Berlinale #7: France is the big winner at Berlin

By Elisa Giudici

Mati Diop and Lupita Nyong'o at the awards ceremony © Ali Ghandtschi / Berlinale 2024

There was a clear standout at the 74th annual Berlinale: French cinema. Given the competition lineup, France secured all three podium positions one way or another. Let's start with the Golden Bear, naturally. The jury, led by Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o, crowned a new documentary by French-Senegalese director Mati Diop (of Atlantics fame) as the winner. It's a double win for French cinema: not only is Diop a French citizen, but she's also a product of the Cannes Film Festival, a source of national pride.

Her winning documentary, Dahomey, is a low-budget project that might have struggled in the bright spotlight at Cannes... 

Click to read more ...

A24’s Paul Mescal Double: 'Aftersun' and 'God’s Creatures'

by Eurocheese

A24 has had a killer 2022 so far, and they’re not slowing down. The effusive love for Everything Everywhere All at Once has indeed been everywhere: tributes to all the actors (including Middleburg last week), Park Chan-wook adding his name to the list of celebrities declaring their love for the film, reports of Academy screenings going like gangbusters – the weird little blockbuster-that-could has done everything it can to stay front and center in the Oscar race. On top of that, there’s the critical success of several A24 films in their bread-and-butter category of horror/thriller (X, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Pearl) and a couple of gems that are enchanting discoveries for those that seek them out (After Yang, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On). What more could we ask of them? 

As it turns out, we can expect them to showcase the brilliant (not to mention gorgeous) Paul Mescal in two films that highlight his ability to be heartbreaking and ice cold in polar opposite performances...

Click to read more ...

Happy 50th Emily Watson!!

Chris here, wishing a happy 50th birthday to one of our most underserved contemporary actresses, Emily Watson!

And around this time she’s also celebrating her 20th anniversary for her first Oscar nomination for her debut in Breaking the Waves, a performance that time simply doesn’t diminish...

Click to read more ...

Stage Door: Believing in Breaking the Waves, the Opera

Daniel here to discuss the latest transfer from big screen to live stage. 

Bess McNeill, the golden-hearted islander at the center of Breaking the Waves, is a woman of astonishing faith. It is the source of her resilience and it is her undoing, though the salacious facts of her downfall can distract from the strength of her conviction. However, the whirlwind of anonymous sex, medical trauma and social exclusion that characterize the second half of the film do not undo the romantic catechism of its first scene. 

Bess sits in church, beset by the stone-faced Calvinist elders of her community. They demand to know why she wishes to marry an outsider, an act they clearly interpret as a spiritual betrayal. She responds to their questions with an irrepressible joy. Her confidence in her own love, as well as that of her fiancé, is as compelling a testament of faith as has ever been put to film. 

Or, as the case may be, as has ever been put to music...

Click to read more ...

Podcast: Cannes 1996 Revisit

Nathaniel, Nick, and Joe revisit the Cannes film festival of 1996 (you might wanna quickly check that lineup & those prizes before listening) and the Best Actress race that started there. We also recommend other 1996 goodies that you may or may not have seen... or thought of in years.

Index (43 minutes)
00:01 Intro, Juries, and Crash's audacity prize
03:00 Best Actress: McDormand (Fargo) vs Blethyn (Secrets & Lies) vs Watson (Breaking the Waves)
10:09 Goodbye South Goodbye, The Eighth Day, Pillow Book, and Microcosmos
17:50 Trainspotting, Flirting With Disaster, A Self Made Hero, Lone Star, and Love Serenade
30:07 David Cronenberg's Crash
37:45 We each recommend a few more 1996 titles from Bound to The Long Kiss Goodnight

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversation in the comments. Which 1996 picture have you still not seen? Who got your Best Actress vote that year?

tfw when you're turned on by car crashes

Articles We Mention
• 5 Contentious Cannes Juries 
• Nick's Annual Cannes Project 
• Nick on Cronenberg's Crash 

Cannes 1996. Recommendations