I’ll watch just about anything filmmaker Steve McQueen does. I remember being floored by his 2008 debut “Hunger.” The brilliant promise he exuded on that film eventually led to “12 Years A Slave,” “Shame,” “Lovers Rock” and “Mangrove.”
I’m looking forward to seeing McQueen’s “Occupied City” — a WWII doc told via the perspective of occupied Amsterdam. It’s set to premiere next weekend at the Cannes Film Festival.
With a $5M+ budget, this isn’t your average doc, it’s also being produced by A24. Based on Cannes’ official synopsis of the film, it seems to be more than just about war:
The past collides with our precarious present in Steve McQueen’s bravura documentary Occupied City, informed by the book Atlas of an Occupied City (Amsterdam 1940-1945) written by Bianca Stigter. McQueen creates two interlocking portraits: a door-to-door excavation of the Nazi occupation that still haunts his adopted city, and a vivid journey through the last years of pandemic and protest. What emerges is both devastating and life-affirming, an expansive meditation on memory, time, and where we’re headed.
The Cannes’ website lists the film at a whopping 262 minutes. Yes, that’s 4 hours and 22 minutes.
The festival is quite chaotic in that you hop from one screening to the next without much room for a snack or coffee — not to mention having to write reviews and blog entries. I’m already wondering how I’ll fit this one into my schedule.
McQueen also has his WWII film “Blitz,” starring Saoirse Ronan in post-production. We have no idea if it’ll even be released this year. One only hopes we get two films from him in 2023.
James Gray is taking aim at the instant gratification that's infected film discourse, including social media first reactions, and Letterboxd. Oh, and he hates Rotten Tomatoes.