Cannes Diary 05: "Sirât" derails expectations

by Elisa Giudici

Film festivals remain the last true sanctuary for an endangered species of film experience: going in cold. Armed with little more than a title, director, an evocative still, or a whisper of plot, you surrender to the unknown. The magic of Sirât is that even this meager intel offers no real map for the territory director Oliver Laxe is about to unveil; not even the most seasoned cinephile will be able to predict the journey ahead. The bittersweet truth, however, is that in describing this film, I am surely chronicling an experience that will be increasingly hard to replicate. Like its protagonists, Esteban and Luis, you must lose yourself in Sirât, allowing the unexpected to detonate within you. But can such a pure encounter survive an age where every narrative tremor is seismically registered and dissected online mere hours after a world premiere?

Nevertheless, I'll endeavor to convey the thrill of what has been, for me, the most electrifying jolt in this year's competition...

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Cannes Diary 05: "Die My Love" - A Tale of Two Comebacks

by Elisa Giudici

Die My Love was poised to mark two significant female comebacks, both artists seeking a powerful resurgence. One fully succeeded; the other, decidedly, did not, though pinpointing exactly what went wrong with the latter isn't straightforward.

Let's start with the winning bet: Jennifer Lawrence. After Causeway and No Hard Feelings (films that showcased good performances but had limited media impact), Lawrence has made a comeback worthy of her marquee name. Her performance here is a strong contender for festival awards and, looking ahead, could go far, especially since MUBI has acquired the film for international distribution...

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Happy Cannesiversary to "Dancer in the Dark"!!

by Nick Taylor

Happy (belated) Mother’s Day, everybody!! I did not plan on watching Lars von Trier’s Palme-winning musical tragedy at the break of dawn on May 11th, but sometimes fate gives you a funny little coincidence to make a work of art even more resonant than it would already be. Dancer in the Dark ranked high on the list of films I should absolutely have seen by now, based on literally every aspect of my tastes and personality, and the 25th anniversary of its Cannes premiere made for the perfect excuse to finally check this out . . . .

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Happy Cannesiversary to "In the Mood for Love"!!

by Nick Taylor

We at TFE are wishing a Happy 25th Birthday to Wong Kar-Wai’s melancholic romantic drama In the Mood for Love, which debuted on this day at Cannes. It went home with the Best Actor award and the Technical Grand Prize for its cinematography and editing, and if you ask around there’s a good chance folks would say it still got short-shrifted by Luc Besson’s jury. Its stamp on the cinema firmament, an apex of the sumptuous mood and style Wong made his name on, is beyond reproach. If you haven’t seen it, you’ve almost certainly felt its reverberations in art house cinema writ large, on individual directors like Barry Jenkins, aesthetic blogs or photoshoots, and an entire chapter of Everything Everywhere All At Once. More importantly, if you haven’t seen it then go watch it! Right now! You’re back? Then let’s discuss this masterpiece . . . .

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Cannes at Home: Murder in the Alps, Fire in Galicia, and more!

by Cláudio Alves

I don't know about you, but I can't contain my excitement for SIRÂT.

After Schilinski and Loznitsa had the honor of opening this year's Official Competition at Cannes, the next few days at the fest have seen many another auteur take their bow. Reviews vary wildly, but it seems that Oliver Laxe's Sirât is a winner, while Dominik Moll's Dossier 137 has inspired some of the least enthusiastic reviews coming out of the Croisette. Hafsia Herzi's The Little Sister didn't make much of a splash either, though critics have been kinder to the second French production vying for the Palme d'Or. Finally, nobody's indifferent to Ari Aster's Eddington, a polarizing Cannes premiere if there ever was one. But that's business as usual for the American director, whose works have caused extreme reactions of adoration and revilement ever since Hereditary hit theaters in 2018.

For Cannes at Home, I invite you to revisit Moll's The Night of the 12th, Laxe's Fire Will Come, Herzi's You Deserve a Lover, and Aster's Beau Is Afraid…

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