Cannes 2021 favorites – art & culture
The Cannes jury headed by American director Spike Lee will select his Palme d’Or on Saturday, and the competition is wide open, in part thanks to a backlog of films postponed by the pandemic.
Here are some of the movies that are making the buzz and what some of the world’s biggest moviegoers have to say about them:
– ‘The French Dispatch’ –
The latest Wes Anderson, about expatriate journalists in the fantastic French town of Ennui-sur-Blase, is Everything You Love or Hate about The King of Eccentricity, dialed up to 11.
“The level of detail that adorns the screen will leave you speechless,” said The Playlist, while Spaniard El Pais called it “no funny joke of a clown.” Ouch! The BBC nailed it: “There is nothing quite like ‘The French Dispatch’, apart from the other Anderson films, of course.”
– ‘Titanium’ –
Cannes always needs a shock festival and that insane story of a woman getting brutal revenge, while having sex with cars, was she.
Critics have been shocked, especially in a good way. “All the way back I noticed my teeth chattering from the adrenaline,” Vulture said, while UK magazine Little White Lies said it was a “heady mix of fat, blood and gasoline “.
– “The worst person in the world” –
Norwegian Joachim Trier combines the joy of mature female and romantic comedy with flawless emotional drama, and made lead actor Renate Reinsve an overnight star.
Variety described it as “just lovely (with) his own bittersweet poetry” while the British Daily Telegraph critic used a quote from the film to describe his feelings on Twitter: “Pretty cerebral, but it turns me on. too”.
– ‘Paris, 13th arrondissement’ –
A very gendered and keenly observed take on modern love is new ground for Frenchman Jacques Audiard, but The Telegraph said it was “fabulous and heady stuff – one of the best films of a big Cannes” .
French magazine Premiere said it was “romantic and connected to the present moment, but also like a meeting of past classics ‘Chungking Express’ and (Woody Allen) ‘Manhattan’ – love at first sight”.
– ‘Red rocket’ –
US independent director Sean Baker takes gold with little-known actor Simon Rex as a Motormouth pornstar trying to find success in a small town in Texas.
Although the character is a monster, the movie “never loses its vibrancy or biased humor” and is a “loud good time,” Variety wrote, while IndieWire called it “a Roman candle from a movie. who wonders if America’s pathological narcissism will ever burn itself down. “
– ‘Annette’ –
France’s mad genius Leos Carax will always be a big divide for audiences, but his star-studded English debut on a celebrity couple (Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard) and their odd daughter was one of the early favorites for the Palme d ‘Gold.
Télérama in France called it “flamboyant rock opera” and Le Monde “heartbreaking and inspired”. In contrast, Vanity Fair said it was a “dull and long – really long – smoothing piece of self-esteem.”
– ‘Benedetta’ –
Lesbian nuns in a 17th-century convent had to attract attention, especially when critics saw how they used a portable statue of the Virgin Mary.
The playlist found him “a hoot, but … it’s not particularly penetrating,” while Deadline argued that he mixes “brash and outrageous vanities with serious intelligence.” The Guardian was unimpressed, warning that Dutch director Paul Verhoeven “might have to make contrite whispers in the confessional for this one”.
– ‘Nitrame’ –
A late contestant, previewed on the last day of the festival, this grim tale of Australia’s last mass shooting in 1996 (sparking sweeping gun law reforms) was a controversial topic in his country, but won over critics in Cannes.
Not for the faint-hearted, Variety likened it to “watching a lighted fireworks display burn in your hand towards its gunpowder base, unable to let go, pierced by its cracking sparks.”
– ‘Beautiful’ –
One of the best pieces of advice played outside of the main competition but is already considered an Oscar contender: Japan’s Mamoru Hosoda’s latest animation follows the emotional roller coaster life of a shy teenage girl in a 21st century version of ” The beauty and the Beast”.
He received a 14-minute standing ovation this week and The Hollywood Reporter said his “wildly imaginative future takes your breath away.”