Cannes 2021: Spike Lee Didn’t Like ‘Drive My Car’ and ‘Memoria’ … Blocked Them From Winning Big Prizes

Last July’s Cannes Film Festival was a historic one. Especially when you look at what’s happening right now around the world — with the Berlinale most likely going virtual, and Sundance doing the same.

Last month, I broke the news that Jury President Spike Lee wanted Asghar Farhadi “A Hero” to win the Palme d’Or. He also wanted to reward Catherine Corsini’s “La Fracture.” How the jury decided on Julia Ducournau’s “Titane” remains a total mystery to this day, but it does look as though it was a compromise pick by them — they all either liked or loved it, so they gave it the top prize.

Now I’m reading that Spike Lee was very much against Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” winning to the point that he blocked it from getting a top prize, like quite a few jurors would have liked. Hamaguchi’s film settled for the Screenplay prize. Lee’s vocal opposition was further expanded with his dislike for “Memoria” and “Ahed’s Knee.” Spike didn't like any of these films. He preferred “A Hero”, “Nitram” and “La Fracture”.

I’m not that surprised. This goes well with what I’ve been hearing for a few months now.

Cannes 2021 felt like a rejuvenation of cinema, albeit a short-lived one, and we really don’t know how things will be come its next edition, so let’s just embrace the fact that it delivered many of the year’s most acclaimed movies; “Memoria,” “Red Rocket,” “Drive My Car,” “The Worst Person in the World,” “Annette,” “Bergman Island,” “France,” “The French Dispatch,” and, of course, “Titane.”