Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Assassin (Best Director Winner, Cannes 2015) was certainly the most beautiful film to screen at Cannes this year, though that’s not the same as saying it was the best shot. The production design is impeccable, and the colours and compositions are gorgeous, but to what end? The film is about waiting for the […]
Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Director’s Fortnight reviews
Arabian Nights, L’Ombre des Femmes, and Trois Souvenirs de Ma Jeunesse The Director’s Fortnight and its relationship to the Cannes Film Festival can be a perplexing one. It’s generally considered to be part of the festival — often a stepping stone to admission into the Official Selection — although it’s technically a separate, simultaneous film […]
Mon Roi: an abusive relationship won’t end
The title of Maïwenn’s messy but compelling Mon Roi, is indicative of the film’s primary problem. When divorcee and criminal lawyer Tony (Emmanuel Bercot) asks her new beau, Georgio (Vincent Cassell), if he’s a jerk, he flirtatiously replies that he’s “The King of Jerks,” and as the film’s title indicates with affection, he becomes her king (of jerks).
Cannes 2015 Review: Iranian film Nahid is a complex portrait of a woman trapped by the patriarchy
Panahandeh crafts a complex portrait of a thirty-year-old woman who became a mother too young and doesn’t quite know how to deal with it. She wants her son to have every opportunity, but her solution is to send him to an expensive private school, which she can’t afford
Remarkable Lamb marks Ethiopia’s Cannes debut
Yared Zeleke’s first film, Lamb, about a young boy forced to leave his hometown with only his pet lamb for comfort, was the first Ethiopian film to screen in the Cannes Un Certain Regard competition.
Kore-eda’s Our Little Sister is heartbreaking
Our Little Sister is a quiet, sweet, and heartbreaking film about three grown, co-habitating sisters, who meet their younger fourteen-year-old sister after their absent father dies, and decide to take her in as one of their own.