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Cannes Film Festival · 2017

Cannes Film Festival 2017

Official Competition

Programme

24 films · 19 reviews

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120 BPM (Beats Per Minute) (120 Battements Par Minute, 120 Beats Per Minute)

Review preview for 120 BPM (Beats Per Minute)

Campillo has a weakness in not knowing when to trim all the talking.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
Portrait of the ACT UP activist group, a direct action collective aiming to impact the lives of people with AIDS.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Robin Campillo; Writer: Robin Campillo; Stars: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adèle Haenel, Yves Heck, Emmanuel Ménard, Rahim-Silvioli Mehdi, Antoine Reinartz, Caroline Piette, Marco Horanieh, Pascal Tantot, François Rabette, Naelle Dariya, Ariel Borenstein, Coralie Russier, Saadia Bentaïeb)

Full review See: 120 Beats Per Minute award-winner Nahuel Biscayart on sexuality, activism and the pink condom , Robin Campillo on AIDS drama 120 BPM, writing from the heart and collaboration

Based On A True Story

A writer becomes involved with an obsessive fan.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2017; Director: Roman Polanski; Writer: Olivier Assayas, Delphine de Vigan, Roman Polanski; Stars: Eva Green, Emmanuelle Seigner, Vincent Perez, Alexia Séféroglou)

Out of competition

The Beguiled

Review preview for The Beguiled

Coppola’s desire for a new “soft” approach seems to have emasculated the original material while failing to engross our senses with her storytelling techniques.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
Civil War drama about an injured Yankee soldier who seeks refuge in girls' boarding school.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Sofia Coppola; Writer: Sofia Coppola, Thomas Cullinan; Stars: Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning, Kirsten Dunst, Colin Farrell, Angourie Rice, Oona Laurence, Addison Riecke, Wayne Pére, Emma Howard, Matt Story, Rod J. Pierce)

Full review See: Conversation with Sofia Coppola, Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman about The Beguiled

Blade Of The Immortal (Mugen no jûnin)

Review preview for Blade Of The Immortal

Samurai revenge stories are not exactly thin on the ground and it takes something special to get attention today, but Blade Of The Immortal is just that.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Manga tale of an immortal warrior, who cannot be released from his torment until he has killed 10000 evil-doers.

(Country: Japan, UK; Year: 2017; Director: Takashi Miike; Writer: Hiroaki Samura, Tetsuya Oishi; Stars: Takuya Kimura, Hana Sugisaki, Sôta Fukushi, Hayato Ichihara, Erika Toda, Kazuki Kitamura, Chiaki Kuriyama, Shin'nosuke Mitsushima, Ken Kaneko, Yôko Yamamoto, Ebizô Ichikawa, Min Tanaka, Tsutomu Yamazaki)

Full review

Out of competition

The Day After

A woman whose boss recently ended an affair gets mistaken for the girlfriend by his wife.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2017; Director: Hong Sang-soo)

Faces Places (Visages, Villages)

Review preview for Faces Places

Whether she is probing at the ideas of the ties that bind us to a home or considering the morality of goat horns, she constantly nudges us to move around and, perhaps, get a better view.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
The director and photgrapher travel through France as their friendship blossoms.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Agnès Varda, JR)

Full review See: Agnès Varda on Faces Places, honours, outsiders and Demy , Early bird highlights of DOC NYC 2017

Out of competition

A Gentle Creature

A woman travels to a remote prison to try to find out what has happened to her jailed husband.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Sergei Loznitsa; Writer: Sergei Loznitsa, based on the short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

Good Time

Review preview for Good Time

The Safdies invest their own knowledge of their home turf to give it all a frenetic and authentic sense of urgency.

Richard Mowe · 3.5 out of 5
Crime caper sees a bank robber try to evade capture.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Benny Safdie, Joshua Safdie; Writer: Ronald Bronstein, Joshua Safdie; Stars: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Robert Pattinson, Barkhad Abdi, Ben Safdie, Taliah Webster, Marcos A. Gonzalez, Cliff Moylan, Rose Gregorio, Shaun Rey, Souleymane Sy Savane, Buddy Duress, Phil Cappadora, Mahadeo Shivraj, Ratnesh Dubey, Jibril Goodman, Laurence Blum)

Full review See: Good Time star Robert Pattinson on being a lone wolf - and fame as a side dish , Robert Pattinson talks about the Safdie Brothers Good Time in Cannes

Happy End

Review preview for Happy End

Haneke is a master of his material, revealing just enough to keep the viewer on tenterhooks but not enough to give an easy explanations.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
Story of a bourgeois family, set against the backdrop of the Calais refugee crisis.

(Country: France, Germany, Austria; Year: 2017; Director: Michael Haneke; Writer: Michael Haneke; Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Toby Jones, Mathieu Kassovitz, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Fantine Harduin, Loubna Abidar, Dominique Besnehard, Jack Claudany, Hassam Ghancy, Nabiha Akkari, Franck Andrieux, Jackee Toto)

Full review

How To Talk To Girls At Parties

Review preview for How To Talk To Girls At Parties

The energy is electric

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
Three teenage punks gatecrash a party on the Queen's jubilee night in London and have an unexpected experience that feels out of this world

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2017; Director: John Cameron Mitchell; Writer: Philippa Goslett, John Cameron Mitchell, based on a short story by Neil Gaiman; Stars: Alex Sharp, Elle Fanning, Ethan Lawrence, Abraham Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Ruth Wilson, Matt Lucas, Joanna Scanlan, Tom Brooke, Stephen Campbell Moore)

Full review

Out of competition

Ismael's Ghosts (Les Fantomes D'Ismael)

Review preview for Ismael's Ghosts

The writer-director takes great enjoyment in playing around with his various obsessions.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
A filmmaker's life becomes complicated by the return of a former lover.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Arnaud Desplechin; Writer: Arnaud Desplechin, Léa Mysius, Julie Peyr; Stars: Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Louis Garrel, Mathieu Amalric, Alba Rohrwacher, Samir Guesmi, Hippolyte Girardot, László Szabó)

Full review See: Arnaud Desplechin in conversation on Lacan, Rilke, Hitchcock, Philip Roth, and Ismael’s Ghosts: Director’s Cut (Les Fantômes D'Ismaël) , Arnaud Desplechin and Mathieu Amalric in conversation on Ismael’s Ghosts: Director’s Cut (Les Fantômes D'Ismaël) , Interview with Arnaud Desplechin about Ismael's Ghosts at Cannes 2017

Opening night

In The Fade (Aus dem Nichts)

Review preview for In The Fade

Akin asks us to shift our perceptions of terrorist attacks in deliberately provocative ways, constantly flipping what we think we know and what we expect to see right up until the film's haunting final image.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Revenge thriller set in the aftermath of a bombing.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Fatih Akin; Writer: Fatih Akin; Stars: Diane Kruger, Numan Acar, Ulrich Tukur, Siir Eloglu, Jessica McIntyre, Ulrich Brandhoff)

Full review See: Interview with Diane Kruger about In The Fade

Jupiter's Moon

After an immigrant is shot down illegally while crossing the border, he discovers he can now levitate.

(Country: Hungary; Year: 2017; Director: Kornél Mundruczó; Writer: Kornél Mundruczó, Kata Wéber; Stars: Merab Ninidze, Zoltán Mucsi, György Cserhalmi, Mónika Balsai, Tamás Szabó Kimmel, Levente Törköly, Veronika Nemes-Jeles, András Bálint, Szabolcs Bede Fazekas, Sándor Terhes, Farid Larbi, Péter Haumann, Can Togay, Zsolt Végh, Alexandra Horváth)

The Killing Of A Sacred Deer

Review preview for The Killing Of A Sacred Deer

Lanthimos confirms his reputation as one of contemporary cinema’s most original and unsettling directors

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A teenage boy tries to integrate a surgeon into his broken family but his motives become increasingly sinister.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2017; Director: Yorgos Lanthimos; Writer: Efthymis Filippou, Yorgos Lanthimos; Stars: Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Alicia Silverstone, Raffey Cassidy, Bill Camp, Barry Keoghan, Anita Farmer Bergman, Sunny Suljic, Denise Dal Vera, Megan Chelf Fisher, Lea Hutton Beasmore, Rachael Mcadams, Michelle Poole, Nathaniel Sizemore, Jerry Pope)

Full review See: Nicole Kidman on The Killing Of The Sacred Deer in Cannes

L'Amant Double (Double Lover)

Review preview for L'Amant Double

If there is rather more surface than substance and the ending is signposted, it is a surface full of intricacy and a signpost of admirable elegance.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A fragile young woman falls for her psychotherapist... and his twin.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: François Ozon; Writer: François Ozon; Stars: Jacqueline Bisset, Marine Vacth, Jérémie Renier)

Full review

Loveless

Review preview for Loveless

Though the filmmaking is good, the bleakness of the message is unremitting.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A couple go looking for their young son after he disappears during one of their bitter rows.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev; Writer: Oleg Negin; Stars: Maryana Spivak, Alexei Rozin)

Full review

The Meyerowitz Stories (New And Selected)

Review preview for The Meyerowitz Stories (New And Selected)

The balance of the super real with intricately timed artifice and how they collapse into each other is Baumbach's crown achievement.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
Comedy drama about a family who gather in New York to celebrate the work of their dad.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Noah Baumbach; Writer: Noah Baumbach; Stars: Adam Sandler,Emma Thompson, Ben Stiller,Dustin Hoffman, Elizabeth Marvel, Candice Bergen, Danny Flaherty, Rebecca Miller, Jared Sandler, Adam David Thompson, Lyne Renee, Cindy Cheung, Sakina Jaffrey, Mickey Sumner, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Adam Driver, Grace Van Patten, Judd Hirsch, Michael Chernus)

Full review See: Conversation with Dustin Hoffman, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller and Emma Thompson on The Meyerowitz Stories , Tribeca Talks: Dustin Hoffman takes on Noah Baumbach

Okja

Review preview for Okja

Bong keeps it all on the move with immense visual flair, innumerable chases and excellent effects.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
Young girl Mija must risk everything to prevent a powerful, multi-national company from kidnapping her best friend - a massive animal named Okja.

(Country: US, South Korea; Year: 2017; Director: Bong Joon Ho; Writer: Bong Joon Ho, Jon Ronson; Stars: Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Ahn Seo-Hyun, Byun Hee-Bong, Steven Yeun, Lily Collins, Yun Je-mun, Shirley Henderson, Daniel Henshall, Devon Bostick, Choi Woo-sik, Giancarlo Esposito, Jake Gyllenhaal, Lynn Marocola, Myles Humphus)

Full review

Redoubtable (Le Redoubtable)

Review preview for Redoubtable

Hazanavicius directs with flair for the style and mood of the Sixties.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
Paris 1967. Jean-Luc Godard, the leading filmmaker of his generation, is shooting La Chinoise with the woman he loves, Anne Wiazemsky, 20 years his junior. They are happy, attractive, in love, they marry. But the film’s reception unleashes a profound self-examination in Jean-Luc.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Michel Hazanavicius; Writer: Michel Hazanavicius, based on the autobiography by Anne Wiazemsky; Stars: Stacy Martin, Bérénice Bejo, Louis Garrel, Jean-Pierre Mocky, Micha Lescot, Grégory Gadebois, Marc Brun Adryan', Lola Ingrid Le Roch, Tanya Lopert, Emmanuele Aita, Arthur Orcier, Eric Marcel, Eva Chico, Louise Legendre, Zina Esepciuc)

Full review

Rodin

Drama about the sculptor's romance with Camille Claudel.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2017; Director: Jacques Doillon; Writer: Jacques Doillon; Stars: Vincent Lindon, Izïa Higelin, Séverine Caneele, Edward Akrout, Zina Esepciuc, Magdalena Malina, Patricia Mazuy, Lea Jackson, Olivia Baes, Serge Bagdassarian, Régis Royer, Nathalie Bécue, Serge Nicolai, François Neycken, Edouard Duthuillé)

Radiance (Hikari)

Review preview for Radiance

It’s a love story of sorts, but one which demands a lot more of its protagonists – and its audience – than most of its ilk.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A writer of film versions for the visually impaired falls for a photographer who is losing his eyesight, together they learn to see the radiant world.

(Country: Japan, France; Year: 2017; Director: Naomi Kawase; Writer: Naomi Kawase; Stars: Masatoshi Nagase, Noémie Nakai, Tatsuya Fuji, Ayame Misaki, Chihiro Ohtsuka, Kazuko Shirakawa, Mantarô Koichi, Saori, Nobumitsu Ônishi)

Full review

The Square

Review preview for The Square

While satirically entertaining in places it has too many threads competing for attention and ultimately runs out of steam.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
An art exhibit invites passers by to altruism, but things don't go as planned for its curator.

(Country: Sweden, Germany, France, Denmark; Year: 2017; Director: Ruben Östlund; Writer: Ruben Östlund; Stars: Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West, Terry Notary, Linda Anborg, Claes Bang, Annica Liljeblad, Christopher Læssø, Emelie Beckius, Sarah Giercksky, Jan Lindwall, Marina Schiptjenko, John Nordling, Denise Wessman, Lilianne Mardon, Peter Diaz)

Full review See: Interview with Ruben Östlund, Claes Bang and Elisabeth Moss about The Square in Cannes

Wonderstruck

Review preview for Wonderstruck

This creative and visually arresting adaptation of Brian Selznick’s critically acclaimed novel marks a filmmaker at the top of his game.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
Ben and Rose are children from two different eras who secretly wish their lives were different. Both set out on quests.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Todd Haynes; Writer: Brian Selznick, based on his novel; Stars: Amy Hargreaves, Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore, Oakes Fegley, Tom Noonan, Cory Michael Smith, James Urbaniak, Marko Caka, Damian Young, Hays Wellford, Morgan Turner, Ekaterina Samsonov, Brian Berrebbi, Michael Wren Gucciardo, Jaden Michael)

Full review

You Were Never Really Here

Review preview for You Were Never Really Here

Nothing plays out as you expect, with Ramsay maintaining an unsettling staccato that keeps both the action and the viewer on edge.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A tormented assassin tries to rescue a girl but trouble lies ahead.

(Country: US, France; Year: 2017; Director: Lynne Ramsay; Writer: Lynne Ramsay, based on the novel by Jonathan Ames; Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Ekaterina Samsonov, Alessandro Nivola, Alex Manette, John Doman, Judith Roberts, Jason Babinsky, Kate Easton, Frank Pando, Leigh Dunham, Madison Arnold, Dante Pereira-Olson, Jonathan Wilde, Scott Price, Silvia Pena)

Full review