‘Black Dog' Wins Un Certain Regard [Cannes]

I was on a flight back home when the Un Certain Regard winners were announced.

This year, I saw 10 of the 17 films in this year’s lineup. My personal favorite was Boris Lojkine’s “The Story of Souleymane.” It ended up winning two prizes, the Jury Prize (runner-up) and Best Actor (Abou Sangare). Well deserved.

Chinese director Guan Hu‘s “Black Dog,” which I’m hoping to catch up with this evening, via screener, won the top prize. It’s said to be a hybrid of western, film noir and offbeat comedy with a mutt friendship at its center. The film, about a beat-up loner returning to his desert hometown, after a stint in prison, tells the tale of a damaged man and the greyhound he befriends. Here are some reviews.

Meanwhile, ‘Souleyman, which I hope gets a healthy festival run this fall, is set in Paris and comes to us from French director Boris Lojkine. This was a very moving film, a social drama about a struggling Guinean immigrant, who makes modest cash as an Uber Eats delivery man, frenetically cycling around the city. The film tackles a crucial 72 hours in his life, where he also has to prepare for an asylum application interview.

I jokingly told a friend that ‘Souleymane’ was the best Dardennes film in over 15 years. Lojkine uses the brothers’ iconic handheld camera and injects visceral filmmaking to his story — it’s part socio-realism drama and part thriller. I should also note it bears resemblance, in style and tone, to The Safdies’ “Uncut Gems,” which has quickly become one of the most influential films of the last 10 years.

The Best Director prize was shared by the two filmmakers. I saw the two films, underwhelmed by both. Roberto Minervini won for his talky and poetic, almost Malick-esque, Civil War epic “The Damned,” and Rungano Nyoni, backed by A24, shared the prize with Minervini for her funereal Zimbabwean family drama “On Becoming A Guinea Fowl.”

This was a weak year for Un Certain Regard, especially when compared to last year’s stunning selection of films which included “The Delinquents,” The Settlers,” ‘Animal Kingdom,” “How to Have Sex,” and “Hounds.”

FULL LIST OF UCR WINNERS

Prix Un Certain Regard: “Black Dog,” Guan Hu
Jury Prize: “The Story of Souleymane,” Boris Lojkine
Best Director: Roberto Minervini (The Damned) & Rungano Nyoni (“On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”)
Performance Awards: Anasuya Sengupta (“The Shameless”) Abou Sangare (“The Story of Souleymane”)
Prix de la Jeunesse (Youth Prize): “Holy Cow! (Vingt Dieux),” Louise Courvoisier
Special Mention: “Norah,” Tawfik Alzaidi