The awards for the 77th Cannes Film Festival were just handed out and as always I have some thoughts. Overall I think Greta Gerwig’s jury acquitted themselves very well. Most of my predicted/favored winners are in there somewhere. With perhaps one exception I’d say this jury has TASTE. Let’s get into it.
Best Screenplay
The Substance
I’m not mad at this. Coralie Fargeat’s body-horror satire is among the very best films of the festival because practically everything about it slays. In my mind the direction is ultimately what made the material fly but what material it has to work with! Funny, frightening, fiercely original, the screenplay is not afraid to take things to the extreme and it’s a thrill to see all that insanity realized on screen. Some people have reservations about the film’s treatment of women but I think – speaking strictly as an ignorant man – underneath its grotesqueness the story comes from a place of deep care. It has something vital to say. There will be a lot of discourse surrounding this film but I can’t wait for more people to see it.
Best Actor
Jesse Plemons (Kinds of Kindness)
A very solid choice. Plemons doesn’t have much to do in the third part of Yorgos Lanthimos’ horror triptych, but he absolutely carries the first two. In the second part alone, his character goes through such a transformation it’s quite shocking to witness. The jury probably dodged some unwanted Trump questions by staying clear of The Apprentice, in any event you can’t fault them for this pick.
Congratulations also to Lanthimos. Since his international breakthrough Dogtooth (2009), all of his feature films have premiered either in Cannes or Venice, and none of them went home without a prize. The stunning track record continues.
Best Actress
Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofia Gascon, Selena Gomez (Emilia Perez)
See, the thing about Emilia Perez is, I really liked it, I just don’t know if it should be competing in Cannes? I’ve been talking about this divide between mainstream and arthouse films in this year’s lineup. By mainstream I was mostly thinking of this musical about a Mexican crime boss who fulfills his dream of becoming a woman. It’s one of the most popular films at the festival, and it’s not hard to understand why. The insane plot is easy to follow, the sing-and-dance numbers are spectacularly staged (shout-out to that performance in the Thai sex change clinic), and the actresses are terrific, BUT at the end of the day I’m not feeling the depth that I expect from a Cannes comp film. Maybe that’s just my blind spot, though. Happy for the actresses, especially Saldana who showed some truly impressive moves.
Best Director
Miguel Gomes (Grand Tour)
Oh shush, Greta, no need to tell me you want to be BFF this way. Turns out I thought too little of this jury to assume they wouldn’t get Gomes’ dreamy masterpiece. What an amazing choice (mostly because it matches mine). There are many stunning directorial achievements at this year’s festival, but what Gomes did is something truly special. The film will never have the reach of The Substance or Emilia Perez, but I recommend anyone interested in the mystery of cinema to seek it out. I was floored.
Special Prize
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Alright, so the jury didn’t go along with the narrative but made sure to give Mohammad Rasoulof a special prize. Fair enough. The film is certainly deserving of the recognition. Through an expertly crafted thriller, it brings across an urgent political message loud and clear. That’s the power of cinema. During the screening I attended, there were at least three spontaneous bursts of applause from the audience throughout the film. People really responded to it.
Prix du Jury
Emilia Perez
Yeah… this is the one film from the entire list that doesn’t feel quite right to me, and it won two prizes. I guess the film did find a fresh angle to address the transgender issue, I just wish the plot didn’t go all melodrama/shoot-out kiss-kiss bang-bang in the third act. Now twice endorsed by Cannes, I’d expect this to show up in the international feature Oscar race.
Grand Prix
All We Imagine as Light
This is not only my predicted winner but also my personal pick, which made me doubly happy. Winning the Grand Prix at Cannes can change the career of any filmmaker and I’m so glad it’s Payal Kapadia’s that they’ve decided to boost. What an incredibly tender, genuinely lovely film she’s made. It’s the type of film where you can tell with certainty that its maker is a kind, empathetic soul. Someone who sees people and cares about what goes on in their lives. Can’t wait to see what she does next.
Palme d’Or
Anora
Remember when I qualified my prediction for Anora winning best screenplay by saying “Unless this jury is completely humorless…”? Turns out this jury is game. Wow, I thought Sean Baker’s raunch-com is going to win something but I did not expect it to be the Big One. Francis Coppola is shaking.
I mentioned Coppola’s having won two Palme d’Or’s before Gerwig’s birth, but maybe that’s just it. Times have changed and films like Triangles of Sadness and Titane are considered worthy of cinema’s highest accolade just like The Conversation and Apocalypse Now. So why not a comedy about the short-lived romance between two kids (a stripper and a Russian oligarch heir)? Unlike Emilia Perez, I think Anora has both the potential to do well commercially and depth. In terms of the characters and situations it depicts, this is not what you’d normally consider “elevated” cinema (somebody needs to count the f-bombs in this one for research purposes), but just like All We Imagine as Light, you can tell it came from someone who is interested in human beings and sees them in all their vulgarity and vulnerability. It’s wildly funny and it feels so real.
After The Tree of Life in 2011, an American filmmaker has finally won the prestigios Palme d’Or again and I’m glad it’s Sean Baker. It’s also worth mentiong that Neon, the distributor who has backed every Palme d’Or winner in the US since 2019 (Parasite, Titane, Triangle of Sadness, Anatomy of a Fall) will once again be handling the release of Anora.
That’s it for #Cannes77, where I saw 41 films and slept maybe 7 hours. It’s been as draining, stressful and exhilarating as always. I hope you got to experience some of it through my hopefully readable writing. Signing off!