Cannes: Netflix & Yorgos Lanthimos Lead The Buzz On The Croisette

While “Twin Peaks” may be stealing some of the Cannes Film Festival’s spotlight since this weekend’s premiere of the new season (the first two episodes of the series screen this week), there’s still lots of talk swirling around the most prestigious film festival in the world. And no, we don’t mean the walking-talking-dancing-robot installation that’s been striding up and down the Boulevard de la Croisette. Read below for the highlights, the lowlights and the major discussions that have been dominating conversations in line-ups and press rooms.

READ MORE: The 20 Most Anticipated Films Of The 2017 Cannes Film Festival

Netflix! Boo!
Controversy over the streaming service got sparked the moment Cannes sent out a press release stating that films without a planned theatrical release in France won’t be able to play in Competition. Jury President Pedro Almodóvar added more fuel to the fire when he stated that he will not consider Netflix films for the Palme during the Jury’s press conference, while Jury member Will Smith came to the streaming service’s defense.

And then, Bong Joon-ho’s “Okja” premiered (our rave review). The projectionist’s bungling the aspect ratio for the first 15 minutes of the screening was met with loud boos and jeers, but when the situation was corrected, the boos continued as soon as the Netflix logo came on screen. Were these critics aligning themselves with Almodóvar? Only trying to be a part of the biggest controversy dominating the fest? We’ll never really know, but the day “Okja” premiered, that’s all anyone could talk about. We loved the film, and apparently so did Almodóvar because he retracted his previous statement and said that “Okja” will be fairly considered for the prize. A win for Smith and Netflix.

Interestingly enough, when Noah Baumbach’s “The Meyerowitz Stories” premiered a few days later (our review), the Netflix logo didn’t get nearly as enough negative attention. The tide has already turned.

READ MORE: Netflix, Amazon, ‘The Irishman’ & The Academy: Oscars In The Age Of Streaming

Deer Me, Yorgos
The boos did return, however, but for amore predictable reason this time around. Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Killing Of A Sacred Deer” sees the director at his coldest and most detached. The day it premiered, loud boos followed, but Jessica absolutely loved it. The division has been felt even within The Playlist because I found it to be corpse of a film, near-excruciating to sit through, and only really fascinating to think about after the closing credits.

Real Life Pops Cannes Bubble
The world outside the festival is a darker place than Lanthimos’ made-up universe, and Cannes respectfully recognized this. The festival paid its respects to the horrible terrorist attack at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester with a fest-wide minute of silence at 3 PM on Tuesday. In the queues, some people who were either too sun-stricken to realize or were too absorbed in the Cannes bubble to be hushed during this one minute. One minute, people! It’s a hugely unnerving feeling, watching movies at festivals while the real world is going through turmoil.

That’s something Jean-Luc Godard likely felt at the 1968 edition of the fest, which prompted him and his fellow New Wave colleagues to boycott Cannes and put a stop to it. This is documented in Michel Hazanavicius’ “Redoubtable” (our review) which — ironically enough — was delayed for 45 minutes due to a bomb scare at the Debussy Theatre.

READ MORE: Michel Hazanavicius’ Jean-Luc Godard Pic ‘Redoubtable’ Is A Harmless, Mostly Charming Comedy For Film Geeks [Cannes Review]

Miscellaneous odds, bits & buzz
In what’s been somewhat of a quiet Cannes in terms of controversies so far, with the majority of films screened having predictably derisive/divisive/delighted reactions, most of the talk has not been centered on the movies. It’s been about odd things in them, weird trends that seem to pop up every year, or political statements given by celebs outside the cinema. Some of this watercooler talk includes:

  • Jury member Jessica Chastain throwing subtle shade at Donald Trump when she called Pedro Almodóvar her “true president.”
  • Tilda Swinton’s reaction to Almodóvar’s original statement about Netflix: “We’re not here to win prizes, but I think Pedro will give ‘Okja’ a fair shake.”
  • This year’s addition of Cannes badges with funny (at times borderline offensive) statements like, “I didn’t get it but it was a great movie,” “no selfies,” “pfft…that was in competition?”
  • Michael Haneke disrupting his signature austerity by including Sia’s ‘Chandelier’ in “Happy End” (our rave review). At least he used it to create one of the most depressing karaoke scenes in film history.
  • Netflix boss Ted Sarandos claiming that he wants to premiere Orson Welles’ “The Other Side Of The Wind” next year in Competition
  • Two totally different kind of handjob scenes in “120 Beats Per Minute” (our review) and ‘Sacred Deer’ have people waiting for a third so that it starts an official trend.

With still a few buzzed-about movies to premiere in Competition, including Lynne Ramsay‘s “You Were Never Really Here,” the frontrunner for the Palme is Campillo’s AIDS drama “120 BPM,” but Andrey Zvyagintsev’s brilliant “Loveless” is this year’s “Toni Erdmann” in terms of collective critical love (we loved it too) and should walk away with something, possibly Best Director. There are at least two obvious wastebasket films in competition this year, Naomi Kawase’s “Radiance” and Jacques Doillon’s “Rodin,” that shouldn’t have been anywhere near a chance to win the festival’s highest honor. What hurts is that there were so many possible alternatives, with the two clearest ones being Sean Baker’s “The Florida Project” (our review) and Laurent Cantet’s “The Workshop” (review coming up a little later in the fest).

We’ve still got five days to go until the end, and as ever with Cannes, a controversy is never too far away, so keep your eyes peeled on all of our coverage and reviews here, and stay safe out there in the real world!

Check out the rest of our coverage from the 2017 Cannes Film Festival by clicking here.