Cannes is never only about films. It's also about celebrities showing off the new fashion trends up north in Paris, millionaires hosting wild parties along the beach, businessmen making deals with artists, and actor- and actress-wannabes wandering the streets vying for the attention of producers.
“Café Society” is a charming and enjoyable, if thoroughly unspectacular, ode to the Golden Age of American cinema—one that teases at a return to form for Woody Allen but ultimately falls just short.
Maybe the film does provide a salve to all the problems in the world: “You’ll be surprised by how calm people get after their bellies are full, and how quickly you forget about 9/11 after you get laid.”
When the audiences at Cannes are shocked by a film’s graphic nature, that’s saying a lot—but French director Alain Guiraudie’s new film, “Rester Vertical (Staying Vertical),” manages to achieve just that.
“I, Daniel Blake,” simply shot and minimally edited, is drenched in visceral and unadulterated realism. It is also one of the most powerful and moving films in recent memory.
There’s not a whole lot of originality to be found in actress-turned-director Jodie Foster’s “Money Monster”—it's a largely unambitious film that does little new. What it does do, however, it does reasonably well.
Stylish, hilarious and undeniably absurd, the newest entry in Bruno Dumont’s filmography is a fun-filled, laugh-out-loud romp—even when it’s not quite clear what’s happening.
In “Uchenik (The Student),” Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov paints a haunting picture of a student’s violent descent into religious fanaticism and the horrific consequences that follow. But “The Student” is not a cautionary tale against piety—it is an admonition of obsession, and a powerful one at that.
“The BFG” is a charming and captivating spectacle with strong performances to boot, but unfortunately it is unable to strike a balance between unadulterated fantasy and computer-generated wonder.
If every Harvard student were required to watch Alejandro Jodorowsky's “Endless Poetry,” one imagines that the number of students pursuing art might triple.
“Mademoiselle (The Handmaiden)” impresses with its eye-catching cinematography, daring sex scenes, and plentiful plot twists. However, it fails in its most fundamental aspect: It possesses no genuine emotion or believable story. Beneath its beautiful veneer, the film is hollow.
If you’re expecting a daring and paradigm-shifting maverick of a film, this is not the movie for you. At the same time, the world needs films that simply make audiences laugh, and “The Nice Guys”—superbly executed and blissful to the point that it refuses to take even itself seriously—is just that.
Jeff Nichols's newest film—his second this year after “Midnight Special,” which debuted at the Berlin International Film Festival in February—is not so much about Loving v. Virginia as it is about the love story behind it. What results is among the director’s best work, beautifully acted and eloquently reticent.