The French filmmaker, Justine Triet with her fourth feature film, "Anatomie d'une chute (Anatomy of a Fall)" received the Palme d'Or at the close of the 76th Cannes Film Festival. Triet becomes only the third female director to receive this top prize, following Jane Campion in 1993 for "The Piano" and Julia Ducournau (who served on this year's jury) for "Titane" two years ago. The film tells the story of Sandra (Sandra Hüller, best known for the 2016 comedy, "Toni Erdmann"), a German writer living quietly with her French husband (Swann Arlaud) and their young son (Milo Machado-Graner) in a remote town in the French Alps. After the husband is found dead near their home, the death is considered highly suspicious with Sandra becoming a suspect and must prove her innocence.
Jonathan Glazer with his first film in ten years, "The Zone of Interest" won the runner-up award, Grand Prix. The British director based his fourth feature loosely on the book by Martin Amis which examines a commandant of an Auschwitz concentration camp (Christian Friedel) and his wife (Sandra Hüller) as they try to create a comfortable life for their family in a house next to the camp. Tran Anh Hung won Best Director for his work in the French romantic-drama, "La Passion de Dodin Bouffant (The Pot-au-Feu)". Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel star in this 19th century set love story between a gourmet chef and the cook that works for him.
Palme d’Or: "Anatomie d'une chute (Anatomy of a Fall)"
Grand Prix: "The Zone of Interest"
Best Director: Tranh Anh Hung, "La Passion de Dodin Bouffant (The Pot-au-Feu)"
Prix du Jury: "Kuolleet lehdet (Fallen Leaves)"
Best Screenplay: Yuji Sakamato, "怪物 (Monster)"
Best Actress: Merve Dizdar, "Kuru Otlar Üstüne (About Dry Grasses)"
Best Actor: Koji Yakusho, "Perfect Days"
Camera d’Or: "Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell"
Short Film Palme d’Or: "27"
Special Mention: "Far"
After last year's lackluster and downsized season, the slate of the upcoming summer movies appears to be far more potent and energized. We have a large number of sequels and remakes on hand ("Fast X", "The Little Mermaid", "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny", "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning") that are poised to reliably get folks back in theaters and to make some serious cash. But there are even a few intriguing original titles, indies and adult dramas on the way that will hopefully convince adults that it's safe to return to the cinema. Here is my annual spotlight on a few of the summer films that have caught my attention and anticipating their arrival.
All release dates are subject to change:
"YOU HURT MY FEELINGS"
Release date: May 26, 2023
The writer/director, Nicole Holofcener and Julia Louis-Dreyfus have finally reunited with "You Hurt My Feelings" which follows their delightful romantic-comedy for mature adults, "Enough Said" ten years ago. Louis-Dreyfus plays Beth, a successful yet insecure writer who is happily married to Don (Tobias Menzies), a well liked teacher. After discovering that her husband has not been completely honest about his thoughts on the draft of the novel she's been struggling with, Beth spirals out of control, questioning her life and long marriage.
"PAST LIVES"
Release date: June 2, 2023
In this directorial feature film debut by playwright, Celine Song, "Past Lives" looks at close childhood friends in South Korea, Nora (Grace Lee) and Hae Song (Teo Yoo) but are separated once Nora's family relocates to the US. Twenty years later, the two are reunited for one week and while each has moved on to other relationships, their reconnection has rekindled their feelings from the past.
"SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE"
Release date: June 2, 2023
Taking place a year after the events in "Into the Spider-Verse", the animated sequel, "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" has Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) being approached by Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) about completing a mission to save all the various Spider-People in the different universes from the Spot (Jason Schwartzman), a dangerous villain whose body is covered in interdimentional portals that allows him to travel through space and time.
"THE FLASH"
Release date: June 16, 2023
Following multiple delays caused by production setbacks, the COVID-19 pandemic, and several scandals involving the lead actor, "The Flash" is finally ready to reach theaters. Ezra Miller returns as Barry Allen who as The Flash, uses his ability to move at superhuman speed to travel back in time to prevent the death of his mother (Maribel Verdú). But this act traps him in this now altered reality where he gets help from his younger self, an older Batman (Michael Keaton) and the Kryptonian, Kara Zor-El (Sasha Calle) to save this world from the regenerated General Zod (Michael Shannon) and then attempt to get him back to his proper place in time.
"NO HARD FEELINGS"
Release date: June 23, 2023
Jennifer Lawrence returns in the raunchy comedy, "No Hard Feelings" playing Maddie, a young woman suffering from some financial troubles. When her car gets repossessed, this creates a major problem for her as she was only making ends meet as an Uber driver. Desperate for work, Maddie answers an ad by parents (Matthew Broderick, Laura Benanti) that want to hire a woman to "date" their teenage son (Andrew Barth Feldman) who shows no interest in dating or sex. I laughed out loud a couple of time just watching this trailer so I think this should be fun. This is director, Gene Stupnitsky's follow-up to his teen coming-of-age comedy, "Good Boys" from 2019.
"BARBIE"
Release date: July 21, 2023
Based on the most famous doll in the world, "Barbie" is the first live-action movie of this iconic toy. Margot Robbie brings this plastic fashion doll to life and Ryan Gosling play Barbie's boyfriend, Ken. Not too much has been revealed about the story but it's set in Barbieland with Barbie setting off to the real world after being told she's less than perfect. Greta Gerwig has co-written (with her partner, filmmaker Noah Baumbach) and directed this comedy-fantasy and has attracted an impressive cast. Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Hari Nef and pop-singer, Dua Lipa play various Barbies; Simu Liu and Kingsley Ben-Adir as different Kens; Will Ferrell as a toy company CEO and Helen Mirren as the narrator.
"STRAYS"
Release date: August 23, 2023
"Strays" may feature cute, live animals animated with CGI but this crude comedy is strictly for adults. After a Border Terrier named Reggie (Will Ferrell) discovers from a group of stray dogs lead by Bug (Jamie Foxx) that he was actually abandoned by his hateful owner, Doug (Will Forte) and not lost, he plots revenge against him. And the film features the additional voices of Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Josh Gad and Sofia Vergara. Josh Greenbaum ("Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar") directs.
Where & When: AMC The Grove 14, Los Angeles, CA. March 19, 2023 4:00pm
Having appeared in well over one hundred feature films, which doesn't even include several short films, numerous stage performances, largely with the experimental theater troupe, the Wooster Group which he co-founded, and voice-over work that ranges from documentaries to video games, Willem Dafoe has been one busy actor. Since his breakout appearance in "To Live and Die in LA" in 1985 which lead to his star-making role in Oliver Stone's Vietnam war drama and Best Picture winner, "Platoon" (and earned the actor his first Oscar nomination), Dafoe has made an impression in a diverse slate of films, ranging from dramas ("The Last Temptation of Christ", "Mississippi Burning", "The English Patient", "The Florida Project"), action flicks, ("Clear and Present Danger", "John Wick"); Wes Anderson comedies ("The Grand Budapest Hotel", "The French Dispatch" and his upcoming, "Asteroid City"), animated features ("Finding Nemo", "Fantastic Mr. Fox") and super-hero movies (appearing in the first "Spider-man" trilogy and "Aquaman").
With his latest, "Inside", Dafoe plays a thief who ends up trapped in the house he's trying to steal priceless works of art. And while the actor, who is nearly all we see during the one hundred- and five-minute running time, is reliably compelling as the corrupt character trying to escape this luxurious prison, the narrow focus of the narrative from first-time filmmaker, Vasilis Katsoupis keeps this film feeling airless and stagnant.
We first see Nemo (Dafoe), disguised as a handyman, breaking into a high-rise penthouse, communicating with his partner-in-crime as they briefly override the security system. Knowing exactly which works of art he plans to take, paintings by Austrian Expressionist, Egon Schiele, he discovers one is missing from it's usual location. Running out of time, Nemo attempts to leave with what he can find but an error trips up the security, locking the apartment down. With his partner ending communication, Nemo is now on his own to find a way out.
For the rest of "Inside", we simply watch Nemo try to escape this expansive dwelling, a sterile environment filled with precious objects and substantial contemporary art, all secured with state-of-the-art technology that includes automated systems to keep what is living (plants, fish) in the home alive. This home has effectively become an impenetrable fortress: no way in and no way out. The refrigerator is virtually empty, a clear sign that no one is coming home anytime soon and that meals are rarely eaten here.
As Nemo's time in this house turns from hours to days to weeks to possibly months, he shifts from fierce determination to extreme desperation, eventually approaching something close to serene acceptance. Nemo suffers severe injuries trying to escape when stacking furniture to reach the skylight. The heating system is broken, going from sweltering heat to frigid cold. After eating all he can from the fridge, he resorts to choking down dog food and fish from the aquarium. And frustrated when he can see the building's housekeeper outside the door through security cameras, but she can't hear his cries for help because she is wearing headphones.
The question is what are we supposed to take away from "Inside"? I suspect we are supposed to feel some sort of compassion for Nemo's dire plight, but he did break into this house in order to steal valuable art, making it hard to feel much sympathy for his situation. We don't learn much about Nemo beyond, through a flashback, that he was acquainted with the home's owner. But we do know that art is very important to Nemo, revealing this at the beginning of the film in voice-over, convinced that art is all that will truly last. During his time trying to escape, left with nothing more than his frayed, deteriorating thoughts, the isolation forces him to consider his mortality which in turn, inspires his own creativity. This gives Nemo a new sense of purpose, using the walls as a canvas and the broken furnishings to create new transformative works that are meaningful and, in a twisted way, leaves behind his artistic legacy.
With "Inside", director Katsoupis, a Greek filmmaker who was inspired by a stay in a similar New York apartment, has crafted a claustrophobic, cerebral experience that leaves behind a feeling of intense discomfort. Spare in dialogue yet visually energized, the film attempts to comment on how art stimulates us creatively, forcing us to think deeply which might help us become a better version of ourselves. But "Inside" manages to take us only on an underdeveloped artistic consideration, never feeling worth the arduous journey.
The 76th annual Cannes Film Festival is set to begin on May 16th through May 27th. With the legendary French actress, Catherine Deneuve featured on this year's promotional poster, using a photo from the set of her 1968 movie, "La Chamade (Heartbeat)", there are nineteen feature films selected to be screened in competition. Most of these new works are by an impressive list of international filmmakers who have previously appeared at Cannes: Karim Ainouz ("Firebrand"), Wes Anderson ("Asteroid City"), Marco Bellocchio ("Rapito (Kidnapped)"), Wang Bing ("Jeunesse"), Catherine Breillat ("L’Eté Dernier"), Nuri Bilge Ceylan ("About Dry Grasses"), Kaouther Ben Hania ("Four Daughters"), Jessica Hausner ("Club Zero"), Todd Hayes ("May, December"), Tran Anh Hung ("La Passion De Dodin Bouffant"), Aki Kaurismaki ("Fallen Leaves"), Hirokazu Kore-eda ("Monster"), Ken Loach ("The Old Oak"), Nanni Moretti ("Il Sol dell’Avvenire (A Brighter Tomorrow)"), Alice Rohrwacher ("La Chimera") and Wim Wenders ("Perfect Days").
And making their first major appearance on the Croisette in the main competition are Justine Triet with her fourth feature, "Anatomie d’Une Chute (Anatomy of a Fall)"; Ramata-Toulaye Sy, the French-Senegalese filmmaker will premiere with her debut feature film, "Banel & Adama" and Jonathan Glazer, the British director behind "Sexy Beast" and "Under The Skin", will appear for the first time in competition with his latest, "The Zone of Interest", based on the novel by Martin Amis.
Ruben Östlund, the two-time Palme d’Or winner whose most recent film, "Triangle of Sadness" became a worldwide success, has been picked to lead the Main Competition jury. The rest of this year's jurors will include Moroccan director Maryam Touzani; French actor Denis Ménochet; British-Zambian filmmaker, Rungano Nyoni: American actress, Brie Larson; American Actor, Paul Dano; Afghan filmmaker, Atiq Rahimi; Argentinian director, Damián Szifrón and French director, Julia Ducournau.
The festival opens with "Jeanne du Barry", the new film by Maïwenn, the French filmmaker and actor who won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2011 for her film, "Polisse", who also stars in the title role. Based on the life of King Louis XV’s last royal mistress at the Court of Versailles, the film reveals how du Barry came from a working-class background and worked her way up the social ladder using her charm and beauty. This bio-pic features Pascal Greggory, Melvil Poupaud and Johnny Depp, making his first return to the screen in three years (and speaking French), as the King.
The Closing Night Film will be the latest animated faeture from Pixar , "Elemental". This film is set in the world of Element City where the elements of earth, fire, water and air live together in harmony. But when fire, Ember and water, Wade grow close, things become complicated for them because they cannot touch. "Elemental" will be released in US theaters on June 16th and in France on June 21st.
Out-of-Competition screenings will include the world premiere of Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon". Based on the non-fiction book by David Grann, Leonardo DiCaprio stars in this story about a series of murders in the Osage Nation in Oklahoma during the 1920s, committed not long after oil was discovered on tribal land. Harrison Ford returns for the fifth time as his iconic character in "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny". James Mangold directs this latest adventure with Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas and Mads Mikkelsen co-starring. And the Spanish director, Pedro Almodvar makes his second English language project with another short film, "Strange Way of Life". This western focuses on a cowboy (Pedro Pascal) and a sheriff (Ethan Hawke) who were friendly twenty-five years ago when they worked together as hired gunmen. But the cowboy reveals that this reunion is not about catching up on old times.
Quentin Tarantino will attend Cannes Directors’ Fortnight as a guest of honor on May 25th for a special event that will feature a secret screening and a discussion on his views of cinema history that will expand upon his recent book, "Cinema Speculation". And Michael Douglas will receive the Honorary Palme D'Or this year. The American actor, who has been working for over fifty years and appeared in such films as "Fatal Attraction", "The China Syndrome", "Romancing the Stone", "The War of the Roses" and "Basic Instinct", will receive this honor on opening night with a previously unseen documentary, "Michael Douglas, The Prodigal Son" also being screened.
For the latest series by the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles, the complete film retrospective of the Austrian filmmaker, Michael Haneke will be presented beginning on May 4th and running through June 3rd. Haneke, the son of actors, Fritz Haneke and Beatrix von Degenschild, began his career working in the German television industry as a director before making his feature film debut in 1989 with "The Seventh Continent", a drama about the last years of an Austrian family told in three parts.
With his fourth film, "Funny Games" in 1997, Haneke would first become recognized internationally for creating disturbing yet thought provoking cinema. He had originally wanted to set this controversial film in the US but it was not possible at the time. But ten years later, Haneke would do a shot-for-shot remake of "Funny Games" in English and set in America with Naomi Watts and Tim Roth starring.
His subsequent films would also be intriguing and compelling works: "Code Unknown", "The Piano Teacher", "Time of the Wolf", "Caché", "The White Ribbon" (which won Haneke his first Palme d'or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival), "Amour" (which Haneke received a second Palme d'Or and the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar in 2012) and "Happy End", from 2017 which is his last film to date.
These films will be screened on selected dates at the Los Feliz Theatre in Los Angeles and the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. The eighty-one year old Haneke will be involved in a live virtual conversation about his career before the double feature screenings of "The Piano Teacher and "Amour" on June 3rd. Please click below for more information and to purchase tickets:
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