The 78th annual Cannes Film Festival is upon us, which means the first signs of Oscar players are coming out. Last year’s Palme d’Or winner, Anora, won Best Picture, while The Substance, Emilia Perez, The Apprentice, and The Seed Of The Sacred Fig would also play onwards towards the Oscars this past March. We even have David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds finally out for release now, a year after playing at Cannes. Jury head Juliette Binoche and her fellow artists will watch nineteen films listed in competition, with films by Scarlett Johansson (in her directorial debut), the Dardenne Brothers, Sebastian Leilo, and Robin Campillo appearing, the latter with his film Enzo as the opener for the festival. Here are some other notable films coming at Cannes.
Alpha – Dir. Julia Ducournau
Four years after winning the Palme d’Or for Titane, Julia Ducournau is back and entering a deep, dark era in a city affected by the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. The film follows a young girl whose classmates spread rumors that she’s been infected with the new disease, and returns home one day with a new tattoo. Tahir Rahim, Emma Mackey, and Golshifteh Farahani star in Ducournau’s dark tale of innocence tested in a dystopian setting.
Eddington – Dir. Ari Aster
Moving into a modern Western during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ari Aster follows his horror-surrealist films with this battle between a Sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix), who seeks higher aspirations, and the Mayor (Pedro Pascal), who seems immovable. Emma Stone, Austin Butler, Luke Grimes, and Clifton Collins Jr. co-star in this dark satire of masking politics and the civil war among neighbors. Ah, those days were “fun.”
Highest 2 Lowest – Dir. Spike Lee
Lee’s long-awaited remake of Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low features Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, Ice Spice, and ASAP Rocky in the story of a kidnapping and ransom that a businessman must make for the sake of his employee. It may be shown out of competition, but we all know Spike Lee has a special vision for crime dramas like Inside Man and 25th Hour. Let’s just hope it’s a lot better than his awful retelling of Oldboy.
Nouvelle Vague – Dir. Richard Linklater
It only makes sense that a biopic about the making of Breathless makes its debut at Cannes as Jean-Luc Godard joined the cinema revolution of the French New Wave. Entirely in French, Zoey Deutsch takes the role of actress Jean Seberg with the all-French cast including Guillaume Marbeck (as Godard) and Aubry Dullin (as Jean-Paul Belmondo). Linklater has shot the film in black-and-white in keeping with the New Wave style, and I expect it to be very much a tribute with all the jump cuts and jazzy music in the movie.
The Phoenician Scheme – Dir. Wes Anderson
In his follow-up to his Oscar-winning short The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar, Wes Anderson once again brings his zany ensemble piece style to Cannes with a story of money, scheming, and planned killing. Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Mia Threapleton, and many others take part when a wealthy businessman is sought out by many to steal his riches after assigning his daughter, a nun, to take over his estate in the event of his death.
Sentimental Value – Dir. Joachim Trier
Four years after his brilliant The Worst Person In The World, Trier is back along with Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Elle Fanning, and Cory Michael Smith. The story follows an acting family in Oslo and the house they have lived in for many decades, which results in two sisters having to deal with their father following their mother’s death. While doing so, the father, a filmmaker looking to make his comeback, shoots his next movie with a Hollywood actress, a role meant for his estranged daughter.
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