With the Cannes Film Festival having wrapped up on May 25, audiences globally had been waiting for the movies that made the biggest impact on the judges and audiences at the revered premiere gala. From 19-minute standing ovations to the Palme d’Or, here was what to look out for.
Winning the Palme d’Or that year, Jafar Panahi brought the beauty of Iranian filmmaking to large-scale audiences with his film, “It Was Just An Accident.” In the film, a man named Eghbal’s car broke down after an accident, leading him to a mysterious garage. The owner of the garage, Vahid, tormented by his past of torture in prison, kidnapped Eghbal, thinking he was the officer who had ruined his life. Along the way, a group of people with their own painful histories joined them, all dealing with the desire for justice and revenge. As they traveled together, they grappled with confrontational questions about truth, identity, and morality.
Receiving the Grand Prix that year, the Norwegian director Joachim Trier proved his dominance as a filmmaker with this being his fourth movie to premiere at Cannes. His past film, “The Worst Person in the World,” had won the Best Actress award at the festival, and that year “Sentimental Value” received a 19-minute standing ovation, the third longest in the festival’s history, along with the Grand Prix. The movie narrated estranged sisters Nora’s and Agnes’s confrontation with their formerly distant father, Gustav, a once-famous director who had abandoned his family after their mother’s death. As the sisters’ differing personalities attempt to mesh together, Gustav, convinced that the retelling of his own mother’s unfortunate death would be his reintroduction to fame, reflected on his mother’s past traumas living in Nazi-occupied Norway. Through this movie, Gustav battled with the opportunity to revive his career while also attempting to mend his relationships with his daughters.
Inspired by the 1963 Akira Kurosawa classic “High and Low,” the neo-noir crime thriller, “Highest 2 Lowest,” had a star-studded cast of Denzel Washington, ASAP Rocky, and Jeffrey Wright. Oscar-winning director Spike Lee told the story of a faltering music mogul who was targeted with a ransom plot. The movie followed Denzel Washington’s character as he was caught up in a life-or-death moral dilemma. Shot in all parts of New York, “Highest 2 Lowest” brought the action and suspense audiences had been craving.
Earning a 13-minute standing ovation, this Brazilian political thriller film written and directed by Filho was the most awarded film that year at Cannes. Winning Best Actor, Best Director, and the International Critics Prize, “The Secret Agent” by Kleber Mendonça Filho made an impact on audiences globally. The movie followed Marcelo, a teacher and technology expert involved in the political turmoil in Brazil during the final years of the military dictatorship in 1977. As Marcelo was on the run, he found himself in Recife during Carnival, hoping to reunite with his son. He soon realized that the city was not safe enough for the non-violent refuge he needed.
With a star-studded cast of Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, LaKeith Stanfield and Sissy Spacek, “Die, My Love” by Lynne Ramsay told the story of Grace, who battled with mental health issues involving psychosis along with a deteriorating marriage as a young mother in rural America. The movie followed her loneliness and isolation that came with the breakdown of her marriage and the hurdles of motherhood. Ramsay showcased the overlooked struggles many women faced in a brutal depiction of a woman driven to insanity. Additionally, the movie was an adaptation of the 2012 novel of the same name by Ariana Harwicz.
