If there are two phenomenon films at this Cannes, they are Club Kiddebut by the American Jordan Firstman, screened in the parallel section A Certain Regard, and the Spanish The black ballin the official competition section. The reckless ambition of the Javis film comes out of this competition reinforced, whether you like the film or not. It is as if the very defects of The black ball (his excesses and his certain grandiloquence) played in his favor. The carrying capacity of this fresco with Lorca and historical memory queer In essence it is undeniable. It is not about the Spanish press sweeping home; The international echo that the film is having has been the surprise of the final stretch of Cannes.
There are also options that the winners of the jury chaired by the South Korean Park Chan-wook will have a Spanish accent thanks to Javier Bardem and his work in The loved oneby Rodrigo Sorogoyen, and Bitter Christmasby Pedro Almodóvar, a filmmaker greatly admired by Park Chan-wook.
It is not unreasonable, in fact it is quite probable, an acting award for Bardem for his performance in Sorogoyen’s film, which inaugurated the Spanish presence in the French competition and returned the best Bardem to the screen in a long time. The name of the Spanish actor is in many pools and even a member of the jury, the Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, screwed up a few days ago by dropping him, without naming him, as a favorite.
However, American actors Rami Malek and Adam Driver would also deserve to be on the list for their impressive works in The Man I loveby Ira Sachs, and Paper Tigerby James Gray, respectively. Gray’s brotherly tragedy is also one of the best films at this Cannes along with Fatherlandde Pawel Pawlikowski, y Suddenlyby Ryusuke Hamaguchi. If the jury is sensible, none of them would be out of this Saturday’s awards. The hurricane of Hopethe South Korean action and science fiction mega-production—another film that has divided due to its presence in the competition—could give some surprise to its gifted director, Na Hong-Jin.
Sebastian Stan is also very good in Fjordby the Romanian Cristian Mungiu, which aspires to an award for its narrative solidity and for how it puts pertinent questions about progressive societies and religious fundamentalisms on the table. Although there is a film with a political background that can replicate the consensus of a year ago with the Iranian Jafar Panahi and his a simple accident es Minotaurby the Russian Andrei Zviaguintsev, about the collapse of an entire country through the moral disintegration of a businessman who discovers his wife’s infidelity. As to Our Salvationby Emmanuel Marre, is, by far, the best French proposal in a competition of a lower level than the one from a year ago and saturated with local productions. Everything also seems to indicate that the award for best actress will stay at home. I wish the Belgian Virginie Efira would win it for Hamaguchi’s film, although Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos have a lot of chances for The Unknown y guarantee, respectively. Without forgetting Léa Drucker for A woman’s life.
The official Cannes section closed with the magnificent film by Valeska Grisebach The Dreamed Adventure. It is a border story in many ways, not only because it takes place in the kilometers that separate Türkiye from Bulgaria. With refugee mafias involved and a strange and beautiful twilight love story in the background, Grisebach tells a story of men and women on the margins, roadside barracks and a floating world told with a singular and brilliant harshness.
Scheduling this almost three-hour film on the last day almost condemns it to departure. The other work in competition, much less interesting, was the thriller French by Léa Mysius Night stories.