Movie Enthusiast Issue 31: Who’s going to Cannes next month?
In my last newsletter I forgot to mention that I was planning on taking a short break through the month of April due to travel and holidays. Whoops! To atone for my error, this week we’re just going to play a round of Guess What Movies Are Going to Cannes This Year!
The movies competing for this year’s Palme d’Or will be revealed in a press conference just a week or so away. While we wait for the official announcement, let’s take a stab at guessing who will be in Competition this year! The rules are simple:
No more than 22 films, no fewer than 18
World premieres only (i.e. nothing that has played at another festival or has opened in theaters before the start of the festival can screen in Competition)
No more than 4 French films in Competition
Most major filmmaking regions of the world must be represented
The more major movie stars, the better
No film involving the participation of the Jury President [this year: Pedro Almodóvar] can play in Competition (sorry, ZAMA)
If Michael Haneke has a new movie, he will always, always, always be in Competition
Here we go!
Happy End (France/Austria, Michael Haneke)
The Beguiled (USA, Sofia Coppola)
Dark River (UK, Clio Barnard)
Claire’s Camera (South Korea, Hong Sang-soo)
Wonderstruck (USA, Todd Haynes)
Ismael’s Ghosts (France, Arnaud Desplechin)
Des lunettes noires (France, Claire Denis)
Good Time (USA, Ben and Joshua Safdie)
Okja (South Korea, Bong Joon-ho)
Radiance (Japan, Naomi Kawase)
Loveless (Russia, Andrei Zyagintsev)
Last Flag Flying (USA, Richard Linklater)
Racer and the Jailbird (Belgium, Michaël R. Roskam)
The Square (Sweden, Ruben Östlund)
Abracadabra (Spain, Pablo Berger)
Thelma (Norway, Joachim Trier)
Where Life Is Born (Mexico, Carlos Reygadas)
Foxtrot (Israel, Samuel Moaz)
Nos années folles (France, André Téchiné)
Lean on Pete (UK, Andrew Haigh)
Check back in May to see how many I got right!
I haven’t historically used my newsletter to promote my own work elsewhere on the web, but because I’m short on time this weekend and because I had two articles I’m proud of published last month, now’s as good a time as any to share them!
For BrightWall/DarkRoom, I did a deep dive on Isao Takahata’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. Ever since the movie swept me off my feet when I saw it in theaters back in early 2015, I’ve been mulling it over and trying to place why I think this movie is so good. I really enjoyed doing the research on this piece and putting it out into the world, and I’m thankful for the editors at BWDR for doing such a good job working with me on it (and, uh, for accepting it for publication!); if you want to support independent film criticism, go subscribe!
Meanwhile back at my main gig at The American Conservative, I “reviewed” Terrence Malick’s Song to Song. The scare quotes there are an indication that I was more interested in trying to figure out whether Malick has lost his mind than in giving a thumbs-up/thumbs-down recommendation on the movie, which kind of won me over but is…not my favorite mode that Malick’s been working in…I think? I might still prefer Knight of Cups even though Song to Song treats women better? These are confusing times to be living through so I expect my opinions on Malick’s late-career creative surge will continue to evolve as he continues to make movies.
Movie Enthusiast will return in May.