Cannes 2019

[Peng]

OPENING NIGHT FILM
The Dead Don’t Die, dir: Jim Jarmusch (also in competition)

COMPETITION
Pain & Glory, dir: Pedro Almodovar
Parasite, dir: Bong Joon-ho
The Wild Goose Lake, dir: Diao Yinan
The Traitor, dir: Marco Bellocchio
Young Ahmed, dirs: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Matthias And Maxime, dir: Xavier Dolan
Oh Mercy, dir: Arnaud Desplechin
A Hidden Life, dir: Terrence Malick
Sorry We Missed You, dir: Ken Loach
Little Joe, dir: Jessica Hausner
Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, dir: Céline Sciamma
Atlantique, dir: Mati Diop
Sibyl, dir: Justine Triet
It Must Be Heaven, dir: Elia Suleiman
Frankie, dir: Ira Sachs
Bacurau, dirs: Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles
The Whistlers, dir: Corneliu Porumboiu
Les Misérables, dir: Ladj Ly

OUT OF COMPETITION
Les Plus Belles Années D’Une Vie, dir: Claude Lelouch
Rocketman, dir: Dexter Fletcher
Too Old To Die Young – North Of Hollywood, West Of Hell (two episodes); dir: Nicolas Winding Refn
Diego Maradona, dir: Asif Kapadia
La Belle Epoque, dir: Nicolas Bedos

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil, dir: Lee Won-Tae

SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Tommaso, dir: Abel Ferrara
Share, dir: Pippa Bianco
For Sama, dirs: Waad Al Kateab & Edward Watts
Etre Vivant Et Le Savoir, dir: Alain Cavalier
Family Romance LLC, dir: Werner Herzog

UN CERTAIN REGARD
Invisible Life, dir: Karim Aïnouz
Beanpole, dir: Kantemir Balagov
The Swallows Of Kabul, dirs: Zabou Breitman & Eléa Gobé Mévellec
A Brother’s Love, dir: Monia Chokri
The Climb, dir: Michael Covino
Jeanne, dir: Bruno Dumont
A Sun That Never Sets, dir: Olivier Laxe
Chambre 212, dir: Christophe Honoré
Port Authority, dir: Danielle Lessovitz
Papicha, dir: Mounia Meddour
Adam, dir: Maryam Touzani
Zhuo Ren Mi Mi, dir: Midi Z
Liberté, dir: Albert Serra
Bull, dir: Annie Silverstein
Summer Of Changsha, dir: Zu Feng
Evge, dir: Nariman Aliev

[Peng]

Excited for Bong and Almodovar, the latter of which a number of people I know have seen and loved (among most favorite of his, etc).

Hopeful rebounds for Dardennes (their latest isn't bad, just disappointing by their standard) and Malick, which is his first scripted film in a long, long while, although even then I hear it's still 3 hours?

The Refn series will be shown its two episodes of Episode 4 and 5, to which festival director Thierry Fremaux adds when announcing it "Don't ask", lol.

Dumont sure likes his Jeanne films.

[Peng]

If finished in time, the new Tarantino is probably guaranteed a competition slot as one of the late additions.

[Irish]

Almodovar and Bong are must-sees. Maybe on the Jarmusch, depending on what people say about it. I want to see Refn's weird show but that's a lower priority.

Last I heard Tarantino is definitely out.

[baby doll]

Jarmush hasn't let me down yet. I haven't really liked an Almodóvar film since Talk to Her (although Volver is decent, at least until the last half-hour or so when the plot goes on automatic pilot; I haven't seen his Munro adaptation). Bong Joonho I generally like but I've never really loved one of his films: He strikes me as a capable genre filmmaker but not a miracle worker, even when one factors in that competent genre filmmaking has become exceedingly rare in this age. Bellocchio can be great (see Vincere) but he's often mediocre. The Dardennes are as consistently amazing as any filmmakers now working; even their lesser efforts, like Le Silence de Lorna, are pretty terrific. I stopped watching Dolan's films after Mommy, though I still like J'ai tué ma mère and Les Amours imaginaires. Malick has two great films (1973-1978) and a bunch of uneven ones (1998-2012); I still haven't gotten around to what are reported to be the really bad ones (everything after 2012). Loach's movies are usually watchable. I liked Hausner's Amour fou and might give it a second look. Suleiman is dependably hilarious; even his shorts from dreadful omnibus films (Chacun son cinéma, 7 Days in Havana) are worth checking out. Sachs makes a lot of films; some are terrific (Keep the Lights On) and some are completely forgettable (40 Shades of Blue, I think it was called, with Rip Torn played a country music manager or something). Filho first two films were amazing. And I like what I've seen from Porumboiu (12:08 East of Bucharest and Police, Adjective).

From Un certain régard, I'm already interested in the Dumont and the Serra, and to a lesser extent the Laxe, and have no desire to see another film by either Honoré or Z.

[Spinal]

It feels like it's the same names every year. I don't know. Not much there to excite me.

[Ezee E]

It feels like it's the same names every year. I don't know. Not much there to excite me.

Agreed. Dardennes, Dolan, Almodovar, and Loach will likely win half the awards too.

[Irish]

So the Dardennes are catching hell for "Young Ahmed," which has been described as "a Belgian teenager hatches a plot to kill his teacher after embracing an extremist interpretation of the Quran."

One one hand ... #filmtwitter's bullshit is tiring.

On the other ... yeesh. What were they thinking making something like this.

[Ezee E]

So the Dardennes are catching hell for "Young Ahmed," which has been described as "a Belgian teenager hatches a plot to kill his teacher after embracing an extremist interpretation of the Quran."

One one hand ... #filmtwitter's bullshit is tiring.

On the other ... yeesh. What were they thinking making something like this.

Guess we'll just have to see the thing and find out!

[Irish]

Guess we'll just have to see the thing and find out!

Believe it or not there's a whole bunch of people pushing back on this exact statement.

[Spinal]

OK, you called my bluff. Now, I'm interested.

[Ezee E]

Believe it or not there's a whole bunch of people pushing back on this exact statement.

And those are the #filmtwitter peeps I've realized it's easier to mute and move on.

[Peng]

They're some of my favorite directors currently working and I'm sure this work will be fascinating and complex, if has a potential to be wrong-headed (someone says there's a Le Monde piece where the brothers said Muslims aren’t doing enough to fight terrorism), but on this I'm basically with Collins here:

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These do make me lol tho:

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[Ezee E]

Boner M!