Cannes Film Festival Opens With More Netflix Drama and Too

This story concerning the Cannes Film Festival first appeared in TheWrap’s Cannes journal.

When competing for the Palme d’Or, “franchise” is usually a four-letter phrase.

Sure, Cannes may program some out-of-competition would-be blockbusters right here and there (this yr’s entry is the Elton John biopic “Rocketman”), however examples of the F-word discover little welcome within the discerning fundamental competitors of the world’s excessive temple of cinema — at the very least, not since “Shrek 2” by some means blustered its means in again in 2004.

Which makes it all of the extra ironic that the 2019 Cannes Film Festival feels in so some ways like a sequel to final yr. We choose up the identical storylines proper the place we left off. The struggle with Netflix rages on, with the streaming service staying away for the second yr in a row. Female administrators stay woefully under-represented. And sure hot-ticket titles (say, James Gray’s “Ad Astra”) stay conspicuously absent.

Also Read: Heavyweight Cannes Lineup Ties Record for Female Directors in Competition

In true sequel trend, this yr takes what labored so effectively final time and replicates it on a bigger scale. Eight filmmakers, from essential favorites Céline Sciamma and Ira Sachs to intriguing wild playing cards Ladj Ly and Mati Diop, will make their competitors debuts — a staggering quantity for a pageant that has earned a fame as an outdated boys membership.

Of course, lots of these outdated boys are right here, as effectively. After dropping the axe on a lot of longtime fixtures in 2018, Cannes prolonged the olive department this yr, ushering acquainted faces resembling Pedro Almodóvar and Jim Jarmusch again into the combination.

For some, the considered catching up with so many eminences grises doesn’t fairly get the blood flowing. The reality is, rooting for Ken Loach or the Dardenne brothers to win a 3rd Palme d’Or is a bit like rooting for the New England Patriots to make it again to the Super Bowl — it could make for an fascinating statistic, if not a rousing story.

Also Read: Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ to Premiere in Cannes After All

And above all else, we return to Cannes for the tales. Not simply these on display screen, however the tales of careers made or damaged at this very pageant, as a result of nowhere else on this planet does a single ecstatic ovation have the ability to vary a director’s life.

Take Xavier Dolan. When the brash younger filmmaker returns to current “Matthias & Maxime,” it will likely be due in no small half to the spontaneous, mid-film applause he drew along with his 2014 competitors debut, “Mommy.” At “Bacurau” director Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Palais premiere, many people will flash again to his 2016 red-carpet protest calling the impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff a “coup” — and we’ll surprise if the outspoken director will supply a repeat efficiency now that his nation has swung additional to the fitting.

These tales are the very cloth of this pageant. Rife with a lot mythology and a lot historical past, Cannes is its personal form of Expanded Cinematic Universe. The storylines play out yr to yr, introducing new characters, selling supporting actors to leads whereas shuffling others off stage. Like all serialized narratives, the pageant rewards consideration and fosters obsession.

As in sure unending franchises, every entry is in dialogue with all that preceded it, and all that can comply with.

Read extra from TheWrap’s Cannes journal.

Cannes Film Festival Opens With More Netflix Drama and Too Few Female Directors (Again) was final modified: May 13th, 2019 by Ryan Friedman