Cannes 2022, remote notes

[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.
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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.