Tag: cannes

  • Cannes 2023: ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ Takes Palme, ‘The Zone of Interest’ and ‘Fallen Leaves’ Take Other Prizes

    Cannes 2023: ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ Takes Palme, ‘The Zone of Interest’ and ‘Fallen Leaves’ Take Other Prizes

    Justine Triet became just the third female director to win the Palme D’Or with ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ taking Cannes’ top prize. Critical darling ‘The Zone of Interest’ was awarded with the second prize and we will very likely be seeing both films pop up again and again later in the year when awards season kicks into full gear. Alice Rohrwacher’s ‘La Chimera’ and Todd Haynes’ ‘May December’ left the Croisette without prizes while Aki Kaurismaki’s ‘Fallen Leaves’ won the Cannes Jury Prize.

    Here are the awards and their winners:

    Palme d’Or
    Anatomy of a Fall, dir: Justine Triet

    Grand Prize
    The Zone of Interest, dir: Jonathan Glazer

    Best Director
    Tranh Anh Hung, The Pot-au-Feu

    Jury Prize
    Fallen Leaves, dir: Aki Kaurismaki

    Best Screenplay
    Yuji Sakamato, Monster

    Best Actress
    Merve Dizdar, About Dry Grasses

    Best Actor
    Koji Yakusho, Perfect Days

    Camera d’Or
    Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, dir: Thien An Pham

    Short Film Palme d’Or
    27, dir: Flóra Anna Buda

    Special Mention:
    Far, dir: Gunnur Martinsdottir Schluter

  • Cannes Film Festival 2023 Predictions

    Cannes Film Festival 2023 Predictions

    This year’s Cannes Film Festival has been for my money one of the most exciting in years. Films from legends like Wim Wenders, Aki Kaurismaki, Jonathan Glazer, Catherine Breillat, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Hirokazu Koreeda, Todd Haynes, Marco Bellocchio, Ken Loach, Wes Anderson and Wang Bing all played in competition at this year’s festival. As usual, some of these films underwhelmed, some met expectations, and some far exceeded them. This year’s best include Justine Triet’s mystery thriller Anatomy of a Fall, Jonathan Glazer’s Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest, and Alice Rohrwacher’s archaeologist adventure La Chimera. The Pot-au-Feu, May December, About Dry Grasses, Monster, and Fallen Leaves have also all received raves and should be kept in mind when predicting who will appear on stage during tomorrow’s Cannes awards ceremony.

    When it comes to the Palme D’Or, the biggest award of the festival, three contenders seem most poised to triumph: Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest, and La Chimera. I think more than usual, this jury (composed of actors and filmmakers such as Ruben Ostlund, Brie Larson, Damian Szifron, Paul Dano, and Julia Ducournau among others) will choose something with more of a modern appeal. Something punchy and conventionally entertaining yet also with some sociopolitical preoccupations. The film that satisfies both those criteria to the greatest extent is Ken Loach’s The Old Oak, but that film has also been widely-criticized by critics for being too broad and possibly tone-deaf in its commentary.

    Anatomy of a Fall seems best suited to this jury as it’s a highly-entertaining thriller directed by a woman that interrogates the institution of marriage. It’s central performance from Sandra Huller has been touted as one of the best performances we’ve seen at Cannes in recent years and it’s an accessible film that we could very possibly see perform well in the Best International Feature category at the Oscars. Though if Triet’s film does win the Palme, this means that Huller cannot win Actress for the film since a picture that wins the Palme cannot win in any other category. Still, I would be mistaken not to mention that Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest has received some of the best reviews of any Cannes film in the last few years. It currently holds a staggering 98 Metascore on 17 reviews and it may just be too undeniable not to award the Palme to. This year’s dark horse is Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera. Fresh off her Oscar nomination for the Disney Plus short Le pupille, Rohrwacher has delivered with a stunningly-filmed eccentric archaeological adventure starring a fantastic Josh O’Connor. It is not the type of film that usually wins at Cannes but this quirky film with comic elements might be just perfect for jury members like Ostlund, Szifron, and Dano, all of whom have been involved in their own respective off-center comedies.

    We shall see what this jury goes with so without further ado these are my predictions:

    PALME D’OR

    Pick: Anatomy of a Fall

    Could Be: The Zone of Interest, La Chimera, or About Dry Grasses

    DIRECTOR

    Pick: The Zone of Interest – Jonathan Glazer

    Could Be: About Dry Grasses – Nuri Bilge Ceylan, La Chimera – Alice Rohrwacher, or Youth (Spring) – Wang Bing

    ACTRESS

    Pick: Natalie Portman and/or Julianne Moore – May December

    Could Be: Sandra Huller – Anatomy of a Fall and/or The Zone of Interest, Alma Poysti – Fallen Leaves, or Mia Wasikowska – Club Zero

    ACTOR

    Pick: Koji Yakusho – Perfect Days

    Could Be: Josh O’Connor – La Chimera or Deniz Celiloglu – About Dry Grasses

    SCREENPLAY

    Pick: Fallen Leaves

    Could Be: May December or Anatomy of a Fall

    JURY PRIZE

    Pick: The Old Oak

    Could Be: La Chimera, The Pot-au-Feu, Monster, or Anatomy of a Fall

    GRAND PRIX

    Pick: La Chimera

    Could Be: About Dry Grasses, Anatomy of a Fall, Monster, or Fallen Leaves

  • Cannes Film Festival 2022 Predictions

    Cannes Film Festival 2022 Predictions

    Though the Cannes Film Festival does not usually affect the Oscar race outside of the International Feature category (Cannes successes Parasite and Drive My Car are exceptions and signal a growing significance for the festival in the Oscar race), the event might be the most important period of the year for cinephiles. To highlight these fantastic, oftentimes pathbreaking, and adventurous films (and the festival that celebrates them), here are my Cannes 2022 predictions

    Palme D’Or

    Close is probably the most universally-appealing film on the slate this year and with a jury that includes both Joachim Trier and Deepika Padukone, that universality will likely propel it to victory.

    Pick: Close

    Could Be: Decision to Leave and Tori and Lokita

    Director

    Pick: Decision to Leave – Park Chan-Wook

    Could Be: EO – Jerzy Smolinski

    Actress

    Pick: Mbundu Joely – Tori and Lokita

    Could Be: Tang Wei – Decision to Leave, Lee Ji-Eun – Broker, Margaret Qualley – The Stars at Noon

    Actor

    Pick: Song Kang-Ho – Broker

    Could Be: Viggo Mortensen – Crimes of the Future

    Screenplay

    Pick: Triangle of Sadness

    Could Be: Holy Spider, R.M.N., Armageddon Time

    Jury Prize

    Pick: Tori and Lokita

    Could Be: Boy From Heaven or EO

    Grand Prix

    Pick: EO

    Could Be: Boy From Heaven, Tori and Lokita, or Triangle of Sadness