The Festival de Cannes is well under way and the reviews have been coming in thick and fast. Enjoy keeping up with all the action by checking out the festival coverage on variety.com, indiewire.com, or theguardian.com. Just beware; once you start browsing, it’s hard to stop.
Here are the top five must see films of the week, all of which have screened at the prestigious Festival de Cannes in the past.
The Festival de Cannes is well under way and the reviews have been coming in thick and fast. Enjoy keeping up with all the action by checking out the festival coverage on variety.com, indiewire.com, or theguardian.com. Just beware; once you start browsing, it’s hard to stop.
Here are the top five must see films of the week, all of which have screened at the prestigious Festival de Cannes in the past.
Monday 18th May, 8.30pm…Like Father Like Son
Written and directed by Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda, Like Father, Like Son is a fabulous way to start the week. Winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2013, this drama uses a rather extreme premise to explore very real issues about fatherhood, the ideas around nature verses nurture, and the division between classes in modern day Japan. When a successful Tokyo architect Ryota (Masaharu Fukuyama) and his wife discover their sixth year old son was accidentally switched at birth and is indeed, not their son, the family along with their biological son’s family, must go through the painful process of swapping children. Restrained, honest and moving, this saga is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking.
Wednesday 20th May, 8.30pm…Miele
Miele is a stunning Italian film that screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Festival de Cannes. It’s the debut feature film from actress Valeria Golino (Rainman) and tells the story of a young Italian woman known as Honey that travels to Mexico regularly to buy veterinarian barbiturates that she uses in her job to help assist terminally ill patients to die. When she discovers one of her clients is not ill, but depressed, she’s befriends him in order to avoid being responsible for his death. With a budget of just 1.7 million euros, mostly borrowed from Golino’s boyfriend, actor Riccardo Scamarcio, Miele is an impressive debut. Golino deals with this tricky subject matter compassionately but without sentimentality. The film has a lovely, natural flow to it, and all the performances are nicely weighty, especially our strong female protagonist played by the engaging Jasmine Trinca (The Gunman)
Thursday 21st May, 8.30pm… Stories We Tell
30 nominations and 28 wins is how the IMDB awards page reads for Canadian actress/director Sarah Polley’s biographical documentary Stories We Tell. This festival darling is an extraordinary documentary that on one level exposes the personal details and secrets of Polley’s parentage, and on the other that questions the nature of truth and memory. The film cleverly asks the question, ‘Can we ever really get to the truth?’ ‘Can we really ever know someone?’ Polley discovers in this documentary, that the truth depends on who is telling it, however if you gather up as many stories as possible, maybe, you can get close to a version of the truth. A simple idea brought to life beautifully thanks to Polley’s intelligent and open approach to storytelling.
Saturday 23rd May, 8.30pm…Magic Magic
Actor Michael Cera and director Sebastian Silva (The Maid) have worked together three times, but it’s thanks to Magic, Magic that they found themselves at the Cannes Film Festival for the first time. This unnerving, psychological thriller tells the story of Alicia, an unstable and emotionally fragile American woman in her early 20s who goes to Chile to catch up with her cousin, and loses her mind. Silva has filled this reality bender of a film with a who’s who of young Indie actors on the rise, including his younger brother Augustine Silva and Juno Temple, who’s excellent as Alicia.
Sunday 24th May, 8.30pm… For Those In Peril
Written and directed by Scottish filmmaker Paul Wright, For Those in Peril screened in the prestigious Critics' Week at Cannes in 2013. The film stars English actor George MacKay (Sunshine on Leith, Pride) as Aaron, a Scottish fisherman who is cast out from his small seaside village after he survives a strange fishing accident claims the lives of five men, including his older brother. Drowning in grief, Aaron returns to sea in search of his brother convinced he’s still alive. An original take on grief and folk law, the film fluctuates between reality, a dream like state and nostalgic memories. It’s a stunning and clever first feature from Wright who shot his low budget film in tiny place in Aberdeenshire where the local’s pitched in and helped out. Some even ended up with speaking lines in the film – enjoy trying to spot the amateurs.