“Megalopolis”
Legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola’s first film in 13 years, “Megalopolis,” almost needs no introduction at this point and might be the most-talked-about film of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Said to be influenced by murderous conspiracies in the Roman Empire, the events of 9/11, H.G. Wells’ 1930s “Things to Come,” a film about “the world of Tomorrow,” and much more, the film is a utopian epic and drama that Coppola has been dreaming of making since the 1980s. The film stars two-time Oscar nominee Adam Driver (“Marriage Story”) as an architect who can stop time trying to rebuild a New York-like metropolis after it is devastated by a big catastrophe. His opposition is the corrupt city’s Mayor (Giancarlo Esposito), who remains committed to a regressive status quo. Caught in the middle is Driver’s romantic interest and the mayor’s socialite daughter, Julia (“Game Of Thrones” star Nathalie Emmanuel), pining for something more out of life. The film’s vast ensemble cast also features Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Jason Schwartzman, Talia Shire, Grace VanderWaal, Laurence Fishburne, Kathryn Hunter, and Dustin Hoffman. Romanian cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr., who shot Coppola’s “Tetro” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master,” is the film’s director of photography.
“The Shrouds”
For a minute there, it seemed like Canadian master of body horror David Cronenberg might retire from filmmaking, but he thankfully came back strong in 2022 with “Crimes of the Future,” which premiered in competition at Cannes. His latest is a horror that seems to have some autobiographical elements of grief following the death of Cronenberg’s wife in 2017. The film centers on a 50-year-old prominent businessman who is inconsolable following the death of his wife. In his grief, he events a revolutionary and controversial technology that enables the living to monitor their dear departed in their shrouds. One night, after his wife’s grave is desecrated, the angry visionary seeks to track down the perpetrators. “The Shrouds” stars Diane Kruger, Vincent Cassel, and Guy Pearce alongside Sandrine Holt, Elizabeth Saunders, and Jennifer Dale. Cronenberg has described it as deeply personal, revealing that it was initially set up as a Netflix series before they canceled it.
“Rumours”
Canadian absurdist/surrealist/experimentalist Guy Maddin returns with a dark comedy that sounds like his most commercial effort to date (which probably means it’s still bizarre, which is good). Co-directed with his recent cohorts and brothers Evan and Galen Johnson (who co-helmed his oddities, “The Forbidden Room” and “The Green Fog”), the satire centers on the seven leaders of the world’s wealthiest liberal democracies who, during their annual G7 summit, get lost in the woods at night while attempting to draft their provisional statement. Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander star alongside Charles Dance (“Game of Thrones”), Roy Dupuis (“Le Femme Nikita” series), Denis Ménochet (“Inglourious Basterds”), Nikki Amuka-Bird, Rolando Ravello, Takehiro Hira and Zlatko Burić. “Rumours” (using the Canadian/English spelling) is playing out of competition, but still too intriguing to ignore.
“Bird”
Acclaimed English filmmaker Andrea Arnold’s fifth film at Cannes and fourth in Competition, the “American Honey” director’s latest has been somewhat shrouded in mystery for some time. Still, it definitely sounds like a coming-of-age tale about people living on the margins that, again, features some relatively unknown actors among some more prominent names. The film centers on a 12-year-old girl who lives with her single, wayward dad and brother in a squat in North Kent. But the father is an absentee one who doesn’t have much time for the kids, and the young girl, quickly approaching puberty, seeks attention and adventure elsewhere. Newcomer Nykiya Adams stars as the young girl. Barry Keoghan (“Saltburn”) features as her father, and Jason Buda stars as her uncle. Franz Rogowski plays the title character, Bird, but how he factors into the plot exactly is unclear. Jasmine Jobson, James Nelson-Joyce, and Joanne Matthews are co-stars, while famed Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Robbie Ryan (“Poor Things”) lenses the picture.
“The Apprentice”
Arguably the most controversial title at Cannes this year, given its subject matter, a young Donald Trump, “The Apprentice” hails from celebrated Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi, best known for the Cannes titles “Border” (2018), and “Holy Spider,” (2022), the latter being his first in Cannes Competition. Touted as a dive into the underbelly of the American empire, the drama, not a satire, apparently charts a young Donald Trump’s ascent to power through a Faustian deal with the influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn. Sebastian Stan (“The Falcon & The Winter Soldier”) stars as Donald Trump, “Succession” actor Jeremy Strong portrays Roy Cohn, Maria Bakalova appears as Ivana Trump, Martin Donovan plays Donald’s father Fred Trump, and Emily Mitchell features as young Ivanka Trump. Cohn was known as a NYC prosecutor notable for working with Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Second Red Scare, and the film has been described as a mentor-protégé story chronicling the start of an American dynasty while tackling themes of power, corruption, and deception.
“Grand Tour”
Dreamy surrealist filmmaker Miguel Gomes, perhaps best remembered by 2012’s “Tabu” and the epic three-part “Arabian Nights” saga, which screened at the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, his latest is “Grand Tour,” and his first feature ever to play in Competition at Cannes. Set in Rangoon, Burma, in 1917, the film centers on a civil servant for the British Empire who runs away from his fiancée Molly the day she arrives. As he contemplates his existence and cowardly choice, determined to be married, she follows his trail regardless. The film stars mostly unknown Portuguese and Myanma actors like Gonçalo Waddington, Gonçalo Waddington plus, Crista Alfaiate, Cláudio da Silva, Lang Khê Tran and many more. The film is also notable for shooting some sequences in 16mm and featuring three DPs, including Gui Liang, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, and Rui Poças.
