An American entry at last year’s “Un Certain Regard” section, Annie Silverstein’s “Bull” wants to be an authentic portrayal of teen angst in a rural and impoverished Texan town. The film is driven by an impressively concise and unemotional performance from Amber Havard, playing the fatherless 14-year-old protagonist, Kris, whose mother (Sara Albright) is behind bars. Grandma (Keeli Wheeler) takes over legal guardian duties, but she can only do so much as Kris has a knack of hanging with the wrong crowd in her south Texan neighborhood.
Read moreCannes 2020: France Bans All Festival Gatherings Until Mid-July ...
Listen, I really want Cannes, still the greatest and most prestigious film festival in the world, to take place in June or July or whenever the Cannes committee’s dated plans are veering towards, but, let’s be realistic here, the chances are getting slimmer by the day that the festival will happen this year..
Read moreCannes Boss Teases That ‘The French Dispatch,' ‘Top Gun 2' and ‘Soul' Would Have Premiered at the 2020 Edition
Venice Film Festival Says There is Absolutely No Chances It Goes Digital in September
First things first, despite the SXSW and Tribeca canceling their live events and partially moving online, Cannes and Venice are different beasts. They are purists at heart, with a very rich and lengthy tradition in celebrating the theatrical experience. There is absolutely no way these festivals would embrace going digital and screening their competition films via a streaming platform. Okay? Get that out of your head. Either these prestigious European festivals happen in-person or will be unequivocally canceled.
Read moreCannes Film Festival Postponed Until Late June
It was inevitably coming, but the Cannes Film Festival has finally announced the postponement of the prestigious event which was set to take place from May 12 to May 23rd.
Read more‘Frankie': Ira Sachs' Rohmer-Inspired Drama Falls Flat [Review]
Sometimes being subtle with your movie can be an overdone trait. Case in point Ira Sach’s latest film “Frankie,” which just premiered in competition at Cannes. This unconventional family gathering takes place by the seaside of Portuguese town of Sintra, which makes this the first time Sachs has managed to shoot a film outside his native New York City. An attempt at evoking Eric Rohmer’s anti-romanticism, “Frankie” falls completely flat
Read more‘Parasite': Bong Joon-ho's Film Feels like Kore-eda on Steroids [Review]
South Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho is more known for genre fare such as “The Host,” “Snowpiercer,” “Memories of A Murder,” and “Okja,” but—and don’t be fooled by its title—in his latest film, “Parasite,” the monsters are all human and even scarier at that.
Read moreWill Quentin Tarantino Re-Edit ‘Once Upon A Time in Hollywood' Before Its Release?
By all accounts, Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood” was met with a distinctive shrug by the Cannes jury, as the Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu-led crew gave the film zero awards during the closing night ceremony. However, American critics seem to really like the movie, judging by its 88 Metascore and a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. And yet, all people seemed to be wanting to talk about, which I refused to cover given how much I loved the film and didn’t want this overshadowing it, was the now-infamous press conference, where Tarantino got visibly upset when someone asked about the film’s “violence against women” and Margot Robbie’s lack of screentime (QT’s now infamous reply “I reject your hypothesis!”).
Read moreSource: Dardennes' ‘Young Ahmed' Almost Won the Palme D'or
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are the most influential European filmmakers of the last 20 years. Their social-realist handheld camera style has become a sort of cliché for the Euro arthouse world, but why complain that the developers of a certain style of filmmaking cannot continue making such films? If their last effort, 2016’s "The Unknown Girl," felt a little off, "Young Ahmed" is no doubt a unique film in their cinematic oeuvre because it tackles a controversial character that feels relevant to 21st century realities.
Read more‘The Wild Goose Lake' Review: Yinan Diao's Gangster Film is All Style No Substance — Cannes
Visual poetry is again on display in Yinan Diao’s “The Wild Goose Lake,” his latest action-noir, following the visually-dazzling 2014 Berlinale-winning, “Black Coal, Thin Ice.”
Read more‘The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao’ Wins Un Certain Regard — Cannes
Un Certain Regard Award: Karim Ainouz, “The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao”
Jury Prize: Oliver Laxe, “The Fire Will Come”
Best Director: Kantemir Balagov, “Beanpole”
Best Performance: Chiara Mastroianni, “On a Magical Night”
Un Certain Regard Heart Prize: Michael Angelo Covino, “The Climb” & Monia Chokri, “A Brother’s Love”
Special Jury Prize: Albert Serra, “Liberte”
Special Jury Mention: Bruno Dumont, “Joan of Arc”
‘Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo' Review: Abdellatif Kechiche's Male-Gazing Shocks Cannes
Abdellatif Kechiche‘s “Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo” is a 212-minute cinematic revolution. It means to destroy our notion of what a movie should be in 2019, and the fact that the film was included in Cannes competition is a message in itself from Thierry Fremaux and the gang.
Read more‘Matthias & Maxime' Review: Xavier Dolan's Return to Quebec Cinema Misses the Mark — Cannes
30-year-old Xavier Dolan, returns to his native Quebec for “Matthias & Maxime.”
Read more‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood' Review: Tarantino's Latest is Brilliant, Ambitious and Personal Filmmaking —Cannes
Quentin Tarantino was just 6 years old and living in Los Angeles when Charles Manson sent his gang of toxified flower children to murder Tate and four others at the home she shared with husband Roman Polanski. At the time of her death, she was eight-and-a-half months pregnant. There is absolutely no chance that Tarantino doesn’t remember that time, even at a young age. The Manson murders are credited as changing the landscape of American society and culture.
Read moreFox Searchlight Lands Terrence Malick’s World War II Drama ‘A Hidden Life' for $14M — Cannes
Fox Searchlight has just nabbed the rights to distribute Terrence Malick's "A Hidden Life," a film so perplexing that even at the "high-brow" Cannes Film Festival there were hundreds of walkouts at the initial press screening on Monday afternoon. Don’t believe me? I was there. The film itself is incredibly problematic — you can read my review of it here. Regardless, this shows Fox must be in don’t-give-a-damn mode when it comes to buying, a now-or-never attitude towards nabbing a few Oscars before they are officially Disney property next year. However, Malick's latest film might not do it for them.
‘Portrait of A Lady on Fire' Review: Celine Sciamma's Triumph — Cannes
Sexual self-discovery is at the rendezvous in Celine Sciamma’s “Portrait of A Lady on Fire,” a sumptuously made 121 minute triumph which simmers with slow-burn until it breaks your heart tenth fold. It is, as we speak, the leading contender to win the Palme D’or next weekend in what has been a Cannes filled with Good movies, but not great ones.
Read moreNew Roman Polanski Film Gets Secret Presentation, U.S. Buyers Don't Show Up — Cannes
Shame on whoever didn’t send me an email invitation which read "Confidential" in the subject line today.
Read more‘A Hidden Life' Review: Terrence Malick's Comeback Will Have to Wait— Cannes
I had hoped that Terrence Malick‘s “A Hidden Life” would finally be the movie to bring the auteur back into tip-top shape, after a trio of bad movies (“To the Wonder,” “Knight of Cups,” “Song to Song”), however, alas,that is not the case. The story of Franz Jagerstatter (August Diehl), the Austrian farmer that refused to fight for the Germans during World War II, is fascinating one, but Malick decides to self-indulge yet again; Clocking in at close to three hours, the film is an hour too long. Someone really needs to tell him to hire an actual editor,
Read more‘Little Joe' Review: An Allegory to Our Prozac Nation Falls Flat — Cannes
I would love to go into detail about Jessica Hausner's "Little Joe," but here I am, it's 3 in the morning, I just saw a screening of Stanley Kubrick's restored "The Shining," in 4K no less. Alfonso Cuaron was there to present it alongside Kubrick's daughter Vivian and his second in hand Leon Vitality.
Read more‘Atlantics' Review: Ghosts Are All Over This Senegalese Feature — Cannes
After a successful jaunt in acting and directing short films, french actress-writer-director Mati Diop returns to Senegal for her first feature-length movie “Atlantics.” Coincidentally, this is also the first film directed by a black woman to compete in Cannes' main competition. Maybe that’s why the reviews have been positive for this middling movie, a complete and utter slog.
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