It’s been a whirlwind 12 days in Cannes. Inspiring, frustrating, filled with fun, films, and new friends. It’s hard to sum up my experience at the Cannes Film Festival. Overall positive, it was dominated by watching films, 20 in total, plus one classic, and a handful of shorts and VR pieces. I think I spent as much time waiting in line as I did watching films, but the lines are where I met some great people, had interesting conversations, and made new friends.
Instead of writing full reviews of each film I watched, I jotted down my immediate impressions and feelings coming out of the film. If you want detailed reviews of all the in-competition films check out Stephen’s great rundown of the festival here (Stephen and I met in line the first night of the festival and kept crossing paths at various screenings throughout the festival :). I started this post while in Cannes and am finally finishing it a couple weeks later from a lovely coffee shop in Prague.
My reactions in the order that I watched the films (My ranked list at the end).
- The Dead Don’t Die – Jim Jarmusch
- Entertaining, but not the best
- Message was supposed to be obvious, but it was a little too overdone
- Bacurau – Kleber Mendonca Filho & Juliano Dornelles
- WTF!
- Really interesting concept, premise, but slow getting there.
- Gimmicky drone detracts from the quality of the film
- Would love to see this as a TV show
- Bull – Annie Silverstein
- Really enjoyed, a human story, that struck a cord – kind of like Florida project but not as raw and unfiltered
- Issue was animal cruelty within the rodeo culture (first film I can think of that didn’t say “no animals were harmed in the making of this film” at the end.
- Les Miserables – Ladj Ly
- Tight script and editing, powerful end
- Sorry We Missed You – Ken Loach
- This one made me tear up throughout
- Human relatable story
- Family and financial struggle
- The realities of being an independent contractor
- Drama that wasn’t over dramatized
- L’angle Mort (Blind Spot) – Patrick Mario Bernard & Pierre Trividic
- Not relatable character, doesn’t really fully transform
- Fear keeping you in limbo, scared to act, but also scared not to act
- Scared of what it means to lose part of your identity
- Too Old to Die Young – North of Hollywood, West of Hell – Nicolas Winding Refn
- Beautiful colors, cold story
- Seeing only the 4th and 5th episodes made it hard to see the character evolution
- The high-speed chase scene though the desert in an electric car is the highlight
- Someone Somewhere – Cédric Klapisch
- A beautiful, slowly unfolding modern love story
- Love in an urban, digital age and the parallel lives we lead
- Lux Æterna – Gaspar Noé
- Blinding
- Quick sharp banter dueling subtitles
- Loved the triptik style panels/slides/frames
- Les Plus Belles Annees D’Une Vie – Claude Lelouch
- Old age, memory and love
- Love strengthens memory and loss of memory strengthens love
- Nan Fang Che Zhan De Ju Hui (The Wild Goose Lake)
- Some beautiful shots, but WTF
- The Climb – Michael Angelo Covino
- Arthouse Stepbrothers
- Humorously toxic friendship between two Brooklyn hipsters who live in upstate New York
- Really enjoyed this one
- Heard Michael speak at a directors panel, joked that his relationship with his co-lead has become more like their relationship depicted in the film.
- A Hidden Life – Terrence Malick
- A simple story told slowly
- Visualizing emotions
- Painting emotions with visual movement
- Old story, new emotion
- Red 11 – Robert Rodriguez
- For educational purposes
- $7,000 budget
- Two lights
- Creative solutions
- Attended his masterclass, which was wonderful
- “When you strip away the resources, all that’s left is creativity” ~Robert Rodriguez
- Le Jeune Ahmed (Young Ahmed) – Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
- Perpetuates negative Muslim stereotypes around imams radicalizing people
- We see the struggle of a kid trying to find purpose and belonging, but he’s radicalized from the beginning so we really don’t see his struggle
- Gisaengchung (Parasite) – Bong Joon Ho
- Really good. Go see it.
- So happy this won the Palme d’Or
- Sharp, beautifuly shot, Get Out style thriller (but better)
- Roubaix, Une Lumiere (Oh Mercy!) – Arnaud Desplechin
- Starts out strong and then gets mired in one case that personally is not as interesting as the world initially created
- Great performances
- Matthias Et Maxime – Xavier Dolan
- Strong story with unlovable moments and character
- Dolan puts in a great performance, while other characters are 1-dimensional or cliche
- Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo – Abdellatif Kechiche
- Objectifying; 75% of the film is closeups of butts. Doesn’t deserve a view.
- I don’t understand why this is in competition
- Best part was sitting in the very last row and watching people walkout throughout the premiere
- Il Traditore (The Traitor) – Marco Bellocchio
- An enjoyable all around film
Ranked List (my preferences are definitely influenced by where I saw them and who I saw them with, some I’ve probably ranked higher because of the high of being at the premiere (notable exception being Mektoub, My Love which no amount of premiere pull could make me like). I also will admit that I think watching so many films all at once does make you more critical in general. Plus, exhaustion and eye strain from reading subtitles all day added to my criticalness. What a wonderful experience though; I hope to be back next year!
1. Parasite
2. Les Miserables
3. Sorry We Missed You
4. The Climb
5. Lux Æterna
6. Someone Somewhere
7. Bacurau
8. Bull
9. Matthias Et Maxime
10. A Hidden Life
11. The Traitor
12. Les Plus Belles Anne’s D’Une Vie
13. Young Ahmed
14. Too Old To Die Young
15. The Wild Goose Lake
16. The Dead Don’t Die
17. Red 11
18. Blind Spot
19. Oh Mercy
20. Mektoub, My Love
