Over 35 critics who attended the 2021 Cannes Film Festival were included in a poll that tabulated their published lists of the best films they saw on the croisette for this 74th edition of the prestigious festival.
Topping the poll was Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winner, “Titane.” A surprising number one, given the fact that it garnered love-hate reactions from critics, but the passion is definitely there it seems for Ducournau’s sophomore effort.
Although most North American press went back home during the final few days of Cannes, late-screened films such as “Memoria” and “Nitram” managed to garner enough votes to respectively finish in 9th and 12th place.
More than 100 films were screened during the festival, but some competition titles that garnered zero notices include Sean Penn’s “Flag Day,” Nanni Moretti’s “Tre Piani,” and Ildikó Enyedi’s “The Story of My Wife.”
RESULTS:
1) Titane (Julia Ducournau)— 20 votes
2) The Souvenir (Joanna Hogg) — 16
3) Red Rocket (Sean Baker) — 16
4) The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier) — 14
5) Benedetta (Paul Berhoeven) — 12
6) A Hero (Asghar Farhadi) — 12
7) Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi) — 12
8) Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Love) — 11
9) Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) — 11
10) The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson) — 9
11) After Yang (Kogonoda) — 8
12) Nitram (Justin Kurzel) — 7
13) Compartment No.6 (Juho Kuosmanen) — 5
14) Ahed’s Knee (Nadav Lapid) — 5
15) The Velvet Underground (Todd Haynes) — 2
15) Vortex (Gaspar Noe) — 3
15) France (Bruno Dumont) — 2
15) Belle (Mamoru Hosoda) — 2
15) Stillwater (Tom McCarthy) — 2
15) Petrov’s Flu (Kirill Serebrennikov) — 2
One Vote Each: Annette, Paris, 13th District, Lingui
CRITICS:
Nicolas Bell (IonCinema)
Alex Billington (First Showing)
Catherine Bray (Film of the Week)
Ben Croll (The Wrap)
Jordan Cronk (Film Comment)
Peter Debruge (Variety)
Matt Donnelly (Variety)
Gregory Ellwood (The Playlist)
Scott Feinberg (The Hollywood Reporter)
Brian Formo (Fandango)
Leonardo Goi (MUBI)
Jean-Jaky Goldberg (Les Inrockuptibles)
Jason Gorber (Slash Film)
Luke Hicks (Film School Rejects)
Wendy Ide (Screen International)
Nate Jones (New York Magazine)
David Katz (The Film Stage)
Eric Lavalee (IonCinema)
Todd McCarthy ( Deadline)
Rafael Motamayor (Collider)
James Mottram (The Guardian)
Iana Murray (Vulture)
Rory O’Connor (The Film Stage)
Tim Robey (The Daily Telegraph)
David Rooney (The Hollywood Reporter)
Jordan Ruimy (World of Reel)
Ramin Setoodeh (Variety)
Adam Solomons (Sight and Sound)
Anne Thompson (IndieWire)
Boyd van Hoeij (The Hollywood Reporter)
And just like that, after Venice and Telluride, the Best Actor race is taking shape, with Andrew Scott (“Elsinore”) and John Malkovich (“Wild Horse Nine”) emerging as major contenders.