Slimmed-down Cannes lineup is still a feast
It’s a strange day when the unveiling of a Cannes Film Festival lineup is dominated by news about everything other than conventional bigscreen film. But doesn’t it just suit the times we live in?
David Lynch’s revival of his 1990s hit television series Twin Peaks will have its world premiere at the French fest next month (in advance of a May 21 broadcast), along with the second season of Jane Campion’s popular TV mystery Top of the Lake.
These small-screen gems will debut outside the celebrated Palme d’Or competition, which is having its own revolution within its 18-film slate, admitting movies from the commercial online realm for the first time.
Two are from Netflix: Okja, a sci-fi fantasy by Bong Joon-ho ( Snowpiercer), starring Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal; and The Meyerowitz Stories by Noah Baumbach, starring Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller.
Online rival Amazon Studios has the other two Palme pioneers: Todd Haynes’ Wonderstruck, starring Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams; and Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Alessandro Nivola.
Going all-in on change, Cannes will also unveil a new virtual-reality production: Flesh and Sand by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the Oscarwinning director of Birdman and The Revenant.
“We want to look to the future,” Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux told a Paris news conference on Thursday morning, as he and festival president Pierre Lescure unveiled the Official Selection for next month’s 70th edition of the annual Riviera-coast gathering, which runs May 17-28.
Note that all of the directors mentioned above, and much of the talent, are the kind of auteurs whom Cannes adores and frequently honours — Lynch and Campion are Palme d’Or winners, and Bong, Haynes, Ramsay and Inarritu have previously competed for the fest’s top prize.
All of the above-mentioned stars are expected to stroll the red carpet leading to the Palais des Festivals, and fans of Nicole Kidman will have a chance to swoon not just once but four times. She’s this year’s belle of the ball at Cannes, starring not only in Campion’s Top of the Lake: China Girl but also in two Palme competitors (Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer and Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled) and an out-of-competition entry (John Cameron Mitchell’s How to Talk to Girls at Parties).
In other words, the cinephilia and star power remain the same at Cannes, only the platforms are starting to change. It would have been heresy not long ago to say it, but there are great stories being told on small screen as well as large ones.
It’s something TIFF grappled with a couple of years ago, when it unveiled its Primetime program of curated television offerings. TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey told me in an interview, almost two years ago to the day, that he truly woke to the cinematic potential of TV while watching True Detective, a crime drama series directed by and starring top film talent.
“I’m so glad to see that what I think used to be a kind of snobbery around television fall away . . . if it’s a great story and it’s well made, and if it has that kind of visual quality that we want from cinema, then it doesn’t matter what it’s called or how many pieces it comes in. Let’s just show it!”
For diehards, it’s important to note that Cannes will also be screening many “real” movies from its 49-film slate, which represents 29 countries and includes 12 by female directors.
Among the most keenly anticipated Palme competitors is Michael Haneke’s Happy End, a drama star- ring Isabelle Huppert set within Europe’s refugee crisis — one of many politically themed films at Cannes 2017. Haneke, a two-time Palme winner, will be trying for an unprecedented third win.
If there’s anything truly weird about this year’s Official Selection, it’s that no major Hollywood movies made the cut. Many were hoping that Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit and Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets would bow on the Croisette, but they’re MIA for reasons ranging from production delays to undisclosed studio marketing plans.
There are also no Canadian contenders in this year’s derby, but 18 films is an uncommonly small competition, which usually numbers 20 films or more. Expect at least two more films announced before the festival launches, and Canadian premieres may happen in parallel programs still to be announced: Directors’ Fortnight and International Critics’ Week.
Cannes will always be a feast, whatever the size of the serving dish.
Canucks and critics: National Canadian Film Day 150 on April 19 celebrates Canuck cinema with Reel Canada’s largest one-day showing of our nation’s films, from sea to shining sea. Two of my esteemed former Star movies-beat colleagues are participating: Rob Salem hosts a 7 p.m. screening of Don Shebib’s social-realism classic Goin’ Down the Road at Sheridan College’s Oakville campus, followed by a Q&A with director and cast members; Geoff Pevere presents Joey Klein’s award-winning (and Tatiana Maslany-starring) romantic drama The Other Half, followed by a director Q&A, in a 7 p.m. Rendezvous With Madness event at Toronto’s Scotiabank Theatre. There’s also a 6:30 p.m. Regent Park Film Festival screening of Charles Officer’s The Skin We’re In, hosted by Star columnist Desmond Cole at Cineplex Yonge-Dundas. Peter Howell is the Star’s movie critic. His column usually runs Fridays.