A few updates on the Cannes 75 lineup.
Ira Sachs’ “Passengers” won’t be ready. Poor Ira, he really wanted to go back and make up for the lacklustre showing of his last competition film, “Frankie.” If it were up to me, I’d submit the film for a New York Film Festival world premiere, but it’s inevitable that, if the film is any good, Venice will snatch it up.
There are also unconfirmed talks for George Miller’s “Three Thousand Years of Longing” to open the festival on May 17th. That would make sense since Miller’s film is said to be about storytelling. As it stands, I can’t think of any other title opening Cannes, maybe a hotly-buzzed French film?
The big news is that Ari Aster’s “Disappointment Blvd” is now a possibility for competition. A24 might make a splash on the croisette in May with both Aster and Kelly Reichardt’s “Showing Up” vying for the Palme d’Or. I’m being told that Aster’s film is ready. Another potential A24 could also come in the form of Joanna Hogg’s “The Eternal Daughter,” maybe in Director’s Fortnight?
Meanwhile, Brandon Cronenberg’s “Infinity Pool” will not be ready on time. Sometimes “not ready on time” for Cannes means a film has been rejected, but I’ll give Brandon the benefit of the doubt here since he’s coming off the best-reviewed movie of his young career, “Possessor.”
Just answering a few email inquiries, I haven’t heard much about Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking.” It would make sense for it to be included in Cannes 75, but I just don’t have the intel to back up any speculating for now.
UPDATE 03.23.22
Broker — Hirokazu Kore-eda
Triangle of Sadness — Ruben Ostlund
Decision to Leave — Park Chan-wook
Bardo - Alejandro Gonalez Inarittu
Armageddon Time — James Gray
Crimes of the Future — David Cronenberg
Showing Up — Kelly Reichardt
Tori et Lokita — Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
Scarlet — Pietro Marcello
R.M.N — Cristian Mungiu
The Son — Florian Zeller
École de l’air — Robin Campillo
Tchaikovsky’s Wife — Kirill Serebrennikov
The Whale — Darren Aronofsky
Music — Angela Schanelec
Close — Lukas Dhont
Frere et Soeur — Arnaud Desplechin
Eureka — Lisandro Alonso
Misanthrope — Damian Szifron
Holy Spider — Ali Abassi
Saint-Omer — Alice Diop
The Eternal Daughter — Joanna Hogg
Le Lyceen — Christophe Honoré
Other People’s Children — Rebecca Zlotowski
Three Thousand Years of Longing — George Miller
Don Juan — Serge Bozon
MYSTERIOUS QUESTION MARKS
Untitled — Jia Zhangke Project
Untitled — Jean-Luc Godard
The Zone of Interest — Jonathan Glazer
The Perfumed Hill — Abderrahmane Sissako
Revoir Paris — Alice Winocour
Nope — Jordan Peele
Women Talking — Kelly Reichardt
The ‘Smile’ franchise has a new director. David Bruckner, who made “The Night House” and the 2022 “Hellraiser” reboot, has been hired to direct “Smile 3” for Paramount.