by Nathaniel R
Which of the 21 films that Cate Blanchett and her jury are screening, will win the Palme d'Or? It's the most coveted film festival prize in the world and it's always a nail biter even when the prize seems obvious due to the vagaries of jury voting. Only one film will win the Palme but juries are expected to spread the wealth so there's a lot to consider each year among the best-received films when you're talking "winners" since acting prizes, writing, and special prizes await us next weekend. Juries have been known to surprise by handing a random award here or there to a film that critics didn't like at all... or ignoring some obvious giant especially in the two acting awards. So in other words, take the "Cannes sensation!" reviews with a block of salt because you never know.
Not all of the 21 films have screened yet but these 4 look like contenders of some sort to us from our vantage point across the Ocean...
Ash is Purest White
Jia Zhangke is a cinephile favorite and his latest, a two decade spanning gangster epic about a doomed romance between a mob boss and his dancer girlfriend, has been called "exquisite" by the LA Times and "strange and haunting" by the BBC. Once more we have to wonder if Zhao Tao, Zhangke's wife, is a frontrunner for Best Actress because nearly all the reviews focus on how magnetic she is. She's been a Golden Horse nominee in the past and she's the only Asian actress to ever win the Italian Oscar so (the Donatello) so a Cannes prize would be icing on her prestigious career cake. She won raves for their last film together Mountains May Depart but it failed to pick up any prizes at the festival.
Cold War
Pawel Pawlikowski is already an Oscar winner for his nun drama Ida (2014) and for its long awaited follow-up, he's got himself another critical sensation and potential international hit. Like Ida the film is in black and white but this time it's a romantic drama set in the 1950s. Joanna Kulig who played a singer in Ida stars with handsome actor Tomasz Kot (who was in Poland's Oscar submission Spoor last year). Agata Kulesza, who was so entirely brilliant as the jaded aunt in Ida is in the supporting cast.
Happy as Lazzaro
Italian director Alice Rohracher took Directors Fortnight at Cannes in 2011 and then the Grand Prix in 2014 so she has to be considered a top contender in 2018 given the ecstatic reception her new film received critically. Even if Cate Blanchett's jury isn't looking for a way to reward female filmmakers, as the recent 82 women protest suggests to some, she'd be a contender given her career to date and momentum at this particular festival (directors often have to work their way up through the awards to a Palme). And that's before you even get to the film which is difficult to describe (even skimming reviews I'm not sure of exactly what it is!) which The Guardian describes as "a beguiled fable" and Variety as "ambitious" and "exhilarating". Alba Rohrwacher, who is the director's sister and who you'll remember as Tilda Swinton's daughter in I Am Love or perhaps her Venice winning performance in Hungry Hearts, co-stars in the film. Adriano Tardolo makes his film debut in the titular role.
BlacKkKlansman
Spike Lee's buddy comedy spin on a true story about a black cop infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s received a huge standing ovation and it's Lee's sixth film in competition at Cannes. But let's talk about that one in a minute when we post the trailer.
OF NOTE
There were early rumors online that Eva Husson's Girls of the Sun about a female war battalion fighting against Isis was this year's competition stinker BUT that hasn't quite been the case. It's been enjoying brisk sales (over 16 countries already for distribution) and a warm audience response so might it be a jury curveball of some sort.
THE OTHER COMPETITION FILMS NOT ALL OF WHICH HAVE SCREENED YET
- Asaka I & II (Japan) directed by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
- At War (France) directed by Stéphane Brizé
- Ayka (Kazakhstan) directed by Sergey Dvortsevoy
- Burning (South Korea) directed by Lee Chang-dong
- Capernaum (Lebanon) directed by Nadine Labaki
- Dogman (Italy) directed by Matteo Garrone
- Everybody Knows (Spain) directed by Asghar Farhadi
- The Image Book (France) directed by Jean-Luc Godard
- Knife and Heart (France) directed by Yann Gonzalez
- Leto (Russia) directed by Kirill Serebrennikov
- Shoplifters (Japan) directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
- Sorry Angel (France) directed by Christophe Honoré
- Three Faces (Iran) directed by Jafar Panahi
- Under the Silver Lake (US) directed by David Robert Mitchell
- The Wild Pear Tree (Turkey) directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- Yomeddine (Egypt) directed by AB Shawky