Cannes at Home: From Linklater to Ducournau

by Cláudio Alves

Between an Oscar, a Silver Bear, and THE SECRET AGENT's sterling reviews, Brazilian cinema is having a moment.
The 2025 Cannes Film Festival is almost over, so I've got to get going with this miniseries. After the directors already discussed in parts one and two, it was Richard Linklater's turn to present his latest creation. Nouvelle Vague purports to tell the making of Godard's Breathless, paying homage to the vanguard's aesthetic in a fashion some have compared to Michel Hazanavicius' Oscar-winning pastiche. Lynne Ramsay proved polarizing, as usual, with her Die, My Love, a literary adaptation that's gotten critics raving about Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson. But the best-reviewed title of this batch has to be Kleber Mendonça Filho's The Secret Agent, a period thriller of epic proportions with Wagner Moura in the leading role. Then there's Tarik Saleh's supposedly underwhelming Eagles of the Republic and Julia Ducournau's follow-up to her Palme d'Or victory. The AIDS crisis allegory Alpha divided audiences and disappointed many of the director's fans, but that's to be expected with such a provocateur.

For this chapter of Cannes at Home, I invite you to revisit Linklater's Waking Life, Ramsay's Morvern Callar, Mendonça's Aquarius, Saleh's Cairo Conspiracy, and Ducournau's Titane…

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Cannes 2025: Ducournau returns and Spike Lee plays Out of Competition

by Cláudio Alves

HIGHEST 2 LOWEST will bring Denzel Washington to Cannes for the first time since 1993.

Thierry Frémaux and company have announced the 78th Cannes Film Festival lineup, with many familiar faces returning to the Main Competition. Former Palme d'Or victors Julia Ducournau and the Dardenne brothers are back in the race, while Golden Bear champion Carla Simón will present her first feature since Alcarràs took Berlin by storm. Speaking of the German fest, Richard Linklater just directed Andrew Scott to an award there and will now bow his Nouvelle Vague at the Croisette. Juliette Binoche will preside over the jury to decide these filmmakers' fates, but we're still awaiting updates regarding the other jurors.

Our own Elisa Giudici will be on the ground covering the fest for The Film Experience as she's been doing for the past few years. I'll try to offer another edition of Cannes at Home for those battling cinephile FOMO. In any case, here's the full Main Competition slate Elisa will be considering in a month's time…

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Berlinale 75: "Blue Moon" isn't your traditional biopic

by Elisa Giudici

Watching Blue Moon, I couldn’t help but think of Inside Llewyn Davis, one of the Coen brothers’ most accomplished yet underappreciated films. That movie introduced Oscar Isaac in what remains his most astonishing performance, portraying a talented but ill-fated musician who arrived just a bit too soon to achieve success. A similar fate awaited Blue Moon’s protagonist, though his story unfolds decades earlier, in 1943 New York, amid the turmoil of World War II...

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Venice 2023: "The Killer" and "Hit Man"

by Elisa Giudici

Venice's most sought-after job this year? The sicario. Professional assassins are trending. Today David Fincher's The Killer and Richard Linklater's Hit Man. 

THE KILLER by David Fincher
The real mystery here is whether The Killer's lack of ambition stems from production during the COVID years and a tight schedule due to Michael Fassbender's busy agenda, or if Fincher simply wanted to have fun. While it may not be a masterpiece or top tier Fincher, The Killer is still a thriller directed by Fincher, a master of the form.

This time, Fincher designs the movie around the protagonist's voiceover, setting the rhythm for the entire story and influencing the cinematography and editing choices...

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Almost There: Christian McKay in "Me and Orson Welles"

by Cláudio Alves

The Almost There series' month-long celebration of the Criterion Channel's May offerings draws to a close with a highlight from their Richard Linklater collection. In 2008, the Austin auteur made his most Oscar-ready project yet, complete with a dazzling supporting turn that seemed poised for a nomination. Me and Orson Welles is the well-researched and studiously put-together account of a teenager cast in the director's famous 1937 staging of Julius Caesar. The Academy usually loves these real-life tales, mainly when they include a good amount of celebrity mimicry, making the film an apparent shoo-in for Oscar glory.

And yet, Christian McKay's critically acclaimed take on young Orson Welles failed to secure a nomination. Considering precursor honors, he must have come close…

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