Here are the films playing in 2016 Cannes Film Festival
By David Hudson
COMPETITION
Toni Erdmann
(directed by Maren Ade).
From the Austrian Film Commission: “Without a warning a father comes to visit his daughter abroad. He believes that she lost her humor and therefore surprises her with a rampage of jokes.” With Peter Simonischek, Sandra Hüller and Ingrid Burkhard.
Julieta
(directed by Pedro Almodóvar).
The first round of reviews has not been promising, but on Twitter, I’ve seen the film’s champions come to its defense.
American Honey [1],[2],[3],[4]
(directed by Andrea Arnold).
Variety‘s Dave McNary tells us it “centers on a gang of law-breaking teenagers who are chasing the American Dream, selling magazine subscriptions by day, partying by night. The story is told through the eyes of Lane’s character, a new recruit to the group who falls into a relationship with one of its leaders. Arnold shot the entire film on location in the Midwest. The movie will feature a soundtrack that will include E-40, Kevin Gates, Fetty Wap and Bruce Springsteen.” With Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf and Riley Keough.
Nudity Prediction
I'm very confident that Sasha Lane in her film debut also performed her first onscreen nude and sex scene(s).
How $7.25-an-hour waitress, 19, won Hollywood role to the shock of her Texas hometown where no-one expected athletic honor student to become an actress
The Unknown Girl
(directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne).
From Wild Bunch: “Jenny, a young general practitioner, feels guilty for not having opened the door of her practice to a girl who is found dead shortly after. On learning from the police that the girl’s identity is unknown, Jenny decides to discover her name. On her quest, the young doctor gradually becomes a midwife to the truth.” With Adèle Haenel, Jérémie Renier, Olivier Gourmet, Fabrizio Rongione and Thomas Doret.
Personal Shopper
(directed by Olivier Assayas).
It’s a ghost story, it’s in English and it’s set in the fashion world in Paris. With Kristen Stewart and Lars Eidinger.
It’s Only The End Of The World
(directed by Xavier Dolan).
From Wikipedia: “Louis, a terminally ill writer, returns home after 12 years of absence to announce his impending death to his family. A reunion filled with doubts and tensions ensues.” With Natalie Baye, Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel, Léa Seydoux and Gaspard Ulliel.
Ma Loute
(directed by Bruno Dumont).
From Memento Films: “Summer 1910. Several tourists have vanished while relaxing on the beautiful beaches of the Channel Coast. Infamous inspectors Machin and Malfoy soon gather that the epicenter of these mysterious disappearances must be Slack Bay, a unique site where the Slack river and the sea join only at high tide.” With Juliette Binoche, Fabrice Luchini and Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi.
Paterson
(directed by Jim Jarmusch).
The official synopsis via the Playlist‘s Kevin Jagernauth: “Paterson (played by [Adam Driver]) is a bus driver in the city of Paterson, New Jersey—they share the name. Every day, Paterson adheres to a simple routine: he drives his daily route, observing the city as it drifts across his windshield and overhearing fragments of conversation swirling around him; he writes poetry into a notebook; he walks his dog; he stops in a bar and drinks exactly one beer. He goes home to his wife, Laura (played by [Golshifteh Farahani]). By contrast, Laura’s world is ever changing. New dreams come to her almost daily, each a different and inspired project. Paterson loves Laura and she loves him. He supports her newfound ambitions; she champions his secret gift for poetry. The history and energy of the City of Paterson is a felt presence in the film and its simple structure unfolds over the course of a single week. The quiet triumphs and defeats of daily life are observed, along with the poetry evident in its smallest details.”
Rester Vertical
(directed by Alain Guiraudie).
From Wild Bunch: “Filmmaker Leo is searching for the wolf in the south of France. During a scouting excursion he is seduced by Marie, a free-spirited and dynamic shepherdess. Nine months later she gives birth to their child. Suffering from post-natal depression and with no faith in Leo, who comes and goes without warning, Marie abandons both of them. Leo finds himself alone, with a baby to care for. It’s not easy, but deep down, he loves it. Through a series of unexpected and unusual encounters, struggling to find inspiration for his next film, Leo will do whatever it takes to stay standing.” With India Hair, Damien Bonnard, Raphaël Thiéry and Laure Calamy.
Aquarius
(directed by Kleber Mendonca Filho).
Ioncinema tells us it “concerns the 65-year-old Clara (Sonia Braga), a retired music writer and critic, widowed and alone in the apartment building Aquarius after her three grown children have moved away. Oh, and she’s mastered the gift of time travel.” With Braga, Jeff Rosick, Irandhir Santos and Maeve Jinkings.
Mal de Pierres
(directed by Nicole Garcia).
“An adaptation of Milena Agus’s eponymous novel set after WWII, Mal de Pierres (Mal di Pietre) spans 20 years, following the destiny of a passionate, free-spirited woman who is in a loveless marriage and falls for another man.” With Marion Cotillard and Louis Garrel.
I, Daniel Blake
(directed by Ken Loach).
Talking with Loach for the Guardian last November, Diane Taylor noted that the film is “based on the writer Paul Laverty’s research of job centers, benefit sanctions and food banks. It tells the story of Blake, who has worked for years as a joiner but is then forced to give up work and claim benefits. ‘The present system is one of conscious cruelty,’ Loach said. ‘It bears down on those least able to bear it. The bureaucratic inefficiency is vindictive and hunger is being used as a weapon. People are being forced to look for work that doesn’t exist.'”
Ma’Rosa
(directed by Brilliante Mendoza).
The “story revolves around a sari-sari store in Metro Manila involved in illegal drug trade,” according to ABS-CBN. Thanks to Kurt Walker for the tip!
From Screen‘s Melanie Goodfellow: “Set against the backdrop of the slums of Manila, the film revolves around convenience store owner Rosa, who sells narcotics on the side. When Rosa and her husband are arrested, their four children are forced to trade their meagre possessions to raise money to pay-off the police.”
The Inquirer tells us that Ma’ Rosa “stars Jaclyn Jose, Andi Eigenmann, Felix Roco, Jomari Angeles and Julio Diaz.
Loving
(directed by Jeff Nichols).
From Rebecca Ford in the Hollywood Reporter: “The film, based on a true story, stars Joel Edgerton as Richard Loving, whose interracial marriage to Mildred (Ruth Negga) caused them to be sentenced to prison in Virginia in 1958. They were later banished from the state, but the couple took their case, Loving v. Virginia, all the way to the Supreme Court, which reaffirmed their right to marry. The pic, inspired by Nancy Buirski’s documentary The Loving Story, also stars Nichols’s longtime collaborator Michael Shannon and Nick Kroll.”
Bacalaureat
(directed by Cristian Mungiu).
If this is the film formerly known as Fotografii de familie, then last year, he told Screen‘s Melanie Goodfellow: “It’s about compromise, parenting and children and understanding this relationship between what you say to your children and what they see you doing. It’s set in Romania again. People are always asking me if I’m going to make an English-language film but I want to make personal projects about things that I know.” With Vlad Ivanov.
Agassi @ The Handmaiden
(directed by Park Chan-Wook).
“Inspired by British author Sarah Waters’s original novel Fingersmith,” notes Sonia Kil in Variety. “Park’s adaptation involves a young Korean female pickpocket from the slums, who is hired by a charming con man to join an elaborate scam. She becomes the personal servant of a wealthy Japanese heiress and seduces her.” With Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo and Kim Tae-ri.
Nudity Prediction
Brief nudity by Kim Min-hee and newcomer model Kim Tae-ri a certainty for T&A
The Last Face
(directed by Sean Penn).
From Box Office Prophets: “Set amidst the South African civil wars during the mid-1990s, The Last Face tells the story of two humanitarian doctors who meet and fall in love in this violent environment. More than a romantic drama, the film will deal with philosophical outlooks on human aid and relief work and will also show the primary characters as they are forced to deal with the difficult decisions they have to make.” With Charlize Theron, Javier Bardem, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Jean Reno.
Sieranevada
(directed by Cristi Puiu).
From FilmNewEurope: “Back from a professional trip to Paris, a neurologist at the pinnacle of his career has to pick up his wife so that they can attend a family meal to commemorate his father, who died a year before. At his mother’s flat, the guests are waiting for the priest to arrive while arguing about all kinds of things connected and unconnected with the world’s events and wars. ‘Sierra-Nevada is a story about a commemoration that never gets to take place, a story about those who choose to escape into fiction and hide their fears behind “concrete reality” when overwhelmed by a grief they cannot understand. It is the imperfect restitution of an unorthodox requiem,’ Cristi Puiu says in Director’s Notes.” With Mimi Brănescu.
Elle
(directed by Paul Verhoeven).
Isabelle Huppert plays “the head of a top European video games company, a woman who seems indestructible, has it all, is always in control, is ruthless in business and is in love,” notes Variety‘s John Hopewell. “One night, as she lets the cat in, a masked man in a ski suit bursts into her home, and rapes her. The attack changes Michele’s life forever. She reacts, resolutely, learns to fire a gun, sleeps with a hammer on her pillow, begins to suspect the assailant may be one of her employees, orders their email accounts to be hacked. As she tracks down the man, she is drawn into what Elle’s production notes describe as a ‘curious’ and ‘thrilling’ game and her life threatens to spiral out of control. As her ex-husband puts it, ‘Your greatest danger is yourself.'”
The Neon Demon
(directed by Nicolas Winding Refn).
And from Wikipedia: “Jesse, an aspiring model, moves to Los Angeles, where her vitality and youth are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means to get what she has.” With Elle Fanning, Jena Malone, Christina Hendricks and Keanu Reeves.
Nudity Prediction
Nudity courtesy of models including Abbey Lee & fellow Aussie Bella Heathcote. Jena Malone in a lez scene. The film main highlight Elle Fanning might have shot couple of risqué scenes despite being underage during the filming. Won't rule out a different cut for Europe (Cannes) premiere with topless nudity by the teen starlet.
OUT OF COMPETITION
Money Monster
(directed by Jodie Foster).
Meriah Doty tells us that “the plot follows [George] Clooney’s Lee Gates, an amped-up Wall Street wizard (think CNBC’s Jim Cramer) whose TV show gets hijacked by a disgruntled viewer, Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell). The man invested in one of Gates’s stock tips that turned out to be a big bust. ‘This poor guy Kyle put the only amount of money he has in one stock and loses everything in nine minutes,’ Foster tells Yahoo Movies. After suiting Lee in a bomb-laced vest at gunpoint, Kyle demands to find out what happened to his money.”
The Nice Guys
(directed by Shane Black).
The official synopsis via the Playlist‘s Kevin Jagernauth: “The Nice Guys takes place in 1970s Los Angeles, when down-on-his-luck private eye Holland March [Ryan Gosling] and hired enforcer Jackson Healy [Russell Crowe] must work together to solve the case of a missing girl and the seemingly unrelated death of a porn star. During their investigation, they uncover a shocking conspiracy that reaches up to the highest circles of power.”
Nudity Prediction
Remote possibility of Margaret Qualley making her nude debut. Might be something from kooky Yvonne Zima. Model Abbie Dunn topless in a sex scene?
Gok Sung
(directed by Na Hong-Jin).
“Na made a splashy directing debut with visceral crime thriller The Chaser,” notes Patrick Frater for Variety. “Gokseong is a change of register for Na who examines the idea that unknown beings can exert evil. The story sees a police detective investigate a series of unusual murders, but come to suspect that the crimes have something to do with his own daughter. A stellar cast includes Kwak Do-won (The Attorney), Hwang Jung-min (Veteran, Ode to My Father), Chun Woo-hee and Kunimura Jun (Kill Bill).”
UN CERTAIN REGARD
Voir Du Pays
(directed by Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin).
From Fabien Lemercier at Cineuropa: “Adapted by the two sisters from the novel of the same name by Delphine Coulin, the story revolves around two female soldiers who, just like all troops on their way back from Afghanistan, go through a decompression chamber, spending three days in a five-star hotel in Cyprus…” With Soko, Ariane Labed, Ginger Roman (“the daughter of Catherine Ringer and Fred Chichin of the band Les Rita Mitsouko”) and Karim Leklou.
La Danseuse
(directed by Stephanie Di Giusto).
From Wild Bunch: “There was nothing in her background to prepare Loïe to become the toast of the Folies Bergères in Paris and stages across the world. Then she created the ‘Serpentine Dance’…” With Soko, Gaspard Ulliel, Mélanie Thierry, Lily-Rose Depp and François Damiens.
Fuchi Bi Tatsu @ Harmonium
(directed by Fukada Koji).
This is likely Harmonium, which “tells the story of Toshio, the owner of a small workshop in a country village in Japan,” as Variety‘s Elsa Keslassy reported last fall. With Kanji Furutachi and Tadanobu Asano.
Me’Ever Laharim Vehagvaot
(directed by Eran Kolirin).
From Regie.de, we learn that it’s about an Israeli soldier, David, who has trouble adjusting to civilian life after 22 years in the army.
Hymyileva Mies
(directed by Juho Kuosmanen).
From the Facebook page: “Olli Mäki had a chance of a lifetime. He was the first ever Finn to fight for the world championship in feather weight boxing, but lost the match humiliatingly in the second round by a knock out in front of a packed stadium. He says it was the best day of his life.”
La Large Noche de Francisco Sanctis
(directed by Francisco Marquez & Andrea Testa).
The official site tells us that it’s about an apolitical man living in a country under a military dictatorship who finds out that two people are about to be disappeared. Does he take action or save his own life?
Pericle Il Nero
(directed by Stefano Mordini).
Back in 2014, Variety‘s Nick Vivarelli reported that Pericles the Black Man is “a noir based on the eponymous Italo cult novel by Giuseppe Farrandino.” Riccardo Scamarcio plays “a slave-like hit-man who gains self-awareness and freedom from the shackles of the mob world after meeting a woman.” Tidbit: At one point, “Abel Ferrara was attached to direct.”
The Transfiguration
(directed by Michael O’Shea).
“A horror film.” That’s the full description on the Facebook page. There are a lot of photos, though. With Eric Ruffin, Chloe Levine, Aaron Moten, Carter Redwood and Danny Flaherty.
Uchenik
(directed by Kirill Serebrennikov).
This seems to be an adaptation of Martyr, a play by Marius von Mayenburg which Serebrennikov staged at the at the Gogol Centre in 2014. The IMDb lists the title as (M)uchenik, by the way. Anna Banasyukevich: “It projects a story of a school conflict on the state of modern Russian society. The teenager Benjamin Ugine experiencing difficult growing up turns into a religious fanatic. With the Bible in his hands he protects himself with biting quotes from anything that scares: from the growing call of the flesh, from peers’ mockery, from lies and aggression of adults.”
Hell or High Water
(directed by David Mackenzie).
“A divorced dad and his ex-con brother resort to a desperate scheme in order to save their family’s farm in West Texas.” With Chris Pine, Ben Foster and Jeff Bridges.
2015 CANNES DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT LINEUP
(The Directors’ Fortnight runs May 14-24.)
FEATURE FILMS
Dog Eat Dog
(directed by Paul Schrader).
Variety‘s Dave McNary notes that it’s “based on the book of the same name by Eddie Bunker. Matt Wilder and Schrader adapted the script about a trio of ex-cons, deep in the underbelly of Los Angeles, who are hired for a kidnapping. When the botched abduction goes awry and gets completely out of control, the cons find themselves on the run.” With Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe, Louisa Krause, Reynaldo Gallegos, Christopher Matthew Cook and Omar J. Dorsey.
Divines
(directed by Houda Benyamina).
From Cineuropa: “The story revolves around 15-year-old Dounia, who lives with her mother on the Les Pyramides estate, where she is known by the nickname ‘bâtarde’ (‘Bastard’). She builds up a protective tomboy image for herself and resolves to become a big shot in the neighborhood. An intense friendship and a passionate love affair will then force her to face up to her contradictions.”
L’Economie Du Couple
(directed by Joachim Lafosse).
From Le Pacte: “After 15 years of living together, Marie and Boris decide to get a divorce. Marie had bought the house in which they live with their two daughters, but it was Boris who had completely renovated it. Since he cannot afford to find another place to live, they must continue to share it. When all is said and done, neither of the two is willing to give up.” With Bérénice Béjo and Cédric Kahn.
L’Effet Aquatique
(directed by Sólveig Anspach).
When the Icelandic-French filmmaker passed away last August, she was was in post-production on what “was intended as the final film in an offbeat comedy trilogy that started with Back Soon (2008) and Queen of Montreuil (2012),” as Wendy Mitchell reported in Screen.
Sweet Dreams
(directed by Marco Bellocchio).
Ioncinema‘s Nicholas Bell tells us that it’s “an adaptation of a novel by Massimo Gramellini about a secret kept sealed in an envelope for forty years, and a woman assisting a man who suffers from unresolved issues over the death of his mother when he was a young boy. French actress Bérénice Bejo joins a cast of notable Italian actors, including Valerio Mastandrea as the tortured protagonist.”
Fiore
(directed by Claudio Giovannesi).
From Filmitalia: “Young and in prision for theft, Daphne falls in love with Josh, another inmate. Their love story exists through secret letters and fleeting conversations.” With Daphne Scoccia, Josciua Algeri and Valerio Mastandrea.
Like Crazy
(directed by Paolo Virzì).
From Cineuropa: “Beatrice is a blabbermouth and a so-called billionaire countess who likes to believe she’s in intimacy with world leaders. Donatella is a young quiet tattooed woman, locked in her own mystery. They are both patients of a mental institution and subject to custodial measures. Paolo Virzì’s new film tells the story of their unpredictable friendship and their escape from the treatment constraints that will become an hilarious and moving adventure of two technically insane creatures, looking for a bit of fun and love in this open-air nuthouse, the world of healthy people.” With Micaela Ramazzotti, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Valentina Carnelutti, Tommaso Ragno, Bob Messini, Bobo Rondelli, Anna Galiena and Emanuele Barresi.
Mean Dreams
(directed by Nathan Morlando).
“The coming-of-age tale follows Casey and Jonas, two teenagers desperate to escape their broken and abusive homes,” reported Ross A. Lincoln for Deadline in October. “Stealing a bag full of drug money from Casey’s corrupt police officer father, they band together to learn to con, fight and bribe their way to survival. The thriller examines the desperation of life on the run and the beauty of first love. Newcomers Sophie Nélisse (The Book Thief) and Josh Wiggins (Max, Hellion) play Casey and Jonas, with Bill Paxton as Casey’s father, along with Colm Feore, and Kevin Durand.”
Mercenaire
(directed by Sacha Wolff).
The synopsis at Cineuropa suggests that this’ll be about Soane, a young man who flies in the face of his father’s objections to seek his fortune as a rugby player in rural France. And it’s a lonely struggle, evidently.
Neruda
(directed by Pablo Larraín).
The Playlist‘s Rodrigo Perez calls it “a noir-ish cat-and-mouse tale starring Gael García Bernal as a police inspector charged with hunting down the dissident Chilean Nobel prize-winning poet, diplomat and politician Pablo Neruda, played by Luis Gnecco (HBO’s Profugos). Written by Chilean playwright Guillermo Calderon, (Sundance 2012 World Cinema Jury Prize winner for Violeta Went to Heaven), Neruda reunites Pablo Larraín with many of the team from the Oscar-nominated No, including García Bernal, Gnecco, regular acting collaborators Alfredo Castro, Alejandro Goic, Jaime Vadell and Marcelo Alonso, as well as Roberto Farías from The Club.”
Endless Poetry
(directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky).
The site tells us that it “portrays Alejandro Jodorowsky’s young adulthood, set in the 1940s and 50s, in the electric capital city of Santiago. There, he decides to become a poet and is introduced, by destiny, into the foremost bohemian and artistic circle of the time. He meets Enrique Lihn, Stella Diaz Varín, Nicanor Parra and many others of the country’s young, promising and unknown artists who would later become the titans of Latin America’s literature. Endless Poetry is a tale of poetic experimentation; the story of a unique youth that lived as not many before them had dared: sensually, authentically, freely, madly.”
Psycho Raman
(directed by Anurag Kashyap).
Anurag Kashyap‘s Raman Raghav 2.0. The Hindu tells us it’s “based on notorious serial killer Raman Raghav, who went on murder spree in Mumbai in the 1960s.” He’s “played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, while Vicky Kaushal of Masaan and Zubaan fame plays a cop.” The triller is set to open in India on May 27.
Tour De France
(directed by Rachid Djaïdani).
Rachid Djaïdani’s Tour de France. Variety‘s Elsa Keslassy tells us that it “centers around an up-and-coming French-Arab rapper who has to lie low and reluctantly accepts to drive his producer’s dad, a reactionary blue-collar retiree living in a project, across France for two weeks. Culminating with a rap concert in Marseille, the road trip allows [Gérard] Depardieu’s character to discover the young man’s world, expanding his own horizons.”
Two Lovers And A Bear
(directed by Kim Nguyen).
“Set in a small town near the North Pole where roads lead to nowhere, the story follows Roman [Dane DeHaan] and Lucy [Tatiana Maslany], two