Screen International’s critics pick out some of the standout films from this year’s Cannes Film Festival, from key titles in the competition to hidden gems in the sidebars.
Compiled by Nikki Baughan
Competition
All Of A Sudden
Dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Our critic said: “Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto are wonderful as richly layered, openhearted characters who prove magnetic company.”
International sales: Cinefrance International
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The Beloved
Dir. Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Our critic said: “Sorogoyen’s superbly acted and dramatically compelling study of generational rifts, gender divides and the deep, unhealing scars in a father-daughter relationship has a muscular, propulsive momentum.”
International sales: Goodfellas
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The Dreamed Adventure
Dir. Valeska Grisebach
Our critic said: “Running at almost three hours, yet relentlessly absorbing, The Dreamed Adventure deploys a cast of non-professionals led by former geologist and casino manager Yana Radeva.”
International sales: The Match Factory
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Fatherland
Dir. Pawel Pawlikowski
Our critic said: “Black-and-white drama about Nobel-winning author Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika is imposingly heavyweight, yet is executed with rare lightness.”
International sales: The Match Factory
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A Man Of His Time
Dir. Emmanuel Marre
Our critic said: “There’s much to admire in Emmanuel Marre’s ambitious second fiction: the lighting choices are thrillingly unexpected; the performances are superb across the board.”
International sales: Charades
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Minotaur
Dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev
Our critic said: “A steely and immaculately composed remake of Claude Chabrol’s 1969 classic The Unfaithful Wife. For the majority of its runtime, Zvyagintsev deliberately flattens both the eroticism and the thrills – a carefully judged gambit that allows scenes of nudity and murder to land with greater force when they finally arrive.”
International sales: mk2 Films
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Un Certain Regard
Club Kid
Dir. Jordan Firstman
Our critic said: “This crowdpleasing queer family drama is a triumph – an acidic, spikily funny portrait of New York’s hedonistic gay scene which celebrates empathy, community and the unconditional love between a father and his son.”
International sales: Charades
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Congo Boy
Dir. Rafiki Fariala
Our critic said: “Its biggest strength is a strong ring of truth, not least because of the tender performances Fariala and his team elicit from a cast entirely made up of non-professionals.”
International sales: The Party Film Sales
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The Meltdown
Dir. Manuela Martelli
Our critic said: “The atmospheric second feature from director Manuela Martelli uses a child’s loss of innocence as an allegory for Chile’s reckoning in the post-Pinochet era.”
International sales: Losange Films
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Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma
Dir. Jane Schoenbrun
Our critic said: “A dizzyingly ambitious meta-satire about Hollywood, IP, hacky horror, and gender and sexual identity, Teenage Sex And Death cannot help but occasionally misstep, but the rush of ideas and the confidence of the filmmaking never waver.”
International sales: The Match Factory
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Victorian Psycho
Dir. Zachary Wigon
Our critic said: “Plays like an audacious mash-up of repressed 19th-century literary classics and bloody serial killer films. Not so much Pride And Prejudice with zombies, but with Michael Myers.”
International sales: Anton
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Midnight
Full Phil
Dir. Quentin Dupieux
Our critic said: “It’s another example of the director’s skill at choosing actors who fully embrace the chance to do something a bit different; Woody Harrelson and Kristen Stewart tear into their roles as the father and daughter.”
International sales: Studiocanal
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Species
Dir. Marion Le Corroller
Our critic said: “There’s an astute message here about the relentless pressure of modern life and, particularly, how Gen Z workers are having to contort themselves just to stay on the financial treadmill, but the film’s real draw for genre fans will be its edgy atmosphere and extreme effects.”
International sales: WTFilms
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Special Screenings
Rehearsals For A Revolution
Dir. Pegah Ahangarani
Our critic said: “Several decades of modern Iranian history are evoked and interrogated in Rehearsals For A Revolution, a searching documentary that can surely lay claim to being the timeliest film in Cannes this year.”
International sales: The Party Film Sales
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Cannes Premiere
The End Of It
Dir. Maria Martinez Bayona
Our critic said: “Bayona’s meticulously calibrated, dramatically knotty debut raises intriguing questions about ageing, entitlement, creativity and connection, all wrapped up in a stylish, intellectual drama driven by a layered central performance from Rebecca Hall.”
International sales: Bankside Films
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Visitation
Dir. Volker Schlöndorff
Our critic said: “This ghostly, layered and often dread-inducing drama from veteran German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff is a fitting late-career triumph.”
International sales: Studiocanal
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Directors’ Fortnight
Clarissa
Dir. Arie and Chuko Esiri
Our critic said: “A boldly executed and eloquent reimagining of Virginia Woolf’s landmark novel Mrs. Dalloway that pushes her critiques of colonialism, class and isolation with renewed fervor.”
International sales: Neon
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Diary Of A Chambermaid
Dir. Radu Jude
Our critic said: “The Romanian writer-director takes a minor-key approach to his trademark themes of economic inequality and societal rot, finding in his everyday protagonist a common struggle to survive in an increasingly challenging world.”
International sales: SBS International
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Gabin
Dir. Maxence Voiseux
Our critic said: “Ten years of on-off filming are condensed into a real-life Boyhood, a coming-of-age drama that is as much about a place, time and society as it is about its titular protagonist.”
International sales: Lightdox
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I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning
Dir. Clio Barnard
Our critic said: “Featuring a superb ensemble cast, it’s grounded by a gritty, relatable authenticity that pushes it past its more didactic moments.”
International sales: Charades
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Red Rocks
Dir. Bruno Dumont
Our critic said: “With a cast almost entirely composed of children, it is slender by Dumont’s standards but hugely distinctive, depicting childhood as effectively resembling life on another planet.”
International sales: Luxbox Films
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Shana
Dir. Lila Pinell
Our critic said: “The film has shades of Anora in its richly realised community and propulsive central character.”
International sales: Losange Films
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Viva Carmen
Dir. Sébastien Laudenbach
Our critic said: “A visually stunning reimagining of Bizet’s Carmen made relatable and accessible to younger audiences, which also incorporates a feminist perspective.”
International sales: Global Constellation
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Critics’ Week
A Girl Unknown
Dir. Zou Jing
Our critic said: “Should make an impactful impression on festival audiences due to its sensitive handling of subject matter that has only occasionally been addressed in productions bearing the official stamp of approval from China’s state film authorities.”
International sales: Pyramide International
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La Gradiva
Dir. Marine Atlan
Our critic said: “The avoidance of coming-of-age cliches in Marine Atlan’s slow-burn debut feature-length drama could help attract arthouse distribution.”
International sales: mk2 Films
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