We Went to Cannes! These Are the 10 Best (and Worst) Things We Saw.

23:29Sean Fennessey:And I think the reputation of that movie has transformed a lot in 12 months. And that's something that maybe will happen to some of the movies that we talk about here, where at first glance or in the room and how much the room affects your reaction will indicate in one way or another. I'm not sure if there's too many examples, not as divisive a slate this year, I would say. I can think of a couple of examples where where you and I, which room you and I saw a film here at Cannes had a real effect on our interpretation of it as opposed to people. And, you know, it's really are you there for the gala premiere in the room with everyone versus a press screening, which it's not just the audience that's different, but but the energy.

24:10It's a little more workaday. And what you're willing to buy into depends a little bit in which room you're sitting in, whether it's in a different room in Cannes or at home. So that's right.

24:22Sean Fennessey:That's right. And you and I have access to two different press screening rooms in addition to the Varda, in addition to external movie theaters on the Quasette. There are various just general audience movie theaters that are screening films here over this two-week period as well. so we I feel like I've now really had the gamut like I've been in I think I've been in every single room I've been in the Bunuel I've been in the Basin I've been in yeah you know the WC I've been in arcades I've been in uh Olympia like there's there's a lot of places to go see movies you didn't go to Sinanam but I did and so that is yeah that's a movie theater like three miles away and I mean I saw a movie on the same floor as like a screen x it was just a a basic movie theater with like a lot of people going on a Saturday afternoon to see normal movies.

25:08And that was also cool because it was clear there was another canned culture of seemingly younger or younger than me. Um, people just waiting out at different location to kind of try to see the second and third run movies away from the hubbub. Uh, and they were just like sitting on the floor at your local AMC or whatever. I don't think AMC operates and was allowed to operate in France. Um, Um, but just hanging out and trying to see movies. And so that's an even different kind of room and different reception, um, which is cool. There are people here who like movies.

25:42Sean Fennessey:There's in addition to all the crusty dogs that I was talking about, there's just a ton of young people there. And, and, um, I know I'm a clown whenever I say cinema is alive and we're back, but like, it's impossible to not feel that way when you're here. Cause everyone is just so excited to see things. They're just, there's so much enthusiasm for this stuff. and I'll use that as an entree into the discussion of the films um the moment in which I felt that the most deeply this week was at an 8 30 a.m screening of Jordan Firstman's Club Kid which is a movie that I will say candidly when I saw that it was accepted to the festival um I was surprised I wouldn't say it was extremely high on my list of two C's because I arrived a couple days late um it had already premiered um and gotten very warm reception but i was like i'll see for myself and from my perspective it may it may end up being my favorite movie at the festival there have been a couple of movies in the last couple of days that have risen to it but for three or four days i was like well this is not just a surprise but it is the straight-up best movie here even though it is in one certain regard and not in the main competition um and as soon as I saw as soon as it was over, I texted you immediately.

26:56Sean Fennessey:And I was like, this movie is fucking wonderful. Like you have to see this. Um, and you did. I did. Yeah. Later that afternoon. Yeah. It was, you know, as you said, that moment very early on when you're sitting there in a movie and you're just like, Oh, this is happening. Like it's all clicking and you can tell very quickly. And, um, it it's such a special movie. It's really classical in a lot of ways, despite being a movie set in the like club kids you know in like queer clubs in 2016 and then now um you and i both learned a lot of uh lingo about some subcultures that we didn't previously know about this is a very drugs forward movie but also not in an annoying way i guess that is one thing that every description of it sounds kind of irritating uh if you're not a subscriber to it but it is warm-hearted a lot more depth than i think either of us expected and like it hasn't has as much in common with kramer versus kramer as it does with you know requiem for a dream or whatever so it's Um, but there is nothing like not knowing anything and going in or, or knowing very little or not having the hype of six months of, you know, secondhand.

28:17Ooh, I saw this and that and just having something work so totally. And that's the other thing. It, it is completely formed. Like it works beginning, middle and end. They make several smart choices, great performances very funny um and funny even if you don't get all the new york inside jokes um as most of the crowd i was with didn't but also the new york inside jokes are great

28:41Sean Fennessey:they are very good so first man people will know him from i love la the hbo rachel senate series um maybe rotting in the sun which played sundance a few years ago just like a very funny online comic figure and as you said like i maybe had not expected that he would deliver a movie with this level of depth and craft and sincerity. It very quickly pivots away from being a very in your face comedy to being a much more sincere drama, honestly, about parenthood. And I growing up and growing, certainly. And also maybe arriving at that stage in your life in your early 30s where you're like, oh, maybe I'm not wasn't as prepared for this part of my life as I needed to be, which is also I think will be very resonant for a lot of people um and i very quickly noted that the producer of the movie one of the producers in the movie is alex coco who was sean baker's producer on honora and is widely considered one of the smartest independent film producers around and you can definitely sense his influence and i'm sure helping first men develop this movie and get it to where it is because and they make just an incredible combination um and i'm really excited about this movie and it was acquired by A24, which I think every living human who was watching it was like, how is this not already an A24 movie?

30:00Sean Fennessey:Yes. But it was it's so far the big pickup of the festival. And I expect will be a big thing through the rest of the year. Any other thoughts on Club Kid? I'm just excited to talk about it for the rest of the year. And it's going to it's going to be a fun one to have around. Very fun press tour. And it's going to it's going to be a great however many months once it comes out. So I'm I'm really excited. Okay, let's talk about Fjord. Okay. Fjord is a fascinating film. It was my pre-festival pick for The Palm. And I don't know if it's my pick for The Palm quite yet. We'll get to our predictions in a moment.

30:39Sean Fennessey:Oh, so you're wavering now? Well, I don't know. I don't know. I have some... My feelings are moving in a lot of directions. But Fjord is Christian Mongeau's new film, The Romanian Filmmaker, who previously won The Palm back in 2007 and has been here a couple times before. And this film is, I'm reluctant to say that his most mainstream film, but it does star Sebastian Stan and Renata Reinsva. And they play a couple that has immigrated to Norway from Romania. Reinsva's character is Norwegian, but she lives in Romania with her husband, played by Stan. And they come with their five children. And once they arrive in Norway, they learn that the culture of Norway is very different from the country that they have come from.

31:22Sean Fennessey:They're a very religious, conservative family. And Norway is, of course, understood to be a very progressive country. And the movie pursues the differentiation in cultures and what can happen to this family and the community surrounding them. And I absolutely love this. And it is exactly the kind of thorny debate forward movie that I think thrives in this environment here at Cannes. It is that, you know, in shades of anatomy of a fall, I would say, where as soon as the movie is over, you want to be like, well, OK, so what do we really think was going on here? And it listed, I would say, a pretty strong reaction, not a rapturous response, but a very clearly solidly.

32:07Sean Fennessey:This movie is very, very good. What did you think? I think we both walked out and we were like, yes. And Fjord premiered on Monday, which was also essential because like we needed it. There was a lot writing on Fjord being good. I think it was probably it's to both of our tastes, both in the actors, Sebastian Stan and Renata Rainsva. You know, it's set in a beautiful mountain town in Norway. So you were pretty psyched about that. And I thought it looked beautiful, even though I don't want to visit. And I mean, it is it's it's about kids, among other things. So there was a certain like pulling, like a very personal pulling or gnawing in my stomach during all of the debates, which you lean in, right?

32:55It has it's it's definitely this year's anatomy of a fall. To me, it was a little I was thinking of the drama a little bit where you're like arguing with the screen in real time. I'm like, well, I don't know. Who do I think is right? And what do I think is right? And like, where am I going? And it does maintain that tension and I think gives you enough information. But to a point you made as we were walking out also withholds enough. It does not spell everything out for you in a way that I think is very smart and disciplined. So, yeah, I was I was really into it. And, you know, once again, the Scandinavian peoples like a tough break in the in the filmic space, I guess, depending on.

33:37Sean Fennessey:They take some L's in this one. Yeah. The Norwegians take some L's. There's no doubt about it. And that doesn't necessarily mean that the people of Norway are wrong on the issues that are explored in the film. Sure. But that's sort of what is so fascinating about it. And, you know, we're reluctant to really spoil any of these movies because they may be five, six, nine months away from release. But this one in particular is a unique case where I think in the wrong hands, and this movie may get into the wrong hands, who knows, it could be refracted and misrepresented culturally. in terms of what its purpose is.

34:09I think it makes a choice in the last third that I think, I do think it worked for me and brings in another dimension, but to your point, can also, can start, be taken down the wrong conversational path.

34:27Sean Fennessey:Yeah, and I think if you're dogmatic in your thinking, then the movie is, it necessitates a nuanced interpretation. Otherwise, I think the movie kind of falls apart. Norwegians. Well, yeah. I mean, my takeaway, as I said to you immediately after I walked out of the movie, I was like, it really feels like Christian Manju went on like a terrible two week vacation in Norway. His director's statement about the movie says this is set in Norway, but it could happen in any Nordic country. We've thought about it so often. Very, very entertaining. Stan and Reinsvot are both wonderful. Stan in particular, I thought was terrific as this extremely tightly wound Romanian man stands family.

35:07Sean Fennessey:His mother is from Romania. He speaks Romanian. This is a he shaped his head for this role. It's a very unglamorous part. Both both actors, I would say not very showy performances, much more restrained because this is a very kind of tight and religious family that they're portraying. But I was very impressed. And I just think it's very cool that he and Reinsville choose to use this moment in their careers to make movies like this, which is really a difficult film. Um, and, but also very entertaining and kind of, it's, it's not, it's not fun. It's not club kid. It's not heartwarming, but it is absolutely engaging and watchable.

35:43That's the thing. You're not sitting there being lectured about capitalism.

35:48Sean Fennessey:We will get to that. Yeah. Do you want to go? Let's talk about all of a sudden. Well, I would, you know, if you're, if you're ranking them, it's, we're getting close, right? Yeah. I think that this, this is, well, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll hold off on Minotaur for a minute since you haven't seen that. But yeah, we're sort of moving in order here in terms of preference. All of a sudden is Rausuke's, Homaguchi's new film. And it is a 196 minute epic about elder care and the French health social services system. Sure. In a manner of speaking. And also love and humanity. It truly is that. And it is, it's a ride.

36:30Sean Fennessey:It's a ride. I would say roughly halfway through the film, I was genuinely concerned that it was an utter miscalculation. And by the end, I was in tears. And it is durational. And I think led me to like a real moment of kind of this like ecstatic realization of what he is pulling together, which is something that more or less happens in all of his movies. But this one, I would say, is also more didactic and more even more ideas for it. As I said to you, it's so rare to see a director who takes his theme and just makes it the text in the movie. So this is a movie about the way in which systems degrade humanity, particularly capitalism, and remove this kind of essential human connection that we seek because we are forced to participate in this broader system.

37:22And especially by setting the movie in a world of elderly people who are kind of at the end

37:26Sean Fennessey:of their life and who have fewer people who are caring for them or looking after them. And there's this very select group of people in these elder care facilities who have to like really take care of these people in every aspect of their lives, you know, taking them to the bathroom, cleaning them, you know, caring for them, making eye contact with them. Like the, the, every level of detail is portrayed in this movie. Um, but also it has like a kind of like, um, puckish, sincere, funny spirit to it. You know, it's not it's not a doom and gloom movie, but the movie does spend a lot of time specifically talking through the ideas, including one.

38:03Sean Fennessey:Perhaps soon to be notorious whiteboard sequence in which capitalism is explained at large for 12 minutes. I mean, as I was sitting there, I just thought the memes will be amazing. And I have found myself throughout the week as this scene, this is the scene that turns a lot of people or that people have complained about, I guess, in the not so warm reviews, which it has been, people really admire this movie if they aren't like jumping up and down about it. But then you hear about the whiteboard scene. And I just have to say that I instant classic, you know, I was like, oh, here we go. I know how I will be using this once once everyone has seen this, I will be using it for many years to come.

38:48And, you know, that is cinema in its own way as well. This one, I was really moved by this one, which I did not expect to be about. But, you know, I'm not always a patient filmgoer. I also accidentally slept through my first screening of this film.

39:05Sean Fennessey:You mean you slept and you didn't sleep during the movie? No, no, no, I didn't sleep. Yeah, no, I accidentally, I set my alarm for PM instead of AM. And I woke up at two 30 in the afternoon and was like, well, there goes that. And meanwhile, you are, you quite literally texted me. Are you alive? So this is one where I, you know, met the rest of my commitments. And I was there at 8 AM to see a three hour and 15 minute movie about the French healthcare system. And I was like, I don't know how this is going to go. I don't know if I'm going to be in the right headspace for this. And it does require you to give yourself over to it.

39:42And, you know, you can almost it. And I think this is like a good thing, like a public service. It can be a how to manual at times for how to care for an older person or a disoriented person, but also like how to be a person in the world. But to your point, there is that level of specificity and that level of time spent. I don't think the truncated version would work because there is something magical that it does. It forces you to either leave or sit through all of this and learn and get into like a different headspace and a headspace where I am in a Dobbins don't spend a lot of time. I liked the whiteboard scene, but imagine me sitting through, uh, you know, a lecture of someone drawing to me on a whiteboard in real life.

40:32Even you would never happen.

40:34Sean Fennessey:So we should start doing that though. If I should start doing like coaching style breakdowns, like John Gruden style breakdowns of films while you watch, I mean, like coaching class. I need access to a telestrator. You know, I just do. We just need Amanda's telestrator segment. I've made this request. Just imagine like all of the production design breakdowns that I could do this, that and the other, drawing the arrows. But there is something, there is something like meticulous and like kind of exquisite in the construction of the movie where, as you said, in the last hour, it all comes together.

41:16And there is kind of a wonder of like, wow, I can't believe we all got here. And I can't believe.

41:20Sean Fennessey:100%. That's it. I can't believe that you landed this and I've never seen it done in quite that way. But it was very, very moving and cool. And again, unique, I thought. Like I, it's an unexpected. Yeah. So Virginie Aphira, the French actress, plays the director of the nursing home and an actress, Tao Akamoto, plays a woman named Mari who comes into her life. She's a theater director um and they form a very quick bond and they create an unusually intense friendship connection and i it's really her performance i think that kind of like makes the movie work ultimately um and she's a very empathetic very um open actor and what happens to her character i think is kind of what kind of transforms the community of the story and it's your i totally agree with you about that last hour where you're almost like, I felt like with like 30 minutes after I was like, wow, this actually did come together.

42:21Sean Fennessey:I can't believe this came together. Cause I was, I, like I said, I was very dubious halfway through. I was like, this kind of feels like I'm like a bungle. And it wasn't, it's clearly designed to do exactly what it does. But it is also, it's a, it's a really big cast because it's set at a care facility. And so, and you spend time with the patients, you spend time with the other nurses and caregivers. And And then he nails every single casting, every single performance. And they're all pretty essential. It all has to to work together. Like the puzzle pieces are very small. And so when you see this smaller bit, characters also have growth and be resolved and they each kind of get their moment.

43:02But it doesn't feel like, oh, so and so got their moment, too. It really just, once you see how it all works together, it's pretty soundcheck.

43:11Sean Fennessey:It is. We will be covering it again in the future. Let's talk about Paper Tiger. That was the first premiere that we attended that you mentioned. I was in tux, you were in gown. This is James Gray's new film. It is extremely familiar terrain for Gray. In fact, I think the movie was originally conceived as a kind of sequel to Armageddon time. And it turns to become much more of a kind of genre crime film than what was what transpired in Armageddon time. But it stars Adam Driver, Miles Teller and Scarlett Johansson. It is perhaps the starriest movie that we have here. Driver and Teller were on the red carpet and Gray has been to the Cannes Film Festival six times.

43:56Sean Fennessey:And this movie is, as I said to you, and as I feel with so many of Gray's movies, who's like who's my buddy? You know, so, you know, just all all objectivity aside here. It's just so eerie how it's so similar to so many aspects of my family's life that when I watch his films, especially Armageddon Time in this film, and to some extent, we own the night to that. I feel like a little bit of an out of body experience at a certain point. Well, I'll just set up what the movie is about. It's about two brothers living in Queens in 1986. six. And Teller is an engineer and kind of a working class guy married to Scarlett Johansson.

44:36Sean Fennessey:He has two sons. Driver is a retired police officer who's kind of a swashbuckling, endeavoring businessman. And he comes to his brother with an idea for a new business. And that business involves the oil industry in Sheepshead Bay and the Russian mafia. And I can imagine that things don't go well from there and they get into some serious trouble. And the movie at times isn't utterly gripping thriller. There are some moments in this movie that I think are as good as any moments in James Gray's entire filmography. But I will, there was a, there's a moment in the film where the camera leans in on a photograph of Adam driver in a policeman's uniform.

45:17Sean Fennessey:And he looks exactly like my father. Like, and there's just, and the, the, the home that Teller's family lives in, the brick home is the home that my mom grew up in. Like there are so many weird details. And this sounds a little bit like, well, you would understand it if you don't have a kid. But he just kind of gets that world, which is his world. The film is extremely autobiographical. You can tell. Gets it so right. And for me, it obviously elevates it. And I'm already lacking a certain objectivity when it comes to James's films. But I really, really like this movie. What did you think? Yeah, this is a James Gray podcast.

45:50We are we're James Gray stance. And and this was the one where I was like, I need to be at this premiere. And it was a little bit, as you mentioned, because it was it was the American movie in competition. And so kind of like the biggest stars that had the Saturday night gala premiere, 930 and, you know, lots of curtain calls. So I wanted to be there for the fanfare, but also I wanted to see these actors that I really love in a director who I really love. So it's it is it's a James Gray movie. So, you know, two thumbs up for me. It has Scarlett Johansson doing the, well, we all know that I'm up and down with Scarlett Johansson, but, and I think she's good in this, but she's doing now what I'm going to call either the song song blue or mom drag, which is like a, you know, a modern glamorous actress putting on a bad wig and frumpy clothing and being like, ah, shucks, like I'm, I'm just a mom.

46:49and she's given more to do and there's emotional depths, but I'm starting to become slightly to resistant to this particular type of performance. I'm like, everyone else thinks she's the best thing in the movie. So again, you know, it's always your mileage will vary. Yeah.

47:03Sean Fennessey:We had some interesting conversations in the aftermath of this movie with other critics and folks who covered films where some said, this is Grey's best film. This is his opportunity to break into the Oscar race after all these years of being such a critical favorite. And some were like, I hated it. And it's an interesting divide. I'm much more leaning towards this is his best film, but to me it is not his best film. But it is so interesting the way it borrows from so many components of his other movies. I just spent a lot of time re-watching Little Odessa, his debut film, because I interviewed James for the Criterion Collection edition that they're putting out in August.

47:40Sean Fennessey:And so I watched that movie maybe two or three times. And it's a movie about two brothers in Brighton Beach who get mixed up in a world of crime and who have a complicated relationship with their families. Like the same is true for the yards. The same is true for we own the night. The same is true for a lot of these. It's kind of a, um, it's almost like a collage collusion of a lot of ideas that he's been working on over a 30 plus year period of time. The thing is, I thought the Scarlett Johansson performance worked because very similarly, she just sounded like my mom, like a lot like that character like i was talking to david or like the indie wire critic whose family is also from that part of the world and he was just like that is what that woman sounds like that's how she acts um and it can seem a little bit like drag when it's a movie star doing it um but i thought it was at least on point adam driver in the movie is phenomenal it it is among the best things he's ever done and his character is fascinating and he's a he's also a very familiar architect to me of a certain kind of you know industrious new york guy and also miles teller who i think has been kind of mailing it in for the last five or six years but you can tell put in a lot of work on this movie he looks good and he sold his wonderful uh alcohol company i'm happy yeah what was it a bit tall drink long drink long drink long drink long drink he sold long drink very well someone dm'd me being like should i try long drink just like why are you dming me just buy that it's you know five dollars because we drank it on this podcast on the celebrity liquor tasted it was pretty good um but uh i i like teller too so i think all three of those kind of core performances are are good driver is i'm kind of wondering now if driver's gonna win best actor here like i you know i don't i if the movie does catch the oscar heat like there's a campaign in there for him.

49:32You think he'd be in best actor and not best supporting? That to me seems like a real supporting launchpad. And then he does, he walks away with every scene, but it is about the Miles Teller family. So he and ScarJo would both run in supporting, were I running it? Because I don't care about category fraud.

49:53Sean Fennessey:I think that's really smart. And maybe you would actually have a chance. He's dressed like Patrick Bateman most of the time. and it's quite powerful. Or, you know, like Gordon Gekko. It's late, mid, late 80s in New York and he's wearing the suits and it's powerful stuff. It's a movie about how if only this family who was experiencing such turmoil could have waited three months to watch the New York Mets win the World Series. You know, that's really what it's all about. It's 1986. That's when it's set. We see a Mets banner on one of the young son's walls. Right, but they don't, they aren't watching any Mets games at that point.

50:28Sean Fennessey:If only they had let themselves get to October. We do. We see Shay in the background, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, it's it's an it's an elite, elite outer borough New York movie. Three minutes in you turned to me and you were just like, this is where like this is it. This is me. You know, once again, I've been in all those houses. And, you know, there's just something there's something to that. But yeah, so it'll be interesting to see how this is received because it has been divisive. And Gray has just not been able to get over those humps. You know, he hasn't won a prize here, Ken, before.

50:59Sean Fennessey:We'll see if he does this year. He hasn't been nominated for an Academy Award. There's definitely an original screenplay story to be told here. There's a bunch of acting opportunities, potentially. This movie is coming from Neon, presumably in the fall. So we'll be talking about it again here soon. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Shout out to the friends with the same niche taste as you. You know, ones that will join you in watching a three-hour silent film about the cats of Europe, followed by a cheesy superhero blockbuster. State Farm brings that same supportive energy to insurance.

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52:50Sean Fennessey:Just go to LinkedIn.com slash TheBigPicture. That's LinkedIn.com slash TheBigPicture. Terms and conditions apply. I'll talk about Minotaur and you talk about Can My Asma, okay? Okay, yes. Minotaur is Andres Yegostev's new film. It is a kind of not-so-loose remake of Claude Chabrol's The Unfaithful Wife, which is also probably best known to American audiences. as the Adrian Lan film Unfaithful starring Diane Lane and Richard Gere. And it is his version of that story, which is about a woman who's having an affair with a younger man and what happens when her husband finds out. This is set against the Ukraine-Russia war.

53:39And so this filmmaker, this Russian filmmaker,

53:42Sean Fennessey:there's been a lot of press about him over the last five years and how he hasn't made a movie in some time and how he was very ill and I guess was pronounced dead for like 40 minutes a few years back, has kind of reemerged, left Russia, and has made this new movie, which portrays the ways in which kind of individual violence is mirrored and protected by state violence and the way that the kind of Russian oligarchy manages and navigates the way that individuals are allowed or not allowed to live in that country. Extremely interesting movie that plays for about an hour and a half as a pure thriller and then pivots in its final 45 minutes into being a much more clearly socially constructed metaphorical pursuit i think it's very good i'm a little reluctant to proclaim it great some of the some of our colleagues here are proclaiming it great um you didn't get a chance to see this movie um it does feature very strong performances from a russian cast that i'm not very familiar with and i i found the like overarching metaphor to be an inch obvious but i do think it has incredible social import and so because of that i do think that the film is going to draw a lot of attention and it is a filmmaker who has not won the pollen before you know has been you know he made leviathan he made endless like he's made a bunch of movies now that um are very very well liked and so i i And I don't know if it's my resistance to it, in part because what happens is you see a movie like Fjord and you're like, oh, that's what I want.

55:17Sean Fennessey:That feels like the best to me. You also want to be right because you predicted Fjord last week. And so, and there is a bit of this where, you know, people here, critics, people on the street. I mean, we were stopped by a very nice listener, I believe from the Netherlands, who was just like Minotaur. That's it. That's the one. And I was like, fuck, because for scheduling reasons, I couldn't get there. Also, I mean, I'm just pissed that I missed. I didn't understand the premise and the connection to my beloved Unfaithful in quite the way that it's fine. I'll see the film and then we can. Part of my issue is I'm like, this is just Unfaithful.

55:57Sean Fennessey:It's said in the world of a war in Russia. Yeah, but but let me say that I would watch an unfaithful every single year. I'm very, very pro that movie. So anyway, but there there are people everyone is picking their winner, right? You know, everyone's like picking their little bit of ground being like, no, it's going to be Minotaur. No, it's going to be Fjord. No, it's going to be the Hamaguchi. So you picked your corner and you're defending your corner. And I think that's fine. It's good to believe in yourself. yeah i i like the movie um iris lebedeva who plays the wife's um gives an amazing performance anatoly belly gives an amazing performance as the husband um it's a very good film but and maybe it will emerge triumphant we will see but to talk about um right teenage sex and death at camp my asma so this is the new jane schoenbrunn film and it premiered it's also in uncertain Regard on Club Kid, which is kind of like the, I mean, not to be rude, but sort of the JV leak.

57:03And it was the big premiere. So they brought the jury up on stage and it stars Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbender. And they were both there and, you know, dressed up. It's not black tie required at the Uncertain Regard premieres, but people make their best effort. And this is, It will surprise no one to learn a meta slasher movie about a director who is trying to reinvent and kind of resuscitate an old genre, like an old franchise. and goes to meet the Gloria Swanson-esque star of the original franchise in order to convince her to star in the new one. And then there are revelations about the self and one's relationship to screens and to life.

58:11it is definitely my favorite of the Jane Schoenbrand movies because it's many of the same themes and even some of the same executions. Like there are many Easter eggs and lots of recreations and homages, and it comes from a real love of movies and knowledge of movies. It's like, it's, it's playing, it's playing to the crowd, but also playing to personal interests. Um, and, but then also the themes above identity and sexual discovery and, um, how hard it is to be in the world and, and what can make that easier. I found it, um, a little more pop. Honestly, there are a number of reasons for that.

58:55Um, including that there is a, there's a whole plot line about the director's, uh, interactions with the agents and Hollywood individuals. So it's less academic and more accessible is what I would say. Some great music cues. And it certainly gets involved in the last third of the movie, but I was along for the ride. So I thought this movie was really interesting and a lot of fun. And I'm excited for other people to get to see it.

59:27Sean Fennessey:This is the one I'm most jealous to have missed. And because I came a couple of days after you, I wasn't able to see it. Hopefully we'll be able to see it soon. It opens in August. And yeah, Jane was on the show for I Saw the TV Glow, which I thought was utterly fascinating. And frankly, a deep textual analysis of the relationship we have to slashers is like 9 % of my personality. So I'm pretty excited about that movie. Let's talk about Fatherland. We're still in the good category right now, that these are movies that we liked here at the festival. Fatherland is Pawlikowski's new film, his first film since Cold War.

1:00:07Sean Fennessey:It is a, and yet another black and white, beautifully shot movie with Lucas All, the cinematographer. It stars Sandra Huller and Hans Ziesler and August Diehl, three icons of German cinema. And it is about Thomas Mann, the German novelist, writer, philosopher, literary icon, his daughter, Erica, and their return to Germany after World War II, after he and his family had fled during the rise in Nazi power. A very brief film, sub 80 minutes long, sub 75 minutes long. Yeah. 72, I think was the clock that I checked. Which is very different here from most of the other films, which are roughly two and a half hours each.

1:00:59Sean Fennessey:And this is a very stately thoughtful examination of, uh, cultural and national identity, individual thought versus the state, some similar ideas to Minotaur and Fjord here. Um, it is a quiet movie. Um, I have, I did see a couple of people describe it as melatonin-esque. Um, I liked it more than that. I think so too. It was like this third film I saw here. And so I think I was very eager to have a kind of quality auteur effort. I think that's what it is. I think this is a good movie. I think Sandra Buller is amazing in it, as she often is in most things. And I think it had actually a little bit more verve.

1:01:40Sean Fennessey:There's a party sequence that is a lot of fun. Yes. And a beautiful ending sequence. And an amazing opening sequence also. Very memorable one shot. But as I as I said to you, in the trilogy of black and white examinations of postwar trauma, which is, you know, Eda, Cold War and now Fatherland, it's third. But that doesn't mean that doesn't mean that it's bad. It just means that the other two are spectacular. And this is really good. And, you know, it's variations on a theme, which is cool. We should let filmmakers, you know, try things for the most part. And and it's much like the James Gray film, much like Paper Tiger.

1:02:29It is rewarding to be familiar enough with the notura and their interests and their frame of reference to be able to compare and contrast. The James Brown is also like that. So I'm I'm totally with it. But it you know, it's it's not either. That's all. And when you're making a film in the same visual style and in the same thematic like neighborhood, you know, you're you're going to you're going to think about it.

1:02:55Sean Fennessey:Yeah, you are going to think about it. OK, let's talk about two more good movies and then we'll talk about the bad and the what the fuck, because those are also fascinating. You want to talk about Nagi Notes before I go last? Yeah, this is this was another early in competition movie. Um, it's directed by Koji Fukada and based on a play and it is, it's another, a quiet movie about people discovering things and also with the way that the systems of the world perhaps inhibit them from discovering things that's set in a small Japanese town, Nagi, where a woman comes home to, yeah, she comes home or she comes to see like her ex-sister-in-law and to like take a break from Tokyo.

1:03:51And it's about these people's lives and their, you know, their artists and their lost loves. And also, and it's all set to the backdrop of like a local military base and the training that is going on, which is just kind of like in the background, setting the tone and setting the pace of the movie, really. But it's, you know, again, it's about like self-discovery and also it's about making art. One of the characters is a sculptor, so it has a lot of that cool. I love it when filmmakers really figure out how to communicate the actual, the making the physical making of the art and the, a lot of times spent on that.

1:04:39And it, it is like the Hamaguchi in that people over time, hopefully learn something about themselves, but there is no, it's not quite as didactic, which is nice. It's more observed. Um, but I thought, I thought it, I thought, you know, lovely can sound reductive, but it is like a slightly wistful, lovely film. That's great. I'm looking forward to seeing it. You know, you got to have a couple of those at a film festival.

1:05:09Sean Fennessey:You do. The last one is that I was able to pre-screen this movie, which is Kiyoshi Kurosawa's The Samurai and The Prisoner, which just screened last night and seems to be getting borderline rapturous reviews, which is very cool to see. Kurosawa has come up quite a bit on the show over the last two years, I would say. a veteran Japanese filmmaker, probably best known for Cure. Adam Naiman is a super fan and has very eloquently explained what makes him such a special director. He had Cloud. Last year, he had the short film Chime. He remade one of his own films, Serpent's Path, which was just released this year as well.

1:05:47Sean Fennessey:He's having a moment, Kurosawa. And this new movie is his first samurai film and it is a really interesting film it's basically if a what if a sort of samurai lord in 15th century japan was also sherlock holmes and has to solve a series of mysteries while bunkered down in a fortress during a time of a war between clans and And he takes a prisoner from the opposing side and that prisoner kind of becomes his Watson. And so Masahiro Motoki plays the Sherlock Holmes-esque samurai and Masaki Suda plays Kande, his Watson. And even though he's imprisoned in a basement, they kind of confer and they talk about the details of every mystery that keeps coming up.

1:06:47Sean Fennessey:Really interesting movie. Beautifully staged. incredible production design. It's missing just an inch of that insidious discomfort that I think comes in a lot of Kurosawa's best movies. It's not quite as funny as Cloud was to me, which I thought was just a hilarious movie about dumb criminals. But interesting to see a guy who's in his 60s, who's still kind of an icon of Japanese cinema at this point, taking on what is widely considered the most hallowed genre to the culture and making something new and different, something that I've not seen before. And last night at the premiere of the film, there was this cool moment where all of the Japanese filmmakers who are present here, including Hirokazu Koreeda and Hamaguchi and a handful of others, where they're basically just to doff their caps and cite the influence that Kurosawa has had on their careers.

1:07:45Sean Fennessey:So that's cool that that can happen. I kind of wish I had seen it there instead of alone in a screening room now. because it might have felt more like more of an ecstatic moment of arrival for that movie. But again, that movie is also out of competition, as are a bunch of these good films that we're talking about here. They're not really competing for the palm. And there's something kind of fascinating about... I don't know that I totally understand why this movie isn't in competition. I get the case for what Jane's movie and Jordan Firstman's movie are in certain regard. Jane's movie probably should be in competition, honestly.

1:08:18Sean Fennessey:Yeah. It's their third film. Their previous two films were huge critical sensations. They're becoming like a big deal in indie cinema. First, I get it. It's a debut. This movie, though, I'm like, this is a terrific genre mashup from a Japanese master. Why is this out of competition? Anyway, maybe there are reasons that we don't understand. But this is one of those things where there's still like, there's still unexplained, unexplored stuff even when you come here. Yeah. Well, I mean, maybe one of the reasons, And again, we don't have access to Thierry's Google Docs to understand. Oh, but if we did.

1:08:54Oh, yeah. You think Thierry's on Google Docs? Could be. Is that they had to make room for, you know, the great masters of world cinema, even if those films were not really up to par, which perhaps takes us to the bad, which includes Some of the greatest working filmmakers just not making their greatest films this year.

1:09:20Sean Fennessey:Yeah. The second movie that I saw at the festival is Parallel Tales, which because you and I 30 for you, right? It was. Yeah. Yeah. You had seen this movie before me because when I arrived, you and I did not immediately connect, even though they were staying in the same apartment. I didn't see you for like the first 24 hours. You said I would have just spared you and said, you don't need to go see this. But yeah, Zezkar Farhadi, Iranian filmmaker who is a Palme d 'Or winner, has made a great many terrific films over the last 25 years. A very skilled master making a French film with Isabelle Père and Bensat Cassell and Virginie Afeira and Catherine Deneuve shows up in this movie.

1:10:01Sean Fennessey:It is a collection of French luminaries, and it is a kind of soft adaptation of a handful of Christoph Kieslowski stories from the Decalogue and I think Red. It has some elements of Red in it. And it's a snooze, man. It's boring. It's DOA. Yeah, it's just not very compelling. The performances are a little dull. it has a core idea in it that is actually somewhat similar to the idea in the pedro almodovar movie that we will talk about around yeah creation and sort of like an author's vision and where those ideas come from that and in some ways there they'd be a neat pairing but what almodovar does is like so much more interesting and entertaining and ultimately resonant um yeah you know that's we'll talk about that movie in a second but this movie is just like it's just it's two and a half hours and dull and and casts isabel hupere as a the old crone who doesn't get to leave her you know it's like isabel hupere's rear window except if you know jimmy stewart had no juice and and then there's and there's no like grayscale hate popping at henry yeah you can't do that and then vincent casales is cast he plays a double role but another man with no juice and you're just kind of like, yes, hello.

1:11:24These are your French stars who have major juice. What are we doing here? And that's kind of the minute that, you know, and you keep waiting, like, oh, are you going to let Isabelle Cuppé outside? Is she going to get to do anything? And, you know, she does not. And the movie doesn't know what to do with her or misuses her and misuses everyone else. I don't, I don't understand. And that was a real, like, why am I watching this movie? I did feel the first few days I watched a lot of like just okay wise of there is absolutely it's not even that I don't understand the personal connection it's just did anyone was anyone here what was interesting about this to any person and I well the premise sure but no I mean it raises um a useful discussion also

1:12:09Sean Fennessey:around the next film uh which uh you didn't get a chance to see but I saw which is Sheep in the box, which is Corieta's new movie. Now, Farhadi and Corieta are both palm winners. And so if they have a new film and they're directors with proven track records, it's probably hard to say to them, no, you're not going to be in competition this year. And so both of these movies are in competition. Corieta's film on paper sounds very familiar terrain for him as well. It's about a couple who are experiencing tremendous grief after losing a child. And so in order to counteract decrees pursue a sort of like robot AI replacement for their son, who is looks, sounds and mostly acts like their son.

1:12:56Sean Fennessey:And, you know, we've seen stories like this before. We've seen Spielberg's AI. And it felt like Coriata just did not know what to do with this idea. And the movie is kind of wandering and at times it feels like it is kind of in defense of this particular conceit and it wants to try to have empathy for the parents but I found the characterization of both of those figures the mother and the father was like too vague to really get emotionally connected to um you know obviously the movie didn't look that great and and I found that surprising it had a kind of like haloed glow on it that and Cory Yates films usually feel like so kind of grungy and in the real world, you know, like he won for shoplifters, which is one of the more beautiful evocations of family and like what you're forced to do when you're in a family.

1:13:46Sean Fennessey:And this was just a huge mess. Everybody in the room, you could tell similarly, it just died. Like it just. This one, you said I didn't get a chance to see it. And by that, you mean you told me like you really do not have to go see it, go see something else. And, and there was, I met no defenders. So I did actually just skip the creative movie at Cannes in competition, which felt a little heretical, but I, you know, there's no one saying this was a good idea. Yeah, it happens, you know, like in any filmmaker's career, like you just, you do one and it doesn't work. And the Farhadi didn't work. The creative didn't work.

1:14:24Sean Fennessey:And honestly, John Lennon, the last interview, I don't, I don't think worked, but for a very specific reason and so we should talk about it this is steven soderbergh's new documentary as much as this is a james gray podcast this is a steven soderbergh podcast we love the beatles podcast and a beatles podcast um until the four movies in which case it's over that is that's and it's not a podcast anymore um so the last interview is a chronicle of the last interview that john lennon gave to um three san francisco radio hosts in was it is it 1980 when he passed um yes and in the year that he passed uh on the on the day on this yes well i didn't want to spoil that i don't know that was actually a revelation to me that he did that but anyway it doesn't it doesn't matter um it's a it's a known fact of the world uh but upon the release of double fantasy his album with yoko oh no no they both sat for this extended interview with these radio hosts And so the movie is a kind of chronicle of how they got the interview, how the host pursued it.

1:15:25Sean Fennessey:And there is interviews with all three hosts. And then much of the film is the audio of the conversation between Yoko Lennon and these hosts. And it uses a lot of your kind of standard archival music documentary and a lot of photographs, photographs, a lot of, you know, speaking over images that we would recall from the period of Lennon and Ono's lives. And it's an amazing interview. And both Lennon and Ono speak insightfully. I think they have a ton of prescience about where culture is going. It's interesting to watch them talk about their past, their love lives, their, you know, his notions of fatherhood, I found to be super interesting.

1:16:11Sean Fennessey:I don't know that I had ever read this interview or heard it before. And so in that way, even though there's just frankly too many John Lennon documentaries, the text I thought was interesting. Yeah. But, and we knew this going into the festival, Soderbergh makes this choice to solve a problem that I have thought about and that I have worked with filmmakers on and making music documentaries, which is what do you do when you don't have enough archival footage to help tell the entirety of a music story. Because music, of course, is an audio art form. And Soderbergh chose to use AI to animate some of the themes and literal ideas that Lennon is talking about.

1:16:56Sean Fennessey:And it's just a fiasco. Like, it's just a disaster. And it's literally, it looks like Grok AI images of like, you know, very, very obviously not very elegant constructions of these ideas. And it's distracting and weird and feels way out of place and kind of torpedoed the movie for me. A thousand percent. Listen, Steven Soderbergh is my guy and he likes to try things and, you know, it's everyone can try things once. So if this is the experiment and then it's done, we tried it. It didn't work. We move on. then I'm okay. But this categorically does not work. And it's not just an ethical AI, you know, don't use AI, you know, replacing like actual filmmakers and humans, all of which I believe, by the way, but it's actually in the execution.

1:17:52All of the AI descriptions look like what your mom or grandma would produce when typing into like Sora or whatever. I don't even know what exists anymore because I've never done it, but they are so literal and it looks so bad. It's a useful case for, Hey, actually AI is not a helpful tool in filmmaking because there's, there are many bad sequences, but there's one with some, some cavemen. Um, and also some like imagined Napoleon battlefield shots where you're just like, what? How did this get past you, Steven Soderbergh? I mean, I guess I guess you were just like committed at this point. And we're all the

1:18:39Sean Fennessey:all the other components are just so normal and well handled. So it really sticks out. And I agree that it is clearly like an experiment. And let's see what this can manifest. And frankly, maybe made by a movie who doesn't spend all this time online. and if you are online and you see these images, they represent something different. They represent, there's kind of a cheapening of art. And if you're not living in that world, and frankly, if you're not living in that world, congratulations, that sounds amazing. But I am on the line. It still looks cheap. If he's not online, he's got a screensaver and he's seen what those look like.

1:19:15And this is worse. So I just, very, very confusing. I guess we've all learned together that this is not an option. And maybe that's good. So now we know the technology is not ready. This doesn't work. It's not a good idea. We'll all move on.

1:19:33Sean Fennessey:Briefly... And that's going to happen? No. No, I think I was going to take over. And we're going to get out of jobs. And then soon, there'll be Skynet and we'll all be dead. That's what I think is going to happen. Great. Briefly, speaking of our imminent demise, I saw a colony, which I was pretty excited about and disappointed me. It's Yeon Sang-ho's new movie who directed Train to Busan, which is one of the best zombie movies of all time about a train full of zombies. And he is a like George Romero, which turns over and over again to zombie storytelling. This new one has a really cool idea, really cool idea, which is that the zombies in this film, which there's an outbreak after a scientist develops a kind of concoction that infects people and makes them create zombies but they operate as like a hive mind and they use he uses the technology after studying in colonies and so they operate like ants and so the actual zombie core ideas are very cool in this movie but the movie features no real characters of interest and totally fine performances and lead in storytelling and it has like one or two cool action set pieces but it was a big disappointment because i like uh, you know, in Sang Ho's movies quite a bit.

1:20:48Sean Fennessey:Um, it did remind me a little bit of, um, another Asian action film that we will talk of South Korean action film that we will talk about momentarily. I don't know. Did you want to talk about butterfly jam at all? Sure. So this, um, open directors fortnight, which is another category here at can, and it's, um, directed by Kantamir Balagoff who, uh, was here at can with beanpole and it stars a lot of actors, There's, you know, Barry Keoghan, Harry Melling, Riley Keogh, and is it explores masculinity in like in New Jersey in a particular Circassian, I think, yeah, immigrant community. And so I thought that everyone was being a little mean about it because it got really panned really, really very early on in the festival.

1:21:43But it's quite uneven. There is an entire subplot about a teenage wrestler. And and the I didn't there's a lot going on that just doesn't make sense. It looks very nice. The the good actors aren't bad. but you know this is another one where this is a director who's been to can before who's gotten some acclaim and so the film's here but it's not a competition it's not even an uncertain regard you know so you kind of know going in i doubt anyone's super happy but it yeah it doesn't work

1:22:18Sean Fennessey:yeah i probably will end up seeing this but not not a very strong reception for that one um let's talk about the WTF a little bit and there are different ways to define the WTF films this year we'll first talk about hope which is not not Hong Jin's new film his first film in 10 years that is in competition and you and I attended the Sunday night black tie gala premiere of yes at 9 30 and the and the reason we did that is because there was there was chatter and there was discussion that this could be a palm contender. And so I said to you, if it is, we want to be there in the room for it. You know, we don't want to be next door 30 minutes later in the press conference.

1:23:07Sean Fennessey:You want to see the standing ovation. You want to see how it's received by the people. We haven't really talked about the ovations, but that is very much a thing. And we can talk about it. They're really fake. They're like faker than everything else. and usually just, you know, people clapping politely while looking at their phones, led on by the very hardworking movie teams who are trying to keep the ovation going for as long as possible. And listen, those people deserve our respect. They do a lot to make this happen. Yes, they are. But, you know, we knew that it was going to be like a high energy action creature movie because we saw a little bit of the footage at CinemaCon and it came after many days of, you know, the inner lives of Europeans.

1:23:53And it's just the stream of this festival and every festival. And we were like, we need, we like, we need something different. Like we need a vibe shift. You know, we just, we need some oomph and we want to see it on the biggest screen possible. And if it is going to be that exciting thing, we want to be there with people cheering or see if people cheer or see how it plays. And isn't it funny that they're going to do this for all of these fusty people in Texas. And I will say it was funny that they did this for all these fusty people in Texas.

1:24:25Sean Fennessey:And it was exactly what you just described. It was an incredible change of pace. And if I liked it, it's in part because of that. It was so different from anything else that we had experienced. It is hilarious that they put this in competition because it could not be further from a competition movie as we historically understand it. You know, Nott is a very respected filmmaker. The Wailing is a beloved horror movie from 2016. But he's not exactly classy. He makes really nasty, violent movies. And Hope is a massive Michael Bay-esque alien invasion thriller. And features, frankly, some of the most exhilarating action sequences that you'll see this year.

1:25:07Sean Fennessey:Or really probably this decade. But also features really bad monster CGI. And very little characterization of any human people. and it maybe aspires to a couple of social ideas about kind of closed off communities and how we don't understand each other but like it's not really working too hard to do yeah i mean apparently in all the directors in the director's statement there's like pans to that you know like one two communities that don't understand each other could be like have conflict here's what happens but like that's not what the movie is the movie is a big it's a it's a bug hunt movie you You know, it's a chase movie.

1:25:45What's the other community? The aliens?

1:25:47Sean Fennessey:The aliens. Yeah. OK. I mean, sure. They definitely don't understand each other. Because something critical happens to one of the families in the film. And that leads to a series of destructive moments. That is true. A couple of things about this movie. Number one, it starts with what, a 45 minute opening set piece hunt that is exhilarating and amazing to watch and so exciting and crucially pre CGI is before you see any of the bugs. So it builds both like on the dread and the fear, but it's also just chasing all around this town, like amazing choreography, really, really exciting. And that got like full applause when it was done, as if like someone were singing an aria in an opera.

1:26:41Like it was awesome.

1:26:43Sean Fennessey:Second thing is that there's a there's a moment where Ho Young from Squid Game shows up that is like the room burst into applause. It was just like rock and roll James Cameron action movie moment. And again, so that's why I'm glad that we made the decision to get dressed up and go see it with all the other people. The other thing that I knew about this movie going in and that has been built and they were there on the red carpet was that Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Taylor Russell are in this movie. how they're used in this movie is not something I knew going in. And I don't want to spoil anything other than to say that it wasn't what I expected.

1:27:27And the moment when I realized that that was what was happening, I was like, oh, OK, so this is the kind of movie that this is going to be. Also, you realize that about an hour and a half in, you kind of keep waiting to keep waiting. this is a long movie it is two hours and 40 minutes it is really really long i don't know

1:27:47Sean Fennessey:if it needs to be that long yeah there's so you know here's what i'll say one i had a really good time yeah i really enjoyed it um i think it is very flawed and that's okay most movies like this are i'm i'm i'm a michael bay fan i'm a fan of the the erector set filmmaking and there's some extraordinary production design in this movie in terms of creating the chaos the only thing that really feels like CGI all the time or the aliens, everything else feels deeply real. And it's kind of burned out like post-apocalyptic, presumably Korean setting, but actually, no, I was sort of being playful and saying like, is this movie even set on earth?

1:28:21Sean Fennessey:I didn't say it was. So, um, something kind of funny about that too. Okay. I mean, yeah, some, some incredible science corners for everyone once the, the, the movie is widely seen. Yes. I think it's coming out this summer. Um, and so we'll talk about it again, but you know, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, looks like it's unfinished effectively. The CGI is not, not clean and click. Yeah. There are moments where it's very bad. And then also, as you said, it's, it's just too long. And I'm a little reluctant to, to, to levy that criticism too often on the show. Cause I like long movies and I want filmmakers to be able to stretch out, but this is a rollicking action movie.

1:28:56Sean Fennessey:It's not a personal drama. And unlike say the Hamaguchi movie, like you don't get to the third hour of the film and feel like, Oh wow, this patient's really paid off. It's just a series of action sequences over and over and over again. So I actually think they would do really well to cut about 20 minutes out of the movie and it would really help the movie. Yeah. But I still had a great time. Fascinating to watch the stuffy euros in the room be utterly baffled by it. I mean, and that is a little bit of the genius of the Cannes Film Festival. To your point, it's really, really funny that this was in competition and got a gala premiere.

1:29:32And it's maybe coloring like the reception of from those stuffy people and from everyone saying, oh, this shouldn't be in competition, but also brings a lot of attention to the festival and the movie and its own way. It's very savvy. Like you got to make moments. And there are many different ways to make moments. And this was a really funny moment.

1:29:51Sean Fennessey:Yeah, I felt this immediately after the screen. I woke up the next morning. I was like, I'm so glad we came for this. Like that was just it was just really a lot of fun. uh also in wtf i the one of the highlights of the festival for me was getting a chance to see the devils which is ken russell's long simmering but difficult to watch masterpiece uh starring oliver reed and vanessa redgrave about a real life um french city uh le don in the i want to i don't want to get their century wrong i'll say 16th century but i think that's wrong um that goes absolutely apeshit and the movie which was released by warner brothers was considered an absolute scandal at the time features some um wildly aggressive and some considered uh anti-christian imagery um extremely violent and sexual and it's like one of the masterpieces of the 1970s i'd seen the movie before but i'd never seen this director's cut which um russell helped to oversee before he passed away.

1:30:55Sean Fennessey:The screening itself was amazing. It was one of the absolute toughest tickets at Cannes. I was very lucky to score a ticket thanks to a friend. And it's the first project from Clockwork, which is this new imprint that Warner Brothers has just launched. They're producing the new Sean Baker film. They also announced some other news that they're producing the next Park Chain Wilk film, which apparently they picked up here at market during Cannes. And they're also distributing through Warner Brothers this 1973 all-time classic that has just very rarely been seen. And even in the screening, I would say 90 % of the people who were there had never seen it before.

1:31:31Sean Fennessey:They raised their hands beforehand during an introduction with Mark Kermode, the incredible British critic who I got to spend a little bit of time with, which was also a real highlight for me because he's such an icon. And yeah, the movie was extraordinary. I'd only seen it on a shitty DVD and it just took my breath away and was hilarious in many ways. And the sequence that was missing from the original cut of the movie has been put back in at least one sequence that I could tell that was shocking and fun. And I hope people get a chance to watch it when it comes to movie theaters in October in the United States, which is a very cool thing that Clockwork is doing.

1:32:09Sean Fennessey:Okay. Let's talk about the unknown. Arthur Harari is the co-writer of Anatomy of a Fall and justine tree as life partner and he has made uh quite a hilarious new film about um transubstantiation a kafka-esque story of what happens when you fuck a stranger uh not when you yes in a club basement um not fuck a stranger in the ass as as announced in the big lebowski but literally have sexual intercourse with a person you don't know who is perhaps haunted by some sort of demon force um and allows that sexual act to then transpose your soul and brain into another person yeah well i guess it's not it's not very specific about what what is being transferred and right and that's the expiration is what is what is the self and what part of the self remains and what part of the self is trapped in laos in his body yeah um real head scratcher of a movie kind of pretty effective i thought i thought very unnerving and upsetting a real downbeat difficult european film you know shades of david lynch um shades of bunwell uh not a fun hang of a movie laissez-de-doo has 25 lines of dialogue over a two and a half hour film she's the star um she's always good but she uh is not given too much to play here uh i found myself enjoying kind of unpacking the idea, but also this is a movie that people are like, this is a one star disaster.

1:33:41Sean Fennessey:So, you know, your mileage may vary on the unknown. I thought it was silly. Good premise. Right. And you and I have had a lot of fun, you know, arguing the specifics of it and its repercussions and what it's even trying to say about the morals or ethics of having sex with a stranger in a club basement. But I, I'm not sure what I learned, you know, which is maybe that's a little on me for not fully emotionally investing. I will say it didn't really capture my you kind of almost warned me off it because you're like, it's not an Amanda movie and it's really grim and a tough hang. And I guess maybe I was just tired, but I didn't find it that difficult to watch.

1:34:25Like, again, I thought we were setting up for something really messed up. And instead, it was just kind of, you know what if what if you could fuck your way into someone else's body yeah it's unpleasant

1:34:37Sean Fennessey:for sure um okay let's let's ping through some some european excursions uh we briefly mentioned bitter christmas pedro almodovar's new film which is already open here in europe um but has not come to the united states yet and another movie that through like an hour and a half i was like wow what a fiasco and then in the last 15 minutes i was like delightful absolutely terrific and the terrific and i don't i kind of don't want to say anything else about it because it would almost ruin what i think i think was in part the design of the film which is all about inspiration and where almodovar takes his ideas from and the experiences he witnesses in real life and the way that that continues to become a part of his art um but just an absolutely hysterical final 15 minutes of this movie that I really enjoyed.

1:35:28Yeah. And, you know, also has once again, like a perfect apartment. And I'm wondering now whether I should cut my hair to the length of the main character. You know, it has it has all of the Almodovar style and and a lot of wit and knowingness as well, which I appreciated. But yeah, we won't spoil the ending. I was pro.

1:35:48Sean Fennessey:Yeah, I was. And, you know, back working in his native Spain after making an American feature and some shorts in the English language. And it's just very comfortable, clearly working with these actors, a bunch of actors that he's worked with before, Barbara Lenny. And so I would definitely recommend that one. Yeah, I didn't see The Beloved though, you did. I did. And I paired it here with Bitter Christmas for a couple of reasons. It is also a Spanish film directed by Rodrigo Sorgoyan and stars Javier Bardem. And I can best describe it as normie Spanish sentimental value. It is Javier Bardem plays a filmmaker who is making a film set on the Canary Islands, which is also where part of Bitter Christmas is filmed.

1:36:32We see the tourism Jeep in both. And he casts his daughter, his adult daughter, who he doesn't have much relationship with in this film that he is making. And so then it is about the exploration of their relationship and and making a film and art and what you can mean to each other as as parents or as directors. And she's she's an actress. I mean, it opens with a scene in a restaurant, just like the scene in Sentimental Value, when Stellan Skarsgård gives her Renata Runsby the script and is like, I want you to star in this. it's much longer. I found the cinematography very obnoxious, but there's one really great set piece, like a making of a movie set piece that your movie, if you're a movie nerd, you get really into it and it's funny.

1:37:28And then it becomes like very emotional. And it's like, I mean, it's not the silent film scene from Babylon, but it kind of, it encapsulates it all. And I was really excited about it by that scene and that performance. I always like Javier Bardem. Uh, so I was, I was not uncharmed by this, you know?

1:37:49Sean Fennessey:Okay. I'm going to check it out. I get it's normie sentimental value, but you know, I'm, I'm a normie, I guess. Um, okay. Tell us about a woman's life and gentle monster. Uh, yes. Speaking of the, uh, inner lives of Europeans and or women who cannot have it all. So A Woman's Life is directed by Charlene Bourgeois-Tecke, and it is about a woman of a certain age who is a surgeon and is she's working and she's living and she's trying to figure out how much she wants to work and how much she wants to live. and then she meets someone else and explores love. And then that also kind of recombobulates how much she wants to work and how much she wants to live.

1:38:43It was fine. It wasn't bad. There were a few things that made me chuckle, including at one moment when, you know, because she's a surgeon and so they're moving. There's a lot of administrative headache, which I thought was portrayed well. It can be annoying when people when you're managing stuff and people aren't doing whatever. But she just yells, the dentists are stealing our supplies. And I have thought about that a lot. Just out of context. It's funny.

1:39:09Sean Fennessey:You're an anti-dentist, as always. Well, sure. But the dentists come in and they're stealing her supplies. It's not nice. I met a lovely listener here who said that the movie is divided into chapters. And one of the subtitles was essentially having it all. and this lovely listener was like, I thought of you, Amanda, as soon as it said having it all. So I guess that is my influence. But, you know, this to me is representative of the canon, really in any film festival trend of this is a festival set in France. And so we're going to have a certain number of movies starring French actors about French, about like the lives inner or outer of Europeans.

1:39:57And that's fine. You know, everybody's going to do what they're going to do. The other gentle monster is written and directed by Marie Kruitzer, who made Corsage, which we both really liked. And this one stars Lea Seydoux. And I thought that and it is it's about it's another movie about the lives of French people. In this case, Lea Seydoux plays a French mom who's husband is arrested within the first 15 minutes on charges of child pornography sales or, you know, whatever is going on in that world that I don't really want to know anything about. So it is really grim and tough because it's what is this mom going to do as her husband is accused of and goes through the system for these absolutely heinous charges.

1:40:57And it doesn't I mean, it obviously doesn't show anything, but it's like it is like grim. It uses it doesn't shy away from the subject matter. It makes you feel really bad. It also does the thing of that. If you're it's the opposite of Fjord, where it like really kind of makes things very clear to you. You don't wonder what's going on. Everyone but Lea Seydoux seems to have figured out what's going on. So you just feel real bad. There's a harebrained plot involving the investigator that is maybe trying to teach us something again about how, you know, women have to deal with men's imperfections and and are always at a disadvantage.

1:41:47But that doesn't work at all. And I thought it was kind of trashy, honestly. Like, I think it tries to get to some sort of revelation beyond the Hallmark movie of it all. but it doesn't. And once again, Lea Seydoux doesn't really get that much to do except to, oh, I guess she's kind of Bjork. She's like a Bjork as pop star artist. So that's cool. Again, there's a lot going on in this movie. None of it adds up to anything. Catherine Deneuve, bingo. Once again, she's the, she's the mom, a concert pianist of her own. It's like, it's messy. um it is it's provocative but doesn't deliver and and as also feel bad because it's about pedophilia so good luck to everyone but no i skipped this one yeah um there's a couple of

1:42:42Sean Fennessey:other movies that we haven't seen yet uh or haven't seen at all we both missed mulan which is lasz and nemesis new film um we missed garance which is a new adele x-ar chapolis movie which I'm actually kind of interested in and I read some reviews of it that I that sounded intriguing to me so I'm still here for a couple more days so I'll be seeing Lucas Don't's Coward um film La Bola Negra which is a Spanish movie that is has is generating some buzz that premieres tomorrow and The Man I Love which is Iris Sachs's new film and one of the only other uh American films here at the festival we did see Avedon which I thought was a very good uh portrait of Richard Avedon the famed fashion photographer.

1:43:22Sean Fennessey:And Ron Howard directed it. And he was here at camp and presented the movie at our screening and pretty like standard, but comprehensive. And this is now the third consecutive documentary that Howard has made after Pavarotti and Jim Henson, idea man where I'm like, I'm glad I watched that learned a lot. Pretty went down easy, thoughtful, really good interviews. He kind of got everyone that you would want to hear from. I would say, maybe with the exception of Adam Wintour. Um, and yeah, I thought it was effective. Yeah. Also, you know, that's one where you have enough archival to work with. I mean, there's, I mean, there are a lot of interviews.

1:44:01Sean Fennessey:Yeah. Yes, exactly. Which is, is really helpful, but you could just, you can do look at the photographs for a long time. Um, and there are no AI cavemen. So thumbs up. That was a relief. Okay. Let's do some brief predictions here. Okay. Um, gut check based on everything you've seen and heard. What do you think is winning the palm door? I'm going to zag because I think the jury might zag and I think it's going to be the Hamaguchi. Okay. That's interesting. Hamaguchi did not win for Drive My Car in 2021. And that was considered a bit of a snub at the time. And the film went on to have this incredible run where it got nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Award.

1:44:39Sean Fennessey:It's still one of the wildest Best Picture noms in the history of the Oscars. Park Shin-wook is the jury president. And so I am certainly wondering if we're all playing the game wrong somehow. One of the reasons why people thought Hope had a chance to potentially win the Palm before anyone saw it is because, you know, Na is also a South Korean filmmaker. It's a genre movie. I think I'm going to I am going to pivot my prediction to Minotaur now because of. OK, you think that's where the. just the murder plot quality of it you know that comes from that story that you know it's a movie that has like some stuff in common with decision to leave and so i don't know how you know aggressive park is going to be it to me it really does feel like it's between fjord and and this movie maybe maybe something like the bolinegra like breaks through near the end of the festival too that's all there's that's also a possibility but i i like that you're predicting all of a sudden and i'll i'll go officially with Minotaur.

1:45:42Sean Fennessey:Um, but frankly, I'm rooting, I'm rooting for Fjord. Um, why are you, this is like F1 and best picture all over again. Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this? Well, cause I just can't help but overthink these things, you know? Okay. Uh, so then the Grand Prix, what do you think is going to win the second place prize? Uh, let's see. Oh, I'll go with Fjord. Okay. All of a sudden. And Fjord, Sentimental Value won the Grand Prix last year, right? It did. So different movies. I guess I'm just being, you know, too Scandinavian here, but they could occupy a similar spot for me. Okay, Jerry Price.

1:46:30And that's just for the one. You could see that going to Hope. Right. Have a little fun.

1:46:35Sean Fennessey:Oh, that would be fun. That would be fun. OK, I'll get on board with you on that. You don't have to. Throw something else. Best best. No, no, I think that's. I don't know. I don't know. I don't even know what else could possibly be contending. That's the thing is when you've got this situation where you've got Club Kid and you've got teenage sex at the camp. I as well like those movies are not up for these prizes. You know, Sam around the prisoner is not up for those prizes. um i think i'll stick with hope on the jury prize that would just be really funny if that happens best director paul lichowski yeah could see it right yeah it's it's currently i checked this morning and it's still leading the fatherland is still leading the can critics poll which is very unscientific for a number of reasons it is but it is indicative typically of prize winners and And he's very admired as a filmmaker.

1:47:34So that feels like where it's going.

1:47:38Sean Fennessey:Okay, actor and actress. Thoughts? You throw some out. Here's my gut right now. It'll be driver and actor for Paper Tiger. Oh, interesting. Great. And maybe let us say do for the unknown as an acknowledgement of her contributions here. Yes. You know, that feels like something that could happen. Yeah, I can see. Sandra Huller is also possible for Fatherland. I can see that as well. Sure. But I know I think director and then, you know, this festival is proud of its French actors and actresses. And I know that the jury is separate. there are a lot of Americans on the jury. Have you been following the jury fashion competition at all?

1:48:27Sean Fennessey:I haven't. They're, they're really using this to debut their looks. They're spending a lot of time and money, the women at least. Okay. That's good. I like it. I, you know, Lea said he didn't put in the work, even if it didn't deliver. She's, she's doing her best. Has she ever won? I know she's the best up and coming actress. I don't know if she's ever won best actress at Cannes. I don't think so. Something to keep in mind. I could be wrong about that. Okay. Last prize is best screenplay. I mean, I'd really like for it to be James Gray for Paper Tiger. It's a wish casting thing. Definitely could happen.

1:49:12Sean Fennessey:Definitely could happen. Best scene I think he should get. There's a scene at the end of the movie that is unreal. that is it is i i don't want to spoil it but it's amazing um who's winning on certain regard teenage sex and death or club kid club kid you think i'm wrong i i don't know i don't know club kids very american sure and it's not been an american festival but we were remarking after paper tiger and this was the this was the first week the end of the first week was paper tiger but the three titles that people were most excited about were Ken Miasma, Club Kid, and Paper Tiger, the American films in a very un-American film festival.

1:49:58So, you know, things have loosened up a bit, but it's a different jury for Uncertain Regard. And it's, you know, Miasma is definitely more mainstream than any of the other films, but there's just kind of something irresistible. Club Kid, you just settle right in. And it's irresistible.

1:50:27Sean Fennessey:Any thoughts on The Camera Door, the best first film prize? See, to me, like you could go Cam Miasma for concern regarding The Camera Door. Could you go to Firstman? That feels like a way to kind of split the baby. Do the juries collaborate in that way? Is there like backroom dealing? because it can go from any okay i'm i'm but a but a a naive first timer here at camp so i haven't i haven't dug into the rules um what do you think you think it's gonna you think it's gonna split yeah i mean maybe it'll be something completely different you know it could be a movie that we're not it could be level and egra it could be something completely different you know like i we didn't mention like rami malik people seem to think has a chance for best actor here.

1:51:15Sean Fennessey:We haven't, I haven't seen that Iris X film yet, but he's in, he's the star of the man I love. So there's still some, some things to be played out by, I think by at this time, two years ago, and Nora had not yet premiered at the festival. So it's like, we feel like we're recording late, but there's still a lot of festival to go. So it's a little, it's impossible to be accurate with these predictions. Also, who knows? It's all based on the jury. It's not, it's not a point scoring system. It's what is, how do Demi Moore and Park Chan-wook speak to each other on this jury. I genuinely don't know.

1:51:46Sean Fennessey:I hope, but I hope I would like to know. Yeah. Yes, I would too. Oscar implications. We should at least briefly mention this because coming out of last year, I think, I mean, north of 10 films that premiered or north of 10 nominations from films that premiered at the Kenton Film Festival hit last year, including the bulk of the international feature slate, two movies and best picture, multiple acting categories, multiple screenplay nominations. You know, that included, it was just an accident, Sentimental Value, The Secret Agent, Surat. There were a number of movies here last year that really made their way into the awards season.

1:52:23Sean Fennessey:I'm kind of interested to see if that's the case this year. There is a part of me that thinks that like maybe not a lot of these movies make it in and maybe only one or two based on what I've seen so far. What do you think? Well, they've revamped International a bit this year. Not as much as we would like, but that there can be multiple submissions from a single country. If they win a prize at a festival. If they win a prize. Oh, right. So who did we predict in this? We predicted Fjord or Minotaur. Yeah. I don't know. If Hamaguchi wins a prize here, Japan could, or I don't know, maybe France. Maybe it's all of a sudden it's considered a French film.

1:53:09Sean Fennessey:And so France could have two submissions based on this film. Right, right, right. But it is also that this is a year where, aside from the French films, we're seeing like, you know, one from each country. So it's like it's maybe moot, at least in the Cannes lineup. I don't know. I think, you know, Fjord for sure, because it has those recognizable Hollywood or Hollywood crossover stars. you've I am so mad about Minotaur but it does seem like it will it will break through and it has enough in you know common with movies that people are familiar with to be like oh sure I'll check out this version it's been a while since there's been like a big Russian breakthrough that's that hasn't been super strong in recent years yeah I mean it it does feel like all of the all of the auteurs who made like decent to good movies.

1:54:06So Pawlikowski for fatherland and James Gray for paper tiger. And, you know, Hamaguchi for all of a sudden we'll be in the conversation because they have name recognition from previous films. And it's almost like it's the, the ghosts of can pass doing the work in order to let these through. I don't, I can't tell what any surprises would be yet, but again, there's more can to go and there are more movies to go.

1:54:33Sean Fennessey:Yeah. And you got to go. You got to go to your train. Yeah. You got to come with me, actually. Yeah. We're going to carry some bags. You're going to Paris. I'm going to see more movies. You happy that we made this happen? I really am. Thank you. Thank you for doing this with me. I'll say that off mic too, but I'm very grateful. And it was really fun. And I want to come back. Also, thanks to everyone we met who listens and who said hello. It's really, really nice. You guys are all very cool and international. And I'm not sure why you need to hear from two people podcasting from their apartment.

1:55:10But we appreciate it. It was wonderful to meet everybody.

1:55:13Sean Fennessey:It was so sweet how everyone was like, this is your first can. They were like, they were excited for us. They seem to know that. I know it was really nice. That was it's been very special to just wait in line and hang out and talk to people. And that's one thing I do love about going to film festivals is just kind of making new friends every day and connecting with people and just talking movies all day. It's a really, really lucky thing for us. And, you know, as always, me and you, we always travel well together. We had a lot of fun. Yeah, that's good. It was great. So see you next year. Yeah.

1:55:42We'll see.

1:55:42Sean Fennessey:We'll see, mom. I want to say thank you to Jack Sanders, our producer, and Lucas Cavanaugh and Sarah Reddy for being up at ungodly hours to record this episode because we are in Europe. Thank you to all three of them for helping us arrange this. if this episode doesn't look that good, I'm sorry, this is the best that we could do. That's really all I have to say about it. We will be back next week. You will return from Europe, as will I, and we will go see The Mandalorian and Grogu. With our children? And we'll take our kids. But not together? And, you know, early word, not strong, I'll say. But, you know, you never know.

1:56:19Sean Fennessey:Star Wars could be back, could not be back. We'll talk about it all next week on The Big Picture. Thank you for spending this time with us at Cannes. We'll see you very soon.

1:56:49Sean Fennessey:Turn it up. Storm has zero sugar and 200 milligrams of caffeine. So you can turn that workout up a notch. Good energy in, good energy out. Energy for life.