Okja
Director Bong's follow-up to Snowpiercer is this creature feature (well that might be a stretch) about a girl and her strange animal friend. It stars Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Ahn Seo-hyun, Lily Collins, and Steven Yeun and will be released by Netflix (as has been a point of controversy for the festival).
Palme d'Or Competition
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Quite possibly the most anticipated film in competition is Yorgos Lanthimos's follow-up to The Lobster. Colin Farrell is back, this time alongside Nicole Kidman, Raffey Cassidy, and Alicia Silverstone in what's being billed as a psychological thriller-cum-horror about a man who is confronted with the drastic actions of his adopted teen. Expect it to be weirder than that synopsis would make it sound.
Palme d'Or Competition
The Beguiled
Sofia Coppola's first feature since The Bling Ring is this highly anticipated Civil War drama that stars Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, and Elle Fanning. The film doesn't premiere until the second Wednesday of the fest so it will be a bit of a wait until the buzz lands. Focus is putting out the film in the US later this year.
Palme d'Or Competition
Before We Vanish
Kurosawa Kiyoshi is no stranger to the Croisette, especially Un Certain Regard. While 2003's Bright Future premiered in competition, Kairo (2001), Tokyo Sonata (2008), and Journey to the Shore (2015) all played in UCR. That's where you'll find this latest about three scout aliens inhabiting human bodies in anticipation of a coming invasion.
Un Certain Regard
The Square
Force Majeure snuck up on everyone at Cannes when it premiered as part of Un Certain Regard in 2014. No one is sleeping on Ruben Östlund this time as his latest about a famous artist trying to create a work of art to promote altruism is in competition. It stars Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West, and Terry Notary.
Palme d'Or Competition
The Meyerowitz Stories
Noah Baumbach is nothing if not great with awkward family situations. He mines that familiar familial territory in this Netflix movie about a famous artist patriarch and his strange/estranged brood. It stars Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, and Grace Van Patten.
Palme d'Or Competition
Walking Past the Future
The lone entry from China in the main programs is Li Ruijin's contemporary story of a city woman working to make her parents more comfortable in their rural home.
Un Certain Regard
Good Time
One of A24's whopping four films at the festival is the Safdie Brothers' hard-boiled crime thriller about a man trying to break his brother out of prison. This follow-up to Heaven Knows What stars Robert Pattinson, Barkhad Abdi, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Palme d'Or Competition
Happy End
Michael Haneke will look to make it a three-peat after winning the Palme d'Or with his last two entries The White Ribbon (2009) and Amour (2012). His latest is a European refugee drama that stars Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Mathieu Kassovitz, and Toby Jones. As long as there is no "wins too much" backlash, this looks like the bet makers' choice.
Palme d'Or Competition
Wonderstruck
Todd Haynes's follow-up to Carol tells two simultaneous stories; one about a young woman in 1960s New York, the other a man in the present-day Midwest. Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Amy Hargreaves, and Cory Michael Smith star in the film that will be released stateside by Amazon.
Palme d'Or Competition
Wind River
The only American movie in UCR is Taylor Sheridan's Sundance-premiering crime thriller. This highly anticipated directorial debut by the writer of Sicario and Hell or High Water stars Elizabeth Olsen as an FBI agent way out of her depths when she goes to a remote Native American reservation in the frozen north to investigate a murder. Jeremy Renner stars alongside Olsen in this film which will hit theaters in the US from The Weinstein Co.
Un Certain Regard
Jupiter's Moon
White God director Kornél Mundruczó (you remember, the dog movie) is back at Cannes with this genre-y sounding competition entry about a man who gains levitation powers after he is wounded illegally crossing into Europe.
Palme d'Or Competition
