Cannes Diary: The past and future of cinema from "Napoleon" to VR

Once again, I have the privilege of sharing my experiences at the Cannes Film Festival here on The Film Experience with a daily diary of impressions and reviews from the Croisette.

by Elisa Giudici

Today we delve into both the rich history and the uncertain future of cinema. Some foresee a fate entwined with AI and irrelevance, while others celebrate the enduring vitality of an art form that blazed its trail over a century ago. This year’s Cannes opening reflects on the industry's past glories and its current challenges, not shying away from the unease about what lies ahead, evoking the dizzying excitement of days gone by...

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Review: Nature (and the Audience) is Out of Balance in “Evil Does Not Exist”

By Ben Miller

Following the release of Darren Aronofsky’s divisive 2017 film mother!, most of the viewers who saw it didn’t know what was going on. It was only until it was explained that it made any sort of sense, and then it almost made too much sense. Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist lives on that same plane, with significantly more subtlety.

Not that this is the time or place to spoil the film by breaking it down scene by scene, but those places exist and can be found relatively easily. That doesn’t exactly bode well for the film. It’s one thing for a filmmaker to make you think, it’s another to send you on a search for answers you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. On the flipside, the answers make so much sense, it enhances the film long after the credits have rolled...

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Review: "Nowhere Special" finds hope in desolation

by Cláudio Alves

Windows can be like prosceniums, framing lives in tableaus practically begging to be spied upon. As one roams through the streets, one can peer into countless little dramas, comedies and farces. It's all there, the vitality of existence through a thin pane of glass. Uberto Pasolini's Nowhere Special starts with windows, a parade of frames and reflections captured by Romanian cinematographer Marius Panduru – you might be familiar with his work in Radu Jude's films. It's a beautiful prelude, bursting with quiet curiosity, as if the camera is considering which story it'll follow. However, this particular tale isn't to be found within, but without. It's the experience of the man who keeps those proscenium portals crystal clear.

He's John, a single father earning a living as a window cleaner. He's also dying…

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Review: "Challengers" throbs with desire

by Cláudio Alves

American mainstream cinema has rarely felt as sexless as it does today. Even in the period between the 1934 implementation of the Hays Code and its demise, screens felt roused with desire. In some ways, the prohibition of overt sexuality supercharged movies with erotic potential, like a pot of boiling water that heats up faster once you put a lid on it. But nowadays, such qualities feel like artifacts of a bygone era. That's not to say movies suddenly lack objects of desire. Instead, as RS Benedict put it in his essay on superhero films, "everyone is beautiful and no one is horny."  But here comes Luca Guadagnino to the rescue, that lustful Italian whose films beckon a return to hedonistic cinema even when produced within Hollywood. Challengers is a prime example of that…

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SXSW Review: ‘7 Keys’

Abe Friedtanzer

Do you still have the keys to the places you used to live? They might be good for sentimental value, or, if you’re feeling like some casual criminal activity, worth trying to see if the landlord or new owner didn’t actually change the locks. That concept is part of the premise for 7 Keys, an intoxicating, whirlwind thriller about two people who meet and go on a “property porn tour” of London while getting to know each other in a very intimate way. It’s wild and intense and overall quite a unique experience…

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