Cannes Awards & Closing Ceremony

We've reached la fin.

The 70th annual Cannes Film Festival opened 11 days ago and today the jurors and a smattering of the leading lights of this year's edition of the prestigious festival are walking the red carpet one last time in the South of France to name the winners of the Palme d'Or, Best Actress, Camera d'Or (for new directors) and more. If you've fallen behind in Cannes-watching, here's our surely inaccurate predictions to one of the world's most unpredictable awards, the first round of awardage including the Palme Dog, reasons to be excited about the Queer Palme winner and of course a few rounds of fashion (with one massive fashiongasm to follow).

Opening ceremony highlights, Oscar hints, and a winners list after the jump...

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Beefcake and Linksnacks

Today's Must Read
"Male Stars Are Too Buff Now," a great funny true read from E Alex Jung about Zac Efron in Baywatch and other visually alarming superhuman specimens. 

Linkage
Daily Actor Corey Hawkins on the Juilliard audition he almost failed
Charlene's (Mostly) Classic Movies a "Medicine in the Movies" Blogathon - articles on Contagion, Night Nurse, Reversal of Fortune, The Fountain, and many more
Cartoon Brew Nigeria hopes to train 'an army of animation professionals' with the market for thoe films exploding

The Guardian Guy Lodge's latest DVD column on Toni Erdmann, The Salesman and more
Variety more 'sequels we don't need!' news. Boss Baby is getting one for 2021. Sigh. I actually thought that movie was unexpectedly good but most movies don't actually need sequels. Stop trying to make movies into big TV shows with multiple episodes! TV is great but Movies are not TV!

I Wouldn't Normally Link This But...
Life Site, which appears to be some sort of Christian Fundamentalist Anti-Choice website, has a piece on the Alien franchise that I found gripping and nutjob funny (Satan is the screenwriter of Alien Covenant !) and also kinda justified on a couple of intriguing points. Thanks to IndieWire for pointing it out.

Cannes Mania
Film Comment Pt 1 of Nick Davis's 'Cannes Staycation' looking back at 1987 in which Nick talks Under the Sun of Satan, I've Heard the Mermaid's Singing, and many more...
Film Comment Pt 2 in which Nick talks Wish You Were Here, Shy People, Matewan, and Babette's Feast. Part 3 is coming in a few days.
Vulture How Jane Campion feels about her status as the only woman to win Cannes in its 70 year history
IndieWire 10 Best of Cannes
IndieWire Eric Kohn on what it's like to be a jury member of the sidebar "Critic's Week" at Cannes

Off Cinema
Films for Action "What makes 'call-out' culture so toxic?"
Broadway World a timeline look at Tony nominee Andy Karl's career. (I know he's not likely to win this year but someday! -- such a great performer)

Cannes Prizes Pt 1: Sidebar Glories and Oscar Dreams

Congratulations to this poodle below from The Meyerowitz Stories who won the coveted Palme Dog

The Palme Dog is not an official prize from the festival itself but it's always fun to see who wins. Past years winners have been the utterly adorable bulldog from Paterson (2016), the Maltese from Arabian Nights (2014), Uggie from The Artist (2011) and so on. The Palme Dog people also gave an honorary to the bomb sniffing dogs working Cannes to ensure the safety of the industry professionals attending. 

But wait that's not all. Two of the official Cannes juries also named their winners in advance of tomorrow's main closing night ceremony. Read about them after the jump...

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Cannes: "You Were Never Really Here" and Palme d'Or Predictions

Previously: Day 1, Days 2-4, Days 5-6, Days 7-8, and Days 9-10
Fashion: French Divas & Kidmanifestations 1, 2, 3

Joaquin Phoenix, an antihero saving girls from sex slavery, in Lynne Ramsay's thriller "You Were Never Really Here"

Cannes wraps up Sunday with the closing ceremony which means the Palme d'Or! The last competition film to premiere (tomorrow officially is Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here  and as is sometimes the case in the more dramatic Cannes festivals, many critics are proclaiming that the festival saved the best for last. Variety's Guy Lodge loved it calling it a "a stunning return," The Guardian compares it to Taxi Driver in its "nightmarish psychological drama" 

Does that mean it will win the Palme d'Or or that Joaquin Phoenix has Best Actor wrapped up? Not really. It's foolish with Cannes to ever assume you know what will win but let's make some tentative predictions for fun after the jump shall we? 

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120 Reasons to be excited about '120 Beats Per Minute'

by Murtada

Of all the movies that unspooled at this year’s ongoing Cannes Film Festival, the one that got this writer most excited is 120 Battements Par Minute (120 Beats Per Minute). The movie has gotten almost unanimous praise and is expected by many to nab a major prize at the festival. Update: And it won the Queer Palme award as expected. 

Campillo (center) and his cast at Cannes

Let’s count the reasons to be excited about it after the jump. I lied, not 120 reasons, but here are 9... 

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