Despite what was generally regarded as one of the strongest Cannes lineup in many years, George Miller's jury wasn't having the critical consensus. At all. They didn't remotely follow the "buzz" whilst handing out their honors...
Xavier Dolan, Ken Loach, and Jaclyn Jose with their prizes
Live footage of the press room at Cannes after Xavier Dolan's speech and Mel Gibson's entrance. pic.twitter.com/dvRDR8vVpE
— Matthew Eng (@Eng_Matthew) May 22, 2016
Perhaps, after losing the Oscar for MAD MAX, this was all George Miller's roundabout way of saying that awards are bullshit?
— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) May 22, 2016
In a shocking turn of events the single most praised film of the festival (Maren Ade's father/daughter comedy Toni Erdmann) went home empty-handed while one of the most critically trashed efforts (Xavier Dolan's It's Only the End of the World) nearly won the Palme, taking home the Grand Jury Prize aka Runner Up. It's yet another reminder that Cannes has a strangely consistent 'get in line!' dictum despite what should prevent that: the ever shifting jury.
Cannes loves Brillante Mendoza but strangely, considering his auteur status, he's never been submitted by The Philippines for the Oscar raceBasically filmmakers work their way up to a Palme d'Or by winning several other prizes first. Andrea Arnold seems to have been blocked at the Jury Prize level though (she's won that before) but Xavier Dolan keeps moving up so he'll be winning the Palme fairly soon. Strange world. But not the End of it, despite the wailing of critics who attended this year.
Competition Jury
Palme D'Or Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake (UK)
Grand Jury Prize Xavier Dolan's It's Only the End of the World (Canada)
Jury Prize Andrea Arnold's American Honey (UK)
Director (tie) Olivier Assayas for Personal Shopper (France) and Cristian Mungiu for Graduation (Romania)
Best Actress Jaclyn Jose for Ma Rosa (The Philippines)
Best Actor Shahab Hosseini for The Salesman (Iran)
Screenplay Asghar Farhadi, The Salesman (Iran)
Un Certain Regard Jury
Winner Juho Kuosmanen's The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki (Finland)
Jury Prize Kôji Fukada's Harmonium (Japan)
Director Matt Ross for Captain Fantastic (US)
Screenplay Delphine Coulin & Muriel Coulin for The Stopover (France/Greece)
Special Prize Michael Dudok de Wit's The Red Turtle (Japan)
Divines is a female buddy movie and gangster thriller combined
Camera D'or Jury
Camera D'or Houda Benyamina's Divines (France)
Cinéfondation Jury
Winner Or Sinai's Anna (Israel)
2nd Prize Hamid Ahmadi's In the Hills (UK/Iran)
3rd prize Nadja Andrasev's The Noise of Licking (Hungary)
"Dogs" from Romania keeps getting "No Country For Old Men" comparisons
Juries to the Side (Not Officially Affiliated with Cannes but Traditions Nonetheless)
Palm Dog "Nellie" from Jim Jarmusch's Paterson (US)
Ecumenical Jury Xavier Dolan's It's Only the End of the World (Canada)
Queer Palm (Feature): Sébastien Lifshit's Les Vies de Thérèse (France)
Queer Palm (Short): Anna Cazenave-Cambet's Gabber Lover (France)
FIPRESCI (Competition): Maren Ade's Toni Erdmann (Germany)
FIPRESCI (Un Certain Regard): Bogdan Mirica's Dogs (Romania)
FIPRESCI (Directors Fortnight/Critics Week): Julia Ducornau's Raw (France)