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Cannes Film Festival · 2019

Cannes Film Festival 2019

Competition

Programme

21 films · 15 reviews

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Atlantics (Atlantique, Atlantics: A Ghost Love Story)

Review preview for Atlantics

The difficult reality of life in Senegal dances with something much more otherworldly in Mati Diop's debut film.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Love and loss in Dakar are given a supernatural twist.

(Country: Senegal; Year: 2019; Director: Mati Diop; Writer: Mati Diop, Olivier Demangel; Stars: Mame Bineta Sane, Amadou Mbow, Traore, Nicole Sougou, Aminata Kane, Coumba Dieng, Ibrahima Mbaye, Diankou Sembene, Abdou Balde, Babacar Sylla, Arame Fall Faye, Ya Arame Mousse Sene, Babacar Samba, Astou N'Diaye, Khouda Fall)

Full review

Bacurau (Nighthawk)

Review preview for Bacurau

Creates a unique and eerily grounded suspense that transcends genre.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
Villagers sold as human prey defend themselves from hunters using a psychotropic drug.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2019; Director: Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho; Writer: Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho; Stars: Udo Kier, Sônia Braga, Jonny Mars, Chris Doubek, Bárbara Colen, Alli Willow, Thomas Aquino, Silvero Pereira, Márcio Fecher, Val Junior, Karine Teles, Suzy Lopes, Brian Townes, Antonio Saboia)

Full review See: Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles in conversation on Udo Kier, Alli Willow and the horses as a “marker that this is a Western” for Bacurau , Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles in conversation on futuristic settings of Mad Max and Blade Runner and a Chinatown connection to the politics of water in Bacurau , Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles in conversation on Bacurau , Sônia Braga in conversation on Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles' Bacurau and The Paris Theatre

The Dead Don't Die

Review preview for The Dead Don't Die

Jarmusch usually manages to invest his films with a quirky sense of humour, but here the lines fall decidedly flat.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
The peaceful town of Centerville finds itself battling a zombie horde as the dead start rising from their graves.

(Country: Sweden, US; Year: 2019; Director: Jim Jarmusch; Writer: Jim Jarmusch; Stars: Bill Murray, Chloë Sevigny, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Tom Waits, Iggy Pop, Steve Buscemi, Selena Gomez)

Full review See: Jarmusch, Swinton, Sevigny, Gomez and Murray at The Dead Don't Die press conference in Cannes

Opening film

Frankie

Review preview for Frankie

It is only sporadically involving with even the usually hypnotic Huppert struggling to make an impression.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
Three generations grappling with a life-changing experience during one day of a vacation in Sintra, Portugal, a historic town known for its dense gardens and fairy-tale villas and palaces.

(Country: France, Portugal, Belgium, US; Year: 2019; Director: Ira Sachs; Writer: Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias; Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Brendan Gleeson, Marisa Tomei, Jérémie Renier, Pascal Greggory, Vinette Robinson, Ariyon Bakare, Carloto Cotta)

Full review See: Interview with Ira Sachs about Isabelle Huppert and Frankie , Isabelle Huppert in conversation on Ira Sachs' Frankie

A Hidden Life

Review preview for A Hidden Life

One of the flaws of Malick’s film is that the main character goes into introspective mode, thereby depriving us of any real insight in to his thoughts.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
The Austrian Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector, refuses to fight for the Nazis in World War II.

(Country: US, Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Terrence Malick; Writer: Terrence Malick; Stars: August Diehl, Valerie Pachner, Michael Nyqvist, Matthias Shoenaerts, Jürgen Prochnow, Bruno Ganz)

Full review

It Must Be Heaven

Filmmaker Elia Suleiman travels to different cities and finds unexpected parallels to his homeland of Palestine.

(Country: France, Canada; Year: 2019; Director: Elia Suleiman; Writer: Elia Suleiman; Stars: Ali Suliman, Elia Suleiman, Holden Wong)

Little Joe

Review preview for Little Joe

If you're going to do science fiction, you really need to get the science right, because otherwise all you're doing is attacking straw men.

Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
A genetically engineered plant scatters its seeds and seems to cause uncanny changes on living creatures. The afflicted appear strange, as if they were replaced - especially for those, who are close to them. Or is it all just imagination?

(Country: Austria, UK, Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Jessica Hausner; Writer: Géraldine Bajard, Jessica Hausner; Stars: Emily Beecham, Ben Whishaw, Leanne Best, Lindsay Duncan, Kerry Fox, David Wilmut)

Full review

Matthias And Maxime

The story of two friends.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2019; Director: Xavier Dolan; Writer: Xavier Dolan; Stars: Harris Dickinson, Xavier Dolan, Anne Dorval)

Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo

Saga about French youth in the Nineties.

(Country: France, Italy; Year: 2019; Director: Abdellatif Kechiche; Writer: Abdellatif Kechiche, Ghalia Lacroix; Stars: Shaïn Boumedine, Ophélie Bau, Salim Kechiouche, Alexia Chardard, Lou Luttiau, Hafsia Herzi, Hugo-Vincent Couturier, Shaïn Boumedine, Ophélie Bau, Salim Kechiouche, Alexia Chardard, Lou Luttiau, Hafsia Herzi, Hugo-Vincent Couturier)

Les Misérables

Review preview for Les Misérables

Ly wanted the people who have lived in these schemes to have the chance to tell their own stories, which gives Les Misérables an unerring sense of authenticity.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A man joins an anti-crime brigade and rapidly discovers the tensions between the various neighbourhood groups.

(Country: France; Year: 2019; Director: Ladj Ly; Writer: Ladj Ly, Giordano Gederlini, Alexis Menenti; Stars: Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djibril Zonga)

Full review See: Interview with Djebril Zonga, Alexis Manenti and Damien Bonnard about Les Misérables

Oh Mercy! (Roubaix, Une Lumière, Roubaix, A Light!)

Review preview for Oh Mercy!

Based on Mosco Boucault’s documentary Roubaix, Commissariat Central, and using the actual interrogation transcripts, Desplechin shoots for a different tone.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
A police chief in northern France tries to solve a case where an old woman was brutally murdered.

(Country: France; Year: 2019; Director: Arnaud Desplechin; Writer: Arnaud Desplechin, Léa Mysius; Stars: Léa Seydoux, Roschdy Zem, Sara Forestier, Antoine Reinartz)

Full review See: Arnaud Desplechin in conversation on reality, childhood, filming animals for Oh Mercy! (Roubaix, Une Lumière) and Henry Fonda in The Wrong Man , Arnaud Desplechin in conversation on editing and composer Grégoire Hetzel for Oh Mercy! (Roubaix, Une Lumière) and a Cries And Whispers scene

Once Upon A Time ... In Hollywood (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood)

Review preview for Once Upon A Time ... In Hollywood

Tarantino's on good form but there are moments in the middle of the 165-minute marathon where it flags before mustering for its finale.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
TV star Rick Dalton and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth make their way around an industry they hardly recognise any more.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2019; Director: Quentin Tarantino; Writer: Quentin Tarantino; Stars: Margot Robbie, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Timothy Olyphant, Al Pacino, Dakota Fanning, Martin Kove, Kurt Russell, James Marsden, Luke Perry, Margaret Qualley, Damian Lewis, Tim Roth, Emile Hirsch, Lorenza Izzo) , Trailer

Full review See: Gay Talese in conversation on Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Spahn Ranch, Italian directors and westerns , Brad Pitt, Leonardio DiCaprio, Quentin Tarantino and Margot Robbie in conversation on Once Upon A Time In Hollywood at the Cannes Film Festival 2019

Pain And Glory (Dolor Y Gloria)

Review preview for Pain And Glory

The tone is both bitter and sweet.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A film director reflects on the choices he's made in life as past and present come crashing down around him.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2019; Director: Pedro Almodóvar; Writer: Pedro Almodóvar; Stars: Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, Asier Etxeandia, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Raúl Arévalo, Nora Navas, Cecilia Roth)

Full review See: Interview with Pedro Almodóvar, Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz about Pain And Glory

Parasite

Review preview for Parasite

Bong Joon Ho's tale of two families explores the wealth gap in South Korean society with wit, insight and a pitch black sense of humour.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2019; Director: Bong Joon Ho; Writer: Bong Joon Ho, Jin-won Han; Stars: Kang-ho Song, Sun-kyun Lee, Yeo-jeong Cho, Woo-sik Choi, So-dam Park, Lee Jeong-eun, Jang Hye-jin, Park Myeong-hoon, Ji-so Jung, Hyun-jun Jung, Keun-rok Park, Yi-Seo Jung, Jae-myeong Jo, Ik-han Jung, Kyu-baek Kim)

Full review

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (Portrait De La Jeune Fille En Feu)

Review preview for Portrait Of A Lady On Fire

What could have been a traditionally lavish costume drama has been pared down to highlight the erotic tension and sensuality

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
On an isolated island in Bretagne at the end of the 18th century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.

(Country: France; Year: 2019; Director: Céline Sciamma; Writer: Céline Sciamma; Stars: Valeria Golino, Adèle Haenel, Noémie Merlant, Luàna Bajrami, Cécile Morel)

Full review See: Interview with Noémie Merlant about Portrait Of A Lady On Fire and Jumbo

Sibyl

A jaded psychotherapist returns to her first passion of becoming a writer.

(Country: France; Year: 2019; Director: Justine Triet; Writer: Arthur Harari, Justine Triet; Stars: Virginie Efira, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Gaspard Ulliel)

Sorry We Missed You

Review preview for Sorry We Missed You

A narrative that hits your emotional solar plexus with the raw power of the performances and the deceptive simplicity of the story.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A hard-up delivery driver and his wife struggle to get by in modern-day England.

(Country: UK, France, Belgium; Year: 2019; Director: Ken Loach; Writer: Paul Laverty; Stars: Kris Hitchen, Debbie Honeywood, Rhys Stone, Katie Proctor)

Full review

The Traitor (Il Traditore)

The real life of Tommaso Buscetta the so called 'boss of the two worlds' and the first mafia informant in Sicily in the Eighties.

(Country: Italy, France, Brazil, Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Marco Bellocchio; Writer: Marco Bellocchio, Valia Santella; Stars: Pierfrancesco Favino, Luigi Lo Cascio, Maria Fernanda Cândido)

The Whistlers (La Gomera, The Passenger)

Review preview for The Whistlers

The whistling language is fun - and, if anything, disappointingly underused - but it's the language of cinema that Porumboiu is really interested in.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Film noir sees a corrupt cop learn a whistling language to beat detection while trying to double-cross the mob.

(Country: Romania, France, Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Corneliu Porumboiu; Writer: Corneliu Porumboiu; Stars: Vlad Ivanov, Catrinel Marlon, Rodica Lazar)

Full review

The Wild Goose Lake (Nan Fang Chez Han De Ju Hui)

Tale about a gangster on the run.

(Country: China; Year: 2019; Director: Yi'nan Diao; Writer: Yi'nan Diao; Stars: Fan Liao, Hugh Hu, Lun-Mei Kwei)

Young Ahmed (Le Jeune Ahmed)

Review preview for Young Ahmed

Their provision of few motivational details makes for an unsatisfactory narrative.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
A teenager becomes radicalised.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2019; Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne; Writer: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne; Stars: Idir Ben Addi, Olivier Bonnaud, Myriem Akheddiou, Victoria Bluck, Claire Bodson, Othmane Moumen)

Full review See: Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne in conversation on the objects and avoiding imagery for Young Ahmed (Le Jeune Ahmed) , Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne in conversation on Young Ahmed (Le Jeune Ahmed)