What a past year of movies! During this pandemic we got great academy acknowledged works like One Night in Miami, Promising Young Woman, Nomandland and so much more and although the circuit of campaigning for different academies was still apparent this past year, there were many festivals canceled which took away the opportunity for new films to have a proper introduction into the film critics realm. One of the most notably known canceled festival was the iconic and international Cannes Film Festival. The 2020 event was to be a great introduction to the coming films as well as an impressive jury. Although the organization continued its work through virtual means, it is finally back in 2021 in its 74th year in which they didn’t disappoint.
Cannes came back with a history making jury with director, producer, and academy award winning screenwriter Spike Lee at the head as president of the jury. He is the first African American to hold this title which is amazing but also, why has it taken this long?! The jury also includes French director Mylène Farmer, actress and producer Maggie Gyllenhaal, actor Tahar Rahim and many more. This year there are 24 films in competition, 7 of those being french films. The festival opened with the anticipated film Annette directed by Frenchman Leos Carax, a musical staring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. It’s a film surrounding the lives of a complicated celebrity couple with composition of music from the band Sparks. It received rave reviews, Variety stating “Anette is just ahead of its time” as well IndieWire stating “Annette” powers through its expressive rock opera conceit with a propulsive Adam Driver at its center.” It swept the Best Director Award as we were honored with Carax’s brilliance since Holy Motors. The highly anticipated Wes Anderson project The French Dispatch, graced the Cannes screens as it premiered for the first time in the film circuit. It has yet to hit the American screens but from its embrace by critics it is a sure watch, the Times states “it’s one of Andersons very best.”
Within its many categories of competition, the Un Certain Regard category bolsters it’s for the unique stories with unusual and abstract styles in its look as well as feel. This category gives a platform to new innovative filmmakers who are looking to art as a helping hand to their creating as well as standard film styles as a jump off point to something greater. They are the risk takers and visionaries of future filmmaking. We see this in directors like Wang Chao in his amazing work is 2006 film Luxury Car or in the 2019 film The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão by Karim Aïnouz. The 2021 jury honored the film Razzhimaya Kulaki (Unclenching the Fists) directed by Kira Kovalenko in this category. This Russian drama follows the story of an Ossetian girl named Ada and her journey in escaping her small town in Russia. In the more technical categories, the films Petrov’s Flu received the CST Artist-Technician Prize for its creative DP work as and Mi iubita, Mon Amour received the CST Young Film Technician Award for its sound engineer.
The highest honor, Palme d’or which quite literally means the highest award was presented by Sharon Stone and Spike Lee in which it was given to the film Titane, directed by Julia Ducournau. This makes Julia the second female filmmaker to receive the festival’s award. Titane is a horror body thriller which follows the story of a woman, Agathe Rousselle, who gets impregnated after having sexual relations with a car. In this writers’ opinion, the meta influence and sharp dark color pallet is something that has grasped my attention based on its trailer. It looks to be dealing with Agatha’s relations with different people in her life whether its family or friends as well as a serial killer. Although I must admit, I am curious how Julia manages to use the car as another character for this narrative. Is it metaphorical, or is it based in realism? What I do know is that I will be watching it in its syndicated release. The grand prize award was swept by two of the most critically raved films A Hero (Ghahreman) directed by Asghar Farhadi and (Hytti N°6) Compartment N°6 directed by Juho Kuosmanen. As a film lover and writer, I must say the category that I was most excited for was the screenplay award. This award was given to the film Drive My Car, written by Hamaguchi Ryusuke and Takamasa Oe. It follows the story of screenwriter who losses his wife, a woman who left behind a secret. As he grieves of his wife, he travels to Hiroshima in which he is assigned to a woman chauffer. They spend a lot if time together in which they use to uncover the mysteries surrounding is late wife. This is a Japanese film filled with suspense as well as reflection. I am excited to see the dynamic between his driver as it is contrasted with his relationship with his wife. The rest of the winners and amazing and innovative works awarded are listed in the Cannes site.
As a student and audience to the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, I understand the unique talents that come out of this competition. The stories are uniquely inspiring whether it surrounds the topic of loss and depression or when it speaks to the power of self and sexuality. This festival manages to collect some of the most abstract stories and make them confusingly understandable. They have the power to disgust, to marvel, to enrage all while daring you to look away. This writer will definably be looking out for these pieces, and after all we are still technically in a pandemic so guess I have all the time in the world.