11. “The Lighthouse”
We’re assuming you might have already seen the greatest promotional photograph in the history of everything, but what about the movie; what is “The Lighthouse?” Well, you could say that second film from Robert Eggers, the creative mad man behind the supernatural, atmospheric horror film, “The Witch,” has been highly anticipated for a little while. It stars Robert Pattinson and William Dafoe and looks to have incredibly textured black and white cinematography. Dafoe has stated the production was very tough on him, physically. “It’s less ‘Friday the 13th’ and more Tarkovsky,” the actor said. “With genre movies, you can use a very beautiful cinematic language and still make a movie that appeals to a wide audience, because you give them something to hang onto, and they’re willing to receive this unfamiliar language without rejecting it.” Dafoe seems to have hit the nail on the head and both he, and Pattinson, rarely seem to make creative missteps these days. After its anxiously awaited premiere in Cannes, A24 (who also distributed “The Witch”) will release “The Lighthouse,” later this year. It’s going to be a long wait for a lot of film lovers. – AB
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1120702502922440704
12 “Lux Æterna”
When the 2019 Cannes Film Festival unveiled its official lineup (confirming that “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” would in fact premiere 25 years after “Pulp Fiction” won the Palme d’Or), we were treated to another little surprise. The Argentina born auteur, Gaspar Noe, who created such confrontational/controversial body pictures as 2002s “Irreversible” and this years’, “Climax,” returns with a secret mid-length project, “Lux Æterna,” a 50-minute experimental thriller about witches, screening as a midnight movie. That alone is probably enough to sell Noe followers. Additionally, actor/singer Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beatrice Dalle will lend their talents to the French/Argentine filmmaker’s latest cauldron brew. Not much else is know about the piece, as of now, as the project appears to have been a secretive last-minute addition to this year’s program. – AB
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1127309078919819265
13. “Sorry We Missed You”
Another two-time Palme d’Or winner is Britain’s Ken Loach and the filmmaker most recently took that prize for 2016’s “I, Daniel Blake.” While he’s never been as revered in the U.S. as he is in Europe, Loach’s working class and political dramas have been a part of the U.K.’s cinematic landscape for decades. Now, at a spry 82-years-old, he’s returning with a drama centered on a delivery driver (Kris Hitchen) and his wife (Abbie Turner) who are trying to get by in contemporary England (a predictable logline for a Loach movie if there ever was one). The question isn’t whether Loach will craft a fine film, but whether he can somehow surprise us in the process. – GE
From director Ken Loach and the award-winning team behind I, DANIEL BLAKE, comes SORRY WE MISSED YOU – a powerful exploration of the contemporary world of work, the gig economy and the challenges faced by one family trying to hold it all together. Coming to cinemas soon. #SWMY pic.twitter.com/IO8X9MkUAa
— Sorry We Missed You (@SWMYfilm) April 23, 2019
14. “Pain and Glory”
Pedro Almodóvar is one of the most widely admired auteurs in cinema, but he hasn’t had a critical darling quite like “Volver” in almost 15 years. A subset of cinephiles seemed enamored with “The Skin I Live In,” for what it lacked in romance it made up for with bizarre atmosphere and arthouse design, but it feels like “Broken Embraces” might have been the Spanish filmmaker’s last film that widely connected with American audiences, which actually makes sense when one takes this recent interview into account. He values the experience of going to the cinema, when U.S. audiences increasingly stay home to watch Netflix. On that note, Almodóvar returns to Cannes with “Pain and Glory,” a movie that sounds like the filmmaker’s take on something akin to Federico Fellini’s “8 ½.” Antonio Banderas plays a film director whose career is in decline (hmm…). The movie also stars, Asier Etxeandia, Julieta Serrano, and Penélope Cruz, who was nominated for the Academy Award for her phenomenal performance in “Volver.” – AB
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1127234462461366278
15. “Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo”
To say it’s rare that a film which debuted at the Venice Film Festival, in this case, 2017’s “Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno,” can find its sequel premiering at Cannes is something of an understatement. That’s the case, however, with Abdellatif Kechiche’s two-part follow up to his Palme-winning “Blue is the Warmest Color.” In fact, after producers balked at Kechiche’s decision to adapt François Bégaudeau’s novel “La Blessure, la vraie” into two parts the director was forced to auction off his statue in order to complete financing for both films. After the decidedly mixed reviews for “Canto Uno,” many will be curious to see if Kechiche can win critics over with the follow-up. – GE
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1127951139218108417
