Spike Lee, ‘Annette’ open the Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Film Festival rolled out the red carpet for the first time in more than two years Tuesday, launching the French Riviera spectacular with the introduction of Spike Lee’s jury, the premiere of Leos Carax’s “Annette” and high hopes of shrugging off the pandemic and a punishing year for movies.
The 74th edition of the festival opened with as much glitz as it could summon. “Annette,” a fantastical musical starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard and scored by the musical duo Sparks, was to debut in the evening. The opening ceremony was to include last year’s Palme d’Or winner, Bong Joon Ho (for “Parasite”) and an honorary Palme for Jodie Foster, who first came to Cannes as a 13-yearold with Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver.”
Lee, who is heading the jury that will decide this year’s Palme, arrived wearing a “1619” baseball hat and trying to keep a low profile. “I’m not trying to be a hog,” he said to reporters, urging them to ask his fellow jurors questions. Much of the talk Tuesday centered on injustice and survival. That the festival was even happening, after last year’s edition was canceled, was a surprise to some. Maggie Gyllenhaal, who’ll see the 24 films in competition for the Palme as a member of the jury over the next 12days, said it will be her first time in a movie theater in 15 months. When “Parasite” actor Song Kang Ho was invited to be a juror, he said, “I thought: Will there really be a festival?”
But Cannes has pushed ahead in much its usual form, with splashy red-carpet displays and a lineup of many of the world’s most revered filmmakers, including Asghar Farhadi, Wes Anderson, Mia Hansen-Love and Paul Verhoeven. .