Cannes Diary 04: Ari Aster's "Eddington" is uncomfortably contemporary

by Elisa Giudici

In Eddington, Ari Aster brings his signature excesses and flaws, yet, as always, these are interwoven with genuine strokes of genius, his remarkable visual talent, and a flair for the audacious. Eddington is set to be divisive, much like his previous film Beau is Afraid, though it's arguably more focused and sharp, albeit still far from perfect.

The very fabric of Eddington makes it incendiary, divisive, and ultimately, a tough nut to crack. Set in the fictional New Mexico town of its title, it's an uneven but admirable attempt to take a genre deeply rooted in the past -- the Watern -- and use its tropes and language to narrate our present. Naturally then we get the classic standoff as well as  reaking shop sign swinging in a desert landscape. The shop is actually a gun store, from which the protagonist will emerge armed with both an automatic rifle and a smartphone. Because today, vigilantes and criminals alike carry a lens ready to film themselves or to be pointed in others' faces, like a weapon...

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Let's play the presenter game!

by Cláudio Alves

Over the past few weeks, we've heard news from the Academy about the 97th Oscars ceremony. For example, none of the Original Song nominees will be performed, a break with tradition that has caused some uproar within the industry. We'll also get to see the return of the Fab Five format for presenting the acting categories, where past victors introduce the year's nominees. In some ways, it feels like a welcoming of new faces to the Circle of Winners, though using these celebratory mini-monologues isn't to everyone's taste, especially when they came at the expense of proper Oscar clips. However, I confess that I am a fan, and just like last year, I invite you all to a game of conjecture. Let's see who'd be the perfect pairing for each nominee…

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Ranking the two-time Best Actress winners

by Baby Clyde

Hilary Swank accepts her second Best Actress Oscar at the 77th Academy Awards.

To celebrate the 50th birthday of two-time Best Actress winner Hilary Swank, I've decided to rank all of the double champs in everyone's favorite category. It's a list of all-time greats, but the performances range from the sublime to the truly Dangerous. They are being judged solely on the performance, but I may be somewhat swayed if they beat out more deserving nominees or didn't win for their best work. I do not include those overachieving triple and quadruple recipients (Kate, Frances, Meryl, and Ingrid) who don't need any more attention. So, with a hearty Happy Birthday to the birthday girl, let's see how our Million Dollar Baby stacks up against her second-time sisters…

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Almost There: Emma Stone in "Battle of the Sexes"

by Cláudio Alves

Our most recent two-time Best Actress champion is back in theaters with Yorgos Lanthimos' Kinds of Kindness, a black-hearted tryptic that allows Emma Stone to experiment with three distinctly realized characters. To mark the occasion and the success of another tennis-related movie – Guadagnino's Challengers – let's think back to one of the few times this Academy favorite was in the race but didn't land a nomination. In 2017, right after her first Oscar win, Stone played Billie Jean King in Battle of the Sexes. Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the biopic was made in parallel with a Presidential election that saw a very different outcome than its titular match. Looking back, Battle of the Sexes reached for the zeitgeist yet failed to predict where the world was headed.

As for Stone, the project signaled her most outward flirtation with traditional prestige before her career went into another direction altogether…

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Dynamic Duos: What's Your Favorite Director-Actor Team?

by Cláudio Alves

Emma Stone x 3 in Yorgos Lanthimos' KINDS OF KINDNESS (2024).

Kinds of Kindness has just hit theaters, and Yorgos Lanthimos is back in the news cycle. It seems the Greek director's Hollywood success has set him on a path of productivity unlike anything seen in his Greek Weird Wave origins. By his side, we can find Emma Stone, who's quickly becoming Lanthimos' most emblematic collaborator. Since their first team-up for 2018's The Favourite, they have shot the silent short Bleat, the Oscar champion Poor Things, and the Cannes award-winning Kinds of Kindness. Next comes Bugonia, a remake of the South Korean Save the Green Planet, where Stone will play a CEO kidnapped by two men who believe her to be an alien.

Though it's nice to see such a burgeoning artistic partnership flourish in today's cinematic landscape, I wish I was fonder of their bond. As it stands, I'm not sure they bring the best out of each other…

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