The 77th Cannes Film Festival has reached its midway mark. Here are our thoughts so far, including the disappointments, the top contenders, and the hidden gems.
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00:00 [Music]
00:09 Hello, we're nearly halfway through the 77th Cannes Film Festival
00:14 and what a festival it's been so far. So many keenly anticipated films, some of
00:20 which have hit the high notes but quite a few have hit the low notes. Telling us
00:23 more about it now, David Morricone, my colleague. David, as I
00:26 said it's halfway through. Lots of suspense, lots of keenly
00:30 awaited films, among them Megalopolis, Furiosa. Let's look back before we
00:36 look forward. What did you make of them? I mean it's been a good festival so far,
00:40 I think that's worth saying because a lot of critics at the moment are saying
00:44 it's nothing compared to last year and I disagree. I think the the program is
00:48 so much more varied. There are genre films, we've had musicals,
00:52 we've had action films, we've had romance. There's been something for
00:56 everyone. Now with the big hitters so far, I think
00:59 it's been a little bit disappointing. Furiosa, the Mad Max sequel to George
01:04 Miller's 2015 film Fury Road, didn't do it for me. It was one of
01:09 those prequels which no one really needed and oh the
01:14 Coppola, yeah Megalopolis. It's a mess,
01:19 it's a complete and utter mess and I know that there are some who are saying
01:22 that it's going to be a cult classic, that no you haven't understood it and
01:26 it's so misunderstood and it's this work of
01:29 genius or something like that. It's 10 films rolled into one
01:32 and it is this hubristic folly that just goes absolutely everywhere and
01:38 nowhere at the same time. I mean what did you think?
01:41 I did see it with you and I am still mixed or maybe very very much
01:46 confused after three quarters. You coward. Yeah what can I tell you?
01:50 I wouldn't say it was brilliant for sure. It had so much in it,
01:55 far too much probably to contain, you know, to not have a nosebleed.
02:01 But why I'm still confused because I'm still sort of thinking, did I miss
02:04 something? Did I not understand it? Is there some sort of
02:08 super message from another world? There was nothing to miss. I don't think
02:12 that there was and I think people are like
02:14 bending themselves into pretzels over this, trying to see
02:18 oh what could we have missed and oh what does this symbolism mean and oh was he
02:22 trying to say that? It's rubbish. It just is. I'm sorry and
02:25 like I just think it's time to just say okay
02:28 you invite all these titans, that's fine, but just because they're a
02:31 titan, just because they've directed The Godfather and The Conversation and
02:34 Apocalypse Now doesn't mean that the new film has to be
02:37 anything more than it actually is, which is naff.
02:41 Well let's move swiftly on because there have been so
02:45 many more things there that we've seen over the last few days.
02:48 What particularly has stood out for you? Emilia Perez,
02:52 the Jaco Diaz. Now this is, I mean, Jaco Diaz is no stranger to the festival.
02:57 He's been here several times in competition. He won the Palme d'Or in
03:00 2015 for D-Pan and I was not expecting this because
03:05 after a while you get the impression, okay you know what a certain filmmaker's
03:08 going to be giving you or what to expect. This is completely out there. The
03:13 biggest swing for the fences and at 72 years old
03:17 it's just something to celebrate and it's this kind of
03:20 narco-musical, trans-musical as well about a drug cartel boss who is seeking
03:28 to become a woman through gender reassignment surgery.
03:31 Sounds like it's got something for everybody in it in that description.
03:33 Without a doubt and really just I came out of there going I want something
03:38 different from these films and I just got it
03:40 and it is for my mind the the front runner for the Palme d'Or this year and
03:44 it could be Jaco Diaz's second Palme d'Or. Well let's talk
03:47 now as we are at the halfway stage about some of the things that you're
03:50 looking forward to this week. You know when we last spoke we mentioned that
03:54 there was this shadow of the strike. There's been no sign of
03:57 that from disgruntled workers. That sort of the threatened #MeToo report
04:01 is still bubbling in the air, still at the halfway stage but looking
04:05 at the films and perhaps away from the quasi, you know
04:08 what are you looking forward to? Now this year there's actually been quite a lot
04:11 of horror or horror tinged films in the programs. Now you've had
04:17 The Girl and the Needle which is this historical film which really does kind
04:22 of lean very heavily into thriller and very horror aspects and
04:26 coming up there's the new David Cronenberg The Shroud and certainly one
04:29 which we're seeing tonight called The Substance.
04:32 From recent reports, little rumors heard here and there, apparently it's
04:36 incredibly violent, incredibly intense and just an absolute
04:41 you know gut punch to the stomach. So fingers crossed on that one. One of
04:45 course which I'm looking forward to is the film by Mohamed Razulov,
04:50 The Seed of the Sacred Fig. It's impossible not to talk about it
04:54 without you know mentioning what's going on around the film. Mohamed Razulov
04:58 recently fled from Iran to avoid a very lengthy prison sentence, eight years.
05:04 The longest a filmmaker has been given and lashings as well.
05:09 The Iranian court has described him as an enemy of the state
05:12 and a security risk and now we don't know whether he'll actually be making it
05:16 here to the festival but his films I'm thinking about There
05:20 Is No Evil which won the Golden Bear was quite a knockout and
05:25 his particular form of social commentary,
05:28 his particular form of criticism with regards to the oppressive Iranian
05:32 regime is always something that not only A)
05:36 needs to be listened to and needs to be in competition but B)
05:39 really cinematically just really just hits home.
05:44 This is it.
05:48 The moment of truth.
05:51 Here at the festival this year was Yorgos Lanthimos. Straight a year
05:57 maybe not to the date but you know Poor Things premiered in Venice
06:01 and won the Golden Lion there and now he's back. He's back with an anthology
06:05 film again starring Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe who were both in
06:10 Poor Things and I really liked it. What did you think?
06:13 I thought it was absolutely fantastic as well.
06:16 I love the fact that it was something again completely different perhaps
06:19 from Poor Things and perhaps some of his other films. Great performances.
06:24 You know there have been claims that you know not
06:27 only just levelled against him from this film or from his previous films of
06:30 you know he's a misogynistic director but you know I think he's just
06:34 exploring human relationships and it's perhaps
06:38 does it a disservice to perhaps focus just on that
06:42 because there are so many things in there and it's a really really really
06:46 funny film as well. Oh absolutely yeah and it does this kind of anthology film
06:50 in a very interesting way I thought in a little bit like
06:53 Yorgos Lanthimos Greek weird wave does the Twilight Zone
06:57 and I loved it.
07:01 Isn't it wonderful?
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