Weak Cannes 75 So Far

So far, Cannes has been disappointing. Let’s hope the best titles are back-loaded like last year’s edition. We still have Park, Reichardt, Cronenberg, Kore-eda, Dardenne and Denis left to be screened (among others).

I’ve seen around a dozen films so far and the best ones are James Gray’s “Armageddon Time,” Ruben Ostlund’s “Truangle of Sadness,” and Cristi Mungiu’s “R.M.N.”

Non-competition titles have been fairly lukewarm as well. There’s nothing that I seen that would have merited a complete slot, so Fremaux isn’t really to blame. It just seems as though Fremaux really opened the vault of riches last year with his stacked pandemic edition that there wasn’t as much to choose from this year. Plus, it does look as though the fall will have some major American movies premiering are Venice.

When it comes to the sidebars, there’s one title that keeps getting raved about and it’s Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun” — a gentle and, at times, devastating father-daughter story. It’s being a tad overpraised, but there’s definitely an emotional maturity to Wells’ voice that makes her a major talent to watch.