Cannes 2026 official selection includes the new Cristian Mungiu film, FJORD, his 1st International film, shot in Norway, starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve ! The two Osccar nominated actors were together before in A Different Man (2024). I'm getting Oscar buzz already on this one...
The whole Official Selection, Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition here
It also includes Nicholas Winding Refn's new film, the revenge thriller HER PRIVATE HELL, out of competition.
Also Out of Competition is Andy Garcia's noir DIAMOND, starring Brendan Fraser, Bill Murray and Dustin Hoffman.
Festival special screenings includes doc JOHN LENNON : THE LAST INTERVIEW by Steven SODERBERGH
Eagles of the Republic is a terrific political thriller by Tarik Saleh (third part of his Cairo trilogy), about Egypt's political and military machinations involving a film star (Fares Fares, the lead in all three Saleh films and a film star in his own right), caught in the middle of the manipulative crossfire.
Would've been worth more attention in the actual climate, premiered in Cannes last year in competition, and it was Sweden's entry for best foreign film -did not make the short list. Shades of early Costa-Gavras. Also of Das Leben der Anderen. Gave me goosebumps in parallel with what happened in communist Romania and all dictatorships alike.
Great score by Alexandre Desplat on his 1st collaboration with Saleh and great widescreen cinematography by Pierre Aïm (shot on 65 mm, 2.39.1). Pierre Aïm shot also the other two Saleh films in his Trilogy -The Nile Hilton Incident (2017, which I saw at TIFF) and Cairo Conspiracy, aka Boy From Heaven (2022, seen briefly on Romanian screens). Of course this film could not be shot in Egypt, so it is all dressed up in Turkey -great job by Saleh's production design Roger Rosenberg. The director is a very persona non grata in Egypt...
Fun fact: Saleh and Rosenberg shot the action thriller The Contractor (2022) in Bucharest for Berlin !!!
Now in Romanian cinemas -very limited-see it on the big screen !
Tough cookie, lost count of how many films I've seen. Less than probably any year. Over 200, less than 300 ? More ? I started to put them on Letterboxed starting late October but still didn't catch up with the rest.
***
Top of the series is here and films from 2024 are again a problem, The Brutalist and The Substance should've make the 2025 list, as there still are some of 2025 which I haven't seen yet (Hamnet,-saw it,. did not like at all- Resurrection, Sound of Falling ?). Marty Supreme would make Top 5 but I've seen it in Januaray 2026.
Just caught up with Park Chan-Wook's No Other Choice that makes the list. It's limited in Romanian Cinemas now, so try to see it on the big screen, it's worthy.
Kinda disappointed with Romanian Cinema this year too. I liked Kontinental '25 and that's it. Could 've been also Jude's Dracula but he made it such an intentional mess and duration wise a whole calvary...
Finalmente l'alba - Saverio Costanzo -2023, on which I wrote:
Rome and Cinecitta 1953. More like a drreamlike story, a false thriller, homage to Fellini and La Dolce Vita, Notti di Cabiria, and linked to a real muder cold case known as the Italian Black Dahlia. Interesting slow film, in the Venice Competition in 2023. Modern beat score, strange and eerie. Song Last Nite by The Stokes (2011) on the end credits.
Father Mother Sister Brother might be the last Jim Jarmusch hilm (*he said it). He is also 72 now, which is somehow incredible, cos he kinda looks the same.
Three vignettes (New Jersey, Dublin, Paris), out of which the 1st one is the best, Father, because it has Tom Waits in it. Nice to see Charlotte Rampling as Mother and Vicky Krieps with pink hair is cool too. It's Jarmusch's introspective reflective film after 6 years of pause and the uberdisapointing The Dead don't Die (see here in Romanian).
FMSB is not a lot of fun, some coffeee, no cigarettes, the same shots from above tho, on Mother some cakes, some tea (no alcohol) some skating, Rolexes, a nice Paris flat, a lot of Reds in the costumes (YSL;), but the whole thing is out of breath, man...sort of Mid day on Earth...
that FMSB won Best film on Venice film fest this year, beats me. This was a film that was not accepted in competition in Cannes, the festival that made JJ a star !
Jim Jarmusch made also the music, on guitar, together with singer Annika (Henderson), one of the songs is Jackson Browne's These Days, 1st sung by Nico in 1967.
The Sirat Bridge, in Islamic belief, is a narrow and perilous bridge that every person must cross on the Day of Judgment to enter Paradise (Jannah). It is described as being thinner than a hair and sharper than a sword, with the faithful crossing it swiftly, while sinners may fall into Hell below.
(from imdb trivia)
SIRAT is one of the best films of 2025, and definitely the most interesting, visually and thematically. Jury Prize in Cannes and Golden Globe nominated for best foreign film (Spain's entry) and surely Oscar nod in the same category. Sergi Lopez leads a cast of unknown and unprofessional actors into the Morrocan -here unanmed-desert in a Jodorowskian take on Sorcerer (Friedkin's best !!!) in Burning Man territory. Existentialism follows upwards and downwards spiral ;)
Director and co-writer Oliver Laxe says Sirat it's a mix of Mad Max, Easy Rider and Stalker.
Also there are one armless man, one legless man (Freak show, /Freaks t shirt), another hint at some Jodorowski. And a pun on a Boris Vian poem and song, more existentialism and surrealism mix.
Stellar Techno electronic soundtrack by French artist Kangding Ray. Would deserve the Oscar and the Globe for best score.It won Cannes Soundtrack Award.
Kudos also for Laia Casanova’s sound design, that turns the "rumors of the wind" and the noises of the desert into their own Rave.
Also as I was sure, it's the Winner of 2025 Palm Dog - Jury Prize For Pipa the Jack Russell, and Lupita the Podenco mix.
9 out of Ten / 4 1/2 out of 5 !!!
*To be seen in a cinema with powerful speakers and good sound design. And about that, it's a real shame the film runs in Romania only a few shows, in some cities (see here on the distributor's site Transilvania Film), and not at all in Brasov :((( shameful...
Kleber Mendonça Filho's follow-up to Bacurau is O Agente secreto. 2025's Cannes award winner for best actor -Walter Moura !and best director, Golden Globe nominated and soon Oscar nominated-Brazil's entry for best foreign film.
Also Udo Kier's last part as Hans, a great on screen goodbye.
2h38 of complicated narrative, non-liniar, Brazilian politics and 1970's history, plus a lot of love for the cinema, ecclectic soundtrack, one of the most interesting and best films of the year.
Udo Kier died on November 23d in Palm Springs. He was 83. One of the greatest actors. Ever. Only through his mad glaze, blue piercing eyes, he dominated every screen and stole every scene he was in.
Takes me some time and pain to write about him. I knew him, met in different occasions 4 times over the years. Interviewed him with Andrei on the set of One Point O in Bucharest in 2003. We spent hours in a derelict block of flats, now demolished, in a smoked flat, under the lights, into the night. Uberhot, hot early summer night in Bucharest (8th of may as the picture says). Udo came for a film and stayed for one more, got a part in Andy Garcia's Modigliani. His hair was dyed blonde for the part. We got Polaroids with him, each, this is Andrei's here.
Then he was invited in Cluj at TIFF in 2006 and we hang out with him, even to a second hand shop where he bought a glorious long leather coat. This is another pic from Andrei, from one night to never forget, in the Diesel club, in the cellar VIP room (ha, another place that does not exist anymore...)
Then year passed, I had Udo's US address and mail, we sent him a script of a film still not done today. Didn't pass us to his agent or anything. I don't have the same mail address so that got lost.
In 2015 I was a guest of Grossmann film Festival, and spent more time with Udo, also there. We even went to see an art exhibition together.
Found another pic from Grossmann 2015, with my buddies, director Kritstjan Milic (Zivi i mrtvi) and Kapelmeister of the fest, Marko Mehtsun.
And last time I saw him in Cannes, on Rue des Antibes, in 2019, as he was there with the cast of Kleber Mendonça Filho's Bacurau, great film. We met on the street and had a chat. The last part of Udo is in Filho's new film, The Secret Agent. A beautiful heartfelt goodbye...
On the screen I saw him last in Hunters, season two where he played obviously on of his recurring characters, Adolf Hitler. Update: I just saw My Neighbor Adolf and liked it, Udo is at his best.
Goodbye Udo, it was a pleasure and an honor to meet you...
Highest 2 Lowest is Spike Lee's reimagining of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 masterpiece High and Low, based on Ed McBain's book, The King's Ransom. It's about a kidnapping gone wrong and a moral decision and dillema of a rich man on the edge of losing all his money. The 1st act is slow as in Kurosawa'a original (the script for this is credited to the Japanese master and his collaborators, the film itself is dedicated to him). Then the pace changes and it becomes energetic until the end.
The film premiered in Cannes this year, out of competition (with Denzel Washington receiving an impromptu Palme d'Or for his 1st !!! visit to the Croisette) and it's an Apple+ film-for streaming with limited release in the US by A24.
Denzel in his 5th collaboration with Spike plays a music mogul, "the best ears in the business" David King (the King from King's Ransom, in Kurosawa's film is Kingo Gondô as played by a magnificent Toshiro Mifune). His second, friend and driver is Paul, a great restrained and dry humored performance by Jeffrey Wright.
Shot by Matthew Libatique, who went back to back in NY locations with Aronofsky's Caught Stealing (in cinemas now, go and see) in glorios widescreen. Libatique worked before with Lee on four films, including another NY flick, Inside Man .
H2L is a colorful love letter to Spike's beloved New York., Manhattan, Brookyln Bridge, Puerto Rican parade, Yankee stadium.
Complete with 2 lengthy train /subway chases that quotes and hatsoff s Friedkin's legendary The French Connection.
Also lots of art, from Basquiat to sports memorabilia and a lot of Muhhamed Ali stuff, to a painting entitled "Billie, Lester, Fats and Duke" by Frederick J. Brown. This painting was featured in "The Spike Lee 'Creative Sources' Exhibition" at the Brooklyn Museum. The title refers to prominent jazz musicians: Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Fats Waller, and Duke Ellington.
The soundtrack is a symphonic Howard Drossin score, then rap songs by A$AP Rocky (in the film Yung Felon) and some James Brown mean rhythms.
The opening credits are shots of new NY buildings getting to King's skyscraper penthouse / terrace on classic musical Oklahoma's Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin', sung by Norm Lewis. A live performanced of Eddie Palmieri's Orchestra and Aiyana-Lee Anderson (as newcomer singer Sula) playing the title song (cos you goota too ;). Read comments and reviews about the worst score - I don't get if they meant the score or the songs, but personally I find the score excellent and a breakthrough-Drossin worked as an orchestrator for Spike's regular Terence Blanchard and with Lee since The 25th Hour, also with RZA and making videogames music.
Might be Lee's most commercial film 'til Inside Man and the disastrous Oldboy and it's uneven but flavoury.
Revisited Kurosawa's film this spring and it's a timeless masterpiece! Lee's version plays more like a cover song, in color and with vivid wipes and tumult.
6 out of 10 / 3 out of five !
Kurosawa's 1963 High and Low is a 9/10 for me ! Could've been a Ten tho ;)
Eddington is one of the must-see of this year, Ari Aster's new film, his forth (after Hereditary, Midsmmmer, Beau in Afraid). via Cannes )in competition), it's imo his best. Dark, brutal, black comedy, western and thriller and political satire. It's craziness galore and one of the best performances of Joaquin Phoenix. Aster's second film with Phoenix after the werird, wild but pretentious (and over-long) Beau is Afraid in 2023.
best film about Pandemic and about America in a long time. Also starring Pedro Pascal & Emma Stone.
1st Aster film shot by legendary Darius Khondji (from Se7en to The Ninth Gate to recent Mickey 17). Great score by Daniel Pemberton.
Unfortunately this A24 release is not in Romanian theaters. A pitty.
8 out of 10 (a bit off steam at 2 h 28)! 4 out of 5 !
Mouring one of the greatest British Icons, made big by Italian cinema and American popcorn (und more). Terence Stamp was 87. He was Toby Dammitt in Fellini's sketch of Poe's omnibus Histoires Extrraordinaires/ Spirits of the Dead. He was in Pasolini's Teorema, as he was general Zod ;).
He won best actor in Cannes in 1965 for The Collector.
From his film debut in Billy Budd (1962, where he received his onbly Oscar nomination) to his last bit in Last Night in Soho (2021) he was a cool, silent, sometimes very menacing presence.
For me it was at most fun as the perverted host of the short-lived series The Hunger (1997-98).
Other highlights: Modesty Blaise, The Hit, The Limey (featuring Poor Cow).
1st ime I saw him as a kid as the badguy Wazir in the Clive Donner's Thief of Baghdad (1978, actually a made for TV film).
Another Nic Cage for Acting president, method of madness award ;)
Australian-Irish The Surfer was Cages first official Cannes fest selection in 34 years (after 1990's Wild at Heart!).
Mandy was in Quinzaine. Also Dog Eat Dog.
A cross of Wake in Fright with The Wicker Man (one of Cage's most insane films is the remake of the cult British film of 1973), it's a psychedelic drama, unfolding in the Australian surfing territory.
Great score by Francois Tetaz, all reminiscent of Ennio Morricone's sound.
Written by Thomas Martin, who took a cue from the short story that based 1968's Burt Lancaster's The Swimmer.
Directed by Lorcan Finnegan who debuted with an interesting curio back in 2019, Vivarium.
But the most interesting thing in it is Julian Mc Mahon, recently passed away at 56 :( He's the main attraction in the film, as Scally, the macho guru of the beach, dressed all in Red.
The Phoenician Scheme (2025) is Wes Anderson's 12th feature (out of 12, 2 films are animations), presented at the 78th Cannes film festival in the Official Competition.
It's supposed to be a film dedicated by the writer-director to his daughter, a more emotional relationship of characters and less parodic as in his other films.
A lot of in-house references and cyphres, even more and obscure than before. From the name of the character, Zsa Zsa (Gabor), Korda (the famous filmmaking brothers), to Casablanca, Orson Welles' Mr. Arkadin, Max Ophuls shots, Igor Stravinski & Mussorsky-Ravel, Pierre-August Renoir's painting (that was owned by Greta Garbo). Black Narcissus nurse included ;) The score is again by the great Alexandre Desplat, on his seventh collaboration with WA, in a synchopatic sound and beat very similar to the music from The Grand Hotel Budapest (the best Wes Anderson film for my money). What is new is the cinematographer, Bruno Dellbonnel's first film with WA. Top set & production design (done again at Babelsberg studios, where the Grand Budapest Hotel was shot) by Adam Stockhausen and cool costumes by the legendary Milena Canonero.
Za-Zsa Korda (genius name !) Benicio Del Toro chews scenery, actually he machetes it, in a part half inspired by Howard Hughes, part Groucho Marx. Matthieu Amalric (Marseille Bob !!! -Bob le flambeur ?) plays Peter Lorre and Jeffrey Wright (Marty- "man") is the epitomy f cool !
IMO Benedict Cumberbatch (uncle Nubar) looks like from Feulliade's Fantomas or any silnet films villains, with a fake beard and diabolic eyes (Jack Lemmon in Blake Edwards' The Great Race too?). Also Michael Cera's Bjorn accent is far far out. The Monty Python affiliation is automatic.
If you know Wes Anderson's favorite films and directors, you know there is not much Americanism in him. He might be the most European Art-house American director. Also he is starting to live completely in his own MU (movie universe), like latter Fellini, Roy Andersson, etc. Is that a good thing, or a Phoenician scheme ;) ?
All in all, 7 out of 10 /3 1/2 out of 5 (could've been 10 mins. shorter) and the Black and white Bunuelian mocking Bergman (or Pasollini ?) sequences (except the Bill Murray cameo as God). Too much of mannerism, tends to deja-vu/veja-du ?.
At the peak of the evening, a standing ovation greeted Leonardo DiCaprio’s entrance. The American actor, who owes his breakout and his encounter with Martin Scorsese to Robert De Niro, expressed his admiration before presenting him with an Honorary Palme d’or:
“Tonight, I have the immense honor of standing before you to pay tribute to someone who is our model. Robert De Niro’s legacy lies in how he inspired actors to treat their craft not just as solo performance but as transformation. Robert De Niro is not just a great actor—he is The Actor. With Martin Scorsese, they told some of cinema’s most legendary stories, uncompromising stories. They didn’t just make movies—they redefined what cinema could be. They elevated the actor-director relationship into a crucible of risk-sharing.”
In response, the cinema legend addressed the Grand Théâtre Lumière with a call to action—for freedom and democracy, without delay:
“My sincere thanks to the Festival de Cannes for creating this community, this universe, this ‘home’ for those who love telling stories on the big screen. The Festival is a platform for ideas, a celebration of our work. Cannes is fertile ground for new projects. (...)
In my country, we are fighting tooth and nail to defend democracy—something we once took for granted. This concerns everyone. Because the arts are, by nature, democratic. Art is inclusive; it brings people together. Art is a quest for freedom. It embraces diversity. That’s why art is a threat today. That’s why we are a threat to the autocrats and fascists of this world.
We must act—now. Without violence, but with passion and determination. The time has come. Everyone who believes in freedom must organize, protest, and vote in elections. Tonight, we reaffirm our commitment by honoring the arts—and liberty, equality, and fraternity.”
To conclude this opening ceremony and launch twelve days of screenings for the 78th edition, American director Quentin Tarantino took the stage and, with full voice, declared: “IT’S MY HONOUR TO DECLARE THE 78TH FESTIVAL OPEN!!!”
Announced now. From Claude Lelouch's legendary Un homme et une femme (1966).
Pas un, mais deux ;) Un Homme. Une femme.
A man.
A woman.
A deserted beach.
A turbulent sky.
Intoxicating music.
A 3-month-old idea.
A 3-week shoot.
A 20-second scene.
Eternity lasts but a moment in the end.
It was 60 years ago. In 1965, two damaged beings played by Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant met, charmed each other, resisted, and finally twirled under Claude Lelouch's incandescent camera. The Palme d'or in Cannes in 1966, the two Oscars in Hollywood in 1967 and the dozens of awards around the world pale in comparison to this grandiose moment of tenderness, simplicity and beauty.
Because it is undoubtedly the 7th Art’s most famous embrace ("étreinte" in French, the anagram of "éternité"), because you can't separate a man and a woman who love each other, because you can't separate that Man from that Woman, the Festival de Cannes has chosen for the first time in its history to present a double official poster. A Man and a Woman. Side by side. Back together.
— He: When something’s not serious, we says it’s like a film. Why aren’t films taken seriously, do you think?
— She: Maybe because we only go to the cinema when all is going well?
— He: So you think we should go when all is going wrong?
— She: Why not?
During times that seem to want to separate, compartmentalize or subjugate, the Festival de Cannes wants to (re)unite; to bring bodies, hearts and souls closer together; to encourage freedom and portray movement in order to perpetuate it; to embody the whirlwind of life to celebrate it, again and again.
This man and this woman who both won awards in Cannes —Best Actor (Z, 1969), Best Actress (A Leap in the Dark (Salto nel vuoto), 1980)— are no more. These two posters also pay homage. Magnificent heroes of delicacy and seduction, Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant forever illuminate the film of our lives, like these two posters, whose colors express the intensity of a passionate love that triumphs over despair. This light no longer comes from the heavens, today troubled on all sides by dark clouds; it emerges from the radiant fusion of two beings who reconcile us with life.
Gene Hackman, one of the greatest Actors there ever was, (it's said he could play Anyone and Antything), died on Tuesday Feb. 26th. He was 95. He died suddenly along his wife and their dog ! His wife (the 2nd, married in 1991), the pianist Betsy Arakawa, was 64 ! The Police of Santa Fe discovered all three of them....
During the last 3-4 years I re-saw /saw again some of his films with the fear he'll die any moment. So, there was him at his most funniest in Get Shorty, the neo-noir Heist, action mentoring channeling The Conversation part -Tony Scott's Enemy of the State (2 bad it had Will Smith as a lead, if could've been Denzel or Jamie Foxx it'll rock more today), more good action thriller-The Package and the comedy I caught up Heartbreakers. Forgot he had a cameo in The Mexican when I gave that film another shot (totally hated it when it came out), tried to see again The Royal Tenenbaums but remembered how he quarreled with Wes Anderson (which I find completely overrated) and paused it. It's a great part but not a lengthy on. Also discovered some gems like The Hunting Party (1971), The Split (bit cop part) when Jim Brown died and recently, when Kris Kristofferson passed I saw Cisco Pike (1971). Brilliant wicked part for Gene Hackman, probably last seen by me.
He was retired since 2004 after the lesser comedy Welcome to Moosesport. He was painting and writing thriller noir/ history fiction novels.
Hackman received two Academy Awards (for William Friedkin's The French Connection & Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven), two British Academy Films Awards (BAFTA), and four Golden Globes.
My faves after the obvious characters of Popeye Doyle, Harry Caul, Little Bill Daggett and Lex Luthor are Crimson Tide, Prime Cut, The Scarecrow, French Connection II (he's better in Frankenheimer's sequel than in Friedkin's hit, it's harder bit too imo) , Bite the Bullet, Night Moves, Eureka, Under Fire, so on...
Most amusingly he played the blindman in Mel Brooks' parody Young Frankenstein, in 1974, uncredited. It's kind of a cameo but now every obit mentions it as an important part. Come on, you AI generation morons...
As a kid I saw him first in cinemas in Superman, The Poseidon Adventure, The Domino Principle, Marooned, Zandy's Bride, The Gypsy Moths (that on TV). Then later his breakthrough part in Bonnie & Clyde.
He was a superb villain always, suave and smiling. Also he could play men in uniform, military authority at best. And grand in westerns. But his secret gift was comedy. He Is, was and will be one of my favorite Actors. And as far as I checked everyone says he was the Best Actor that ever IS !
"If you look at yourself as a star, you've already lost something in the portrayal of any human being."
L'amour Ouf /Beating Hearts in English, Iubire fara limite in Romanian. In competition (!) at last years' Cannes film festival, French star Gilles Lellouche adaptation of a Neville Thompson novel is in Romanian Cinemas now.
Great on the big screen (widescreen!), operatic, with a superb score and soundtrack, great cinematography, this is the most American French film in a long time, and that's a good thing imo. In Cannes they kinda hated the film -of course, oh la la), way too commercial for them to enjoy it if it's not made by Tarantino or James Grey...
Epic running time: 2h46. 1st cut was 4 hours though.
It's based (loosely) on the 1997 best-selling Irish novel "Jackie Loves Johnser OK?" by Neville Thompson, whose French title is "L'Amour Ouf" ( a pun on the expression "L'Amour Fou", also a film by Jacques Rivette from 1968).
Uneven, pastiche, but highly energetic and frenetic this is not a prefect film, far from it, but I loved the energy, the musical rhythm (greta songs, from The Cure to Billy Idol, to Sirius by Alan Parsons project, cuts from John Carpenter's from Escape rom New York score, closing on Foreigner-Urgent!!!), from the opening lettering and the pulsing dramatic score by Jon Brion (with whom Lellouche worked on his second film as director, Le grand bain/Sink or swim).
Shades of Tarantino and Wild at Heart. And of course West Side Story. And Scorsese's touch. And maybe Lelouch too ;)
original poster with announcement of coming out in 2023.
*Alain Chabat won best suppoting actor at 2025's Cesar awards.
The Producers Guild of America named Anora the best picture of the year at the 2025 PGA Awards. The surprise win came just an hour after director Sean Baker took home the DGA’s top prize — establishing the Neon film as the official Oscars frontrunner for Best Picture. Anora also won Best Picture at last night’s Critics Choice Awards.
First good film I've seen in a cinema this year. Also from last year, in the Cannes 77 film fest official selection. A very personal film, una affare di famiglia with everyone playing their own parts.
Marcello Mio is of course about Marcello Mastroianni, and Chiara Mastroianni, and her mom, Catherine Deneuve. And the buddies, from Fabrice Luchini to Nicole Garcia, Benjamin Biolay (Chira's ex), Melvin Poupaud (un autre Chira's ex ;), all playing themselves. Also Stefania Sandrelli and Marcello MM himself in an excerpt from Pietro Germi's 1961 Divorzio all'italiana/Divorce Italian Style. And Francesca Fialdini, a hot TV host from Rai.
written and directed by Christophe Honoré (les Chansons d'amour),
super self referential (meta-meta) and for true cinephiles, including plot points from MM's films, a dog, a soldier, a bridge, a white kitten, and family memoires, this film is not for everyone. But maybe those who see it (of course I was alone in the theater, Monday at 16.45 !!!) should dig further. from the easy clues, 8 1/2 & La Dolce Vita, to the more obscure family references (including Maria Callas, a specific restaurant in Paris, Ginger & Fred, a song about how Marcello makes you laugh, etc.)
Beautiful soundtrack, including Isao Tomita's version of Clair de Lune.
Coraline Fargeat's second feature The Substance (after her thriller Revenge in 2017), won best screenplay in last year's Cannes Film Festival. Should've won best actress for Demi Moore but they gave that for ensemble to Emilia Perez. No comments. But now Demi has won the Golden Globe, will be nominated for an Oscar and I hope she wins, she deserves that totally and More than that.
Note on Jan. 23d: Nominated for 5 Oscars, Coraline Fargeat for Directing and original screenplay, Demi Moore for best actress, make up and hair stilling and Best Picture ! My predictions, Demi and maybe best screenplay !
Dennis Quaid plays cartoonlike a caricature of a manager, Ray Liotta was supposed to play this part but he died before the film production. I think Quaid is better, 'cos he played a lot of straight characters, while Liotta was lampooning himself in a lot of his films.
Fargeat's film I found more digerable than Julia Ducournau's exploits, Grave /Raw and Titane, which are overdone and overbearing. Keep in mind, if a male director would've done this film in 2024, no festival would've touch it and he would've been "luggered" (or lapidated). Anyway, I don't think a man could've done the same kind of approach and message, it's a woman's film about women's condition in the showbiz industry, and not only, about aging and about the compromises you make in order to be noticed. It's a very superficial world and it fades out quickly, but the subject is treated with acidity, irony and black humor. And great body horror gore practical effects. The whole thing could've been summarized in the opening and closing of the film, with the story star on the Hollywood Boulevard (a great short imo).
The music is by British artist Raffertie (Benjamin but it's more like a sound design, pounding and very effective. Can't be listened separately tho.
See it in a cinema, for the sound design, set design, bright costumes (that yellow coat, that pink bodysuit), the cinematography (by Benjamin Kracun) and the visceral effect.
Also warning, not for the faint at/of heart, and sensible stomachs !!!
There are many posters for the film, all good, from the B&W to this kaleidoscope puzzle.
References galore: from Lynch's LA (shot in Cannes and Antibes no less), to David Cronenberg (The Fly is quoted tooth and nail ;), Brian De Palma (Carrie's blood shower), Kubrick's The Shining, The Elephant Man, Frankenheimer's Seconds, All about Eve, Sunset Blvd., even Zemeckis' Death Becomes Her.
As Demi Moore described the film: " a blend of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Death Becomes Her (1992), and a Jane Fonda workout video."
A great and extended making of from Mubi (the worldwide distributor of the film buying it Cannes cos the original backer, Working Title, a division of Universal backed away ):
Update-24 feb. Demi Moore wins SAG award, The "Actor", which is the best barometer for the acting Oscars !
