On Tuesday, the 77th version of the Cannes Movie Competition will start within the south of France. You possibly can count on glamorous robes and awfully extended standing ovations — at Cannes, such issues are de rigueur — however what distinguishes this yr’s lineup? Listed here are 5 issues we’ll be watching out for.
A brand new Coppola on the Croisette.
Some 45 years after Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” received the Palme d’Or at Cannes, he’ll return to the Croisette, the competition promenade, with “Megalopolis,” starring Adam Driver as a visionary architect decided to rebuild a metropolis after it’s beset by catastrophe. Coppola self-financed the longtime ardour venture to the tune of $120 million, a steep price ticket that has to this point deterred potential distributors. Puck’s Matthew Belloni reported that at a March screening meant to entice consumers, many got here away confounded by Coppola’s imaginative and prescient: “There are zero industrial prospects and good for him,” stated one supply. But when it’s true that the movie is an enormous, wild swing, it’s onerous to think about a friendlier place for its public debut than Cannes, the place the filmmaker is revered.
‘Furiosa’ begins its engines.
The most important film to debut at Cannes this yr shall be “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” the most recent movie in director George Miller’s postapocalyptic motion franchise. This one serves as a prequel to the Oscar-winning “Mad Max: Fury Highway,” which premiered at Cannes to nice acclaim in 2015 and produced an sudden second on the movie’s information convention when star Tom Hardy apologized to Miller for his dangerous habits in the course of the shoot. Count on an enormous bash for the brand new film and a serious red-carpet second from its trendy star Anya Taylor-Pleasure, who takes over the titular character originated by Charlize Theron.
A cinematic Trump card.
If any People touring overseas are relying on Cannes for 2 weeks of respite from this contentious election yr, the competition has a impolite reminder within the type of Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice.” This political origin story of types stars Sebastian Stan as a younger Donald J. Trump, Maria Bakalova as his first spouse, Ivana, and the “Succession” star Jeremy Robust as Trump’s mentor, the fixer Roy Cohn. Might this be the one movie at Cannes this yr eligible for each the Palme d’Or and a clapback on Reality Social?
Actual-world controversies.
Cannes often is the world’s most prestigious movie competition, but it surely hardly ever goes off with no hitch. This yr’s competition is bracing for 2 potential disruptions. One is a threatened strike by the competition’s employees, who’ve complained that their short-term jobs don’t enable them to qualify for unemployment advantages. The opposite is a still-breaking story because the French movie trade reckons with its personal #MeToo motion, with extra accusations rumored to return in the course of the competition. Count on a remark from the French actress and director Judith Godrèche, who shall be on the competition with the brief movie “Moi Aussi” (“Me Too”) and not too long ago made headlines after accusing the director Benoît Jacquot of sexually assaulting her when she was 14. She has additionally accused the director Jacques Doillon of sexually assaulting her twice. Each males have denied the allegations.
The hunt for the subsequent film sensation.
This yr’s lineup goes heavy on all-star auteurs, with new movies from Yorgos Lanthimos (“Sorts of Kindness”), Andrea Arnold (“Fowl”), Sean Baker (“Anora”) and Paul Schrader (“Oh, Canada”). However Cannes is much more enjoyable when an sudden film pops, as “Anatomy of a Fall” did final yr when it earned rave critiques and the Palme d’Or, organising a path that might finally result in Oscar glory.
What would be the film that nobody is anticipating earlier than the competition however everybody shall be speaking about afterward? I’ll be on the bottom making an attempt to smell it out.