In short
Screen Talk (IndieWire) hosts Anne Thompson and Ryan Latonzio recap movies they’ve seen at Cannes and predict award and market breakouts. They repeatedly cite Club Kid as the festival’s biggest hit, praised as an A24-style crowd-pleaser; A24 reportedly paid a high price after bidding wars. They debate what should’ve been in competition, arguing Clarissa (Ari and Chuko; adapted from Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway) and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma should’ve made the main slate. They discuss likely winners: Fatherland (Pavel Pavlikowski) for Palme d’Or/acting, plus Sondra Hüller and Virginia Effera. Key critiques include Hope (bad CGI alien/monster execution) and Parallel Tales (Asghar Farhadi in French; repetitive/derivative). Other notable films: Bitter Christmas (Pedro Almodóvar; praised), The Unknown (Lea Seydoux; divisive), Sheep in the Box (AI child-recreation; cloying), Beloved (Javier Bardem’s performance; over-stylized), Paper Tiger (Scarlett Johansson/Miles Teller; standout cornfield scene), and Ashes (Diego Luna; gritty immigrant angle; hard sell). Guests’ backgrounds: Thompson is a Cannes-based film journalist; Latonzio tracks festival competition and awards.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOCannes Film Festival Highlights
0:45 to 1:40
Discussion about the top movies seen at the Cannes Film Festival so far.
“And today we're going to talk about all the movies that we saw so far at the Cannes Film Festival and what we've been up to and what we think is going to break out, what we think is going to sell.”
A24's Acquisition of Club Kid
1:40 to 2:20
Analysis of A24's purchase of the acclaimed film Club Kid at Cannes.
“There haven't been that many pickups at this festival.”
Competition and Film Selection
2:20 to 2:56
Debate on the competition selection process for filmmakers at Cannes.
“So you think this should have been in competition?”
Neon’s Dominance at Cannes
2:56 to 4:00
Overview of Neon’s notable films showcased at the festival.
“So basically, Neon, we all know, has owned this festival going in before it even started.”
Jordan Peele and His Upcoming Projects
4:00 to 4:50
Discussion on the expectations surrounding Jordan Peele's next films.
“And I highly recommend it if you ever get a chance to see it.”
Analyzing the Current Award Races
4:50 to 6:02
Insights on the contenders for major film awards this season.
“jury is a very different animal they're not the same and they're very humanistically minded this group.”
Controversial Films and Director Choices
6:02 to 7:20
Exploration of films facing backlash and the directors behind them.
“And you put it really well saying that it's like a Looney Tunes cartoon.”
Pedro Almodóvar's Latest Film
7:20 to 8:10
Review of Almodóvar's new film and its thematic elements.
“as well as Project Hail Mary and now as well as Fatherland.”
Notable Performances at Cannes
8:10 to 9:52
Discussion on standout performances and the actors in Cannes films.
“You know, he wants to be able to show women without hijab.”
Exploring Recent Films in Detail
9:52 to 14:09
In-depth analysis of various films and their reception at Cannes.
“It's a little bit derivative of pain and glory because it's again an auto fiction about him.”
Show all 14 chapters
Critique of 'Beloved' and Javier Bardem's Performance
14:09 to 16:10
An analysis of the film 'Beloved' and its lead performance by Javier Bardem.
“And there's this terrible score that sort of slathered over the whole thing.”
Discussing 'Paper Tiger' and Its Strengths
16:10 to 18:40
An examination of the film 'Paper Tiger' and the performances within it, particularly by Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller.
“Do you think Scarlett Johansson could could take it home?”
Exploring 'Fatherland' and Historical Characters
18:40 to 23:08
A discussion about the film 'Fatherland' and the intriguing historical figures it portrays.
“He makes me a little bit nervous sometimes.”
Market Trends and Challenges at Cannes
23:08 to 26:31
Insights into the market dynamics at Cannes, including the limited presence of American films and the role of French production companies.
“oh I didn't see full fell so I can't comment but this is Woody Harrelson and Kristen Stewart I should have gone.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Anne Thompson:All new drinks are now at McDonald's with refreshers like the strawberry watermelon refresher and the mango pineapple refresher with popping boba to crafted sodas like the Sprite Berry Blast with berry flavors and cold foam. Who knew ice cold drinks could be so fire? Try them all now at McDonald's. Refreshers contain caffeine. Copyright 2026, The Coca-Cola Company. Sprite is a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company.
0:33Anne Thompson:So welcome to Screen Talk, IndieWire's weekly podcast that brings you up to speed on what's going on in Hollywood. I'm Anne Thompson at the American Pavilion in Cannes.
0:43Ryan Lattanzio:And I'm Ryan Latonzio. And today we're going to talk about all the movies that we saw so far at the Cannes Film Festival and what we've been up to and what we think is going to break out, what we think is going to sell. you know kind of what I've been doing with everyone is I've been saying like what's your favorite movie they've seen besides Club Kid because that kind of seems like everybody liked
1:02Anne Thompson:Club Kid there's no question about that it's the most acclaimed movie of the festival it got picked up by A24 although they were forced to spend 17 million when everybody else went into the bidding
1:14Ryan Lattanzio:and drove up the price yeah I mean it was almost kind of on the nose that A24 bought that movie because it's so made in the aesthetic of A24. All they really needed to do was just slap the logo on the front of it and it was ready to go.
1:28Anne Thompson:But I have not met one person. I mean, you could hold up your hand here, but I haven't met anyone who didn't like it. And it's such a crowd pleaser and got such good reviews, got picked up. There haven't been that many pickups at this festival.
1:43Ryan Lattanzio:There's been none except for this movie.
1:45Anne Thompson:Well, Netflix picked up the waves in the waves. But the idea here is why isn't Terry Primo looking at a movie like this and recognizing what it is and taking a chance? This is so classic that they aren't willing to anoint new auteurs in the competition.
2:07Ryan Lattanzio:There have been years where they've put first-time filmmakers in the competition that are like favors to somebody.
2:13Anne Thompson:Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Son of Saul, where they couldn't even argue with it.
2:19Ryan Lattanzio:Yeah. So you think this should have been in competition? I thought that Jane Schoenbrun's movie, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, should have been in competition. They're an established filmmaker that's made three movies.
2:31Anne Thompson:I would say that that would have been a tough sell on the red carpet. Those were TV actresses who people don't really give red carpet status to, I think. Karen can. And I think it would have been a tough sell for that sort of mainstream public crowd that goes to those competition galas.
2:52Ryan Lattanzio:I've seen a number of movies in the competition that were quite bad. So I actually feel like it would have done pretty well, all things considered.
3:00Anne Thompson:We both have. We both have. So basically, Neon, we all know, has owned this festival going in before it even started. They have nine movies. They've got Clarissa, which I liked a lot in the director's fortnight and once upon a time in Harlem, which debuted at Sundance and then out of competition, her private hell.
3:22Ryan Lattanzio:You did not see that. I skipped it. That is ghastly. That is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I will never watch another movie directed by Nicholas Winding Refn until I'm forced to for my job. But that it's it's really dire. And I saw it at the world premiere in the Palais and it just died in that room. It was very excruciating.
3:43Anne Thompson:One of my great drives is to avoid bad movies as much as I possibly can. So anyway, Clarissa is this wonderful Nigerian movie. It's sort of a Nigerian-British movie with an incredible cast directed by Ari and Chuko. They're brothers, right? Yes. And it's adapted from Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf. And I highly recommend it if you ever get a chance to see it.
4:09Ryan Lattanzio:I thought that one was great. and that's one that i'd say why isn't that in the competition i agree with that what's the logic of like why is that go to directors fortnight and not in the main selection well and they have great
4:20Anne Thompson:stars that one has stars that could have walked the carpet sophie okonedo and and david yeah who's very good actually that's a big miss for them i know i don't really get what's going on there
4:31Ryan Lattanzio:totally would have yeah it's a very good play on the fall circuit i'm pretty confident that it that it will that'll be a telluride in new york and toronto all that so ryan you've been tracking
4:42Anne Thompson:uh the palm door competition and we all look at the screen international grid obviously but the trick with picking the winners i think is to avoid the grid not be swayed by the critics because the jury is a very different animal they're not the same and they're very humanistically minded this group. I looked at them at the jury conference and I went, oh, you know, they all talked. They all revealed who they were. I don't think they're going to go for hope.
5:11Ryan Lattanzio:People really like that movie. We are in the minority who think they can like it and it could be a box office hit.
5:17Anne Thompson:You know, that's fine. I'm rooting for it to hit at the box office. I don't care. But it's such an obvious setup for a sequel. The first hour is brilliant. Brilliant. action film. 40 minutes.
5:30Ryan Lattanzio:And then you see them, you know, it's their There's a monster. There's an alien monster. Once you see the first monster, you're kind of like, uh-oh. It looks like a boss from a Resident Evil game from PlayStation 2 or something. It's bad CGI. Really, really bad. And then the later aliens, the one that's played by Alicia Vikander, how are you going to do? You cannot have like a blue half-human alien. It's just going to, you know, conjure thoughts of Avatar.
5:56Anne Thompson:Aliens were a really bad idea. So we don't like hope.
6:00Ryan Lattanzio:The execution is terrible. And you put it really well saying that it's like a Looney Tunes cartoon. It is.
6:06Anne Thompson:Who's seen hope in the room? And who likes hope in the room? You can only one per two people. All right. We're not in such a minority. All right. So the grid would have you think that Fatherland all of a sudden and most recently Minotaur are the three movies that are leading the pack.
6:24Ryan Lattanzio:Yeah, I mean, I think that Fatherland and All of a Sudden, those both play to the heart, I would say, more than Minotaur, which is a colder experience. This is the latest film from Andres Vyagintsev, who has done Leviathan and Loveless, who's a Russian filmmaker, and he's remaking a Claude Chabral movie, but in the context of Russia invading Ukraine. And that one, there's not a lot of hope, and there's not a lot of heart or a ton of emotion, whereas the other movies, I think, deliver on those fronts.
6:52Anne Thompson:I agree with that 100%. Although the filmmaking in Minotaur is extraordinary, I think.
6:58Ryan Lattanzio:You liked that one as well.
6:59Anne Thompson:I liked it. I think that as far as the best actress race, a lot of people think Sondra Huller, right, for Fatherland, but she won in Berlin. What's this jury going to do with that?
7:11Ryan Lattanzio:Yeah, they're going to want to spread the love, I feel. She's already won. And she's going to be around in the fall, picking up a ton of awards between, which she won in Berlin for Rose, as well as Project Hail Mary and now as well as Fatherland. I could see Virginia Effera actually getting the win this year.
7:28Anne Thompson:I agree with that 100%. She's in two films, Parallel Tales, and then the other one is the... What's the other one?
7:35Ryan Lattanzio:All of a sudden. Oh, that's right. The Hamaguchi. My favorite. What did you think of Parallel Tales?
7:41Anne Thompson:Well, Parallel Tales is Asghar Farhadi working in French for the second time, and I don't think that he should continue working in other languages because he's Iranian. And he's very good in realistic stories about real life Iran. And I think that that's what he should be doing. I applaud him for trying to reach out and try to do other things. But this was very derivative and repetitive. And she was very good in it, though.
8:07Ryan Lattanzio:No, he may not be making films in Iran again because he's basically he's abstaining from filming in his native country because he wants the band. You know, he wants to be able to show women without hijab. And the country is not going to have to film in Iran to make an Iran.
8:20Anne Thompson:right exactly which is what's via against of shows you he shot this movie in latvia
8:27Ryan Lattanzio:parallel tales was pretty dire i have to say there is a lot of dead air in that movie and you know but also isabel huper she does like seven movies a year this is one one of the ones that doesn't use her very well right no but people assume with the you know isabel huper vincent cassell virginia fira katsarin janeuve who's in it for 20 seconds uh they think you know that's a mark of quality but that movie was very disappointing the other movie that could factor
8:53Anne Thompson:in the awards conversation is fjord do you think christian manji's film yes which i missed you did
8:59Ryan Lattanzio:miss and i think you would have liked it a lot uh this movie's with renata reynsva oscar nominee sebastian stan oscar nominee and uh they are a highly christian orthodox couple from romania that's living in norway actually she's norwegian in the movie and things happen where they're sort of being persecuted by the progressive people in their village that actually turned out to be pretty fascist, I would say. Then this one's a little more on the nose and a little more obvious, I would say, than some of his movies, but it's very good. There's just, there's some issues with directing children in it, I would say.
9:36Ryan Lattanzio:There's some poorly directed kids, but it's not their fault.
Read the full transcript
9:40Anne Thompson:I look forward to seeing it because I'm a big fan of his work, and I'm also always a fan of the work of Pedro Moldovar and Bitter Christmas does not disappoint. It isn't like it's his best film that he's ever made. It's a little bit derivative of pain and glory because it's again an auto fiction about him. It's about his process. It's about creativity and fear of losing that creativity and how you use your real life in your films. It's actually, there's a moment in it where there's this big switch and it pulls the movie into, elevates the movie into brilliance.
10:19Ryan Lattanzio:I went to the screening yesterday and 15 minutes in, there was a medical event that occurred in the theater and they dismissed everyone. And I waited for about 20 minutes and I left. So I'm going to have to see that one at the New York Film Festival.
10:32Anne Thompson:It'll be in New York. But it felt a little bit like Master's Last Opus. At the press conference today, he promised that he would be making more films.
10:42Ryan Lattanzio:And he's done making movies in English. I think that's... I think he learned that lesson. And it didn't really.
10:47Anne Thompson:He never wanted to do it. It was like he finally was pushed, dragging and screaming. And there was a reason that he knew that it really wasn't the right thing to do. So meanwhile, Lea Seydoux is in this festival in two movies. Arthur Harari's The Unknown, in which she plays a man in the body of a woman. And it works. It's very good. It's fun to watch her.
11:14Ryan Lattanzio:unknown and that one's been very divisive i don't know that many people are you said there were booze i told a very um a noted critic that i really liked that movie and she said i was a psychopath
11:25Anne Thompson:so well it's it's one of it's you fall into a sort of trance watching it and if either you go for antonioni or you don't in a way yeah no it's it's an existential mystery that moves at a slow
11:39Ryan Lattanzio:crawl but I found it very absorbing and you know that the actor Niels Snyder he's married to Virginia Fira and he really um he kind of John Hawks is himself in the movie to make him he's very lost a lot of weight she was
11:56Anne Thompson:looking pretty Zoptic because she had just had a child just given given birth and so they they were both uncomfortable in their bodies yeah in reality he's very attractive he's stunning i saw him on the red carpet with i said who's that guy yeah he's quite
12:12Ryan Lattanzio:hot i'm sorry i'm sorry this always serves gentle monster on the other hand that's a different movie
12:21Anne Thompson:and like say do totally different character she's a musician she's a mother she's a wife and she finds out that her husband is a pedophile and that one's pretty disturbing yeah uh marie Kreutzer. Yeah.
12:36Ryan Lattanzio:It's like it kind of sounds like a lifetime movie and it's kind of a little bit playing with that shape. But it's she's the reason why it is as good as it is, I would say.
12:46Anne Thompson:Oh, it's excellent. Yeah.
12:48Ryan Lattanzio:It's a little melodramatic.
12:50Anne Thompson:So did you see Garance with her the warmest color co-star? Yeah, her co-star Adele. They won the Palme d 'Or together years ago.
12:59Ryan Lattanzio:In 2013 for that movie that I think was very scarring and troubling for them. And now, you know, it's funny, that movie, we all regarded it as a masterpiece at the time. And now it's like when you tell people you like that, they think you're a little creepy. So, no, in this movie, Garance, or Another Day, as it's very blandly titled for English, she plays an alcoholic actress. And she's kind of just getting drunk and spiraling the entire movie, which sounds kind of fun, but it's really... It doesn't sound fun to me. No, it's not a good time. That one is actually, it's pretty bad.
13:32Anne Thompson:As I always say to Ryan, you're not selling me.
13:35Ryan Lattanzio:It's not that interesting to watch someone get drunk for two hours.
13:37Anne Thompson:So what did you think of Sheep in the Box?
13:40Ryan Lattanzio:I thought that was pretty miscalculated. Actually, that one is really not good. I found it to be cloying and manipulated. And it's like, so this movie is about... Correta. Yeah, Herakazo Correta, who we love, who won the Palme d 'Or in 2018 for Shoplifters and has done things like Nobody Knows, all these really good movies. This is a couple whose child dies and they basically get spammed by this AI company that gives them like a humanoid recreation of their child. I found it to be very cloying and sappy. And there's this terrible score that sort of slathered over the whole thing. And it's just a story we've seen before.
14:16Ryan Lattanzio:It was very familiar feeling.
14:18Anne Thompson:They didn't manage to come up with an effective resolution for it. That was the main thing. It was a good setup. I didn't mind it. But eventually it never went anywhere.
14:27Ryan Lattanzio:It was a bit painful.
14:29Anne Thompson:Now, we both saw the Spanish film Beloved, which is actually in the race for the Palme d 'Or, even though it's not a good movie, for the performance of Javier Bardem.
14:40Ryan Lattanzio:Javier Bardem could win Best Actor. He plays a hot-headed director who, very much like sentimental value, he casts his daughter in a role that he sort of written for her as his comeback movie. But the thing is, in this movie, that movie that he's making is kind of bad. That looks awful. Like, it looks horrible. I don't get, like you're not, speaking of not selling me, like you're not selling me on the supposed artistic genius of this person.
15:04Anne Thompson:Well, I don't know that he was ever a genius, but he was a raucous kind of misbehaving hothead, and he hasn't lost that, and he ignored his daughter for 13 years. It's a little bit like the George Clooney movie too.
15:19Ryan Lattanzio:Oh, Jay Kelly.
15:20Anne Thompson:Yeah, how soon we forget.
15:22Ryan Lattanzio:I'm trying to forget, any day now.
15:25Anne Thompson:But the thing is, the two actors are so good in it. And there's this one amazing scene, the set piece, where he completely loses it. And everybody is on edge. And it goes on for a long time. And it's very good.
15:40Ryan Lattanzio:I don't think it is amazing. That scene is... That's the scene he might win for. Yeah, that scene is smothered in over-stylization by the director who's switching between aspect ratios and film grains and filters. It's like, we're black and white. We're 16 millimeter. It just I don't know why we couldn't let the story just be what it was.
15:58Anne Thompson:So the other movie that might be I don't know about awards here, but maybe back home Oscar awards, the one that might register is one of the few American films in the competition. James Gray's Paper Tiger. Do you think Scarlett Johansson could could take it home?
16:14Ryan Lattanzio:Yeah, it's funny with her performance in that movie where she plays the wife of Miles Teller, who is embroiled in a scheme by his brother Adam Driver with the Russian mafia. She when she she starts the movie out like a 14.
16:29Anne Thompson:It's set in the 70s. Yeah, she's got a certain look.
16:34Ryan Lattanzio:Yeah, she's a very curly wig on, tightly coiled. and she starts the movie at a 14 but when she reigns it in and goes down to like a 9 she's very very good but it's a little bit I feel like it could be one of those performances like it's a Razzie and an Oscar nomination
16:51Anne Thompson:No Ryan I'm telling you I think I'm right about this
16:54Ryan Lattanzio:I really do
16:56Anne Thompson:I really liked Paper Tiger
16:58Ryan Lattanzio:Oh it's terrific and there is an amazing scene
17:00Anne Thompson:I think Miles Teller is very good in it
17:03Ryan Lattanzio:There's a scene in a cornfield at the end of the movie that is one of the best directed things I've ever seen. Yes, I agree. Well, do we think that Neon is going to win a seventh Palmodo?
17:15Anne Thompson:I'm rooting, in a way, for Mubi this year, for Pavel Polakowski's Fatherland to win.
17:24Ryan Lattanzio:Yeah, which is very good. And if you've seen it, you know that it's very much like the other Pavel Polakowski movies. So if you like those, it's very much in your register.
17:34Anne Thompson:Well, it's historic. It's black and white. It's Academy Ratio.
17:39Ryan Lattanzio:It has a serious subject.
17:40Anne Thompson:It's got complicated characters. I want to know more about Thomas Mann, Erica Mann, and Klaus Mann. These are very interesting characters.
17:50Ryan Lattanzio:And they're all gay, apparently. Thomas was repressed. He put it into his work. Sublimated that into Death and Venice. Yeah.
17:59Anne Thompson:But Erica, she had a thing with that American journalist in the past. and Kloss was all there, all gay, all the time.
18:07Ryan Lattanzio:Yeah, that does seem like the front runner to win the Palm at this point. I have to say, I wouldn't mind seeing another distributor step in because at this point it's kind of like...
18:18Anne Thompson:I'm not anti-Neon. No, we love Neon. They earned their stripes and we've had Tom Quinn on the podcast. Here last year on this stage.
18:25Ryan Lattanzio:No, we love Neon, but you know.
18:27Anne Thompson:It would be good to see someone else get in there.
18:29Ryan Lattanzio:There's other players.
18:31Anne Thompson:but what else could it be maybe if it's hamaguchi it's neon yeah it could be hamaguchi uh i don't
18:38Ryan Lattanzio:know could play for that jury i think that movie is definitely going to get like a top prize for sure there's a few more that remain and there's a couple of which i've seen already but there's like five actually no there's three movies that are remaining that i've already seen i think you can talk about the iris axe yeah so that's premiering today i've seen the man i love which is directed by iris x and it's set in the 80s rami malek plays a uh club performer stage actor sort of who's dying of aids and he's he's his partner is tom sturridge and then a very very adorable ginger twink moves in downstairs and uh complicates everybody's relationship and he falls for this guy so like passages it's another very destructive uh sad gay love triangle did you like I did, actually.
19:27Ryan Lattanzio:I very much liked it. And I'm not a big Rami Malek fan. He makes me a little bit nervous sometimes. But he's pretty good in this. Yeah, but I'm not down for him. You like him, though, right?
19:38Anne Thompson:He's okay. I mean, it depends on the movie. You know? The festival, by the way, just moving on, tends to not pay a lot of attention to documentaries. So that's one of my criticisms.
19:53Ryan Lattanzio:Well, there is the documentary that I haven't seen by the graves brothers uh once upon a time in harlem yeah i'm dying to see that one that but they put that in directors fortnight they don't really bring docs into the competition the way
20:05Anne Thompson:that venice and berlin do no they don't and uh there's a david lean movie that's very good here um mark mark cousins has a film here in his history of film series but but they're all They're all buried. In small selection sidebars. So as far as the market is concerned, we kind of mentioned it earlier, there wasn't much to acquire. Neon already had everything, or Mubi, or A24, you know? And so basically it was Club Kids and this movie In Waves that Netflix got.
20:41Ryan Lattanzio:Yeah, it'll probably be like Sundance where we see a slow drip of some of these movies being acquired over the next few months, but almost nothing of the ones that didn't have a distributor are commercial.
20:53Anne Thompson:And then the other thing is just to remember what's going on in the real world, which is the market. There's a market. And you walk down the street and you hear somebody say, oh, we need equity, or we just sold Serbia. You know, I mean, it's real. as they sort of bit by bit, these little films, you know, aggregate the rights to all these different territories.
21:17Ryan Lattanzio:Yeah, there's a lot of contraction and attrition and it's very disturbing and it means that a lot of these movies are kind of marooned, unfortunately, but I don't know, as we're seeing with Sundance, they all eventually do get bought, but it's just a question of with whom and, you know, like you said, Neon kind of already has it all.
21:34Anne Thompson:And then there was a big package that got picked up by Clockwork. We kind of expected that maybe the new Warner Brothers label would have a little action beyond The Devils, which they played here, the classics title from Ken Russell. So they put together this Brigands movie, which is from jury president Park Jan-Wook. And it's got a big cast, Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal. They announced Pedro Pascal in absolutely every movie that comes along. And Matthew McConaughey.
22:03Ryan Lattanzio:And like half of them get made. Yeah.
22:06Anne Thompson:All of a sudden is a remarkable movie because it's in an on an unlikely subject, which is a woman who's running a nursing home. And you get all involved in the very mundane details of her life. This is Virginie Fira. And and you get it's it's very absorbing. It's actually riveting.
22:26Ryan Lattanzio:No, I mean, it's like the Oscar for Hottie movie, which is an hour shorter than this felt much longer than this movie.
22:32Anne Thompson:and then she meets you know at a play she goes to a play and she meets this japanese director and she uh they they strike up this remarkable friendship that there's this extraordinary scene where they're walking together by a river for a long time and they're just really bonding and getting to know each other and you find out that the woman is dying she has terminal cancer and I know it all sounds very grim but it's one of the most uplifting and extraordinary
23:03Ryan Lattanzio:films I've ever seen yeah I know it's very hopeful and he's a very humanistic director and I feel like that movie will be we'll be talking about that one into yeah into next year
23:20Ryan Lattanzio:oh I didn't see full fell so I can't comment but this is Woody Harrelson and Kristen Stewart I should have gone. I think I had a ticket and I just fell asleep or something. I wish I could say more.
23:31Anne Thompson:Ryan sees an amazing number of films and writes about them. And so I feel we can't see them all. So do you want to ask us any questions? We're here for you. You had said before on your podcast that there aren't that many American movies this year.
23:46Ryan Lattanzio:And I wanted to hear what your thoughts are as to why you think that is. Maybe there just weren't any good ones.
23:53Anne Thompson:or is there some other cultural reason okay i'd love to hear you opine terry frimo is dying to have american films here and hollywood films not the independent films that he has but hollywood films and he wanted he thought he was going to get the steven spielberg he really did um but he didn't and i think that they may that the studios may be in a phase this is just me this is just me speculating where they're feeling conservative and playing it safe and they don't want to take the risk of having a bad review at a festival um joker is one thing joker 2 is another yeah no i'm
24:30Ryan Lattanzio:thinking about some of the movies i saw at venice like folio do where the reviews were just deadly and that's what you have to work with until you're ramping up to open the movie and so yeah i think there's caution about that i mean if we we experience it like on a you know on a smaller level with access to screenings and so forth and embargoes and different tiers of press that are allowed to see things like Wuthering Heights or The Bride early or not.
24:55Anne Thompson:Do you have any opinions or thoughts on Diego Luna's movie Ashes? I saw that here and I'm a big fan of Diego Luna and he did a very brave, I think, kind of realistic and gritty look at a different angle on the immigrant experience so it isn't just he's a Mexican filmmaker but it isn't just about Mexico Mexicans going to America it was about Mexicans going to Spain and it was an interesting angle on the story I thought
25:27Ryan Lattanzio:that movie is a little bit of a challenge I would say and that one is going to be a hard sell I think that's looking for a buyer and I don't it's definitely not commercial
25:37Anne Thompson:I'm afraid I agree with that so
25:41Ryan Lattanzio:more than 70 %
25:43Anne Thompson:of the movies that are in the festival are sold by French companies. What do you think about it? This has been a trend that has been growing for some time. There are some big, big French production companies who invest in other people's movies and there are a lot of French co-productions and it's been growing for years. And it's a wonderful thing. I mean, the whole idea, what I was saying before about the market is that you have people putting these pieces together from different countries to get the fine. If you look at any movie and you look at all the credits up on the screen, you can see there's usually a few countries
26:25Ryan Lattanzio:contributing to a film. Only in the U.S. do we not have the government supporting our filmmaking. All right, thank you all for being here. Thanks so much.
26:34Anne Thompson:And thank you for coming. Thank you for listening.
26:42Anne Thompson:Good energy in. Ah, good energy out.
26:50Anne Thompson:Storm, zero sugar, 200 milligrams of caffeine, and immunity support. Storm, energy for life.
From the publisher
Anne and Ryan sat down in front of a live audience at the American Pavilion in Cannes to discuss the films they've seen at the festival, which have been selling, and which have potential to be commercial hits or players in this awards season.
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