This was a Cannes Film Festival that reignited my love for the movies. Sure, the lineup wasn’t on-par with the remarkable 2016, 2018 and 2019 editions of the festival, but its main goal was met: to reboot le septième art. And, it worked. Oh, so wonderfully. To be surrounded again by friends, old and new, to again be at the mecca of the medium, no words could describe how important and vital this 74th edition of the festival was to rev back up the engine again.
Of course, like any of the previous years of Cannes, everywhere you looked there were films that you wanted to catch. That means that I didn’t manage to sneak in all the worthy titles into my schedule. No worries, I ended up seeing 38 films and I’ve narrowed them down to the 10 best (in alphabetical order):
Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven)
“Absolute Verhoeven. Erotic, violent, religiously sinful and absurdist. You have never seen a movie quite like this one. It's a feminist take on Christ and Verhoeven makes sure to stuff his film with just about every obsession he's had the last forty years.” - Read More
Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Love)
“This semi-autobiographical, dreamy and therapeutic, account of Hansen-Løve's romantic disillusionment has a lyrical sensibility and meditative approach that the French filmmaker hasn't been able to nail until now.” - Read More
France (Bruno Dumont)
“A nihilistic portrayal of humanity through the eyes of a clinically depressed journalist. A Lynchian score by composer Christophe seems so out of place, but only adds to the dramatic ambiguity of Dumont's vision.” - Read More
A Hero (Asghar Farhadi)
“Farhadi, with his calm camerawork, does seem to be implying that whatever celebrated heroes we may find on social media should be taken with a grain of salt. Reality gets skewed and manipulated for the benefit of various different entities.” - Read More
Nitram (Justin Kurzel)
“Powerful filmmaking. Caleb Landry Jones gives a performance worthy of awards — he’s a ticking time-bomb waiting to explode at any moment with shades of Joaquin Phoenix in The Master. Justin Kurzel’s best film is absolute methodical and brilliant filmmaking.”
Red Rocket (Sean Baker)
“The setting, characters, but, really, the entire mise-en-scene, feels alive with cinematic possibilities, creating an unpredictable nature to the entire narrative” - Read More
Titane (Julia Ducournau)
“Julia Ducournau is trying to go balls-out bonkers here, raising the insanity levels to 11. She has reinvented cinematic body-horror via a combination of Cronenberg, motor fuel and sex. It's really singular, shocking, repulsive and incendiary stuff.” - Read More
The Souvenir Part II (Joanna Hogg)
“In a terrific performance from Byrne, she captures the muse-like essence needed for Hogg. This is very much a meta work through and through. An experience about an experience about an experience. And it is thoroughly filled with these gentle, painful and joyous memories Hogg must have lived through in her twenties.”
Vortex (Gaspar Noe)
“Gaspar Noe's slowest movie is also his most mature effort to date. A taut depiction of old age and death. This is an oddly accessible film from the Argentine-born filmmaker. In fact, the most Noe-esque experiment here might be the way the story is told via split screens, showcasing us the dueling daily rituals of the husband and wife.” - Read More
Daniel Kaluuya took a sabbatical from acting back in 2022. There have been many theories as to why, but the important thing is he’s finally back, starring in this fall’s Chris Rock-directed “Misty Green.”