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Cannes Film Festival · 2022

Cannes Film Festival 2022

Competition

Programme

21 films · 14 reviews

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Armageddon Time

Review preview for Armageddon Time

The film is full of beautifully observed and detailed conversations as well as silences that speak volumes.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
Coming-of-age drama set against the backdrop of the Reagan era.

(Country: Brazil, US; Year: 2022; Director: James Gray; Writer: James Gray; Stars: Anne Hathaway, Anthony Hopkins, Jeremy Strong, Domenick Lombardozzi, Tovah Feldshuh, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Teddy Coluca, Michael Banks Repeta, Andrew Polk, Dane West, Lauren Yaffe, Dupree Francois Porter, Griffin Wallace Henkel, Marcia Haufrecht, Ryan Sell)

Full review See: James Gray in conversation on Armageddon Time, his grandfather, Anthony Hopkins, Susan Sontag, cinematographers Darius Khondji and Ed Lachman

Boy From Heaven

When a grand imam dies, a ruthless battle begins to be his successor.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2022; Director: Tarik Saleh; Writer: Tarik Saleh; Stars: Tawfeek Barhom, Fares Fares, Mehdi Dehbi, Mohammad Bakri, Makram Khoury, Yunus Albayrak, Sherwan Haji, Mouloud Ayad, Amr Mosad, Youssef Salama Zeki, Ayman Fathy)

Broker

Review preview for Broker

More pedantic than poetic, making for an unfulfilling watch.

Dora Leu · 2 out of 5
Drama following a group of people brought together by "baby post boxes" used to help abandoned babies.

(Country: Korea; Year: 2022; Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda; Writer: Hirokazu Kore-eda; Stars: Song Kang-ho, Gang Dong-won, Bae Doona, Lee Ji-eun, Lee Joo-young)

Full review

Brother And Sister (Frère et soeur)

Review preview for Brother And Sister

Desplechin fires off too many salvoes which hit wide of the mark

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
The death of a pair of siblings' parents forces them to cross paths after 20 years of avoiding one another.

(Country: France; Year: 2022; Director: Arnaud Desplechin; Writer: Arnaud Desplechin; Stars: Marion Cotillard, Golshifteh Farahani, Melvil Poupaud, Cosmina Stratan, Max Baissette de Malglaive, Benjamin Siksou, Saverio Maligno)

Full review See: Melvil Poupaud in conversation on Brother and Sister, Arnaud Desplechin, Mathieu Amalric, Eric Rohmer and Woody Allen , Arnaud Desplechin in conversation on composer Grégoire Hetzel and cinematographer Yorick Le Saux for Deception (Tromperie), Marion Cotillard and Frère Et Sœur

Close

Review preview for Close

Loose camerawork from Frank van den Eeden enhances the intimate, raw spirit.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Two best friends find their bond upset by schoolmates.

(Country: Belgium, Netherlands, France; Year: 2022; Director: Lukas Dhont; Writer: Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens; Stars: Émilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker, Kevin Janssens, Igor van Dessel, Marc Weiss, Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele)

Full review

Crimes Of The Future

Review preview for Crimes Of The Future

Cronenberg, a seemingly gentle soul on the surface, remains tortured by the possibilities of technology and how it may tear us apart.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
In a near-future human evolution has accelerated, a situation embraced by a performance artist.

(Country: Canada, Greece, France; Year: 2022; Director: David Cronenberg; Writer: David Cronenberg; Stars: Kristen Stewart, Léa Seydoux, Viggo Mortensen, Scott Speedman, Tanaya Beatty, Denise Capezza, Lihi Kornowski, Yorgos Karamihos, Don McKellar, Nadia Litz, Ephie Kantza, Yorgos Pirpassopoulos, Welket Bungué, Jason Bitter)

Full review See: Cronenberg, Mortensen, Stewart and Seydoux on Crimes Of The Future in Cannes

Decision To Leave

Review preview for Decision To Leave

Park does it the hard way, building up a complex psychological and intellectual relationship in which sexual desire feels like an emergent characteristic rather than a starting point.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A detective investigates a man's death in the mountains.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2022; Director: Park Chan-wook; Writer: Park Chan-wook, Seo-kyeong Jeong; Stars: Tang Wei, Park Hae-il, Go Kyung-Pyo, Lee Jung-Hyun, Park Yong-woo)

Full review

The Eight Mountains

Review preview for The Eight Mountains

In their quietly devastating manner, Groeningen and Vandermeersch examine the fluid nature of our confusion and confidence over our place in the world.

Jeremy Mathews · 5 out of 5
The Eight Mountains is the story of a friendship. Of children becoming men who try to erase the footprints of their fathers, but who, through the twists and turns they take, always end up returning home.

(Country: Italy, Belgium, France; Year: 2022; Director: Felix van Groeningen, Charlotte Vandermeersch; Writer: Paolo Cognetti, Charlotte Vandermeersch, Felix van Groeningen; Stars: Alessandro Borghi, Luca Marinelli, Filippo Timi, Elena Lietti)

Full review

EO

Review preview for EO

The beast of burden’s travails seem to be a thinly veiled criticism of Polish society which erupts in one sequence into mindless violence.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
Tale revolving around an unassuming grey donkey.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2022; Director: Jerzy Skolimowski; Writer: Ewa Piaskowska, Jerzy Skolimowski; Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Lorenzo Zurzolo, Mateusz Kosciukiewicz, Sandra Drzymalska, Tomasz Organek)

Full review

Forever Young (Les Amandiers, The Almond Tree)

A group of young people find themselves at a turning point... and facing their first tragedy.

(Country: France, Italy; Year: 2022; Director: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi; Stars: Sofiane Bennacer, Clara Bretheau, Baptiste Carrion-Weiss, Alexia Chardard, Louis Garrel, Léna Garrel, Liv Henneguier, Sarah Henochsberg, Oscar Lesage, Micha Lescot, Farida Rahouadj, Vassili Schneider, Nadia Tereszkiewicz)

Holy Spider (Ankabut-e moqaddas)

Review preview for Holy Spider

This is less about the puzzle of who the murderer is... than about the way he slots into society and, after his arrest, is viewed by the public.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A journalist tries to track down a serial killer who is murdering sex workers.

(Country: Denmark, Germany, Sweden, France; Year: 2022; Director: Ali Abbasi; Writer: Ali Abbasi, Afshin Kamran Bahrami; Stars: Zar Amir-Ebrahimi, Mehdi Bajestani, Arash Ashtiani, Forouzan Jamshidnejad, Sina Parvaneh, Nima Akbarpour, Sara Fazilat, Alice Rahimi, M. Ali Nazarian, Sima Seyed, Firouz Ageli, Farhad Faghih Habibi)

Full review

Leila's Brothers

No details yet available.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2022; Director: Saeed Roustayi; Writer: Saeed Roustayi; Stars: Taraneh Alidoosti, Saeed Poursamimi, Navid Mohammadzadeh, Payman Maadi, Mohammad Ali Mohammadi, Farhad Aslani)

Mother And Son (Un Petit Frere)

Review preview for Mother And Son

Filled with strong sentiment but without sentimentality.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
In the late 1980s, Rose moves from the Ivory Coast to the Paris suburbs with her two young sons, Ernest and Jean. Spanning 20 years from their arrival in France to the present day, the film is the chronicle of the construction and deconstruction of a family.

(Country: France; Year: 2022; Director: Léonor Serraille; Writer: Léonor Serraille; Stars: Stéphane Bak, Ahmed Sylla, Annabelle Lengronne, Kenzo Sambin)

Full review

Nostalgia

A man returns home after 40 years away.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2022; Director: Mario Martone; Writer: Mario Martone, Ippolita Di Majo, based on the novel by Ermanno Rea; Stars: Pierfrancesco Favino, Sofia Essaïdi, Tommaso Ragno, Daniela Ioia, Salvatore Striano, Aurora Quattrocchi, Francesco Di Leva, Nello Mascia, Artem, Emanuele Palumbo, Virginia Apicella)

Pacifiction (Tourment sur les îles)

Review preview for Pacifiction

The languid mood contrasts with the most dangerous topics.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
On the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, the High Commissioner of the Republic and French government navigates the high end "establishment" as well as shady venues as a rumour abounds about the sighting of a submarine whose presence could herald the return of French nuclear testing.

(Country: Spain, France, Germany, Portugal; Year: 2022; Director: Albert Serra; Writer: Albert Serra; Stars: Benoît Magimel, Sergi López, Montse Triola, Lluís Serrat, Marc Susini, Pahoa Mahagafanau, Matahi Pambrun, Alexandre Mello, Mareva Wong, Baptiste Pinteaux, Michael Vautor, Cyrus Arai, Laurent Brissonnaud, Mike Landscape, Cécile Guilbert)

Full review See: Albert Serra on inspiration, stimulation, Magimel and filming Pacifiction in Tahiti

R.M.N

When a man returns to his village after working away he finds resentments brewing.

(Year: 2022; Director: Cristian Mungiu; Writer: Cristian Mungiu; Stars: Judith State, Marin Grigore, Orsolya Moldován, András Hatházi, Macrina Barladeanu, Zoltán Deák)

Showing Up

Drama about an artist on the verge of an exhibition.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Kelly Reichardt; Writer: Jonathan Raymond, Kelly Reichardt; Stars: Michelle Williams, Hong Chau, Maryann Plunkett, John Magaro, André 3000, Judd Hirsch, Amanda Plummer, Matt Malloy, Heather Lawless, James Le Gros, Denzel Rodriguez, Eudora Peterson, Ted Rooney, Rowan Vik, Orianna Milne)

Stars At Noon

An encounter between a mysterious businessman and a journalist committed to following developments of the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua, in 1984.

(Country: France; Year: 2022; Director: Claire Denis; Writer: Claire Denis, Denis Johnson, Andrew Litvack; Stars: Margaret Qualley, Joe Alwyn, Danny Ramirez, Nick Romano, Carlos Serrano)

Tchaikovsky's Wife (Zhena Chaikovskogo)

Review preview for Tchaikovsky's Wife

The music is an easy choice, but Serebrennikov has found its counterpart in image and in theme.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Drama following the turbulent relationship between the composer and his wife.

(Country: Russia, France; Year: 2022; Director: Kirill Serebrennikov; Writer: Kirill Serebrennikov; Stars: Filipp Avdeev, Odin Lund Biron, Nikita Elenev, Ekaterina Ermishina, Miron Fedorov)

Full review

Tori And Lokita

Review preview for Tori And Lokita

While exploitation is expertly outlined, the directors are never exploitative themselves in the way it is depicted.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
In Belgium today, a young boy and an adolescent girl who have travelled alone from Africa pit their invincible friendship against the difficult conditions of their exile.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2022; Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne; Writer: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne; Stars: Marc Zinga, Claire Bodson, Baptiste Sornin, Schils Pablo, Mbundu Joely)

Full review

Triangle Of Sadness

Review preview for Triangle Of Sadness

A roller-coaster of the effects of absolute power corrupting absolutely.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A yacht for the super-rich sinks, leaving its passengers marooned on an island.

(Country: Sweden, UK, US, France, Greece; Year: 2022; Director: Ruben Östlund; Writer: Ruben Östlund; Stars: Woody Harrelson, Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean, Hanna Oldenburg, Zlatko Buric, Oliver Ford Davies, Linda Anborg, Iris Berben, Carolina Gynning, Sunnyi Melles, Malte Gårdinger, Vicki Berlin, Arvin Kananian, Beata Borelius, Shaniaz Hama Ali)

Full review See: Director Ruben Östlund, and Woody Harrelson on Triangle Of Sadness