The 2011 Cannes Film Festival wrapped Sunday after a roller-coaster 12 days of cinema at the Croisette. Terrence Malick debuted his much-anticipated Tree of Life—and was booed! Controversial director Lars von Trier was banned from Cannes proceedings after his ill-advised "jokes" about Hitler made international headlines. But more importantly, a healthy crop of new films was seen and reviewed for the first time.
The festival has proved to be a reliable launching pad for the next blockbuster (Apocalypse Now), hit filmmaker (Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh), and under-the-radar Oscar darling (it was at Cannes last year that surprise Best Actor nominee Javier Bardem won his first raves for his performance in Biutiful). So what films that premiered at Cannes this year will we likely be hearing more about throughout 2011? From French silent-film stars to Nazi-hunting rock stars, here's a look at 12 movies most likely to break out from this year's festival.
In Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life, Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain star as a couple with diametric parenting styles, with Sean Penn as their troubled adult son. In the typically ambitious Malick way, the film’s narrative is juxtaposed against sequences depicting the dawning of time, dinosaurs, the afterlife, and more.
To call the response to Tree of Life mixed would be an understatement. The first screening even elicited a chorus of boos from scattered audience members, followed by counter-applause. Reviewers ranged from calling the film a “transfixing odyssey” to “cosmic woo-woo.” Even with the conflicting reaction, Tree of Life captured Cannes’ prestigious Palme d’Or prize—the festival’s Best in Show. Already divisive, it will be interesting to see what kind of reception the film gets in its wide release this summer, and, looking further on, during Oscar season.
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton plays the mother of a teenage killer who, after her son’s murderous rampage at a high school, ponders what went wrong. Swinton’s performance has been called a tour de force, and many Cannes patrons feel she was slighted for the festival’s Best Actress prize (which went to Melancholia’s Kirsten Dunst). The unsettling film will have a hard time attracting audiences, but Swinton’s performance is tailor-made for awards season. Expect the buzz surrounding Swinton’s portrayal to carry the film through the festival circuit to the awards season this winter.
The Artist
A black-and-white silent film starring French actors unknown in America may be the unlikeliest hit to come out of Cannes. Harvey Weinstein quickly scooped up The Artist—about an aging movie star struggling to navigate the new world of films with sound—for distribution in the States. It was the crowd-pleaser of Cannes and likely gave Tree of Life a run for its money with the Palm d’Or. John Goodman and James Cromwell make small cameos, but The Artist is all about French actor Jean Dujardin, the classy, charming lead who could be the next male version of Marion Cotillard.
Drive
Drive is the rare action thriller to be considered a prestige film. Ryan Gosling plays an emotionally vacant stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver for criminals. The noir depicts his character’s attempt at human connection, a budding romance with Carey Mulligan. As The Hollywood Reporter writes, it’s the elusive film that appeals to both “discerning and popcorn audiences.” Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn won the Best Director prize at Cannes, indicating that Drive will play well to award-granting audiences as well.
Midnight in Paris
Woody Allen’s latest film opened the festival out of competition, and, depending on who you talk to, received the writer-director’s warmest reception in either years (since 2008's Vicky Cristina Barcelona) or decades (stretching back to 1986’s Hannah and Her Sisters). In the star-studded film, Owen Wilson plays an engaged writer who roams the streets of Paris at midnight, getting swept up in the city's artsy past. Paris opened in limited release last week, earning the 15th highest per-screen box office average of all time, proving that when Allen is top form, audiences are still willing to turn out for his films. EW’s Dave Karger thinks Oscar could be on the way too.
The Kid With a Bike
Like We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Kid With a Bike is an emotional character study about the effects of parenting on children. Tilda Swinton’s impassioned performance is the main talking point with Kevin; critics are arguing that Bike is the better film as a whole. An interpretation of the 1940s cinema classic The Bicycle Thief, the movie is about a rambunctious child searching for his father. The complexities and nuances of the story are better left to longer reviews. The film doesn’t have as high of a profile as Kevin, but reviews, critics, and Sundance Selects, which bought distribution rights to the film, hope to change that.
Melancholia
Director Lars von Trier made headlines for his comments about Hitler and Nazis at the press conference promoting Melancholia at Cannes, overshadowing the actual critical response to the film. Kirsten Dunst plays a contemplative bride whose catastrophic wedding is set against actual catastrophe: The planet Melancholia is on target to collide with Earth, spelling Doomsday. It’s a heady film that got mixed response from critics. Some argued Melancholia deserved the Palme d’Or, while others called it clunky and tiresome. Dunst managed to overcome the negative press surrounding von Trier’s comments to win the Best Actress prize, signaling that the divisive film could have legs on it this coming awards season.
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is the kind of film that thrives at Cannes. A long, slow-burning account of the search for a missing corpse, reports from the Croisette are that audiences broke into nervous laughter 90 minutes into the 150-minute film when they realized they’d just witnessed the movie’s first plot point. Still, critics were won over by the Turkish film, which shared the festival’s Grand Prix prize with The Kid With a Bike. The question remains whether Anatolia will be one of those Cannes hits that’s too philosophical and obscure to gain traction, or if its festival success will launch a foreign awards campaign.
Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty holds the distinction of being one of the first of the many, many “adult,” “edgy” fairy tale adaptations coming this year (the underwhelming Red Riding Hood beat it out the gate this winter). Emily Browning plays the proprietor of a prostitution operation, with “Sleeping Beauty” evolving from the Grimm tale to a certain sexual fantasy involving sleeping women. Many critics and audience members were turned off by the film’s eccentricity and explicitness, but others were impressed by Browning and director Julia Leigh. Jude Law revealed that it was even in top three consideration for the Palme d’Or. Expect the film to turn controversy into publicity as it gears up for theatrical release.
The Skin I Live In
Pedro Almodovar’s latest reunites him with Antonio Banderas. It’s a film in Almodovar’s signature style: Banderas plays a cosmetic surgeon reeling after his wife suffers an accident. Plot twists intertwine, compound, and then explode with varying levels of ridiculousness, insanity, and melodrama. Reviews were typically winning, hinting that this could be the next Almodovar international breakout.
This Must Be the Place
In This Must Be the Place, Sean Penn plays an aging rock star—think the Cure’s Robert Smith—hunting down the Nazi who humiliated his father. The plot description is as jarring as the photos of Penn in glam-rock drag that made rounds last summer when the film was in production. Penn is notoriously choosy with his projects, focusing much attention on This Must Be the Place. Reviews describe the film as odd, surreal, comic, whimsical, and moving—a recipe for future festival, if not awards, success.
Restless
Gus Van Sant’s thoughtful romance about a young woman dying of cancer stars Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, Jane Eyre), which is reason alone for this film to be on anyone’s radar. Her beau is played by Dennis Hopper’s son, Henry, whose confident, brooding performance makes it clear he was cast on the basis of talent, not nepotism. The couple’s meet-cute—they’re both funeral crashers—adds a layer of quirkiness to the done-already premise. At a festival rampant with films about complicated children and existential philosophy, Restless holds an advantageous place as one of the only straightforward romantic dramas.
Tree of Life