Cannes’ 2023 lineup is a feast, featuring both highly anticipated awards season behemoths and lesser-known names Amazing surprise. With the 50 50 historic film festival coming to a close, we gather Best Film Premiere.
After the exciting closing ceremony – witness the Flóra Anna Buda 27 won the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film; Fan Tianan’s ‘s Inside the Yellow Cocoon won the Camera d’Or; Kôji Yakusho (Wim Wenders Perfect Days) won Best Actor; Merve Dizdar About Dry Grasses) for Best Actress; Yuji Sakamoto (Monster for Hirokazu Kore-eda) for Best Screenplay; Aki Kaurismäki for Falling Leaves won the Jury Prize; Tran Anh Hung (The Pot-au-Feu) won Best Director; Jonathan Glazer ‘s Area of Interest won the Grand Prix; and Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall won the Palme d’Or Awards – We’ve rounded up our own collection of the best films of the festival. see below.
Falling Anatomy
Image: Courtesy of the Cannes Film Festival
Triet’s tense and icy thriller opens in a remote, snow-covered cabin in the French Alps, with sharp-edged German novelist Sandra (a masterclass) Sandra Hüller), lives with her young son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner) and her somewhat depressed husband Samuel (Samuel Theis). When the latter’s body was found lying on the ground next to their home, and it was unclear whether he had fallen to his death, jumped to his death or been pushed, Sandra soon found herself on trial for murder. This sly Hitchcockian Rubik’s Cube movie keeps you guessing until the end, offering you shocking revelations as the truth about Sandra and Samuel’s marriage is revealed and Daniel begins to doubt his mother’s innocence . There’s also Swann Arlaud as Sandra’s charismatic (and seemingly infatuated) lawyer and Antoine Reinartz as the brash prosecutor, and moments of impeccable levity, including the best use of 27 Cent’s “PIMP” I’ve seen in a movie. —Radhika Seth
Banel & Adama )
Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s heartrending painterly romance set in the arid plains of northern Senegal is the only debut novel in the competition for the Palme d’Or, following the gentle Adama (Mamadou Diallo) and his deeply rebellious wife Banel (Khady Mane ). She longs to escape the duties and hierarchy of their village, and he, the future leader of the community, is even more reluctant to leave his family. They spent a long day in the scorching sun trying to unearth an abandoned home buried by a recent dust storm, which they could claim as their own, but when a prolonged drought hit and their cows started falling in the fields , a fracture arose in their seemingly unbreakable relationship. Every shot is carefully composed, the vibrancy of its colors is almost dizzying, and the atmosphere is still very sleepy and surreal even as Banel’s rage rises to the surface and threatens to overwhelm everything. Most impressive, however, was the ending, which literally took my breath away. -RS
La Chimera
by An Italian director known for her myth-filled tales set in her hometown, Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera feels like it was dug out of the ground . This is the story of a down-and-out British archaeologist (Josh O’Connor) who uses his strange telepathy to locate buried treasure, helping his fellow tombaroli , a gang of gravediggers and schemers, finds and sells them on the black market. But most of all, it’s a poignant dig at romance and memory, with the actor of The Crown playing his most stunning role yet. — Douglas Greenwood Fallen Leaves
Aki Kaurismäki returns to Cannes for fifth Palme d’Or for tender romance Kuolleet Lehdet (Fallen Leaves), a bittersweet comedy about the lives of two lonely Finnish souls (Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen, in excellent performances), feeling small but full of war, capitalism and modern life All the sorrows of isolation. It’s a miracle you walk out of the theater hopeful; a lovable goofball in the final scene (which won the palm dog jury prize this year) only heightens the mood. -Lisa Wong Macabasco
The feeling that the time to do something has passed
This lengthy-titled feature appeared in Directors’ Fortnight, a Cannes sidebar known for launching talent like Sofia Coppola and Martin Scorsese. Written, directed and starring Joanna Arnow, it tells the bleak and entertaining story of a woman whose life depends entirely on her desire for a submissive relationship with a man. Its dry Brooklyn sense of humor may be jarring for some, but for those who can catch its beat, it’s a deeply funny and surprisingly emotional story told to the fullest. Know what it means to be yourself. It felt like the birth of a brilliant new American talent. -DG
How to Have Sex
British director Molly Manning-Walker won the Un Certain Regard Award for her debut feature. Describing the ultra-special experience of a British summer holiday, it follows three 16 year-old girls relaxing on a trip to Maria, in Crete, drinking , sunshine and misbehaving destinations. But for the still-virgin Tara (a terrific Mia McKenna-Bruce), the trip has its own baggage. A dynamic, ecstatic star debut about the complexities of female friendship and the semantics of consent. -DG
Killers of the Flower Moon
Photo: Melinda Sue Gordon
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