I saw roughly a dozen Un Certain Regard titles this year. Unlike last year, there weren’t many good ones—even among some of the films awarded this evening at Salle Debussy.
Ahead of Saturday’s main awards ceremony, Cannes handed out its Un Certain Regard prizes, with the top honor going to Chilean filmmaker Diego Céspedes “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” an overcooked romp.
Set in a remote Chilean mining town in 1982, ‘Mysterious Gaze’ follows 12-year-old Lidia, the only girl in a community gripped by fear as a mysterious illness spreads. When gay men are blamed for transmitting it through their eyes, Lidia sets out to uncover the truth.
Harry Lighton’s “Pillion” took Best Screenplay. The BDSM queer romance starring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård left a mark for its audacity.
The Jury Prize went to “A Poet,” Simón Mesa Soto’s idiosyncratic character study shot in textured 16mm. The film had a hilarious non-professional lead, Guillermo Cardona, playing a failed poet, who felt like a Robert Crumb sketch come to life.
Tarzan and Arab Nasser won the directing prize for their anthology of stories, “Once Upon a Time in Gaza.” This is sadly the only film I missed of the award winners.
On the acting front, Frank Dillane (“Urchin”) and Cléo Diara (“I Only Rest in the Storm”) shared the performance award. Dillane’s turn as a homeless addict in Harris Dickinson’s gritty debut is the one award this year’s Un Certain Regard jury truly got right — I would have probably given it the top prize as well.
Grand Prize: “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” Diego Céspedes
Jury Prize: “A Poet,” Simón Mesa Soto
Best Screenplay: Harry Lighton, “Pillion”
Best Performance: Cléo Diara, “I Only Rest in the Storm” and Frank Dillane, “Urchin”
Best Director: Tarzan and Arab Nasser, “Once Upon a Time in Gaza”