Cannes Diary: "Limonov: The Ballad"

by Elisa Giudici

LIMONOV - THE BALLAD © Cannes Film Festival

A final surprise, though not a good one. With the exception of a fully committed star turn by Ben Whishaw, I would never have thought I'd use the adjectives "timid" and "indecisive" to describe Liminov: The Ballad on my Cannes festival bingo card. Not when the film is  helmed by someone as bold in his views and choices as Kirill Serebrennikov. Yet here we are...

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Cannes at Home: Days 5 & 6 – Histories of Violence

by Cláudio Alves

Coralie Fargeat's THE SUBSTANCE is a body horror shocker.

Half of the Cannes Main Competition has screened, and it seems we're in a year of big swings and even bigger faceplants. Divisive titles aplenty, the most acclaimed films of the festival appear to be located in parallel sections rather than Thierry Frémaux's selection. Even so, Jia Zhangke's Caught by the Tides has confirmed itself as the critics' favorite, though that only extends to writers already fond of the director's oeuvre. The documentary-fiction hybrid made no new converts. Jacques Audiard dazzled audiences with the trans-themed Mexican musical Emilia Perez, and while some critics are ecstatic, others loathe the thing. Reactions are more pointedly adverse to Kirill Serebrennikov's Limonov biopic, while Coralie Fargeat's The Substance has elicited equal pans and praise. Some folks online are trying to characterize the body horror's critical divide as a battle of the sexes, but that ignores the work of various women who've applauded the picture. Still, it's a controversial one.

Since all these cineastes have filled their filmographies with shocking violence, that felt like a good unifying theme for this Cannes at Home program. So, let's delve into Jia's Ash is Purest White, Audiard's Dheepan, Serebrennikov's Petrov's Flu, and Fargeat's bloody Revenge…

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Cannes Diary #3: A stubborn wife, a great grandpa and... a donkey?

by Elisa Giudici

While I was on screening duty, Hollywood glamour was on shift-change with Tom Cruise out and Julia Roberts in. Roberts was here to hand the Chopard Awards to new promises of world cinema (Jack Lowden and Sheila Atim) and to enjoy a marvelous party, as I've heard from friends that witnessed it firsthand. But as for the movies, I am happy to report that on the second day of the competition (the third since opening nightl) we already have a soon-to-be infamous scene with the immense Isabelle Huppert as a momentary protagonist. Some weird festival stuff is coming, brace yourself...

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Cannes at Home: Day 2 - Breakdowns and rebellions

by Cláudio Alves

The first day of Main Competition screenings saw the premiere of a few film by Kirill Serebrennikov, and a collaboration from Felix van Groeningen, and Charlotte Vandermeersch.  Tchaikovsky's Wife (read Elisa's review) marks the third time Serebrennikov competes for the Palme d'Or, but the first time he's been at the Croisette. In the last few years, he's forbidden from exiting Russia after being convicted of deviating state funds for the Gogol Center in Moscow, a subterfuge for punishing an artist who's consistently spoken against Putin's regime. The other screening was less politically charged in comparison. The Eight Mountains (read Elisa's review) is the first directorial collaboration of Groeningen and Vandermeersch, though they previously wrote the screenplay for Groeningen's The Broken Circle Breakdown. Moreover, it's Vandermeersch's debut as a director and is the first of five competition titles directed or co-directed by women – a record in Cannes history.

For the Cannes at Home miniseries, today's films are The Broken Circle Breakdown and Serebrennikov's Leto...

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Cannes Diary #07: The French Dispatch, a Boomer, and a lot of "I liked it, but..."

by Elisa Giudici

Three Floors (Nanni Moretti)

Cannes Film Festival has a color coded hierarchy. The lowest of the low are Yellow pass holders. With their slightly less powerless Blue cousins, they spend a lot of time (aka hours) in queue, hoping for a miracle. Pink journalists arrive later, having a high priority pass that lets them sleep a little more. At the top of journalist hierarchy, the aristocracy of pass holders: legendary Le Blanche, aka White pass holders. They can arrive at the last minute, waving their credentials to open every door.

The tales say so though I've never witnessed this with my own eyes. This year, with the (still not that reliable but definitively improved) ticketing system, things were a bit different. Even I, a humble yellow pass holder, was able to see almost every single movie on my list. Here are the four competition films I saw today...

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