our of 5 star GUARDIAN review, which provides the trailer). It's a lightweight, yet ironic and complex tale - with one of the longest-ever "traveling" (tracking shots) and a great deal of dialogue - of people coming to new roadside restaurant called The Second Act whose first act was probably a gas station, and maneuvering over a woman (Seydoux); her father (Lindon) is coming and her boyfriend (Garrel) wants to turn her over to a new guy (Raphael Quenard). But the point is the actors keep coming in and out of character (see trailer). They are indeed apparently shooting "an unusually banal rom-com" and are disgusted with it, especially Lindon's character. Suzanne Bunburry's DEADLINE review calls this "a layer, bubbly, film world meta-fest" It's not long but Depieux seems to have lost interest before it ends. Voilà: the 2024 Cannes opening is Quentin-sentially French. (P.s.: A French language video review points out this is Dupieux's third feture in less than a year. )

[Chris Knipp]

First films Cannes 2024

DIAMOND BRUT/WILD DIAMOND (Agathe Riedinger)


MALOU KHEBIZI IN DIAMOND BRUT

First-time actor Malou Khebizi is a 19-year-old waitress from Fréjus (French sticks) who dreams of becoming famous in this "stylish but familiar" (Hollywood Reporter) study of the perils and snares of being an online "influencer" that channels "TikTok energy" (Bradshaw, GUARDIAN, 3/5 stars). This is not the first film about the perils of influencer culture to premiere at Cannes, and the director's up-in-the-air ending (does the desperate young protag get the reality show spot or not?) is weak, but there is urgency and a quasi-religious quality to the intimate, loving way she is filmed. (Hollywood Reporter).

[Chris Knipp]

FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA (George Miller 2024)



FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA,World premiered out of competition at Cannes, has gotten generally positive reviews. Somebody wrote it's the best prequel ever. Peter Bradshaw gave it 4 our of 5 stars in his GUARDIAN review and calls it "immersive, spectacular." But David Rooney apologizing for being a grump in Hollywood Reporter says it's " a big step down from Mad Max: Fury Road.". Rooney says: "this fifth installment in the dystopian saga grinds on in fits and starts, with little tension or fluidity in a narrative whose shapelessness is heightened by its pretentious chapter structure." He acknowledges that "Anya Taylor-Joy is a fierce presence in the title role" (as Charlize Theron's character young) and that Chris Hemsworth is "clearly having fun as a gonzo Wasteland warlord" (the comic-evil Dr. Dementus), but he thinks that "the mythmaking lacks muscle," and similarly "the action mostly lacks the visual poetry of its predecessor."

Metacritic's review aggregator, based on 24 critics, has come up with a score of 82%, so there is probably not that big a falling off, but there is some, because FURY ROAD got a Metaceritic rating of 90%.

A TRAILER is being shown in theaters and you can find out for yourself soon, starting next Thursday, May 23, if you are a fan of the "Mad Max" movies.