CANNES, France (AP) 鈥 Welcome to Cannes. The annual film festival is always a spectacle, but in years. The red carpet unfurls against a backdrop of war and protest. The #MeToo movement, so is now quickly tearing through Festival workers have threatened to strike.
And yet, the usual from around the world are descending upon the French Riviera over the course of two weeks. And so is This year, we're keeping a running diary of life at 鈥 and in 鈥 Cannes. Follow along for an
SUNDAY, MAY 19
Kevin Costner premiered the first part of his Western epic 鈥淗orizon: An American Saga,鈥 the buzzed-about 鈥淓milia Perez鈥 had its press conference and the body horror thriller 鈥淭he Substance,鈥 with Demi Moore, debuted.
鈥 Accepting the Kering Women in Motion award, Universal chief Donna Langley noted she was not like past recipients, such as Michelle Yeoh and Isabelle Huppert, both of whom were among the attendees Sunday night. 鈥淚n many ways, I'm the killer of art,鈥 joked Langley. 鈥淚'm the suit.鈥 The dinner, held beside a former monastery atop the old part of Cannes overlooking the whole city, is one of the swankier affairs of the festival. Part of the fun of this year's gathering was that it reunited, as Cannes president Iris Knobloch noted, the two women behind Langley, who greenlit 鈥淥ppenheimer,鈥 and 鈥淏arbie鈥 director Greta Gerwig. The Cannes jury president fittingly wore pink for the occasion. At a Cannes where , it was a moment to celebrate. Langley, the widely respected studio chief, noted roles like hers 鈥渉ave the power and the privilege to say 鈥榶es.鈥欌
鈥 At the premiere of 鈥淗orizon,鈥 Costner was visibly moved, tearing up during the standing ovation for the first installment of what the actor-director hopes will be four feature films. Surely that emotion was partly due to how much Costner has invested in 鈥淗orizon,鈥 financing some of its $100 million-plus production himself. When I , Costner said he was essentially 鈥渁n independent filmmaker鈥 in Cannes. "I'm here by myself.鈥
鈥 Cannes isn't well known for gory genre movies, but it's gotten a bloody pair of standouts in the last 24 hours. First was No茅mie Merlant's 鈥淏alconnettes," which she scripted with her director . The midnight section entry, a kind of #MeToo 鈥淩ear Window" if it was a horror comedy, is a delirious romp about sexual assault and revenge. Then came the body horror of Coralie Fargeat's 鈥淭he Substance,鈥 in which a middle-aged Hollywood star (Demi Moore), spawns a younger self that her older body must trade places with every week. It's not a subtle satire, nor does it skimp on the gore.
LA CITATION DU JOUR: 鈥淭o get into this kind of film by Jacques, you have to be like Jacques, who鈥檚 a bit mad." 鈥 Karla Sof铆a Gasc贸n, star of on director Jacques Audiard.
SATURDAY, MAY 18
The big premieres Saturday were Jacques Audiard's 鈥淓milia Perez,鈥 Jia Zhang-Ke's 鈥淐aught by the Tides鈥 and 鈥淩umours,鈥 co-directed by Guy Maddin. Meanwhile, the casts of Yorgos Lanthimos' 鈥淜inds of Kindness鈥 and faced the media.
鈥 Standing ovations may be commonplace at Cannes premieres but press screenings here, like in most places, usually pass with without a single clap. That wasn't the case for 鈥淓milia Perez,鈥 which drew a hearty round of applause from even cynical critics and journalists. It's a movie that, on its face, has no right to working. Zoe Salda帽a stars as Rita, a Mexico City lawyer hired by a the kingpin of a drug cartel to help him flee Mexico to have gender confirmation surgery. This turns out to be just the beginning of a relationship that will continue between Rita and Emilia Perez (Karla Sof铆a Gasc贸n), whose wife (Selena Gomez) is also in the mix. Oh, and it's a musical. Here, finally, is a film that can be compared to both 鈥淪icario鈥 and 鈥淢rs. Doubtfire.鈥 Odd as that may sound, the unabashed audacity of 鈥淓milia Perez鈥 is tough to resist. Cannes might have had its first breakout hit from the competition lineup.
鈥 and were speaking to a reporter at the Carlton Hotel when the news broke on their next movie together. It's been just a few months since 鈥淧oor Things鈥 was at the Oscars, and their latest collaboration, 鈥淜inds of Kindness," . But they'll reunite again in 鈥淏ugonia,鈥 for Focus Features, described as being about a kidnapping by a pair of conspiracy obsessives. Joining them this time is Jesse Plemons, a standout in 鈥淜inds of Kindness.鈥 鈥淗e's become part of the family,鈥 Stone said.
鈥 The year's festival has seen some very famous veterans of Cannes back on the Croisette. . Cate Blanchett. None, though, could hold a candle to Baby Annette, who made her triumphant return at the premiere Saturday of Leos Carax's 41-minute 鈥淚t's Not Me.鈥 Carax's 鈥淎nnette," which in recent memory, opened Cannes in 2021. Baby Annette, you might have thought, would never be seen again. And yet she's back, like Chucky. Carried aloft into the premiere, actor Denis Lavant greeted her by gently kissing her hand.
LA CITATION DU JOUR: 鈥淚 embellished it myself with a magic marker. I think the wardrobe people were a little afraid to do too much so I took that burden off their shoulders.鈥 鈥 Paul Schrader, speaking to reporters about who wrote 鈥減eace and love鈥 on the jockstrap worn by Jacob Elordi in a scene during Schrader's 鈥淥h, Canada鈥
FRIDAY, MAY 17
Francis Ford Coppola colorfully faced the media the day after Yorgos Lanthimos debuted his follow-up, 鈥淜inds of Kindness," and his Russell Banks adaptation, 鈥淥h, Canada.鈥
鈥 A mere three months after 鈥淧oor Things鈥 was , Lanthimos and Emma Stone came to Cannes with their third and most provocative collaboration in 鈥淜inds of Kindness.鈥 This film, a triptych of subversive head-scratchers, uses much of the same company of actors 鈥 Jesse Plemons, Margaret Qualley, Willem Dafoe, Mamoudou Athie, Hong Chau and Stone 鈥 across the strange tales revolving around controlling relationships. There are connecting threads and color schemes, but it's striking how, for 167 minutes, Lanthimos and company are emphatically not in awards-movie mode anymore.
鈥 It's been a grand festival for bird movies. After Thursday offered Andrea Arnold's gritty, warm-hearted fable 鈥淏ird,鈥 on Friday, I caught Zambian-British director Rungano Nyoni's 鈥淥n Becoming a Guinea Fowl,鈥 an even more beguiling work of avian-themed cinema. Nyoni's first film, was a Cannes standout in 2017, and her latest confirms her as a thrilling filmmaking talent. 鈥淥n Becoming a Guinea Fowl,鈥 which A24 is distributing, is again deftly playful and darkly comic about quite serious things. In it, arranging a funeral in Zambia unmasks plenty about sexual abuse, patriarchy and family.
鈥 For at least a few hours Friday, both Coppola and Schrader were across from each other on the rooftop terrace of the JW Marriott, separately doing interviews. Rub your eyes and you could rewind 40-plus years. Neither of the New Hollywood legends are much for waxing nostalgic; though. Their focus was on their latest films, or maybe even the one after that.
NOTABLE NUMBER: Four. During the festival, Screen Daily always publishes a daily grid of star ratings from a dozen film critics, providing a good snapshot of how the competition lineup is unfolding. But four days into Cannes, not one of the critics has given a top score 鈥 four out of four stars 鈥 to a single film. That's unusual this far in, but it probably confirms what most have been saying on the ground here: The quality of the movies is down this year. Things can change fast, though. I'd wager the best is yet to come.
LA CITATION DU JOUR: 鈥淭here鈥檚 so many people when they die, they say, 鈥業 wish I had done this, I wish I done that.' When I die, I鈥檓 going to say, 鈥業 got to do this.鈥 I got to see my daughter win an Oscar and I got to make wine and I got to make every movie I wanted to make. I鈥檓 going to be so busy thinking about all the things I got to do that when I die I won鈥檛 notice it.鈥 鈥 Francis Ford Coppola, at the
HONORABLE MENTION: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think I dance. I鈥檓 a bad dancer. I think the beauty of dancing on screen is the effort to try.鈥 鈥 Barry Keoghan, post-"Saltburn," on his moves in 鈥淏ird.鈥
THURSDAY, MAY 16
Just as the first full day of Cannes was dominated by 79-year-old George Miller and 鈥淔uriosa: A Mad Max Saga,鈥 Thursday belong to 85-year-old who unveiled
鈥 There is much more that can be said about the 鈥淢egalopolis鈥 premiere, but one thing worth noting was how much family was central to As he walked the red carpet, he clung to the arm of his granddaughter, Romy (daughter . With him at the premiere were four more family members, including sister Talia Shire. After the screening, as the crowd cheered him, he introduced each. But Coppola, whose last month, left the audience with the message that we are all 鈥渙ne human family.鈥 Flop or not, it was moving.
鈥 As it turned out, 鈥淢egalopolis鈥 wasn't the only fable premiering. Also debuting in competition was 鈥淏ird,鈥 a bleakly naturalistic coming-of-age drama with touches of magical realism. Nykiya Adams stars as Bailey, 12, who encounters a strange drifter (Franz Rogowski). too, but for different reasons. She typically fosters an exuberant collective, mixing professional and non-professional actors. When the cast of 鈥淏ird,鈥 including several young kids, hit the carpet, they had a grand time together.
NOTABLE NUMBER: 45. That's how many of films are now digitized, with a touring retrospective coming this year and next to Paris, London and New York's Lincoln Center. The was in Cannes to screen the restored version of 1969's 鈥淟aw and Order,鈥 in which he observed the routines of Kansas City police officers.
LA CITATION DU JOUR: 鈥淭here鈥檚 certainly other stories there. Mainly because we wrote, in order to tell the story of 鈥楩ury Road,鈥 we had to know the back story of Furiosa and Max in the year before. But I鈥檒l definitely wait to see how this goes before we even think about that.鈥 鈥 Miller, at the press conference A film about Mad Max in the year leading up to 鈥淔ury Road鈥 has been written for some time. Now, we'll see how 鈥淔uriosa," which cost nearly $170 million to make, does when it arrives in theaters next week. The very well received Cannes bow (and a secured release date in China) should help.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15
Cannes properly kicked into high gear with a full slate of films and the high-wattage premiere of The movie's afterparty by the beach was fittingly adorned with both sand and fire, but thankfully no War Boys. (Or is War Boyz?)
鈥 The Cannes red carpet has the potential to mint a glamorous young star, and that was very much the case for She perfectly matched the moment at the 鈥淔uriosa鈥 premiere, posing stylishly and playfully saluting her director. But as much has been made of Taylor-Joy inheriting the role from Charlize Theron, it's worth noting that for a substantial amount of the two-and-a-half-hour film, Furiosa is played as a child by a younger performer, Alyla Browne. And, she, too, is very good. So cheers for both Young Furiosa and Even Younger Furiosa.
鈥 A few standout films premiered in different sections. In competition, Magnus von Horn鈥檚 鈥淭he Girl with the Needle鈥 is an imposingly grim, expressionist black-and-white film about a heinous crime in post-WWI Denmark. It's bleak stuff, but the way the film reserves its most damning judgment for an uncaring society is impossible to shake. Another standout in Critics' Week: Jonathan Millet鈥檚 鈥淕host Trail.鈥 It's an engrossing, mournful detective story about exile, starring Adam Bessa 鈥 a strikingly potent screen presence 鈥 as a Syrian refugee hunting his former torturer in France.
鈥 Something you might not know? The is replaced 鈥 or at least the main bit in the middle 鈥 every few days. Because it's been rainy, the first costume change was Wednesday. That's, undoubtedly, more often than many Cannes journalists clean their formal wear.
NOTABLE NUMBER: 6. No, 7. Nope, 8. Those were the trade report counts for the length of the standing ovation for 鈥淔uriosa.鈥 This whole enterprise is and best dismissed as any kind of real metric. But if we're going to do this, let's at least get an official stopwatch.
LA CITATION DU JOUR: 鈥淔or me, it鈥檚 quite a bizarre time. There鈥檚 so much hate and weird fantasies projected at me. People are looking at me like I鈥檓 a radioactive thing.鈥 鈥 Judith Godr猫che, , who premiered her short 鈥淢oi Aussi.鈥
TUESDAY, MAY 14
is relatively calm and straightforward, as far as Cannes days go. Just one movie premieres. Under gloomy skies, Cannes kicked off with 鈥淭he Second Act,鈥 a French comedy about a group of actors filming a movie directed by artificial intelligence. was given an honorary Palme d'Or. And the jury headed by was introduced.
鈥 Cannes opening ceremonies are brief but singularly surreal. After a clip reel, Gerwig was serenaded with David Bowie's 鈥淢odern Love鈥 by Zaho de Sagazan, an homage to Gerwig's 鈥淔rances Ha.鈥 As the singer made her way from the audience to the stage, Gerwig seemed to be choking back both laughter and tears.
鈥 is talked about with hushed tones because of how good it was 鈥 for the terrific lineup and for the That made Messi, the dog from last year's Palme winner 鈥淎natomy of a Fall," an The border collie, who's been enlisted to shoot daily videos for French TV, frolicked up and down the carpet ahead of the opening ceremony. Cannes has strict rules about formal attire 鈥 women without heels were once turned away. But Messi went
鈥 It's been just over two months since but Gerwig wasn't the only one stepping back into the spotlight. A fellow juror is who said of the Cannes invite: "I thought I just got over my imposter syndrome last year."
NOTABLE NUMBER: Zero. The amount of times Messi soiled the red carpet.
LA CITATION DU JOUR: 鈥淢y mother, who is usually right about everything, said to me: 鈥楳eryl, my darling, you鈥檒l see. It all goes so fast. So fast.鈥 And it has, and it does. Except for my speech, which is too long.鈥 鈥 Meryl Streep
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Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
