3 Days in Cannes: Day 3

Even though we stayed out long past midnight, we were up early once more with our final day in Cannes. The final day of our accreditation program coincided with the final day of the festival, which meant the primary venue was screening the "best of fest" films. This gave me the opportunity to see the film that won Best Actor, (Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory) Best Actress (Emily Beecham, Little Joe) and the ultimate winner of the prestigious Palme d'Or. (Bong Joon-ho, Parasite) Quite an action-packed day that started bright and early at 8 AM!

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Pain and Glory​

Pain and Glory (2019): A film director reflects on the choices he's made in life as past and present come crashing down around him.

Pain & Glory is the latest film from famous Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, and the fame shows. The film stars established Hollywood actors Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz. Banderas plays the famous Spanish director, Salvador Mallo, in his physical decline and simply follows him around a few weeks of his life, with the occasional flashback to his younger years. The film is excellent, but, whether it be because I saw it at 8 am on the last day in an utterly exhausted state or because the events that unfold aren't overly compelling, the film has failed to resonate with me after the end credits. I do want to give this film another chance: Almodóvar is a very famous director in Spain and excels at crafting intimate and charming character dramas. But here he seems to be appealing directly to the audience that would go to Cannes. The film shamelessly appeals to upper echelon movie insiders, with a lead who's yearning for his days as a director and plenty of film acting / directing references littered about. I personally enjoyed it, but at points it felt overly pretentious and may turn off ordinary (aka those not attending Cannes or another prestigious film festival) viewing audiences. That said, it's still a well-made film with a demanding performance from Antonio Banderas, and well worth Best Actor at the festival. It's no Marcello Fonte, (Dogman) but the recognition of an actor like Banderas portraying a famous figure in the film community certainly helps his case. Oh, and editing and use of flashbacks are excellent. As is Penélope Cruz. It's wonderful, just….. slightly pretentious.

My Number: 7.5/10

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​Parasite

Parasite (2019): All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

The latest from Joon Ho Bong (who’s previous works include Okja, The Host, Mother, and Snowpiercer, to name a few) won the Palme d’Or at this year’s festival, and after watching the film I can see why. This film has crowd-pleaser written all over it and is the tale of two halves: the movie starts as a raucous when a family ripped straight from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia integrates themselves, one by one, with an upper class Korean family. This sequence is complete with some wonderfully comedic bits, intentionally overdramatic montages, and an intentionally hilarious overserious tone. We were rolling on the floor laughing in the first half, but before you know it…. Bong Joon-ho has you by the neck and when the film gets real….. It turns the tension up to 11. The turn here is sudden and abrasive - in our room you could hear the audible gasps at this very specific and heart-stopping moment. From that moment on, this film turns into a gripping drama with a powerful message about the rigid class structures found throughout the world and what we’ll do to try and preserve our families through the insanity of it all. The second half is every bit as effective as the first, complete with a climax that will actually take your breath away. I cannot recommend this film enough: even for those intimidated by having to read subtitles, it’s worth a watch simply because of how sheerly entertaining the overall film is. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be on the edge of your seat, you'll be glued to the screen from start to finish. What more could you want in a film? This and Portrait of a Lady on Fire have stuck with me more than any other film out of Cannes 2019, and I suspect they will continue to resonate long into awards season. Remember this one, for it will assuredly be a heavy hitter for Best Foreign Film of 2019.

My Number: 10/10

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The queue for Parasite was absolutely insane. And this was before it officially won the Palme d'Or.

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Little Joe

Little Joe (2019): Alice, a single mother, is a dedicated senior plant breeder at a corporation engaged in developing new species. Against company policy, she takes one home as a gift for her teenage son, Joe.

Feel like watching a film about plants coming to kill us all? Then do I have the movie for you! The last film I saw at Cannes 2019 could not have been a more fitting one: a ridiculous but lovable British film starring Ben Whishaw and Emily Beecham. (Who won Best Actress at Cannes) Its premise is exactly why I was at the festival: a film like this may never see the light of day in Cincinnati - after all, who wants to watch a film about plants that infect your mind when you smell them - but the ride here is about as zany as you would respect. These plants (the Little Joe's, and yes I could not shake the, "You can trust a working Joe" out of my head…. Thanks, Alien.) turn you into a hilariously cheesy 1950s infomercial when you smell them, and make you even willing to kill for them because what else would you expect a plant to do? That said, the film is rooted in a good performance from its lead and some utterly hilarious dialogue between her and the people infected. (Though, I'm not entirely sure if this hilarity was intentional or not.) I think this film, like Wounds, is destined for cult status, despite not having the same unbelievable star power behind it. (Seriously, Armie Hammer / Dakota Johnson / Zazie Baetz. Why.) But this is a fun group watch, perfect for a night in with friends and checking out the most ridiculous thing you can find on Netflix. It does have something of a meaning behind it, however this meaning is largely lost at the hands of the fact that it is, you know, about plants. Trying to infect people's minds. Also, the score was COMPLETELY out of place. There's like this weird Oriental score that compliments the film, yet the film doesn't feel at all Asian outside of this so it just feels misused. Yay, cultural appropriation! It's worth a group watch on a Netflix + drinks kind of night, but that's it. You will be pretty miserable if you watch this by yourself. Fair warning. 

My Number: 4/10

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And with that, our journey through the wonderful world of Cannes came to a depressing end. For 3 delirious days, we were at the pinnacle of the movie world: not watching the cultural conversation through the lens of social media, but actually at epicenter of it all. It was nothing short of incredible, and something which I look forward to repeating next year in my final year of eligibility for this program. Till next year, Cannes!

The intro that greeted us before every film during the festival. It's kind of cheesy, but it's undeniably iconic.